Teach Us To Pray – Part 2
Luke 11:1-13 (2b-3)
March 31, 2019
In the last chapter of James we read an astonishing statement.
James 5:16b “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
That is a remarkable thought to consider,
That there is much which can be accomplished through prayer.
The only qualifications which are given here
Are that it is the “prayer of a righteous man”
And that it is an “effective” prayer.
So certainly we seek to be righteous and we seek to pray effectively.
The righteous part is accomplished in our Lord Jesus Christ.
• He is the One who obtained perfect righteousness before God
• And when we are “in Him” we come before God as righteous men.
The second thing we concern ourselves with is how to pray effectively.
And certainly we’ve seen this sort of thing happen before.
• We saw last time that great intercessory prayer of Moses
• We saw the intercessory prayer of Amos
James even says in that last chapter:
James 5:17-18 “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the earth for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and the sky poured rain and the earth produced its fruit.”
So when James says that a righteous man praying effectively can accomplish much, we know he is not just blowing smoke.
We are talking about results…massive results…mind boggling results.
Clearly there is benefit to praying effectively.
Well, as we have entered this new segment in Luke’s gospel
Where we will receive much theological training from Jesus,
Luke begins the segment with JESUS’ TEACHING ON PRAYER.
We read last time in verse 1, “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
We noted the BAD EXAMPLES of prayer they had been exposed to
• Such as the hypocritical prayer of the Pharisee
• Or the manipulative prayer of the pagan,
But the disciples spotted something different in the prayer life of Jesus.
• He didn’t pray for show, He seemed to favor communing with God in private.
• He didn’t seek to manipulate God with His prayers, but rather seemed submitted to the sovereign will of God.
And probably more obvious than either of those things
Was that JESUS PRAYED EFFECTIVELY.
His prayers moved mountains.
His prayers accomplished much.
And so the disciples asked Him point blank, “teach us to pray”
What we get here is what we have called
“The Model Prayer” or “The Disciples Prayer”
It is the direct instruction from Jesus regarding prayer.
And we began looking at this last time.
#1 A PATTERN TO FOLLOW
Luke 11:1-4
And again we noted that it would be A MISTAKE to take this prayer
(as many have done)
And turn it into one of those types of prayer that Jesus explicitly forbid.
For example:
• We don’t pray this prayer publicly as a means of showing off our piety.
• We don’t pray this prayer as though it has some mystical manipulative power, so that God is obligated if we just say these words.
We see both of those things done today,
And that would be to totally miss the point of what Jesus is teaching.
Rather, we find here the very heart of prayer.
We find the basic attitudes and desires
And purposes of prayer in these verses.
We began looking at them last time.
1) THE FOUNDATION OF PRAYER (2)
“And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father…’”
Of utmost importance is that when you pray, you pray to your Father.
• He is your dad.
• It is a term of intimacy.
It is not some formal request presented to some distant monarch.
When we pray, we approach One who is our Father.
One who has chosen us, adopted us, atoned for us,
has secured for us an inheritance.
• He is One who causes all things to work to our good, and who knows the plans He has for us.
• He is the One who has numbered the very hairs of our head and ordained our days before us before as yet one of them came into being.
• He is passionately interested in us, and has proven His unconditional love for us many times over, but never more so than in the cross.
You are praying to Him.
He is a good Father
Who does not give snakes when asked for a fish,
And who does not give scorpions when asked for a loaf of bread.
He gives good gifts to His children.
James even said:
James 1:17 “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
That is the foundation for prayer, we pray to our Father.
2) THE CHIEF MOTIVE FOR PRAYER (2)
“Father, hollowed be Your name.”
To hallow is to sanctify or set apart as holy.
This answers the question regarding the CHIEF MOTIVE to all prayer
And that is that it is done FOR THE GLORY OF GOD.
• Certainly when we pray for bread, we want bread.
• Certainly when we want protection from temptation, we want protection.
• Certainly when we pray for other things, we are specific.
But a motive deeper even than that,
Is that all of those requests are primarily that God may be glorified
In the answering of that prayer.
Prayer that is for selfish reasons is not effective prayer.
James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
• When we pray for our own selfish desires we get no answer.
• Our primary motive for prayer must be the glory of God.
• That was seen in Moses’ intercessory prayer for the people of Israel.
• That was seen in Elijah’s prayer on Mt. Carmel.
• That was seen in Daniel’s prayer from Babylon.
We even saw it in Jesus’ prayer regarding the cross.
John 12:27-28 “Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. “Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
He prayed for the glory of God even if that meant the cross.
We saw these 2 last time, and you HAVE TO START HERE.
One other thing I would point out is that not only do we start here,
But we cannot omit any of them either.
No doubt when I present to you that prayer is for God’s glory,
(And we even look to Jesus’ prayer regarding the cross.)
We can say, “Well that’s terrifying!”
It’s a scary thing to pray to God and say, “Do whatever You want, just glorify Yourself!”
True, UNLESS you remember that first point.
• You are praying to your Father!
• You are praying to One you can trust.
• You are praying to One who loves you to the full.
If you get the first one right, then the second one is much easier.
Make sense?
All of these aspects are important.
WELL, LET’S MOVE ON THIS MORNING.
The Foundation, The Chief Motive
3) THE FOCUS OF PRAYER (2)
“Your kingdom come.”
Now if you memorized Matthew’s version of this prayer you are also expecting to read, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
While Luke doesn’t include that statement, it is heavily implied.
We haven’t lost anything here.
But here Jesus teaches us to pray, “Your kingdom come.”
WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Some have taken it to be a reference to Jesus’ reign on the earth.
That Jesus is here telling us to pray to God that He will come and reign.
That can be partially true.
We do read the apostle John’s closing remarks to the book of the Revelation:
Revelation 22:20 “He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
We do see at the very least that sentiment of a desire
To see Christ reign there coming from John.
But that’s not exactly what Jesus is telling us to pray for here.
For one reason, that reality has already been set.
• It’s going to happen.
• His earthly kingdom will come.
We are all familiar with that famous 2nd Psalm.
Psalms 2:6-9 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”
It’s a done deal.
God has already decreed, even apart from the prayers of His people.
Jesus is coming to reign.
Another thing that is set is the timing of it.
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”
Now I’m not saying we don’t pray for this, or yearn for this.
It is not redundant to pray for things God has already ordained.
In fact, God many times molds the requests of our hearts
To pray for these things.
(That is even a means God uses to accomplish His will)
BUT I THINK THERE IS A MORE ACCURATE APPLICATION
TO WHAT JESUS IS TEACHING HERE.
If you will take a moment and contemplate the preaching of Jesus thus far, I think this will make more sense.
Information regarding the kingdom
Has really been the focal point of Jesus preaching.
It begins:
Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 4:17 “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Even in Luke’s gospel we recognize the sending out of the 70:
Luke 10:8-11 “Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is set before you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘ The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ “But whatever city you enter and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet we wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’”
EVEN LATER in Luke’s gospel when Jesus cast out a demon He will say:
Luke 11:20 “But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.”
In Matthew 13 our Lord delivers 7 parables, all of which are about the kingdom.
• Soils
• Tares
• Mustard Seed
• Leaven
• Treasure in a Field
• Pearl of Great Value
• Head of a Household
All of those deal with the kingdom of heaven as a present reality, Which is coming NOW
Not just a future kingdom coming later.
THE PREACHING OF OUR LORD
Was not just about His future return and reign upon the earth,
IT WAS ABOUT ENTERING THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM OF GOD.
Even consider the times when a physical kingdom may have manifested itself.
John 6:15 “So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king, withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone.”
John 18:33-37 “Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?” Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
You can see there again Jesus wasn’t talking about the physical kingdom there.
He was talking about A SPIRITUAL KINGDOM, a kingdom not of this world.
We know it to be the realm of salvation.
• It is those who submit their lives to Jesus as Lord
• Those who are thus granted access into His spiritual realm of salvation.
• Those who are justified by His sacrifice, washed by His word, and sealed by His Spirit
AND WITH THAT UNDERSTANDING
It makes it a little more apparent what Jesus is talking about here
When He tells the disciples to pray “Your kingdom come”
• This is a prayer for spiritual advancement.
• This is a prayer for the salvation of the lost
• A prayer for the sanctification of the saved.
• It is a prayer that Christ would reign as Lord in our lives.
It is a desire epitomized in the command of Peter:
1 Peter 3:15a “but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts…”
And this clarifies the statement.
• When we pray “Your kingdom come” we are praying for the lost to submit to Christ.
• When we pray “Your kingdom come” we are praying for the redeemed to be sanctified and more obedient.
1 Timothy 2:1-4 “First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Paul, speaking about the Jews said:
Romans 10:1 “Brethren, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.”
And of course THAT FITS with what we’ve already learned.
Because God is glorified through the growth of His kingdom.
• God is glorified when sinners repent…
• God is glorified when saints are conformed into the image of Christ…
This is the FOCUS OF OUR PRAYER.
It is primarily that whatever the circumstance,
Whatever the incident, whatever the setting,
That God might use it for the growth of His kingdom
And thus the glory of His name.
It is the Christian’s tunnel vision.
• We are not to get sidetracked on frivolous desires…
• We are not to get distracted with other things…
• It is all about the growth of His kingdom…
Everything we DO, everything we SAY, everywhere we GO,
Everything we pray comes with this focus,
That it may contribute to the growth of God’s kingdom.
It is our necessary focus, even in prayer life.
DOES THAT CHANGE THE WAY YOU PRAY?
• Perhaps our prayers become less about our own personal wants and needs and more about God’s kingdom?
This was the type of focus Jesus introduced as He taught us to pray.
The Foundation, The Chief Motive, The Focus
4) THE DISCERNMENT OF PRAYER (3)
“Give us each day our daily bread.”
Again, this is familiar,
But it is important that we understand what it means.
Certainly on the surface it is a request for provision.
We know God to be our provider, and so we seek Him for provision.
And we present that request to God.
Now, it is important to MAINTAIN OUR FOCUS even in this request.
Remember the teaching of Jesus:
Matthew 6:31-33 “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ “For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
We still understand this request in the context of the entire prayer.
• It is still not for our own selfish desires.
• It still comes with an overall kingdom understanding.
BUT IT IS A CLEAR REQUEST FOR PROVISION.
AND YET IT IS ALSO MORE THAN THAT.
The request for “daily bread” comes from the days of the Exodus.
Do you remember the story?
Exodus 16:1-7 “Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The sons of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the LORD’S hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. “On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt; and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, for He hears your grumblings against the LORD; and what are we, that you grumble against us?”
That was the command.
And then of course, as usual, we see the rebellion.
Exodus 16:17-20 “The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat. Moses said to them, “Let no man leave any of it until morning.” But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.”
Now what was the command there?
• I’ll give you bread for one day (except on the day before the Sabbath)
• If you try to save more, I’ll ruin it.
WHY?
Well, He explains that explicitly in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3 “All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your forefathers. You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”
• Why did God feed them manna?
• Why did God not let them store it up?
Because they were supposed to learn that
Their security was not in their excess, but in their Provider.
Humanity has a tendency to feel secure
So long as we’ve got a good cushion in the bank.
• Dave Ramsey tells us to have a safety fund for a rainy day.
• We are all seasoned to think in terms of retirement and our future.
• Much of the time even our giving is only considered if we have excess and it
won’t affect our security.
And you already know that this is not God’s plan.
He told the children of Israel that
They needed to learn to trust Him, Not their surplus.
• And how we could spend time listening to the warnings of Jesus about not storing up treasures on earth.
• Or we could listen about the rich man who had so much he decided to build larger barns so that his soul could live in ease and comfort.
The command for daily bread was a command determining to trust God.
Are you familiar with the prayer of Solomon?
Proverbs 30:7-9 “Two things I asked of You, Do not refuse me before I die: Keep deception and lies far from me, Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?” Or that I not be in want and steal, And profane the name of my God.”
Solomon saw just as much danger in having more than enough
As he saw in having a lack.
The instruction Jesus gives us here is that we pray for enough for today.
There is even a directive for intercession here because we pray for “our” daily bread.
SO WHY DO WE SAY THIS IS ABOUT DISCERNMENT.
Because it helps you understand better the purpose of prayer;
NAMELY WHAT IT IS NOT FOR.
I’ll read it again because it is so fitting.
James 4:3 “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.”
It is imperative that you understand that
Prayer is not a vending machine.
• We don’t come to God in prayer like He is some cosmic genie in a bottle who is there simply to grant our every whim and desire.
• Prayer is not a means to obtain riches or other comforts.
True prayer is to be that which is in accordance with the will of God.
And to that understanding TAKE BREAD AS THE EXAMPLE.
Has the Lord taught us about how He seeks to provide?
Yes, clearly.
Matthew 6:19-21 “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
With that revealed truth from the Lord, does it make sense then to pray that God will give us extra funds so that we can store them?
OBVIOUSLY NOT.
Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Hence, we pray for daily bread, because that’s all we need today
And we pray for His kingdom to come.
Do you see that?
We learn that prayer is NOT ABOUT getting God to grant our will,
It IS ABOUT praying that our life will bend in accordance with His will.
This, by the way, is precisely what it means to pray “in Jesus name”
We hear that all the time.
• Some have taken that to be another one of those magic phrases, that if you tack it on to the end of your prayer then God has to do it.
John 14:13-14 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.”
Well isn’t that what that means?
You can have anything you want so long as you add “In Jesus name” on the end?
Perhaps John will better clarify it in his epistle:
1 John 5:14 “This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”
A little different there isn’t it?
When we are talking about praying in His name, we are talking about praying “according to His will”.
That’s why we are told not to go asking for riches,
But rather daily bread,
Because God has already revealed
That this is how He seeks to operate with us.
So, when you pray, you learn to pray according to the will of God.
You pray with discernment of God’s will
In fact, I’ll seek to stretch your understanding here a bit more.
Prayer is a great tool that is used to bend our will to God’s.
That is to say, that prayer is not about us changing God’s will,
But rather, God changing ours.
Do you remember that prayer of Moses we saw last week, when he interceded for the Israelites?
• God said He was going to wipe them out and make a nation out of Moses.
• Moses interceded saying that God had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to make descendants from them.
And we read:
Exodus 32:14 “So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
Out of this verse developed a theology known as “Open Theism”.
Basically that everything is open, even God doesn’t know how it’s all going to play out it’s just open and our prayers dictate that end.
That would be a terrifying reality. Fortunately it’s not a true one.
The question in regard to that Moses prayer is this:
Was God really going to destroy all the Israelites?
And the answer to that question is an emphatic “NO”.
God is faithful to His word.
We read in Romans:
Romans 11:29 “for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.”
Rather, what is taking place is God is pushing Moses
To pray according to His will.
God is pushing Moses to pray for the deliverance and well-being of those people.
NOW WHY WOULD GOD DO THAT?
• Because Moses is about to lead these people,
• And one thing that must be solidified in Moses’ mind is that these are God’s people,
• And regardless of how obstinate they become, that’s not going to change.
God used a threat of judgment to motivate Moses to pray
And thus come to a fuller understanding of God’s will in the matter.
Another example of this is Amos.
If you’ve read Amos you know that Amos was a southerner who went north to preach judgment to in the north, and it’s pretty clear that he enjoyed it.
So God gave him this vision.
Amos 7:1-6 “Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold, the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, “Lord GOD, please pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “It shall not be,” said the LORD. Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed the great deep and began to consume the farm land. Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?” The LORD changed His mind about this. “This too shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.”
Again, that wasn’t about Amos changing God,
That was about God changing Amos.
God was teaching that hardened prophet to be compassionate.
He showed Amos the suffering that could occur
To start getting Amos to pray for these people the right way.
And by the way, God does that for us as well.
Things like:
• “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44)
• “I urge that entreaties and prayers…be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority” (1 Tim. 2:1-2)
Those aren’t the natural inclinations of our flesh,
But we are commanded to pray in that way.
So we discern the will of God in Scripture, we pray accordingly,
And we find that through that God changes our hearts.
Prayer then is not a means of getting God to bow to our flesh.
It is a means of getting our flesh to bow to God.
And to that this is what we mean when we talk about
THE DISCERNMENT OF PRAYER.
When we pray, it is not that we come to God with our list of wants and wishes as though our will was sovereign.
When we pray, we come to God and make requests according to His determined will.
• We pray for His glory
• We pray for His kingdom
• We pray for His provision precisely as He has determined to give it.
AND I SHOULD ALSO ADD TO THAT,
That knowing God’s will as revealed in Scripture is so important.
If you don’t know God’s will as He has revealed it in the Bible, then how are you going to know how to pray?
• Are you just going to base your prayers on the desires of your own heart?
• Are you just going to request what seems right to you?
That’s called praying according to your will, not God’s.
It is not human nature to pray simply for daily bread.
Humanity would at least pray for monthly bread, but most likely for endless bread.
But here Jesus tells us only to pray for daily bread
Because that is the way God wanted to deliver it.
And if it is scary to you to pray in this way,
• Then again go back and remember that you are praying to Your Father.
• The One who loves and cares for you.
Have discernment in your prayer
And don’t use it as an opportunity to serve the flesh.
So
• The Foundation of Prayer – God is our Father
• The Chief Motivation for Prayer – That God’s name be hallowed
• The Focus of Prayer – That His kingdom would grow
• The Discernment of Prayer – That we pray according to His will, not our own.
There are two more that we’ll look at next time.
