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The Message for Oct 1, 2017

Radical Discipleship – The Lord’s Prayer

Matthew 6:5-15

Rob Miller, Pastor

I’m a talker. I’m usually not afraid to speak up or tell you what I think. Truth is: I enjoy having conversations with people of all ages and all walks of life. One time when I was a teenager my older sister, Laura, who was shy and timid said, “Rob, you can have a conversation with anybody, can’t you?” “Yep! Pretty much.” I said.

Now… a good conversationalist (not saying that I am one) is able to maintain a balance between talking and listening. It’s a two way street. Unfortunately, when it comes to having a conversation most of us really don’t listen to one another. Most of us are simply waiting for our turn to speak. We all seem to suffer from“selective listening” especially husbands. I’m guilty of this too.

Consider this: The life of a disciple is one big spiritual conversation with God. And in this conversation we ought to listen twice as much as we speak. That’s why God gave us two ears and one mouth. What we have to say to God is never as important as what God has to say to us. It is a conversationthat happens through prayer.

Prayer is the language of a disciple. Dogs bark. Cats meow. Horses nay. Disciples pray.

In our reading this morning from Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus teaches us about prayer – giving us a model for prayer. We call it The Lord’s Prayer because it came from our Lord, Jesus.

Jesus said…

5“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standingin the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father,who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.7And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.8Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9“This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Fatherin heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10your kingdomcome,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11Give us today our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.’

14For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.15But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

Jesus teaches us how not to pray. He says, in so many words, don’t pray in order to show off in worship or in public;AND there is no need to go on and onand on babbling when you pray. I like that reminder. In other words keep it short and sweet.

Jesus says our personal prayers to God ought to be done in private. The kind of prayer Jesus is talking about is really a personal conversation with God. Keep it short. Longer prayers do not carry more influence than shorter prayers. God already knows what we need even before we say it.

Jesus is saying that we should approach prayer as a conversation with God. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he would often go off to the wilderness, to a mountain, to a solitary place to pray to get away from the distractions of life so he could hear what God had to say to him.

Jesus sets the example for us to follow. He was in constant conversation with his Father in heaven.

So that begs the question – How much time every day should we spend in prayer?

Martin Luther, the Reformer, was a full time seminary professor, a prolific writer, a full time pastor in Wittenberg, and he helped many churches in Germany find the truth of the Gospel. He was a man that worked 24/7. Talk about being a workaholic.

Martin Luther once remarked that,If he didn’t spend at least three hours a day in prayer, he wouldn’t have time for anything.

Sounds illogical, doesn’t it? But oddly enough God promises us that whatever we dedicate to God – our time, our talents, our treasure – God promises to bless us and give us even more.

There really is no excuse for our lack of prayer. How much time does it take to say…

“Thank you, Lord.”

“Help me, Lord.”

“Forgive me, Lord.”

There I just offered three different prayers.

So, Jesus gives us a model prayer, an example, a teaching tool for his disciples to use. The Lord’s Prayer is not a more powerful prayer than some other prayer. It does not have magical powers. It doesnot bring the pray-er someextra-special blessings from God.

On the other hand – it’s easy for us to simply repeat these words of The Lord’s Prayer without even thinking about what we are saying.

If I’m having a conversation with you and it appears like I’m not even paying attention to what I’m saying to you or what you’re saying to me, how would that make you feel? How do you think it makes God feel when we don’t think about what we are saying to God or what God is saying to us?

The Lord’s Prayer is a special prayer, because it teaches us what we should pray for. There are seven petitions, seven requests, seven partsof The Lord’s Prayer. And of those seven, six are for spiritual things. Only one of the seven petitions deals with our physical needs.

“Give us today our daily bread.” In other words, food, we cannot live without food.

Most of the time we pray for things that we need. When we are sick we ask that God heal us. If we need work we ask God for a good job, a new car, the money to buy something we need or want.

  • How often do we ask for more faith?
  • How often do we ask for forgiveness?
  • How often do we ask for help to forgive others?
  • How often do we ask God to use us in spreading God’s grace in the world?

Please understand, we should certainly ask God to provide for our physicalneeds. The point is --it’s a matter of priorities.

This prayer teaches us to focus on what is more important, our spiritual needs. Jesus teaches us to be spiritually minded like he was. Prayerought to be a priority in our lives.

So we ask God to provide for our physicalneeds butmore importantly,we ask God to provide for our spiritual needs. Oh yeah, and don’t let your prayers simply be “give me, give me, give me.” But pray for others too and their needs.

A friend of mine is facing some life and death health issues and the Spirit nudged me to think about him this past week. So I did. I wondered how he was doing. As I found myself thinking about Bill (not his real name) I said a little prayer for him. A prayer that went like this…

Lord, watch over Bill today and provide for his needs.

Then, I sent Bill a text that went like this… Was thinking of you this morning. Said a little prayer for you. Hope you and the family are doing well. Peace.

It’s one thing to pray for someone. It’s another thing to let them know you prayed for them.

He responded, Thank you. Made my day. Heading back to Houston this morning. Hope you and the family are well.

That’s what prayer does. It’s a conversation and it keeps us connected to God and to one another. We should pray often and regularly with boldness and persistence for ourselves and for each other.

Story - there was a fisherman who claimed to be a Christian but he really didn’t practice the faith and he didn’t attend worship. One day he was caught in a terrible storm at sea, so he prayed to God, saying…

“Lord, I know I haven’t prayed to you in 15 years, but if you will save me right now, I won’t bother you again for at least another 15 years.”

Funny story, isn’t it? Sadly, it reflects an attitude that maybe too common these days.

  • God is busy – or so we think...
  • God has a lot more important things to take care of – or so we think…
  • Why bother God with my measly little problems – or so we think…

Why bother? Because God wants us to. God wants us to put our trust, our faith, our hope in God to provide and God does. God wants us to depend on God for everything.

In Luke 11, Jesus says this about prayer,

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.(Luke 11:9-10)

In other words, God will answer our prayers.

St. Paul wrote,

He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? (Romans 8:32)

But wait a minute, does that mean, I could ask God, right here and right now, for a new 2018 Ruby Red Convertible Mustang AND if God doesn’t give it to me. Then God is lying?

Of course not. God knows what is best for us. God often say “yes” to our prayers. But sometimes God says “no.” Sometimes God even says “Wait. Just Wait.” God acts in ways that is good for us even though we don’t always understand in the moment.

We could say,There really is no such thing as an unanswered prayer.

That reminds me of a countrysong by Garth Brooks, called, “Unanswered Prayers.” Maybe you’ve heard it. The song doesn’t talk about unanswered prayers, but rather it talks about how God… Well… I’ll let Garth Brooks tell you.

Check out this video song…

What a great song and what a great message too.

The point is this, when it comes to prayer, we don’t always know what’s best for us, but God certainly does. That’s why Jesus gave us a model prayer. Use it… Use it often… Use it regularly…

This week I invite you to be good conversationalists with God and withothers. You won’t regret it. Amen.