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Luke 11
The Lord's Prayer
- Jesus is praying
- The Lord's Prayer is roughly the same in St Matthew and St Luke's gospels, but it's framed differently
- Teach us to pray
- Prayer in those days was not as casual as it is for us... for us we can go pray and just say extemporaneous prayers and just shut our door and speak to God
- In the pagan societies, prayer usually meant reciting incantations and doing magic and calling on these demon gods to try and get what you want. If someone wanted a good yield in his crops, he would find the "god of crops" and offer sacrifices and prayers to it hoping that his crops give a good yield
- In the Jewish societies, they had some set prayers and set sacrifices outlined in the law... but many times we see in the Old Testament that the Lord rejects them because they are coming and saying these prayers, thinking they are justified - despite being completely wicked
- In the first century, leaders of Jews would tell them when to pray and what to say and when to say what - St John the Forerunner did this (Luke 11:1) and there are other indications of teachers who did this... usually it would be certain psalms and certain times in the day
- This carried into Christianity as we see in our Agpeyas
- The disciples are asking for the structure - if prayer isn't about magically getting God to do what you want, then what is it and how do we do it?
- Prayer isn't about changing God, it's about changing us
- Draw close to God in prayer and the prayers change us
- Prayers of repentance are for us to change, not for God to be happy instead of sad. We seek healing & cleansing
- Prayers of thanksgiving are for us to give us a grateful heart and fight our tendency to greed, selfishness and pride
- Sometimes we pray for someone sick to get better and he doesn't get better so we say "Prayer doesn't work" - but that is because we are assuming the purpose of prayer is to get God to heal this person... magic!
- There is a prayer in 2 Chronicles called "The Prayer of Jabez" - a few years ago, some protestants started to advertise it as "If you say this prayer five times a day then God will give you money" or "then God will bless you" - that's magic! That's paganism! That's not Christianity! That's not what prayer is! It suggests that God ought to do what man wants instead of man seeking God's will
- Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name
- The Lord is introducing the concept of "Father" to describe God - and it's not our earthly father (our dad) but our Heavenly Father
- This is the opposite of what the Gentiles and Pagans would think... no one wanted to be Zeus' friend or have Zeus as father... they wanted to appease the gods to stay away from them and leave them alone
- St Paul will talk a lot about "adoption" and how we have been adopted as "sons of God" as explaining HOW God is our Father and HOW we became His sons
- When we pray, we are developing a relationship with Him - it's not just asking Him to do things or asking Him not to smite us... it's akin to a healthy relationship of children with their father
- Even though He's our Father, it doesn't mean we'll be informal with Him like "our dad" but He is Holy and He is God who created the universe and the angels and us
- Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven
- Your kingdom come - in those days people thought that meant the Messiah would overthrow the Roman and restore the kingdom to Israel
- "Your kingdom come" really means "Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"
- They thought "Your kingdom come" meant "come into existence because it doesn't exist now" - but Christ says "come to earth as it is in heaven"
- God is already ruling over His Creation... in heaven; in the unseen place. We are praying that that kingdom will come to exist on earth in the same way... where God's will is done throughout the world.
- Give us day by day our daily bread
- We're asking God to care for our needs
- St Luke will continue to expand on this
- Worrying about what we have and what we need
- God knows what you need before you ask... Is it that if you don't ask, God won't provide your daily meals? So why ask?
- Prayer is for US
- If I am praying for God to give me food and clothing and my daily needs... then I'm not going to be worrying about them myself
- And if God gives me all of the things I need... I'm not going to take credit for them myself
- It is to change ourselves to know that the things I have come from God and the things I need tomorrow will come from God
- Forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us
- St Matthew talks about "trespasses" whereas St Luke talks about "debts"
- St Luke tends to take things about wealth more literally
- "Blessed are the poor" in St Luke; "Blessed are the poor in spirit" in St Matthew
- We are asking God for forgiveness of our sins and trespasses against Him, but if we do that we only have the right to ask for as much forgiveness as we are showing to others...
- If the only forgiveness I'm going to get from God is the amount I give to other people... I might be in trouble
- By asking in this way, I'm not trying to get God to do something "to forgive me" but it's for me to learn how to forgive others
- It calls us to step back and begin by forgiving others... then I can ask God for forgiveness
- It also points out that all sin has two dimensions
- Any sin you commit doesn't affect just you... it affects the people around you, the people you sin against, the people who know that you've done it and what example you set, disappointment, loss of trust, etc.
- If there's a problem between me and someone else, that relationship must be mended first before I can ask forgiveness from God... sometimes we say "well I confessed... God forgave me so you should forgive me"
- Forgiveness is not "getting off the hook" - we have hurt, harmed, corrupted ourselves and other people... that has to be remedied both in us and in other people
- Zacchaeus - "Salvation has come to his house" wasn't as soon as Jesus entered, but as soon as Zacchaeus made things right for what he's done (by returning four fold and half of his goods)
- And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
- God tempts no one (James 1:13)
- God is not tempting someone to sin
- Temptation can be trial, test, etc.
- We know that God is in control of the future and knows what will happen
- If tomorrow I'm tried or tested or tempted, I'm probably going to give in to them (if I'm being honest about my own weakness and sinfulness).
- We aren't asking God to take away the temptation, but we are confessing our own weakness. And if I manage to avoid those sins tomorrow it's not because of me, but it's because God protected me.
Friend at Midnight
- Even if this guy isn't a great friend, even if this guy has done this before - you'd give it to him just to get rid of him!
- Jesus is talking about prayer
- Some say this story means that "God will give you whatever you ask for!" No!
- The context of the story is persistence in prayer
- Even if someone doesn't really care about you, if you're persistent, he will give you what you're looking for
- If that's true, then how much more will God - who loves and cares for you - give you?
- Persistence in Prayer is important - God is almost saying that you won't get what you want the first time, but must be persistent
- It's not about saying the right words or saying them the right amount of times to get God to do it for you
- In the process of prayer, sometimes we realize that the thing we thought we needed... isn't what's needed
- Or we realize that we can get along fine without it
- Sometimes we just need time to grow through prayer
- It's not that God will eventually give you what you want, but that God will give you what you need and the process and persistence in prayer will open your eyes to what it is you actually need and that God has been providing it for you the whole time
- "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts..."
- He's talking to the disciples... why call them evil?
- These are the disciples who argued about who was greater
- These are the disciples who wanted fire from heaven on the Samaritan village
- These are the disciples who saw someone casting out demons in His name and told them to stop
- Lest the disciples adopt the attitude of the Pharisees - that they are better or more good or more special than anyone else, He reminds them that they are sinners too
- In reality, we are all sinners and we are all evil and it is a message for all of us
- "How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"
- Not "how much more will He give good gifts" but "give the Holy Spirit"
- The Fruit of the Spirit is what God will give us:
- Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control
