Sunday At the 410 // August 8, 2005

Title: The prayer of Jesus
Text: Matthew 6:9-15
Proposition: Let us pray in the manner of Christ.

Introduction:
We all need examples right? After all, the best leadership is – leadership by example. If you do not demonstrate to someone what they need to do – you are setting them up for failure. Let me demonstrate – can I have a volunteer? (I will now go into a flat, emotionless voice – the goal is to frustrate the singer.)
Ok, here are the instructions, I want you to sing like an opera singer. Go ahead. Nice. But your not even close. You need to:
1: Be aware of the constriction in your esophagus. Go ahead.
2. Now I want you to resonate through the various pores in your head to produce a nice light airy sound. Good.
3. Now, I would like you to do it again – this time hit the staccatos and marcatos with some punch – can you do that? You really need to have a proper mental picture in order to get the proper vocal imagery in this piece.
(Hopefully, the singer will have no idea what I am talking about and will just laugh)

You see, unless I demonstrate what I am talking about, we are lost in verbiage. We get lost in all the jargon. Just so you know, I had to really dig in order to get some of that jargon out of my mind. Its been so long since I have done any serious singing – I just don’t have it in me any more. Have you ever been in the place where someone is dropping all kinds of knowledge on you (sometimes, I really think this is done to make the “dropper” feel smarter than the “droppee” – just a thought)? I have been there plenty of times. You just nod and smile like you talk about stuff like that all the time – its normal for you – then you drive home thinking, “Now what the heck was THAT all about?”

As Christians, unfortunately, we do this all the time. We use Christianese like “give it to God” and expect an unchurched person to understand what we mean by it. We say things like, “My friend, what you need to get sanctified – washed in the blood of the Lamb!!”
“Are you saying you want me to take a bath in lamb’s blood? Dude – that’s warped!”
“No, you need to get born again! You need to eat of the body of Christ!”
“Ok man, now we are talking cannibalism here – you really need to get out of my face bro!”
You see how it goes. If you grew up in church, statements like these make sense to you. They flow out of your mouth like so much honey. They become profound prayers. I am not saying that you should not use these words and phrases – just know what they mean.
Now, when it comes to prayer, its easy to make it complicated – Jesus broke it down or us. Not in a way that we should repeat all the time, but in a way that we should understand the elements of His prayer. Prayer is as much for our own encouragement as it is talk to God. We seek the face of God and we are changed in the journey.

Note the text:

What has Christ done first? He has called out in familiar love to His father, recognized His authority, and praised God in His holiness. Now, let us proceed with the prayer.

1. Your kingdom come – Christ recognizes here that He is simply part of the grand kingdom of God. He is part of the larger whole. We tend to think that the world revolves on us, that we are the center of the universe. It is a attribute distinctly American. Like in other passages where Jesus speaks of the kingdom of God, this is not an eschatological passage. Jesus is not instructing the disciples to pray for the end of the world per se. Rather it is synonymous with the following line in Matthew's version: "may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven". The kingdom of God is that moral and spiritual kingdom which the God of grace is setting up in this fallen world, whose subjects consist of as many as have been brought into hearty subjection to His gracious scepter, and of which His Son Jesus is the glorious Head. That is, may man obey God as their sovereign King. May human societies be God-fearing. Christ says, “I am in the center of your will as I am a part of the plan that you have for this earth.” You see, God gives us the opportunity to be a part of the plan, its going to be done one way or the other, we might as well get the opportunity to be a part. God’s kingdom is in the hearts of men. In the OT God chastised Israel for not having the rule of God “in their hearts.” Here, Christ declares that God does indeed reign over His heart.
2. Note that Christ submits to the Will of God. He declares that in heaven, God’s work has been done. God has made Heaven and it is perfect. However, earth is entirely another story, for here, man has chosen the wrong. Man has ruined it for everyone by choosing sin and evil. Christ declares that He is not going to be a part of that but in fact is going to be a part of the whole – the kingdom of God. The word thelema (“will”) includes both God’s righteous demands and his determination to bring about certain events in salvation history These first three petitions, though they focus on God’s name, God’s kingdom, and God’s will, are nevertheless prayers that he may act in such a way that his people will hallow his name, submit to his reign, and do his will. It is therefore impossible to pray this prayer in sincerity without humbly committing oneself to such a course. So for that will to be “done” includes both moral obedience and the bringing to pass of certain events, such as the Cross. This prayer corresponds to asking for the present extension of the messianic kingdom.

3. At this point – and only after He has worshiped and submitted does Christ turn to his earthly needs. The last petitions explicitly request things for ourselves. The first is “bread,” a term used to cover all food. It is the only physical request in the entire prayer. What does this tell us about how Jesus prayed? He is satisfied with what God gives him. He is satisfied that God will take care of Him. We, on the other hand, come to God demanding that He give us all we ask. I wonder how our prayers sound – when compared to the greedy child in the toy store? Immediate physical sustenance is the intent of the passage. Note Christ’s teaching on daily physical needs in verses 25-34. Here Christ tells us not to worry about our things. Does this mean that God does not intend for his children to work? Of course not! One look at the creation of man and that purpose tells us that The idea of God “giving” the food in no way diminishes responsibility to work (see further on vv.25-34) but presupposes not only that Jesus’ disciples live one day at a time (cf. v.34) but that all good things, even our ability to work and earn our food, come from God’s hand. “Give us today our bread for the coming day.”. The prayer is for our needs, not our greeds. It is for one day at a time (“today”), reflecting the precarious lifestyle of many first-century workers who were paid one day at a time and for whom a few days’ illness could spell tragedy. The bread is real food, and it may further suggest all that we need in the physical realm (Luther). God fully intends his children to work. However, in keeping with the rest of the passage, it should be noted that God does intend for us not to be consumed with the stuff of life.
4. The first three petitions stand independently from one another. The last three, however, are linked in Greek by “ands,” almost as if to say that life sustained by food is not enough. We also need forgiveness of sin and deliverance from temptation. Forgive our debts, as we forgive our debtors. This is the key thought for it is revisited in the text later. Matthew's version of this petition has "forgive us our debts". Jesus elsewhere uses debt in his parables. This usage is Jewish idiom of the day. The Aramaic Targums (scripture paraphrases) use debt toward God to mean sin. Luke, writing for Gentiles, changed one of he references to "debt" to refer explicitly to "sin". Some translations go the whole way and render them both as "sin".
Is our forgiveness dependant on our forgiving others? This is not what this passage says. It is a request forgiveness that holds up ourselves as an example of what we want God to do for us. God may be able to forgive us anyway, but we certainly can't pray this prayer in good faith if we haven't forgiven others. In fact, we would be praying for God to not forgive us! Think about that the next time you recite the Lord's Prayer: you'd be saying "God, please damn me to hell in the same way that I hold grudges towards others!"
5. Asking God to not tempt us seems strange (James 1:13). The verse however does not say "And do not tempt us". The temptation is by Satan. This brings to light one of my favorite promises of God regarding temptation, 1Cor. 10.13 (NKJV) No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. The request, to cast it positively is "And lead us from away from being tempted by Satan". In fact the longer version in Matthew almost says exactly that: "deliver us from the evil one". God permits Satan, or his followers, to tempt. If we read this line as "And not allow us to be tempted" might better capture the nuance. We should avoid temptation, and are within our rights to ask God to not allow that temptation. Compare this with Gethsemane where Jesus asked to be spared the trial he is about to undergo.

6. The crucial point – forgiveness. This is a hard passage to deal with. Clearly, Christ is teaching that there are conditions on forgiveness. Now, the problem arises when one deals with passages from Romans and elsewhere where it is taught that God salvific forgiveness is contingent only upon belief. Yet, in this passage, it seems to be taught that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive us!!! What gives?
So, how to solve the quandary? Simple – start with context. The context here is the sermon on the mount. In the sermon, Christ teaches love, compassion, the religion of the heart. Mankind now has a different way to relate to God – through the heart. Paul says explicitly in Galatians 6:7, 8 what our Old Testament examples anticipate. God will permit us to be ruined by our sin, if we so desire it. This is not referring to a loss of salvation, but certainly a loss of fellowship with God and perhaps eventually physical life. The point is this: He allows us to walk into our sin and experience as much of it as we really want.
a) Note that the overwhelming ethic found in how God is dealing with the human races is that of love. He is just and He is merciful etc. – but what se read we must interpret through His love. . This must be true for God loves us at all times and love is the essence of the relationship he carries on with us. He moves into our lives to care for us deeply and permit us to experience Him firsthand. Joy of joys! In the midst of that love He guides us into forgiveness of others but showing the Christian what it is like when he does not love. As we have seen God, in His love for us, allows us to come face to face with our sin, to be confronted by it. This of course is to bring about deep repentance and restoration of the love between the parties involved.
b) It is as though God is saying – “fine, you want to play like you do not forgive? We can do that – here is what it feels like when you do not forgive.” You love fellowship with the Father, and you will lose that by your insistence on not forgiving. Therefore, when Jesus says that the Father will not forgive, what He means is that God will allow the person to walk in their sin (that is, He will not overlook it and embrace the person), to the necessary extent; until they come face to face with it and see it for what it is. In other words, if the person is unwilling to forgive, let him deal with a God twice as stubborn when it comes to forgiving. God will not give in and the sinning brother will have to deal with an unforgiving Father, from whom he depends for the basic necessities of life (6:25-32). God's intention, as the unforgiving brother goes his way in unforgiveness, is to expose him, to bring about legitimate shame and repulsiveness toward the sin. It is a rare blend of justice and mercy. He did this for Jacob, for Israel and as Paul declares, for us also. The result will often be Spirit-inspired, genuine repentance and love

Conclusion – when we come to God, it must be with a pure heart. God desires that we come to Him in appreciation of what he has done for us. You remember the parable of the fellow who was forgiven his debt by the Lord of the Place and then went and demanded it from his brother? This is what God desires of us – that we come to Him in grateful joy, shining His light to a lost world that needs Him.

Sunday Night

Title: Willingness
Text: Matthew Mt. 4:18-22

Introduction:
Jesus was beginning to come into his ministry. His name began to be known throughout the world at that time. Note the text: Jesus has come back from his time of temptation in the wilderness

I. The Christian’s calling – Matthew 4:18-22
A. Matt. 4:19 – “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The preface to this is Jesus seeing Simon and Andrew fishing. Jesus is doing the work. The point of the Text is Jesus saying that your responsibility is to follow Him. We focus on Him and he fashions us to be what He wants us to be. We don’t know what He wants us to do, and he does not ask us to, He only asks that you follow Him. He knows where he wants us to go and only He can make us that so He asks us not to know all the particulars – just follow Him. In chapter 28 Jesus tells them to go and make disciples – He does not have to explain it – they have learned because Jesus has made them. Jesus said, “Follow Me and I will make you.”
B. The disciples then follow Christ for three years. They experience all that Christ is. They see His work. They are convinced that Jesus is the Son of God. I John 1:1-4. John wants everyone to experience what he has experienced. John wants all men to know the joy of knowing Christ.
C. Matthew 28:16-20 – The disciples now were ready to face the World. They were ready to take the Gospel to a lost and dying people. In just a few years, these twelve men upset the course of the known world. They were just unlearned fishermen, but they were willing to follow God.

Blessings!!!