Redeemer Lutheran Church
Potosi, Missouri
July 28, 2013
Pentecost 10 (Proper 12C)
Luke 11:1-13
Our Father
Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one
of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught
his disciples." 2 And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father,
hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily
bread, 4 and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who
is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation." (Luke 11:1-13 ESV)
In the Name of Jesus, the only Savior of the world,
It’s not surprising that prayer is almost universal. After all, people
seem to know instinctively that there is something, or someone, bigger
than themselves. And the way they address that “something other” is
called prayer. That’s why so many religions have prayer as part of their
teaching or practice.
Of course, the one to whom most people
pray is someone of their own imagination. It has always been that way.
The prophets of Baal prayed mightily that he would send fire to burn up
their offering. But it didn’t happen because Baal is no god at all. The
same was true of the Greeks and Romans and other ancient peoples with
their many gods. And it’s true today as we see in Islam and other modern
religions. While they emphasize prayer as one of their pillars, it’s
all for nothing because they pray to a false god who is no god at all.
Furthermore, all their prayers were nothing but asking for things,
often victory in war or prosperity with crops, hoping their god, or
gods, weren’t angry at them. They didn’t have any way of knowing if
their prayers would find a friendly, receptive ear.
Not so
with our Lord Jesus, though. For He is the true God, the second person
of the Holy Trinity, come in the flesh, to reveal God and His love to us
sinners. “In Him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (Col.
2:9). And what does this God in the likeness of man do? He prays. He
prays to His Father. And what does He pray? Well, we’re not always told.
But, in addition to His prayers that are recorded in Scripture, I’m
sure He prayed the Psalms. In praying, He showed that He fully trusted
His Father to hear and answer His prayer, whatever it was.
In
today’s Gospel, the disciples waited for Jesus to conclude His prayers.
And when He did, one of His disciples requested, "Lord, teach us to
pray, as John also taught his disciples." And if that sounds odd, it’s
not. For such a request demonstrates that we do not by nature know how
to pray, at least not rightly. Thus, if we are to learn to pray, we need
a teacher. And what better teacher that the Lord Jesus?
And
how did He teach them to pray? Like a parent teaches a child – by giving
them the very words to pray. And in those words He teaches them, and
us, to pray with faith in the one true God. He teaches us to address
this God as "Father." Do you realize the blessed privilege that is?
Though we are conceived and born in sin, separated from God, we can call
God “Father,” “Our Father,” because He has made us His children in our
Baptism. We who were dead in our trespasses, God made alive together
with Christ, having forgiven us all our trespasses, canceling the debt
the Law imposes, by nailing it to the cross. (Col. 2:13-14). He claimed
us as His own and put His name on us. And since we are His children, we
can call Him Father and expect good things from Him.
You see,
the Father sent His only-begotten Son into the world so that through
Him the world might be saved. Jesus, the divine Son, born of Mary, is
our Brother. He came to give His life to redeem us for Himself. He came
to shed His holy, precious blood as the perfect and final sacrifice for
the sin of the world, our sin, your sin. His innocent suffering and
death on the cross was accepted by His Father as full payment for your
sins. And because Jesus has suffered the full weight of God’s just wrath
over sin, He has thus won your forgiveness and freed you from that
wrath. So, "Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so
that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of
need." (Heb. 4:16). The Psalmist writes, "As a father has compassion on
his children, so the Lord has compassion of those who fear Him" (Ps.
103:13).
That's what the last few verses of our text are
talking about. "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good
gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give
the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" If earthly fathers, who are
sinful by nature, and whose deeds are tainted by sin, know how to give
good gifts to their children, then certainly our heavenly Father, who is
perfect and holy, will give good gifts to us, His children. And there
is no greater gift than the Holy Spirit. For it is the Holy Spirit who
establishes and sustains our faith and enables us to live godly lives.
Furthermore, “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know
what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us
with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows
what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the
saints according to the will of God.” (Rom. 8:26-27). Thus we are
confident that our Father loves us, hears us, and will help us. What a
wonderful Father we have!
It is only right then, that, when
we address our Father, we give Him thanks and praise and ask for things
which redound to His glory and that are in accord with His good and
gracious will. Thus we pray that His name, holy in itself, is kept holy
among us by true and pure teaching of His Word and our living holy
lives according to it. We pray that His kingdom of grace would come to
us as He sends us the Holy Spirit, so that we believe His holy Word and
lead godly lives, and finally, at our last hour, enter His kingdom of
glory. We pray for the needs of body and earthly life. We pray for
forgiveness and a forgiving spirit. We pray for protection through
temptation and deliverance from bondage to sin and Satan.
As
we pray for all this, we know it’s what God Himself wants us to pray.
And as we repeat Jesus’ words, we learn to realize that they express our
deepest needs. And since those words are God’s Words, we are certain
that He hears them and answers them with a resounding “Yes” in Jesus.
So, beloved, we repeat the words Jesus gave us because they express the
desires of our Father’s heart toward us. And, lest we despair of
praying, and to encourage us to "pray without ceasing," Jesus poses a
hypothetical situation to demonstrate that we should persist in prayer.
Yes, God knows "all that we need to support this body and life," but He
wants us to realize our dependence on Him. He wants us to come to Him
with all our needs and wants. And even though it seems that He is taking
a long time to answer, He wants us to keep praying, not to convince Him
to do what we want, but so we learn evermore to trust in Him. For He
promises to hear and answer our prayers. He never gets tired of hearing
from His children. He doesn’t give us what we want so we’ll leave Him
alone. Instead, He gives us what is best for us because He delights in
giving us gifts. He is more than a friend who will provide just to get
us to stop bothering Him. He neither slumbers nor sleeps. He is always
ready and eager to hear our prayers and to provide for us simply because
He is our Father and He loves us. As we continually come before Him, we
demonstrate that we recognize our dependence on Him. We show that we
rely on Him as the giver of all good gifts.
So when we pray
the Lord's Prayer, rejoice that our dear Lord has taught us so to pray.
Firmly trust that God Almighty hears your prayers for Jesus' sake and
that He is ready, willing and able to answer. And don't have any doubts
that He will provide the very best for you. After all, He sent His Son
to die for your sins. You are His child and He is your Father, and He
forgives you all your sins. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. _______________________________________________
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