Lord Teach Us to Pray

Transcription

1 Lord Teach Us to Pray Luke 10:38-11:4 Sunday, March 19, 2017 Luke 10:38 42 (NKJV) 38 Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. 40 But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. 41 And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. 42 But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. Having read your Bibles on your own, you already know that these two sisters are dear friends of Jesus. Their brother is the infamous Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the tomb. This account is written elsewhere in the synoptic gospels which adds a bit more detail. Reading this you might think that each girl has a different personality. Martha is the type A while her sister Mary is a type B. The Type A and Type B personality theory describes two contrasting personality types. In this theory, personalities that are more competitive, outgoing, ambitious, impatient and/or aggressive are labeled Type A, while more relaxed personalities are labeled Type B. Note that Martha was distracted. She was troubled. She was drawn off from something. Jesus hit the nail on the head when He told her you are worried and troubled about many things. Worried and Troubled. What I would like to share with you all concerning these few verses isn t trying to figure out which of the two were doing the best thing, but Page 1 of 7

2 recognize that both of them were doing what needs to be done, worshiping and serving. Worshiping and Serving There are times when we all should be doing one or the other of these things. What seems to happen in most churches is that about percent of the church does about 100 percent of the serving. Unfortunately, we re falling into that same pattern here at CC Hemet. We ve got to break out of that rut so that those Martha s around us serving here at church get a chance to be a Mary once in a while. By Martha, I mean the ushers, greeters, parking lot servers, Sunday school teachers and aids, children s worship leaders, multi-media techs, sound and lighting and video techs, and a host of other behind the scene jobs that are going on. Someone to make sure there is toilet paper in the bathroom stalls. People to clean up around here on Saturday mornings. Here s the point. If you re sitting here being a Mary week after week, month after month and never pick up Martha s apron, you are being negligent of all the things that are needed. The Martha s among us need an opportunity to sit at Jesus feet too. So if you ve been here for six months and haven't as of yet pitched in to help out, you need to get busy. This is a church family. And as in any family we all have a part to do to keep the house running. So if you re waiting, say to join the worship team and they don t need any help there right now, or you want to teach a class, but all of those slots are filled presently, pick up a mop or a broom. In Matthew, we read of a master rewarding his servant who had been faithful with a little responsibility and he said Matthew 25:21 (NKJV) 21 His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord. Page 2 of 7

3 The point is, be faithful in the little things and the Lord will bless you with much. Be faithful serving where you are needed and the Lord will bless you tremendously. As we move ahead in our text we now come to chapter 11 - Luke 11:1 4 (NKJV) 1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 So He said to them, When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. There are several things to note about this prayer. First of all, it is not the Lord s Prayer, however, it is a pattern of prayer for the Lord s disciples to follow. The pattern of prayer came about because of a request to teach us to pray. Apparently John the Baptist had taught his disciples to pray, so now they are asking Jesus to teach them how to pray. NOT - to give them a prayer that they can repeat over and over again. NOT - to give them a prayer that they can use for doing penance. So Jesus says, Sure, when you pray, pray like this Jesus had been referring to God as His Father. Now He says when you pray begin with addressing God as, our Father; your Father, which is in heaven; or Heavenly Father. Hallowed be Your name. - hagiazō - to regard as holy. Page 3 of 7

4 We are to regard the very name of God as holy. Even today, when a practicing Jew writes any name that refers to God, they leave out the vowels. It s more symbolic than it is actually regarding His holy name, but I think you get the Idea. Starting your prayer with the idea that you are talking to your Heavenly Father whose very name is holy, brings the reverence to prayer that it needs. Often times we just rush right in to prayer with our laundry list of requests. At least once in a while, we need a little more Mary attitude in our prayer time. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. God s Kingdom is coming to earth, and He will rule with an iron rod. However, in the meantime, may His Kingdom rule in our life, our home, our church as it presently is in heaven. Give us day by day our daily bread. We do have daily needs. AND we should bring those needs to our Heavenly Father. Some people act as though it s a sin, or wrong to pray for ourselves, but the pattern for prayer given to the disciples from Jesus Himself says there are several things you need to pray about for yourself. Number 1 - Pray for Daily Needs Number 2 - Pray for the forgiveness of sins - And forgive us our sins, This is a two parter Matthew 6:12 reads - And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. Our text in Luke says - For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. The point being, forgiving others often times takes some prayer. Sometimes forgiving others requires a lot of prayer. Page 4 of 7

5 Some situations make forgiveness difficult. Though it s difficult, it is still necessary. Lord, You ve forgiven me of my sins that ripped open Your back and nailed You to the cross. Please help me to forgive so-n-so for cheating me, lying about me, whatever they have done to you. They didn t nail you to a cross and ram a spear up your side. Number 3 - Deliverance from temptation. Deliverance from those temptations that often trip us up. And do not lead us into temptation. Sometimes people get confused on this part of the prayer. Now pay attention to this so that we are all clear on the matter - James says James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God ; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. When we read things like Acts 17:12 (NKJV) 12 Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men. That not a few means a whole bunch. There were a lot of Greeks who believed the Gospel message. In a similar way lead us not into temptation means to lead us OUT OF temptation. You know that temptation that Satan keeps successfully using on you. Well, the next time you are praying bring it up. Bring it up in prayer ahead of time and ask the LORD to lead you out of it before it is actually thrown in your face again. So here s the idea - But deliver us from the evil one. Deliver means to rescue. It means to drag. Lord, please drag me out of Satan s trap the next time he sets it to get me. Page 5 of 7

6 I want you to see this prayer in Matthew s Gospel. It s found in chapter 6 and it begins in verse 5. Matthew 6:5 There is a very interesting introduction to the prayer and is a must read for every one of us. But outside of that, the prayer is pretty much rendered the same. The close is a bit different - For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. But what I want to focus on with you is a brief commentary that Jesus makes on the prayer itself. Matthew 6:14 15 (NKJV) 14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Out of all of the things that Jesus might have explained or amplified, He deliberates on the subject of FORGIVENESS. Why didn t He explain the personal relationship we now have with God as our Father and how we are to take on the nature of our Heavenly Father? Or why didn t Jesus teach on why we are to consider the very NAME of God as being Holy? The one thing, the most important thing to understand, is the importance of forgiveness. There is a correlation between our forgiving others of their wronging us and the Father s forgiveness of our rebellion against Him. It s not a salvation matter, it s a relationship matter. Lack of forgiveness damages relationships. Now some relationships are broken because of heinous sin and even though we forgive that person, a relationship cannot or should not be restored. Page 6 of 7

7 But Jesus is teaching us that we are to have a forgiving heart. Why? Because we damage our relationship with our Heavenly Father if we don t. Forgiveness in some rare cases is not seeking to restore our damaged relationship with another person, but to invigorate our relationship with God. LORD - teach us to pray. Page 7 of 7