The Progression of Prayer - Pt. 1

We're going to talk about the next two weeks. I've entitled my sermon the progression of prayer. And I think you'll see this in both of these sermons as this is broken down. It's in Luke 11, verses 1-13, and I'll read that to you in a minute. But before I do that, I want to make some introductory remarks about the topic of prayer before we look and study the word. Today, we'll look at the prayer itself that is given there by Jesus. And next Sunday, we'll talk about the parables of this prayer.

You'll be happy that when I started working on this, I thought back to when I have taught on the Lord's Prayer before. And usually, we took it phrase by phrase. It took us weeks to get through the Lord's Prayer before we ever looked at anything that tied in with it. Well, I'm not going to do that. We're not going to spend weeks looking at it, but we will look at it today. The progression of this prayer is illustrated by the progressive flow from the Father to deliverance. You'll see that.

And within the prayer, and from asking, seeking, and knocking within the parables, you'll see that progression of asking, seeking, and knocking. You know, remember last week, we studied and finished up Chapter 10, where we learned that the one thing necessary, what it said there, the better or the good part, the one thing necessary that Mary illustrated was her intense worship of Jesus. You know, there may not be a whole lot of us here today, but I'm going to tell you, there's a lot of worship that went on in this place. I could feel the heart of worship this morning. You know, it's interesting to me how Jesus follows Mary's acts of worship with a teaching on prayer. You know, I told you last week, I don't know if prayer leads us into the house of worship or if worship drives us to our knees to pray. You know, I kind of think it's both, and it's both things.

But whatever the case, Luke follows Mary's worship with a shorter version of the Lord's Prayer found in Matthew 6. Some scholars will call this, and I like this, the disciples' prayer, teach us to pray, the disciples' prayer, because it's a model for the disciples to use in their own prayer lives. These scholars contend that the Lord's Prayer, and we're not going to study it, it's a long prayer, is in John 17, and it is intense. I encourage you to go read John 17. It's Jesus praying the high priestly prayer, and that's his prayer. And it really consumes from the beginning to the end, and the very purpose of him coming. Matthew's version of the Lord's Prayer is initiated by Jesus.

I want you to notice that. And probably in his early stages of ministry, Luke's version is initiated by a disciple's request, and probably later in his ministry. Some people have tried to do a comparative study and tried to fit these in together, and most scholars today would say, you know, he used it at two different times. So in a different setting, in different places, in different times, in different purpose. It's important to keep in mind, if you're going to try to do a comparative study of this prayer, keep it in its context. You can't force it together. In my opinion, now this is just my opinion.

I didn't read this anywhere. I didn't hear this anywhere. But in my opinion, Luke's contextual setting is not just a prayer about how to pray, but it's a prayer that creates an entrance into a relationship with Heavenly Father, and with Jesus, who is prophetically called the Everlasting Father, in Isaiah 9, 6. Jesus himself says, when you have seen me, you have seen the Father. He also said, I and the Father are one.

Now, that's mind-boggling, isn't it? Two different persons, yet they're one. When you've seen Jesus, you've seen the very nature of God. You've seen the nature of the Heavenly Father. So, I want us to read this entire story that gives the prayer and the parables of the prayer, and then we're going to just look at the prayer today. And we're not going to go in detail.

I'm actually just kind of summarizing each point to you. You know, I have done studies on the Lord's prayer, and you know, each phrase we spent an hour on, it didn't even cut the surface of it. So, I want us to look at the whole story in its entirety, and then we'll come back and just look at the prayer.

Luke 11, 1 through 13. And it came about that while he was praying in a certain place. Now, just let me say to you there that Jesus had a practice of withdrawing and praying, and his disciples saw this. In fact, they were even invited in at times in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter, James, and John withdrew with him and stood at a distance while he prayed. They were invited in to do that concert of prayer with him. After he had finished, you know, I thought, I wonder how long that prayer time was.

After he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, now, it does not identify who this disciple is. But one of the disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples. That's referring to John the Baptist. It was common that the rabbis of that day would teach their disciples how to pray. And so this disciple is saying to Jesus, Lord, teach us how to pray. I think Jesus is not just teaching them, like I said earlier, is inviting them into a relationship with the Father, and not only the Father, but him, when he begins to give them this outline of prayer. Verse two, and he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also, this is a big statement, also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

If that won't get your attention, and lead us not into temptation. Now, if you know the full meaning of the Lord's Prayer, he shortened it, hadn't he? For this purpose and this setting, it is shortened. It's almost a summary of the other prayer. And he said to them, suppose one of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and say to him, I have a friend, lend me three loaves, and a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him. In other words, they'd already eaten all the bread at their house, and they didn't have a lot of leftovers back then. And from inside, inside, he shall answer and say, don't bother me, the door has already been shut, and my children and I are in bed.

You know, it was common back then in the little shacks that these people lived in, that they had one big mattress, maybe raised on a platform, and they all slept together in one bed. Don't bother me. My children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything. If I do, I'm going to disturb the whole household. Well, he already did, replying, didn't he? I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet, because of his persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

God didn't give up, did he? And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened. You see the progression there? For everyone who asks, receives. And he who seeks, finds.

And to him who knocks, it will be opened. But suppose one of your fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he asks for an egg, he will not give him a serpent, a scorpion, will he? Or then, being evil, know how, if you then being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more shall your heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? We're going to look at those parables of the prayer next week because there's a lot of there that we need to discern.

But before we do that, let's look at the prayer. Let's see what the prayer says to us. So I want to point out some of the important concepts in this prayer in verses two through four. Father. Father. Now it refers to, in the parable here, about the corrupt evil fathers, but how even they will give good gifts to their children. Let me say that's not always the case.

Some of the corruptness and evilness of the fall upon fathers and families, and I have been many times with children that have been abused physically and emotionally, ignored by their earthly fathers, felt like they were just in the way in the family. I'm going to tell you the corruptness of sin, and in our society today, the absence of a good father is prevalent. And I don't know what your experiences are with your earthly fathers, so I'm qualifying a little bit here. Some evil fathers that give good gifts to their children, there are those that are not giving and caring and loving and protected and supported. I've helped and prayed with and discipled youth all through my ministry. And invited in people in my churches to help disciple some of these that didn't have good families. And I've helped and prayed with people in my churches to help disciple some of these that didn't have good families.

Y'all know about that. We invited people in to help disciple. To love. And so I say to you today, I hurt and grieve with you because of your loss of a good father on earth. But let me say to you, in the discipling process of helping these youth through that hurt to healing, we introduce them to a good father. And when they get to know a good father, you hear what I'm saying? Their whole lives were changed when they got to know the heavenly father.

Because he does give good gifts. And he does want the best for you. And he has purpose for your life. Your life is not ended because of somebody's screw up on this earth.

You hear what I'm saying? Your life is not ended because the father invites you into a relationship with him. So I want you to see that. Now, the reason I say that is, if you look at the language here, father is Abba. Jesus is calling his father, Daddy. Now, that's not the term the Jews used to speak of the father in heaven.

They used Abinu. Abba was personal. Approachable. Close. Intimate. But, Abinu was an abstract. Withdrawn. Untouchable view of God.

It's almost like God created and then withdrew. And you're just here to muddle through the best you can. I think Jesus intentionally changes the language here to Daddy. So that his disciples would know, when they enter the throne of grace to approach the heavenly father, he is their daddy. Now, that's why I talked about some of our views of our earthly daddies are not good. And I'm sorry. But that does not prevent you from getting to know the heavenly daddy.

In fact, he invites you. I think when Jesus says here, father, he's inviting the disciples into a daddy relationship. A close relationship with the heavenly father. Daddy. Now, if I went on and started talking about daddy, I could get quite emotional about my daddy. But I'm not going to put you through that misery, so we'll just stop right there. But I had a dad that was lost and a sinner and evil and corrupt by sin's nature.

We all do. But I had one that also knew how to give good gifts. And how to love me, even though he was totally lost at times and a sinner. But our heavenly daddy is approachable. I want you to hear that. Secondly, let's look at holy, hallowed be thy name. His name, his nature is unlike ours.

I want you to hear that first. His nature is unlike ours. Now, we are created in the image of God. In the garden, we were unmarred. Our nature was undisturbed. It was not marked with sin. But a rebellion took place and we fell.

And so the restoration of the original Eden experience comes through us being born again in Christ. That's where the creation begins. We become new creations. The holiness of God begins to heal the brokenness and unholiness in our lives.

Hallowed be thy name. Holy are you God. But he wants to stamp that image on your broken nature. You see that? We are in recreation process when we come to Christ. Moving from that marred nature to a healed nature. People should see, now this comes through process of justification and sanctification and glorification.

But people should see the image of Christ stamped upon our natures. Some of you, all of us in fact probably could point to a person or group or church that embodied the image of Christ for us. And began that process of where we came to Christ. And then we started that process of imaging Christ. Hallowed be thy name. God is so, theologian call it the otherness of God. He is so other than we are.

But after the fall, he invaded. He invaded this world through Jesus his son. So that we might see how holy God is. How other God is and yet approach him. And he would change us. So I want you to realize that holy is not some abstract term. It's a term that bears image on our heart.

When I was in seminary, Dr. John Oswald who taught Old Testament history and criticism of the Pentateuch. The first five books of the Bible. A friend of mine, Jack Webb and I were in that class together. And we were dealing with the holiness of God. And that day, Dr. Oswald described the otherness of God so profoundly.

That the hundred of us that were in that class were just weeping before God in the class. How holy God is. And when Jack and I left there, there was only one place for us to go. We ran to the little chapel outside the gymnasium in the student center. And we got there. And before we left, it was completely full of seminarians that had been in that class. And we were literally prostrate before God.

Praying, Oh God, have mercy on us. Have mercy on us. You know, for the first time in my life, I began to grab the concept of how other God is for me. How holy God is. And yet that holy God, that holy God invades our lives. I was teaching at Childress. We were going through experiencing life.

Is that what the name of that was? Yeah, experiencing life. And there was a lesson every day that we all did. And then we made our notes about this lesson. And we met once a week in our groups to share what we had heard from God. And I may have shared this story a little bit of it with you all. There was a couple that my youth director, Christy Burford, won to Christ.

And their son to join the youth group. And they were unchurched people. And when I'm talking unchurched, unchurched. They didn't have an idea about Christianity whatsoever. But they embraced us and we embraced them. And they were good people. And in this class one night, I had three classes on Wednesdays in this evening class.

Everybody was kind of our age. Couples. And Barbara, Larry's wife. We had the moments of the open heart. You could share what the Holy Spirit was doing if you heard from God. And she said to us, as I did this lesson, God opened up a wound in my heart. She said I had buried it so deep I didn't even realize it had happened.

I had been physically abused. Physically raped. By a family member. And she poured her heart out to us. And then she said the Holy Spirit, I don't even, I can't even, I can't tell you. I don't even, Kerry you talk about the Holy Spirit all the time. But I finally experienced the holiness of God that reached into my heart.

And in that moment, she said I know there's other things going to happen because of this. But God touched me and healed me. Healed me. Healed me. Y'all just, y'all know me well enough to know I said everybody in there, take your shoes off.

Take your shoes off. We are standing on holy ground. We are before the burning bush. Get your shoes off. And I'm telling you those young, we were young then. We were shedding our shoes and getting before God and praying with Barbara. And there was not, there was not a dry in that place. Holiness. Holiness. We were before a holy God.

That reached down into a heart of a new believer. And began the process of healing. Barbara's going on to be with the Lord now. But I want to tell you she went into heaven shouting. She was healed. Holiness was not an abstract term to her. It was personal.

It was real. So when you come to God and you address Him as Father, then you begin to get before Him as holy. And it's not abstract. It's very personal. Prayer is being able to go to God's address and address Him as our spiritual daddy. He is always approachable and available. He is always good.

I want you to hear that. I wept this morning when you guys sang about the goodness of God.

He's always good. His judgment is long-suffering. His grace is sufficient. He is a holy Father.

Thirdly, thy kingdom come. That is a relinquishment of our control to His Lordship. Thy kingdom come. Your kingship come. It's really conversion. Jesus said, seek first the kingdom and His righteousness. Surrender to His Lordship.

We used to sing all the time. He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the dead. And He is Lord.

Every knee shall bow. Every tongue confess.

That Jesus Christ is Lord. Thy kingdom come. Thy kingdom come. E. Stanley Jones tells a story about a high caste Hindu at an ashram he was leading. He was a rich Hindu. He had been converted to Christ.

They had duties to do and count. E. Stanley said, brother, you come with me. You can help me in my duty today. They go to the latrines. Latrines in India were just holes in the ground. Concrete holes in the ground. They just reached down there and cleaned out the latrines. They went and dug a hole and buried all of it.

Brother Stanley gets on his knees and starts cleaning that latrine. And that Hindu is gone. He said, brother, brother, come kneel before me and help me. He said, oh, Brother Stanley, I might be converted, but I'm not that converted. E. Stanley Jones said, he said, he's either Lord of all or he's not Lord at all. Now that's kind of a gross illustration.

But it makes a point, doesn't it? He's either driving that car, running that ship, or he's not at all. Give us each day our daily bread. When Jesus was being tempted by the devil, you remember that scenario? And this temptation comes along and then Jesus, Jesus says to the devil, man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. You know, I'm going to tell you something.

Daily bread is something we need to eat every day. And I don't know what your schedule is, but schedule that meal. Schedule that meal where you take this book or some devotional or listen to somebody online or retract about what we talked about in church. But you get before God and get fed. You cannot live without spiritual sustenance. You may feed yourself physically three, four, five times a day. Kim and I go through all kinds of experiences with eating.

But we cannot live without getting before God and being filled with His word. Plan your day. Plan your day to be fed every day.

I remember Tony Campolo. Tony Campolo was a professor of sociology at Eastern University in Philadelphia. I think that's... He was a national speaker, Christian speaker. And Campolo came to the Texas Tech Wesley Foundation to speak here. This is how committed he was to getting here. He flew into Amarillo and a blizzard hit.

And there was no transportation to Lubbock. He was going to rent a car, but you couldn't get down I-27. But he figured that some folks would be traveling down I-27. So Campolo takes his suitcase and he gets out on I-27 in hitchhikes. He's going to make it to that Wesley Foundation to speak. That's how committed he was to coming and speaking. And he showed up.

He made it. Cold and raggedy and worn out, but he showed up. Truckers picked him up and brought him on down to Lubbock.

Isn't that amazing? But in one of his talks, I got to hear him talk. One of his talks, he told this story and he said... And actually he said, I told this story for the first time at a women's college that was very liberally thinking. They had lots of liberal ideas at this women's college and lots of progressive ideas about the role of women in society. And he said, I'm a sociologist and I approve of women finding themselves in society and everything. And he said, this is where I share this story.

And he said, it made a hush over the whole coliseum. His mother had died. And they went through the typical process that day of funeral, burying his mother, going to the graveside. He has two boys, Tony and his other brother. He has these two boys. And so they finally withdraw from the cemetery and they go back to the house. And at the house, late, they're still up, fixing to retire to go to bed.

Daddy says, take me back to the cemetery. Take me back right now to the cemetery. Well, you know, when your dad does that almost at midnight, you go, okay, we'll go back to the cemetery.

Remember that, Kirk. Take me back to the cemetery. They get there with their flashlights and they're standing at the foot of the grave and their dad gets down at the grave. And I can't remember his wife's name, Evelyn.

I'll just use, I think it was Evelyn. Whatever. He gets down at the grave and he says, Evelyn, it's been a good day. It's been a good day. And it's gone just like I prayed it would. You've given me my daily bread. And then he got up and told his boys, take me home now.

Take me back home now. Give us each day our daily bread. He said, when I shared that with all those ladies, there was not a movement, a voice, complete silence. He said, I nailed them. Finally one story really worked. They understood how God provides. It's been a good day.

So, forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Let me just read off of here real quickly. Forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Forgiveness is the releasing of my vengeance. It sets me free from hatred. It does not release that person from the consequences of their action. You need to hear that.

Nor the ultimate judgment of God. I do not have that power within me. You don't have that power within you. But what we do have is the power to forgive. The real miracle of our forgiveness is that it sets us free.

It sets us free. And lead us not into temptation. You can take this as meaning in the future, eschatologically. Lead us not into temptation. But I think it's referring to in the present time also. It's tempting. It's the temptings of lust in the present time.

James 1.13-15 said, Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God. For God cannot be tempted by evil. And he himself does not tempt anyone. But each of us is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 1 John 2.16 For all that was in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world. Where did these three temptations originate? Genesis 3, Where the serpent tempts Eve and Adam, and they yielded.

Leon Morris, in his commensary said, when commenting on this phrase, wrote, Jesus is encouraging the attitude, the attitude that flees from temptation. 1 Corinthians 6.18 Flee from immorality.

1 Corinthians 10.14 Flee from idolatry. 1 Timothy 6 Flee from these things, and these things are defined as false doctrine and conceit. 2 Timothy 2.22 Flee from youthful lust. Is there a time to stand your ground? 1 Peter 5.8 and 9 Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, but resist him. Affirm in your faith. Yesterday, Mike Schaeffer, when he was preaching, told this story.

I put this in this morning. He told this story. He showed a picture of a lion. And he said, you know, he said, it says the devil prowls around like a lion. He looks like a lion. But who lives inside of you? Jesus, the Lion of Judah.

He's not like a lion. He is the lion. You're ready for battle when you put on the whole armor of God. You're dressed in His righteousness. Guys, the devil is puny in the presence of Jesus. But don't ever conclude that fleeing, fleeing is a sign of weakness, nor lack of faith when being tempted. It's a sign of wisdom.

You hear that? Sometimes you stand and resist. But sometimes you flee. I had a twin brother. You know, I'm 5'4", weigh 140 pounds, soaking wet when I'm a senior in high school. And my twin brother, 6'2", 200 pounds. Now all my life, he beat up on me.

I learned to flee. That was wisdom, I'm telling you. But there came a day when I was a senior that we stood in the hallway, and he was mad at me, and I was mad at him, and I thought, I either take a stand right now or he's going to pick on me the rest of my life. And we stood there, and we slugged it out in that hallway. Brotherly affection.

And guess who quit first? He did. I don't know if he quit first because he thought I'm going to have to kill him. But he's not quitting. I didn't flee that time. I had the armor of God on me, and I'm not quitting. You know, he's never picked on me since.

I cannot think of any time we've ever fought since that moment in that hallway. Here's how I want to close the day. If we had more time, we'd even do more with this, but I want to just say these phrases and us be silent for a moment. And in that moment, you gather your thoughts about that. Let's bow. Father. Daddy. Heavenly Father. Good Daddy. Holy. Be thy name.

In my life. Sanctify me, Lord.

Through and through. Thy kingdom come. Lord, do I know you as king of my life? Have I opened the door of my heart and asked you in? Listen to me. This miracle can happen right now in this place, and he will come in. I promise you.

Give us each day our daily bread. Lord, I cannot live without your word. Feed me, Lord. Feed me. Fill me. Overflow. Forgive us our sins.

And there are many. Empower us, Lord, to forgive those who have sinned against us, who have hurt us, who are indebted to us. Lord, I release that vengeance and that hatred and that anger today. Now, Lord, I know it's going to be a process of healing, but I let it start today. And Lord, lead us not into temptation. Help me know when to flee and help me know when to stand. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.