Lord, Teach Us to Pray - Luke 11:1-4 - July 16, 2023

 Luke 11:1-4 Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 11:1-4, and that’s on page 869 in the pew Bibles.

This morning we are going to turn our attention to some of the most well known words of Jesus, or at least a version of them in Luke 11, a passage known as the Lord’s Prayer.

Matthew records these words and includes them during the Sermon on the Mount, Luke, includes it more thematically in this section on prayer not chronologically.

There are actually two prayers in our text this morning, one from the disciples and one for the disciples, let’s look at the text and see.

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.”

Now it’s our turn, let’s pray.

Did you see the two prayers in the text?

The first prayer is from the disciples: “Lord teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

This is a good prayer, there is wisdom in that prayer.

John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray, and now One far greater than John is here, Lord teach us how we ought to pray.

Matthew excludes this first prayer, instead he records Jesus saying in Matthew 6:7-9, 7 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:

This is a good reminder to start out with, don’t heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard for their many words…

This is an echo of something we talked about last week, performance based Christianity. Our prayers are not more effective if they’re longer. They are not more effective if they are more eloquent. They are not more effective if we say “Father,” or, “Lord,” every other word.

There is also a key difference between Matthew’s record and Luke’s.

Matthew records Jesus saying, “Pray then like this,” and Luke records Jesus saying, “When you pray, say…”

This is not a contradiction, it’s not a restrictor, it’s a broadener of our understanding of prayer. The fact that the Holy Spirit included both in His Word means that this prayer of Jesus is good for us to use in its very words as well as in its formula for prayer, its categories.

What I mean to say is that if you want to memorize the Lord’s Prayer and recite it daily, go for it, if you want to use the Lord’s Prayer as a framework for how you pray and what you pray for, go for it, these are its intended purpose, provided you aren’t just heaping up empty words, rather praying from your heart.

I’d like to give our time this morning to examining the categories and formula of the Lord’s Prayer.

Because, as John Calvin wrote, “It was not the intention of the Son of God to prescribe the words which we must use, so as not to leave us at liberty to depart from the form which He has dictated. His intention rather was, to guide and restrain our wishes, that they might not go beyond those limits: and hence we infer, that the rule which He has given us for praying aright relates not to the words, but to the things themselves.”

Just like the Ten Commandments have two distinct tables within them, one table concerned with loving the Lord your God and the other with loving your neighbor, the Lord’s Prayer had two distinct sections even within Luke’s abbreviated version.

And Just like the Ten Commandments the first portion of this prayer is concerned with the glory of God and second with the good of the person praying. So let’s look at those component parts one at a time.

The first part, the first word, is the most important and, in that day, the most controversial: “Father.”

What made praying to God and calling Him, “Father,” controversial? It’s not at all controversial today. It’s a popular notion that God is Father of all people ever; that we are all children of God because He is the Creator. And while it’s true that everyone was created by God we are not His natural children, merely His creation. The only way to become a child of God is through adoption.

When Jesus called God, “Father,” the First Century Jewish understanding was that Jesus was Himself claiming to be God, to be equal with God. This is exactly what the Pharisees charged Him with that led to His crucifixion.

John 5:18 says, This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

Jesus refers to God as His Father in all His recorded prayers except His prayer from the cross where He quoted Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

But as controversial as it was for Jesus to call God, “Father,” it is beneficial for us, His disciples, to call Him, “Father.” In fact, it is only because we are His disciples that we are able to call God Father, because it is only by faith in Jesus Christ that we are adopted as God’s children.

We can’t call on God as Father without faith in Christ that makes us His children – there is no other way of praying rightly without dependence on the Mediator, Jesus.

As Romans 8:14-16 says,

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…

Abba, Father, hallowed be your Name.

What does that mean, hallowed be your Name? It means that the Name of God is to be revered as holy, that the Father deserves all the glory, weight, and worth that we could ascribe to Him, that the glory of the Lord would shine in the world and be duly acknowledged by all mankind. His Name should never be used as a curse word, nor should His Name be thrown around and slandered. 

His Name is holy and as such we should regard what He says to be right, no matter what. We must embrace His Word with the obedience of faith because He stands completely apart as something wholly other and completely higher than us.

Your kingdom come.

I used to think that this meant the return of Christ, that we were instructed to pray for the coming of God’s eternal kingdom. The truth is, the date for that is already set and the Father is the only One who knows it.

In reality, in praying for the Father’s kingdom to come we are praying for His reign in the hearts of mankind through faith in Jesus through the preaching of His Word and the work of the Holy Spirit.

We are praying that He would subdue the desires of the flesh. Really, what is prayer other than an admission of our powerlessness and His almightiness? When we pray rightly we submit to the power and will of the Father in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

We ought to check our prayers and see if they sound different from that.

The first half of this prayer is the same as the first table of the Law, loving the Lord your God, your Father through faith in Jesus with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And what about the second half? In the second half we can see Jesus’ concern for our present, our past, and our future.

Give us each day our daily bread… Here we pray for the present.

Is it wrong to pray that the Father would provide temporal necessities for daily living? Obviously not!

But there is a restraint built in for us, to restrain our desires and to teach us that we depend every moment on the goodness and kindness of God. Not to teach us to depend on God but to teach us that we depend on God whether we realize it or not.

And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us… Here we pray about our past, even if it is very recent past.

First of all let me say that Jesus is not saying that our forgiveness is based on our forgiveness of others, rather, that He is implying that we ought not be so bold as to ask forgiveness for sins without the willingness to forgive others.

Sin is a moral debt, a debt that we can never repay. When Jesus died on the cross one of His last words was, “tetelestai,” “it is finished.” This word literally means, “the debt is paid,” the moral debt that we owed God has been paid by the blood of Christ and only by faith in Him can we receive the credit for that payment into our moral bank account.

And finally, lead us not into temptation… This is prayer for our future.

James 1:13-15 says,

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

It is not God that leads us into temptation, in fact, unless God Himself delivers us we will constantly and consistently fail. We have no strength for living a holy life except that we obtain it from the Father.

Our prayer is that the Father will lead us away from the situations and circumstances that will test our resolve against both the inward and outward pressure and desire to sin.

The devil wants to tempt us, he wants us to fail, he wants us to be destroyed. But look at your flesh, your carnal desires, are they any different? If left on our own we would destroy ourselves for sure, without the Father’s intervention we are done for.

John Calvin again wrote, “Whenever we engage in prayer, there are two things to be considered, both that we may have access to God, and that we may rely on Him with full and unshaken confidence.”

The Lord’s Payer give us a framework for prayer, a framework for worship and submission, or dependence and forgiveness. As Martin Luther put it, “The Christian prays a never-ending Lord’s prayer.”

Amen.

Priorities - Luke 10:38-42 - July 9, 2023

 Luke 10:38-42 Priorities

Good morning! Turn with me in your Bibles to Luke chapter 10 and verse 38, that’s on page 869 in the pew Bibles. We are going to take a look at the account of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary.

This was the same Martha and Mary that had a brother named Lazarus that lived in Bethany just outside of Jerusalem. Lazarus wasn’t mentioned here in our text, just Martha and Mary and the contrast between these two ladies has been the subject of every sermon ever preached on this text, ever. 

Be like Mary, not like Martha, let’s close in prayer.

Well, let’s look at the text and see if there isn’t a bit more to it than that.

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Let’s pray.

There have been a lot of unfair and inaccurate contrasts between these two ladies.

Some say that Martha was worldly-minded, all about the things of the world with her hustling and bustling in the kitchen distracted by the worries of the world where Mary was heavenly minded, all about the Lord Jesus and His teaching, sitting at His feet.

Some say that Martha represents works-based religion where Mary represents living by faith alone.

Some say that Martha represents the “Type A” personality which is forceful and direct and is busy putting everything in straight lines and Mary is a “Type B” personality just kind of going with the flow and laid back in the living room chilling with Jesus and that’s way better.

Some say that Martha is representative of an active life where Mary represents a contemplative life, and Jesus affirms that it is far better to sit alone and consider life, the universe, and everything, not just work, work, work all the time, you don’t have to do anything, you just have to be and that’s far better.

Let’s not forget, first of all that both of these ladies were friends and disciples of Jesus, and both were trying to serve the Lord Jesus whole heartedly, they just each had their own idea as to how to do that best. For Martha it was giving and for Mary it was receiving.

It’s clear that Jesus affirms Mary’s actions over Martha’s but let’s take a look at Martha and her actions and see where she may have gone off course.

First of all, it was Martha that welcomed Jesus into her home. Martha may have been a widow or just the eldest of these three siblings, we don’t really know. Either way, this was her house.

Martha clearly wanted to present the best her household could afford to Jesus and the disciples and she was working hard to accomplish that.

I have to ask you, do you blame her? Can you blame her for being upset with Mary for just sitting around and not helping her get things done?

I can’t help but think of Martha Stewart when I read this account, and not just because of the name. I can picture her with all four burners of the stove with pots bubbling and a roast in the oven and the rolls, and doing the dishes, and who is going to fold the napkins into swans? Where is Mary? These napkins are not going to fold themselves! Somebody needs to set out the nice dishes!

And this is where Martha erred. Her first problem was not that she was working too hard, it’s that she had a bad attitude about it and tried to get Jesus to side with her.

40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

Martha was clearly given to hospitality, her doors were wide open with welcome. But she is a great example of good things becoming bad things when they are not put in their proper place. She had become distracted and disgruntled and made more of her tasks and of herself than she ought to.

She was well-meaning in her service but her priorities were out of line and she was incorrect in her assumption about what Jesus wanted.

She assumed that Jesus would want the best that her household had to offer, and that best meant a well plated meal and an immaculate table and all the things that put your house in magazines and on HGTV.

Is that what Jesus wanted, did he want her best? Yes. Was her best her abilities? No.

Jesus Christ, Messiah, the Son of God was in her living room and she buried His instruction and teaching and presence with excessive and unnecessary preparations instead of accepting the benefit of being in His presence and hearing His Word.

But Martha is not the bad guy in this story and Mary the good guy. There is harmony to be found between the two, as Charles Wesley wrote, “Martha’s careful hands and Mary’s loving heart.”

41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus answered her with love and compassion, Martha, Martha… You’ve chosen hard work, and Mary has chosen rest, you are anxious and troubled about many things but there is only one thing that is necessary to rightly receive me.

So there was Martha working away in the kitchen trying her best to serve the Lord while Mary sat at His feet and listened to His teaching and Jesus said that she had chosen the good portion and He wouldn’t take it from her.

Martha was out there giving it her all, all worked up and worried about the things that didn’t really matter and certainly wouldn’t last. She was trying to give Jesus her best and thought that Mary should too, but her best wasn’t her work, or talents, or abilities, the best she had to give was her heart.

That’s what Mary chose.

The truth is that the servant of God is hungry for the Word of God where we experience the presence of God, the servant of Christ longs to hear the voice of Christ.

To put this in practical terms, the church lawn needs mowing and Martha chose to mow the lawn during the church service, she’s downstairs making lunch during the sermon! This is useless activity because it is based on improper priorities.

Listening to the Word of God must have the utmost priority, and I’m not just talking about listening to me. In fact, if you are only listening to me or Sundays you are going to starve and your walk with the Lord is going to suffer.

We have to saturate ourselves in the Word of God. Listen to sermons, listen to the Alistair Begg’s, the John Piper’s, the RC Sproul’s, the Ray Steadman’s. If you want some recommendations for good preachers to listen to or authors to read come talk to me after, I’d love to give you some.

The simple truth is that our commitment to Christ must be a priority over our achievement for Christ. As Alistair Begg put it, “Beware the trap of performance based Christianity.”

We are often tempted to get so busy doing for Christ that we neglect being with Christ.

Jesus said in John 15:4-5, a chapter all about this subject,

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

There is certainly nothing wrong with “doing for Christ,” we are all called to serve Him and there is certainly a lot of work to do, but our service to Christ must come after our devotion to Christ, our time in His Word and in prayer, our time hearing good preaching and reading good books.

We have to fill the buckets of our hearts with the Word of God so when we are asked we have something good to pour out.

38 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Mary is not the hero of this story, Jesus is.

Choose the good portion and fill your heart with the Word of the Lord.

Amen.

The Better Samaritan - Luke 10:25-37 - July 2, 2023

 Luke 10:25-37 The Better Samaritan

Good morning! Turn with me to Luke chapter 10. We are going to look at verses 25-37, on page 869 in the pew Bibles, a passage well known as the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Often times when we look at parables and accounts in Scripture we tend to identify with one or more of the characters in the story. It’s popular in the church today to paint ourselves into the picture, and if we’re honest, we try to identify with the hero.

When we read about David and Goliath we turn the story into one about us and how we should face our giants with faith like David had.

This makes for engaging sermons to be sure, but I’m not sure how true and helpful they actually are.

This morning we are going to look at another one of those accounts and examine the layers of it, the parable of the Good Samaritan, one of the most well known parables of Jesus.

Let’s read it together.

25 And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Let’s pray.

So here we have a lawyer questioning Jesus. Now first of all we have to remember that this is not a lawyer like we have today, this was not an attorney, or a trial lawyer, or prosecutor. This was an expert in the Law of Moses, a religious leader and scholar of the Jews.

But, like any good lawyer would, when he questions Jesus to put Him to the test, he asks a question that he already knows the answer to.

“Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

Now we can’t go another inch further without recognizing that this is one of the most fundamentally important questions anybody could ever ask, what do I have to do to get eternal life?

Maybe some here, if you thought about it for a moment, might struggle with the answer to this question. How do we get eternal life? I hope by the end of our time here this morning that there will be no doubt as to the answer to that fundamental question.

So what does Jesus say in response to this man’s question? As He often does, He answers his question with another question, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

And the man answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

He is quoting directly from Deuteronomy 6:5, also known as the “Shema,” as well as Leviticus 19:18.

This is known as the Great Commandment and Jesus affirms it as such when he tells this guy, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.”

Now this points directly to a question that perhaps you may have never considered, how were people in the Old Testament saved, how did they inherit eternal life? Here is the answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

Loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength meant trusting Him and trusting His promise to send a Redeemer. Even in the Old Testament people were justified by faith in the Messiah, Messiah that was coming just as we are justified by faith in the Messiah that has come, Jesus Christ.

In Great Commandment we have the summary of the two tables of the Law, the two halves of the Ten Commandments. The first four Commandments have to do with loving the Lord our God, and the second six have to do with loving our neighbor.

So this lawyer knew the answer to the question already, he knew the Law, but what he didn’t know was himself.

The lawyer asks, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 [Jesus] said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” 27 And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” 

How should the lawyer have responded? He should have admitted that it was impossible for him to do this, that he had never been able to do this, and never would be able to do this. He should have asked Jesus how it was possible and I’m sure that Jesus would have instructed him on the grace of God that was at work even at that moment… But that’s not what the lawyer said.

29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

It’s important for us to be aware that the Jews in the First Century had very defined rules regarding who their neighbor was because of what the Law said about loving their neighbor. The trouble is that they got it wrong. Their definition of who their neighbor was was anyone who they thought was worthy of being their neighbor. This excluded Gentiles and Samaritans who they considered their enemies.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:43-45, 43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

Loving your enemies was totally contrary to what they had been taught, loving those who you considered your neighbor was fine though. 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was around 17 miles of steep rocky terrain, a true wilderness, a home to robbers and thieves looking to prey on unsuspecting travelers. The victim in Jesus’ parable was a Jewish man traveling alone through this treacherous wilderness and fell victim to robbers who robbed him, stripped him, beat him and left him for dead. In those conditions he certainly would have died unless someone came along and helped him.

The Priest and the Levite, traveling separately, most likely on their way home after their service in the Temple, came upon the man on the road. They knew this road, and they both knew that if they stopped to help they would most likely be next. What if it were a trap and this guy was the bait?

JJ van Oosterzee wrote, “Neither the voice of humanity, nor that of nationality, nor that of religion, speaks so loudly to their heart as the desire for self-preservation.”

They didn’t care who that guy was or what happened to him. Their hearts were hard and completely devoid of compassion so they left the man there to die.

 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’

 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

The lawyer whom Martin Luther calls, “a haughty hypocrite,” won’t even say the word Samaritan in his response, only, “the one who showed him mercy.”

So let’s consider the layers of the parable.

On the surface the lesson is very clear: all mankind is our neighbor regardless of race or creed or anything else, and we are commanded to love them as we love ourselves.

We turn the priest and the Levites into the bad guys and the Samaritan is clearly the good guy. And of course with every good story we want to identify with the good guy so we imagine ourselves as the Samaritan and remind ourselves to do good for people regardless of where they are from or what they are like because that is what Jesus said to do.

The end, right?

But maybe there’s more to it. And at the risk of turning this parable into an allegory, which not a lot of Biblical scholars are fans of, maybe there is more to learn from this than to just be nice to everybody.

Maybe we aren’t the hero of the story even though we might like to be.

Maybe we are the victim. Maybe we are the guy on the side of the road that has been beaten and stripped and left for dead. But instead of the robbers being random strangers, the robbers are our own sin, our own inability to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, to say nothing of loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Maybe the Priest and the Levite are religion and good works, unable and unwilling to do anything to help our dire condition, passing by on the other side of the road to get away from us and our wretchedness.

Maybe Jesus is the Good Samaritan, the Better Samaritan, that forfeits His own life and safety and comfort to tend to our wounds, but instead of wine and oil He pours out His own blood that by it our wounds would be healed.

Jesus is always the hero of the story and we are the ones in need of rescuing, and so was that lawyer.

He asked the fundamental question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 

In the parable, along with you and me, the lawyer is the one in the ditch dying, and the answer to the question for him and for us is the same, trust the Rescuer, the Better Samaritan, Jesus Christ, to bind your wounds and pay for you to have a place in His eternal kingdom with His own blood on the cross.

To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ and the help of the Holy Spirit, that’s the only way it’s ever been possible.

Go and do likewise!

Amen.