Sermon by Daniel L. Sonnenberg | July 24, 2022

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Luke 11:1-13

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.”

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”  

Introduction

• You probably noticed that this is a different version of the Lord’s Prayer.
• A little earlier in this service, we recited together a second, more familiar, and somewhat longer version of what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.”
• That longer version is found in Matthew 6:9-13.
• There are several differences between the two versions, but they are substantially the same prayer.
• The additional phrases in the longer version are elaborations of what is said in the shorter version.
• This tells us that the exact words of the prayer are not the main point of Jesus’ teaching.
• And in fact, the last section of what we recite in our services – for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever – does not come from either of these passages.
• But most likely from 1 Chronicles 29.11.
• So, we can use this prayer both as a liturgical prayer in worship as we did earlier.
• And as a topical outline for corporate prayer in other settings.
• We’ll talk about what those topics are in a little while.
• The reason we have two versions is because Jesus taught his disciples to pray on at least two occasions.
• The occasion of the prayer in Matthew was fairly early in Jesus’ ministry while he was teaching the sermon on the mount in Galilee.
• The prayer in Luke comes later when Jesus is on his way from Galilee going up to Jerusalem.
• And on this occasion, after Jesus had stopped to pray, one of his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray.
• Look at v1. 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.”
• This was not the first the first time the disciples had seen Jesus pray. 
• The gospel of Luke records nearly a dozen prayer times of Jesus.
• Very likely, this disciple had heard Jesus’ teaching this model prayer in the sermon on the mount.
• And apparently, he was aware that John the Baptizer had given his disciples a form or method of prayer for them to use.
• He is asking Jesus to give his disciples a form of prayer that they can us to follow his example.
• So what does Jesus’ teach them?

This is what the passage tells us in a nutshell:

We should follow Jesus’ model for corporate prayer, praying boldly and persistently for what we need, because God is a gracious, loving heavenly Father.

• There are many models for prayer, such as the A-C-T-S model – adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication – the P-A-R-T-S the T-R-I-P model, and many more.
• They are good, but this model is perhaps the simplest, the most memorable and it certainly has divine approval since it was taught by Jesus to his disciples.
• First, we’ll look at what Jesus taught us to pray, then at how we should pray, and finally why we should pray.

First, what did Jesus teach us to pray?

In Jesus’ model prayer, he gives us the proper address, the proper order and the proper content of our requests.

• Let’s look at the proper address for our prayers.
• That is, to whom should we direct our prayers.
• It’s found in the first word of v1, Father.
• Jesus teaches us to address God, not as a distant deity, but as our heavenly father.
• Jesus, God’s only begotten son, normally addressed him as father in his own prayers.
• So Jesus teaches us to address God in the same way, because we are adopted into God’s family as his children.
• Romans 8:15-16 tells us, you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
• So according to Jesus’ model prayers, we are to address God as our Father.

• Now, let’s look at the proper order and content of our prayer requests is found in vv2-3.
• Here’s the order: petitions about God come first, petitions about people come second.  
• First, we are to offer prayers seeking to glorify God and the establishment of his kingdom.
• It should be a God-centered prayer first of all.
• Look at v2, “When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.  
• Asking our heavenly Father to hallow his name means that we want him to be honored, and we want his good reputation to be maintained – in our lives, in the lives of others, in the church, and in the world.
• Asking that our Father’s kingdom to come means we want his rule to be established and increasing in the world, now, and in the world to come among every tribe, language people and nation.
• We are to begin our prayers asking our Father to glorify himself and to bring his kingdom to fullness.

• Second in order are petitions for people – for ourselves and the community of faith.
• We are given three basic themes to pray about – that our Father would 1) meet our needs, 2) show us mercy, and 3) keep us safe.
• Notice that these are not merely personal needs; they are community needs stated in the first-person plural, repeatedly using – our and – us.
• Look at vv3-4. 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.”

• When we pray for daily bread, we are asking our Father to meet our needs – give us each day our daily bread.
• It is teaching us to live day by day, asking God to provide our needs from one day to the next. Not just for bread, but for all our needs.
• We are to ask for what we need in daily dependence on our Father.
• In our flesh, we are inclined in two ways opposite to this – to fearfully store up more than we need, and to pridefully depend on ourselves alone.
• Fear tells us that we can’t depend on God for our daily needs, so we have to store up more food, clothing, money, etc. than are necessary.
• In contrast, faith says God will provide as much as we need day by day.
• Sure, we need to go to the store and get what we need for that day or week or month depending on our schedule.
• But we don’t need a year’s worth or two year’s worth of everything.
• Remember how God provided manna and quail daily in the wilderness for Israel.
• If they tried to keep it overnight – except on the sixth day – it spoiled.
• He was teaching them to depend on him for daily provision of their needs.
• If, in fear, we store up more than we need, we are not trusting our father to provide.
• On the other hand, pride tells us we can’t depend on God to provide our daily needs, so we have to work day and night seven days a week to provide them for ourselves and our family.
• But faith assures us that God will provide what we need.
• As Luke 12:22-24 reminds us “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
• Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them.
• Of how much more value are you than the birds!
• Jesus promises that our heavenly Father will meet our daily needs.

• When we pray for forgiveness of sins, we are asking our Father to show us mercy – forgive us our sins.
• We have prayed for daily provision, now we pray for daily pardon.
• We are to confess our sins on a daily basis, depending on God’s forgiveness through Christ’s death on the cross.
• We confess our sins daily because we keep on sinning every day, so we need to confess our sins every day.
• That’s why I like it when the local church includes in the liturgy a confession of sins.
• So that if I forget to confess daily, I can catch up on Sunday!
• The second phrase – for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us – is a statement, not a condition of forgiveness for the children of God.
• God’s forgiveness of us is not based squarely on our forgiveness of others.
• It is based on the sacrifice of Christ to take away our sins.
• As God’s children, we are enabled to forgive those who sin against us.
• And we should regularly do so, just as God regularly forgives us when we ask.
• As one commentator says, “forgiveness in the NT springs from the grace of God, not from human merit or good works.
• Since even sinful men like us forgive, we can confidently approach a merciful God for forgiveness.”
• Those who only seem to be God’s children, but who have never repented of their own sins, are those whom God does not forgive when they show no mercy to others. (Matt. 18:35)

• When we pray against temptation, we are asking our Father to keep us safe – lead us not into temptation.
• Because we are sinful creatures, we need God to deliver us from temptation.
• As James 1:13-14 says, 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.
• But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
• We need God to help us turn away and/or run away from the many temptations to lust, greed, pride, sloth, envy, wrath, and gluttony.
• God always provides a way of escape if we will only take it.
• As 1 Cor. 10:13 says, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
• That’s why when we say lead us not into temptation, what we mean is lead us away from temptation.
• Remember the story of Joseph, who fled from the presence of Potiphar’s wife who wanted to lie with him.
• And remember other passages in the NT that say, “flee from sexual immorality,” (1 Cor. 6.18) “flee from idolatry,” (1 Cor. 10:14) and “flee youthful passions” (2 Tim. 2:22)
• When we pray against temptation, we are asking our Father to keep us safe.

• Jesus has told us first to whom we should pray and what we should pray for.

• Second, he tells us how we should pray to our Father. We are to pray boldly and persistently.
• In vv5-7 he tells a story of a friend who comes seeking bread for a guest who has arrived at his home from a long journey at midnight.
• And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?
• As the story continues in v8, Jesus tells us to pray boldly.
• 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
• Impudence is the word in the ESV, In the KJV it’s importunity, and in the NIV it’s shamelessness.
• The simplest translation of the original word is shamelessness.
• A person who is shameless doesn’t care what others think about his words or actions.
• He is willing to accept shame or embarrassment in order to get what he wants.
• He is bold and assertive to ask for what is needed. In this case, he is asking for what is needed for his friend.
• The implication is that God is not like a man in bed unwilling to arise and provide for the needs of our guest.
• He neither slumbers nor sleeps (Psalm 121:4) And is willing to give us what we need.
• We should not be timid, fearing what others might think.
• Rather, we should ask boldly for what is needed for our friends, just as the man in the story does.
• I think of many of small prayer groups in our churches. We regularly share prayer requests with one another for our particular needs or the needs of those we know. Then we pray for each other’s needs. That’s the model here. Boldly asking for the needs of others.

• Jesus also continues teaches us to pray persistently.
• Look at v9-10. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
• The verbs are more accurately translated, keep on seeking, keep on asking, keep on knocking. They indicate continuous actions.
• And the promise is that our persistence will pay off.
• God will answer in due time.
• He who asks will receive what he asks for.
• He who seeks will find what he is searching for.
• He who knocks will find an open door.
• We are to ask persistently until we get an answer.
• However, as you know, prayer is not a means to get God to do merely what we want, but rather a request to do what he has promised.
• And of course, God always has the option to say no to our requests when he knows that it will not be good for us, for others or for his glory.
• So second, we are to pray boldly and persistently.

• Third, we are told why we should pray to our Father: because he gives good gifts to his children.
• This is illustrated by yet another story. The story of bad fathers who give good gifts to their children.
• Look at vv. 11-12 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
• The point is that even though earthly fathers have a fallen nature, they still give good gifts to their children.
• If a child asks for food, a normal earthly father would not give him a serpent or a scorpion.
• And if a child asked for a serpent or a scorpion, the father would give him neither, because he cares for his child and wants to protect him. \

• But the main point, or the application, of the story is that because God cares for his children even more than earthly fathers, he will give to them even better gifts.  
• Look at v13 how much more will a loving heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?
• When we ask for proper things – that God be honored, that his kingdom come, for daily needs, for forgiveness of sins, for deliverance from temptation – God promises to give us what we ask for.
• But more than that, he gives his children, in addition to our basic needs, the greatest gift of all, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
• Look again at the last phrase of v13, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
• In other words, God gives not only what his children ask for, but in his mercy and grace, he gives the greatest gift, the Holy Spirit himself.
• Think of the many gifts the Spirit gives to God’s children:
  • he regenerates us,
  • he enables us to repent and believe Christ;
  • he justifies us; he sanctifies us;
  • he adopts us into the God’s family;
  • he equips us with gifts for ministry;
  • he enables us to persevere in our faith to the end;
  • and when Christ comes again, he will raise us from the dead and transform our perishable, mortal bodies into imperishable, immortal bodies to live in the new heaven and the new earth.

Let’s look finally at three points of Application:

• First, remember that our heavenly Father has a tender concern for his children.
• As great as he is, he is not so great as to be unapproachable. He comes near to his people.
• Neither is he too busy with more important things in the universe to respond to your requests. He is ready, willing and able to respond.
• Second, we should boldly and persistently ask for what we need in keeping with what he has promised…
• Because He is even more concerned than earthly parents to meet our true needs.  
• Third, remember that this is a community prayer.
• Prayers for God’s glory, God’s kingdom, and our provision, forgiveness and protection are asked by the community and for the community.
• We pray not just for ourselves, but also for the spiritual community in which God has placed us.
• That’s why can legitimately call it not only “the Lord’s prayer,” but also “the disciples prayer.”

Categories: Luke, Prayer, Sermons, Sermons by Scripture, Sermons by Topic

Tags: Prayer, The Lord's Prayer