[0:00] Well, with only an hour for these breakout sessions, I know we're pretty eager to dive in, especially knowing that we get to lead off of sitting under Daryl's teaching for the last little bit.
[0:12] My name is Alita. I'm part of the Worship Central team here in Canada, and I have the immense joy and honor of introducing Daryl to you this morning. He doesn't need much of an introduction because we already, again, sat under his teaching the last hour.
[0:25] And I don't have to tell any of you of the reverence and awe that he has for the Word of God. We are humbled that he partners with us and pours into us.
[0:37] We're humbled that he's willing to be part of Worship Central, the Academy, the Board of Directors. And we are humbled that he so passionately shares of his love for the Lord through his love for the Word.
[0:49] You may know he's taught and worked all over the world. He and his wife have adopted four kids from four different continents and have 11 grandchildren, which I think is pretty incredible.
[1:01] But without further ado, Daryl, I'll let you take it over from here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, the awesome part is the grandkids.
[1:18] Our youngest daughter, our Filipina daughter, Marissa, some of you know her, just gave birth to, well, just five months ago, to identical twins. And, boy, are we having a grand time.
[1:29] The first time, Marissa, the twins were about two and a half months old, and she turned them to each other. And immediately, they started babbling and talking to each other, like they don't talk to anybody else.
[1:42] It's a mystery around twins. So, but I'm not supposed to talk about twins, am I? We're going to talk about the Lord's Prayer. On earth as it is in heaven.
[1:55] On earth as it is in heaven. Dear Lord, will you now take us more deeply into this prayer that you've taught us.
[2:07] Help us understand what it is that you are teaching us to pray. And more than us praying it, we long for you fulfilling it.
[2:18] That the passion reflected in this prayer might be fulfilled in the whole world. We ask in your name. Amen. Okay, I put on my notes, why don't we go around and give each other's names.
[2:31] But I didn't know what size of seminar we were going to have, so we'll skip that. We all say our names at the same time. Oh, that's a good one. Okay, everyone say your name at the same time.
[2:45] Okay, got it. In praying the prayer which the Lord Jesus taught us to pray, we are being granted what a number of scholars call the dignity of causality.
[2:58] The dignity of causality meaning you're given the dignity of making something happen. On earth as it is in heaven. To pray the prayer that the Lord Jesus gave us is to participate in the radical transformation of the world.
[3:14] Now, how can I make such a bold claim? Because praying the Lord's Prayer turns out to be the most effective way to participate in the great revolution.
[3:26] This morning we talked about the great mystery. Now, it's going to be the great revolution. Praying the Lord's Prayer is the most effective way for us mere human beings and sinful human beings at that to participate in the great revolution that began when Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem.
[3:42] You realize that, do you not? That Jesus' birth inaugurated a great revolution? I know it's a provocative way to put it, especially in the present historical context, when all over the world we're witnessing the collapse of the old order of things.
[4:00] But it is what is happening in the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. There is a changing of the guard. A new sheriff is in town. He is bringing about a massive revolution.
[4:14] It's what he declares in his first public proclamation. Jesus comes on the scene, having arrived after the announcement of John the Baptist, with the stunning news.
[4:26] Mark 1.15. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe this good news. The time is fulfilled.
[4:37] The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe this good news. They're the first words out of our Savior's mouth in his public ministry. The time is fulfilled.
[4:48] The glorious, redeeming reign of God has come near. Turn around and embrace this good news. In those few lines, Jesus is declaring God's radical intervention in the life of the world, which was thought to be brought about only at the end of history.
[5:06] Jesus comes announcing that it is taking place now in the middle of history or wherever we are in history. The long-awaited revolution is underway is another way of paraphrasing Jesus' first words.
[5:20] The revolution has begun is another way. On earth as it is in heaven. And the writers of the gospel tell us that straightaway, Jesus began calling people to follow him.
[5:33] From all walks of life, from every social strata. Fishermen, tax collectors, homemakers, farmers, lawyers, doctors, scholars, prostitutes. Calling them to get on board the train.
[5:45] Come, follow me. Come, take my yoke upon you. Come, let me make my home in you, in you and me. Come, eat of me. Drink of me. This new life of the kingdom. What a privilege to be called by Jesus Christ to follow him in this world is now to participate in the revolution he's working in the world.
[6:05] You realize that, do you not? This is really significant and dangerous stuff. To be called into relationship with Jesus is to be called to a life of revolutionary impact.
[6:18] It's to live the life that Jesus then describes in his first great sermon, his famous Sermon on the Mount, which has been recorded for us in Matthew 5 through 7. The sermon, which if the world were to read and take seriously, would result in a very different world.
[6:35] A very different world. Next week I'm flying to Washington, D.C. And I have a chance to do the Sermon on the Mount for that weekend in Washington, D.C. And if the Sermon on the Mount were heard, lived, and obeyed in Washington, D.C., it would be a very different world.
[6:53] Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, for righteousness, for they'll be satisfied. Blessed are the gentle, for they will inherit the earth.
[7:05] You have heard it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. However you want people to treat you, so treat them. This is the sum of the law and the prophets.
[7:17] It's his revolutionary vision of human life. And if we would take Jesus seriously and live his way, we would see a different world. And I'll say this, it's because, and this is going to sound critical, in my mind, it's because we as the Church of Jesus Christ have not lived his Sermon on the Mount these last decades, that the world is where it is right now.
[7:39] And illustrations of this fact are all around us. But take his sermon seriously and things begin to change. This revolution starts to happen. A bigger and more life-giving revolution than ever dreamed of before or since.
[7:54] Join Jesus in a revolution, and we find ourselves in a very different world. Now, at the heart of his great sermon is the prayer he teaches us to pray.
[8:05] Our Father in Heaven. It's interesting, Jesus puts this prayer right in the middle of the sermon. The Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 5 through 7. The prayer is found in Matthew 6.
[8:17] He places it right in the middle of his description of this new way of life he's bringing into the world, I think, as a way of saying, praying this prayer is the most effective way to join me in the revolution.
[8:32] Praying this prayer is the most effective way to join me in the revolution. And at the heart of the prayer are the words, On earth as it is in heaven.
[8:42] To pray the Lord's Prayer is to participate in an invasion. The invasion of heaven on earth. And that is why praying the Lord's Prayer is the most revolutionary thing you and I can do at this present moment in history.
[8:57] There are other things we can do, but this is the most revolutionary. So, would you now open your Bibles? I guess I need to get used to the fact that it... New language. Will you now take up your phone and do the...
[9:09] Do whatever it is you do. My grandkids have to help me with it. Come on, Grandpa, just use that app. What app? I don't know about apps. Anyway.
[9:20] Anyway. And we'll turn to Matthew 6. And we'll read the Lord's Prayer in its context. So, it begins at verse 5 and goes through verse 15. Hear the word of God.
[9:33] And when you pray, Jesus is speaking, When you pray, you are not to be as the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners in order to be seen by men and women.
[9:44] Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. The implication being, if you pray to be seen by men and women, you get your reward. You were seen by men and women. Big deal. But when you pray, go into your inner room.
[9:57] And when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition. Notice that.
[10:07] He doesn't say do not use repetition. Just meaningless repetition. As the Gentiles do. For they suppose they'll be heard for their many words. Therefore, do not be like them. For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
[10:19] Pray then in this way. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[10:31] Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts as we also forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
[10:42] For yours is the power and the glory. The kingdom, the power and glory forever. For if you forgive others their transgression, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive them, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.
[10:58] When you pray, Jesus says, pray in this way. Matthew 6, 9. In this way. Another version has it. Then this is how you should pray.
[11:10] There's no should in the text. Jesus doesn't say, you should pray this way. Literally, it is simply thusly. When you pray, pray thusly.
[11:21] The implication being, Jesus is saying, this is a way to pray that pleases my Father and your Father. Here's a way to pray that delights His heart. I think Jesus is saying, here's a way to pray where you never have to wonder, does God like what I'm praying?
[11:38] You never have to wonder that fact. Now, in our time together, I thought the best way for me to go would be to give you a number of observations about the prayer as a whole.
[11:50] Nothing fancy. Just a number of observations. And then, I'm going to focus on the first petition. Your name be hallowed. I think that captures everything that Jesus is on about in the prayer.
[12:03] And then, hopefully, a time for some questions and answers. Okay? So, some observations. Hopefully, I have time to get to the first petition. Your name is hallowed. Time for question and answer.
[12:15] This keeps fading out. We're doing all right? Okay. So, here we go. All right? Join the great revolution. Okay. The first observation. The teacher of the prayer.
[12:27] It's really important to keep in mind who the teacher of the prayer is. It's a critical observation. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son. That's the key word.
[12:38] The Son. The teacher of this prayer is the Son. The Son of Mary and the Son of God. The Son of God and the Son of Mary. That is fully human and fully God.
[12:51] The teacher of this prayer is fully human and fully God. As the Son of Mary, He is, like Mary, fully human. Which means He knows all about life on planet Earth.
[13:06] He knows what it means to be human in our broken world. In particular, He knows what it means to pray as a human being. The writer of the book of Hebrews understood this so well.
[13:17] Hebrews 5, verse 7 and 8. In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the one who is able to save Him from death. As Son of Mary, as one of us, He knows what we need to be fully human and fully alive.
[13:36] As He says before the prayer, your Father knows what you need before you pray. So, He too knows what we pray because He needed it too. The teacher of the prayer knows what we really need.
[13:47] I'll come back to that a little bit later. As a Son of God, like God, fully God, He knows the mind and heart of God. He lives in the Father's heart. He's come from the Father's heart.
[13:58] Therefore, He knows the Father's heart. He knows what pleases the Father. He knows the Father's passions. Which means that in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus is revealing, giving us a revelation of His Father.
[14:10] It is as though through the prayer He's saying, listen, I know the Father. I know what's on the Father's heart. I know the Father's passion.
[14:20] And they are the hallowing of His name, the coming of His kingdom, the doing of His will, providing for His children's needs, forgiving His children's sins, and freeing them to forgive their brothers' and sisters' sins, and delivering His children from the seductive schemes of evil.
[14:40] As Son of Mary, Son of God, Jesus knows firsthand our true needs and the Father's deepest desires. And in the prayer, He brings them together.
[14:51] Am I making sense? The teacher of the prayer is the Son. Second observation, the embrace of the prayer. I wrote a book on the Lord's Prayer called 57 Words That Changed the World, and I used the phrase scope of the prayer.
[15:05] And that's okay, but I now prefer the word embrace. I think it's a more dynamic way of putting it, suggesting that in His prayer, Jesus is gathering up all of our concerns into His arms, and He's lifting them to the Father.
[15:20] And I think you can see that the prayer embraces everything imaginable. Name any need you have, and it is included in this prayer. Name any issue you are facing, and it is addressed in this prayer.
[15:35] So, for example, Jesus embraces all of time, the past. Forgive us our debts. Isn't that the greatest need of our past? Forgive us our debts.
[15:47] The present, give us this day our daily bread. The future, do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. In His prayer, He embraces all the dimensions of our humanity.
[15:59] Physical, give us this day our daily bread. Relational or social, as we forgive our debtors. Emotional, psychological, spiritual, deliver us from the evil one's deception and twisting of our true identity.
[16:13] He even embraces the political in this prayer. Your kingdom come. It's a political prayer. Yes, Father, bring your kingdom.
[16:26] Your kingdom. Your kingdom of true justice and true freedom and authentic human community. Again, name any concern you have, any need you have, any fear you have, any desire you have, and we'll find it embraced by Jesus' prayer.
[16:40] The whole of life is taken up into the embrace of the triune God. Observation three. The flow of the prayer. You might have noticed there are six petitions.
[16:54] Your name be hallowed. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.
[17:05] And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Now, there seem to be two halves to the prayer. The first half, name, kingdom, will.
[17:16] The second half, bread, forgiveness, guidance, slash deliverance. There are two different halves because there are two different sets of pronouns. Did you notice that when we read that?
[17:29] The two different halves use different pronouns. The first half, your, your, your. The second half, us, our. Us, we.
[17:41] Us, us. First half, your, your, your. Second half, us, us, us. Now, the point of the flow, I think it is, Jesus is prioritizing our needs.
[17:53] Your, your, your. Then, us, us, us. Yes, we need bread. Right? Yes, we need forgiveness and we need to forgive.
[18:08] Right? Right? Right? Yes, we need guidance and deliverance. Right? Jesus knows all this and he frees us to pray for such needs. But, Jesus is suggesting we have much greater needs.
[18:23] We do? Yes, we do. We need the name, the kingdom, and the will. We need for the Father's name to be hallowed in us and in the world.
[18:35] We need for the Father's kingdom to come in us and in the world. And we need for the Father's will to be done in us and in the world. Would you agree? Yes, we will experience full human flourishing when we have our daily bread.
[18:51] And when we have our sins forgiven and we forgive others. And when we're guided in the path of life and protected from the evil one. But Jesus is telling us, I think, that we will have full experience of human flourishing when the Father's name is treated with reverence and dignity in our hearts and in the world.
[19:11] When our Father's kingdom comes in all of its fullness. And when our Father's will, actually, good pleasure is a better way to translate that, is accomplished in our wills and in the will of the world.
[19:24] Thus the flow of Jesus' prayer. Your before us. Because more critical than the us requests are the your requests. Now in my experience, it turns out that when we focus on the your requests, the us requests are put into perspective.
[19:45] Indeed, it turns out that the us requests are absorbed into the your requests. The us requests are actually taken care of in the first three.
[19:56] The flow of the prayer. Follow me okay so far? Then fifth observation. The center of the prayer. I think the center of the prayer is Matthew 6, 10.
[20:08] On earth as it is in heaven. Literally, it is as in heaven, so also on earth. Now, I think it goes with all six petitions of the Lord's Prayer.
[20:21] It goes with the three petitions before, on earth, as it is in heaven, and the three petitions, did I say six? The three petitions before and the three petitions after.
[20:32] So, your name be hallowed on earth, as it is in heaven. Your kingdom come, on earth, as it is in heaven. Your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, on earth, as it is in heaven.
[20:45] Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, on earth, as it is in heaven. Protect us from the evil one on earth as it is in heaven. Cool? No? I think that phrase, on earth as it is in heaven, captures the passion of the gospel.
[21:04] God's passion to bring the life of heaven to earth. Which is why I said at the beginning, to pray the Lord's Prayer is to participate in an invasion. The invasion of the earth by heaven.
[21:15] I have a picture of all of us, all of us members of all the different churches in our city, going about our daily activities, quietly praying, on earth as it is in heaven.
[21:29] On earth as it is in heaven. On earth as it is in heaven. Imagine you lawyers standing in the courtroom, quietly, on earth as it is in heaven. Imagine you moms taking care of your kids, on earth as it is in heaven.
[21:41] You school teachers, on earth as it is in heaven. You doctors, on earth as it is in heaven. You songwriters, on earth as it is in heaven. Now, I'm wondering if the phrase at the center of the prayer might not signal another way to look at the structure of the prayer.
[21:57] Here's where I wish I had either a PowerPoint or I still use a whiteboard with the pens. I wonder if Jesus hasn't constructed this prayer in a parallelism and a particular form of parallelism called a chiasm.
[22:12] Does that ring a bell with some of you? Chiasm. A chiasm is put in the form of a, well, the Greek letter chi is like an X.
[22:24] And a chiasm is one side of the X. And much of Scripture is put together chiastically. Most of the Psalms are chiastic. The book of Matthew is chiastic.
[22:35] The revelation of Jesus Christ, the last book of the Bible, is chiastic. I can show you that most texts in Scripture are chiastic. Something is said at the beginning and it's reiterated at the end.
[22:46] But in the middle, there is something said that relates to the beginning and the end. And you really don't understand the text until you see the middle.
[22:58] So much of Scripture is not written in a linear form. It's in a chiastic form. It starts here. It goes to the middle. Then in light of the middle, you're counterpointing the things that were said before so that the conclusion is a counterpoint of the beginning but with a different nuance because of the middle.
[23:18] Does that make sense? I learned this from an associate pastor when I was in California named Berj Jambazian from Armenia. He was fluent in seven different languages.
[23:29] He could preach in seven different languages. And people loved his zeal. He would be just preaching away and he'd get to this high point and he'd go on for 15 minutes. And people would say, why doesn't Berj just stop?
[23:42] He got to the point. They go, hi, chiasm. He got to the point and if you listen carefully now, he's counterpointing everything he said for the first 15 minutes. And the point was here. But it changes now how you're going to say the beginning.
[23:54] It should say it different at the end. So, chiasm. I wonder then if Jesus hasn't put the prayer together in a chiasm. And it would be, now I have to reverse this so that you can see from your angle.
[24:08] Name, kingdom, will, on earth as it is in heaven, bread, forgive temptation. So, name, kingdom, will, on earth as it is in heaven, bread, forgive temptation.
[24:26] Now, if this is the case, then name and temptation go together. Kingdom and forgiveness go together. And will and bread go together.
[24:38] If this is the case, Jesus is saying that this temptation is all about the name of God. That the evil one wants to distort the nature and character of God.
[24:49] And he wants to distort our identity in God. If this is the case, then Jesus is saying that the kingdom of God is all about relationship. That at the heart of the kingdom of God is forgiveness of sin and forgiving sinners.
[25:01] And if this is the case, then Jesus is saying that the will of God is all about God making it possible for human beings to live sustained and productive lives. Cool.
[25:14] And all of it on earth as it is in heaven. Okay? Observation five. The verbs of the prayer.
[25:26] And here's where things really get exciting. Especially the verbs in the first half. Be hallowed. Come. Be done.
[25:38] They are bold verbs. They are very, very bold verbs. In the original, the verbs come first in the sentence for emphasis.
[25:49] So, in the original, it's not your name be hallowed, but be hallowed your name. It's not your kingdom come, but come your kingdom. And it's not your will be done, but be done your will.
[26:01] The verb comes first to emphasize. Now, there are two things we need to know about these verbs. And here we're going to have a language exercise. All right?
[26:11] We're going to go back into the classroom when we took language study. All right? Two things we need to know about these verbs. The first is that each of them is in the imperative mood.
[26:25] Imperative. Remember the emphasis of the imperative mood? What is it? Some of you who were awake during English. Command. Right.
[26:38] Imperative. Command. The imperative mood is the mood of command. Do this. Do that. Be this. Be that. Come. Go. Stop. Imperative.
[26:50] Are you with me? No. In the Greek language, the imperative is never used when addressing a superior. In the Greek language, the imperative is never used in addressing a superior.
[27:06] I'm going to Hong Kong in August. I'm trying to learn a little bit about Mandarin and Cantonese. I would imagine that in a Chinese world, you never use the imperative with a superior. Never.
[27:18] Never. One would never walk into the mayor's office here and start using the imperative. Fix this. Fix that.
[27:29] Build this. Build that. Cancel this tax. Take away that tax. You can't imagine me next week going into Donald Trump's office and start saying, fix this. Fix that. Just revealed my heart's desire, didn't it?
[27:56] Lord bless him. Never is the imperative used in addressing a superior. Well, well, well. Surprise, surprise, surprise.
[28:08] Surprise. In the Lord's Prayer, we are addressing a superior, are we not? Our Father in heaven, the superior of superiors. Right?
[28:20] And Jesus tells us to use the imperative. Be hallowed. Come. Be done. Be done. All in the imperative.
[28:32] We are not just asking. We are commanding. Yikes. Be. Come. Be. Be hallowed.
[28:42] Come. Be done. Be hallowed your name. Come your kingdom. Be done your will. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. How does that make you feel?
[28:54] A little awkward. Remember who is teaching the prayer? Jesus, son of Mary, son of God, who knows the Father. Jesus knows what pleases the Father.
[29:06] and he is telling us that the father invites his children to come into his presence and use the imperative. He's telling us that his father wants the children to come and pray that boldly.
[29:23] Do it, father. And I want to quickly add, please. Now, the second thing to know about these verbs, they're in the passive mood.
[29:36] Voice, imperative mood, passive voice. Why in the passive voice? I think partly to bring in a note of reverence.
[29:46] It kind of softens this idea of ordering God around. But mostly because only God can do it. Only God can do it.
[29:57] And this is worth your coming today. This is worth what you paid to come today. Only God can do it. Only God can hallow his name.
[30:13] Only God can bring his kingdom. And only God can do God's will. So the prayer is not what we tend to make it. The prayer is not, let us hallow your name.
[30:26] It is not, let us bring in your kingdom. It is not, let us do your will. Not a bad way to pray. But that's not what Jesus is teaching us. We are not the ones to do it.
[30:41] We are not the subject of the verbs. The father is the subject of the verbs because only the father can do it. Are you following me? So the prayer is, father, do it.
[30:56] We cannot, so you do it. You hallow your name on earth as it is in heaven. You bring your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. You make your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
[31:09] We must resist horizontalizing the vertical. The father is the subject of the verbs, not us.
[31:22] Father, so this is how I think we pray this. Father, right now your name is being hallowed in heaven. Hallow it on earth. Father, right now your kingdom is being fully realized in heaven.
[31:37] Bring it on earth. Make it come on earth. Father, right now your will is being done in heaven. Do it on earth. How does that make you feel?
[31:50] In my case, I feel like a ton of bricks just got lifted off my shoulders. Father, you do it because I cannot. Father, you do it because only you can.
[32:02] Bold verbs. Very, very bold. And observation six. The one to whom we pray. Our father.
[32:13] And not just any father. I know that there's struggle with father language about God. I understand a lot of pain around that. Because people haven't had good fathers. Or their fathers are just, it's been rough.
[32:25] And so that's the image of father's hard. The father that Jesus is speaking to. The father in this prayer is the father Jesus knows and loves. A very different father.
[32:36] This is the father Jesus trusts and knows. Our father in heaven. In heaven, meaning very close at hand. As I said earlier. Very, very close.
[32:48] As you know, for many people, heaven is a faraway place. And that's why you have to shout to get God's attention. Heaven is way up there. Not for Jesus. For Jesus, heaven is another dimension of reality.
[33:00] Surrounding the visible order. Encompassing the intangible order. Intersecting, infusing, sustaining this dimension of reality that we can see and hear and smell and touch.
[33:12] In heaven. As real and as close as the air we breathe. It's your breath in our lungs. So we pour out our praise. We pour out our praise.
[33:23] The breath in our lungs is the breath from heaven. And this is why I said earlier, why going to heaven does not involve a long trip. When we go to heaven, we're just passing through to the other side.
[33:37] The one to whom we pray is very close. Very close. So, so very close. Closer than our breathing. Breathing into us moment by moment. In heaven, it also means on the throne.
[33:50] For Jesus, heaven is God's throne. Earth is his footstool, as he says earlier in the Sermon on the Mount. Psalm 123. O you who are enthroned in the heavens.
[34:01] Revelation 4.1. I saw a door open and a throne with someone sitting on it. The Father, Jesus' Father, is sitting on the throne. Now, if this were not the case, then praying is potentially a futile exercise.
[34:12] But if it is the case, then the one to whom we pray can do something about what we're praying. Father. Not just almighty.
[34:24] Not just rock of ages. Not just source of all goodness. But Father. The Father, Jesus, knows and loves and trusts. The Father, Jesus, wants us to know and love and trust.
[34:37] I think I hear Jesus saying to me on a regular basis, you know what your problem is, Daryl? You do not know my Father. Let me teach you my Father because he wants to be your Father.
[34:54] I think the gospel is in the opening line of the Lord's Prayer. Jesus' Father has chosen to become our Father. The Apostle John later would bask in the wonder of this.
[35:07] See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. Jesus the Son comes from heaven to earth to bring us into his relationship with the Father so that we can know and love and trust his Father the way he does.
[35:21] And he makes this all possible by breathing the Holy Spirit into us, who Paul calls the Spirit of Adoption, who enables us to speak to Jesus' Father the way Jesus did, saying, Abba, Father.
[35:35] The teacher of the prayer wants us to know the one to whom we're praying, infinitely good, generous, and gracious, who wants his name to be known, who wants his kingdom to come, who wants us to thrive in his will, who wants us to have all the bread we need to know his name and live his kingdom and do his will, who wants us to live in the joy and freedom of forgiveness, and who wants us to be delivered from the lies of the great liar, that we might live in the wonder of being the children of God.
[36:10] So the Father wants all this for us and the world, so much so that he sends his Son from heaven to earth to make it possible on earth as it is in heaven. He who has lived in intimate communion with the Father for all eternity has come from heaven to earth, affecting the greatest of revolutions, and we participate in his great revolution by praying his prayer.
[36:34] Okay, a couple of questions or other observations before I take enough. I need about 10 minutes to do that first petition. Make sense?
[36:47] Helpful? Open it up for you more? Questions? Can we come home with you? And the reason for coming home would be?
[36:58] You're so anointed, it's amazing. Bless the Lord. You know... You know... Jason Ballard.
[37:16] I met Jason Ballard through working for Alpha over the past year or so. I would go down once a month and teach with the Alpha staff, and we had lunch after a while, and he says to me afterwards, not arrogantly, but he says to me, so when are the boomer pastors who are pastoring churches that are plateauing going to get out of the way?
[37:35] And he didn't say it arrogantly. He just wanted to know. And of course, I have stepped out of the way, so we talked about that. And I took the train home, and it troubled me.
[37:47] You know, okay, when is this next generation going to get to step into the place, as long as my generation is still there? Then, later that day, I received my hard copy of Christianity Today.
[37:58] Some of you know that magazine. I still get it in a hard copy. And just before dinner, my wife was fixing dinner, I'm flipping through the magazine, and I don't know a single name.
[38:10] I've been reading Christianity Today for 50 years, and every time I knew somebody's name, I don't know anybody's name, except the editor, who just has this little piece in it, Mark Galley, who I've known for years.
[38:20] And she says, no, I don't know any of their names. And I say to Sharon, I don't recognize any of these names. And she's fixing dinner, and she says, well, that's because the younger generation's taking over. Goes on fixing dinner.
[38:32] She goes off to a revival study, and I'm sitting in the living room, and I'm praying about Jason's comment. When are the boomers going to get out of the way? And then Sharon's comment, the younger generation's taking over.
[38:42] And I heard the Lord say to me, step aside, give it away. So you've blessed me by saying what you did, because I'm in the mode of giving it away. I've got a file cabinet, it's full of all this Bible study I've done over the years.
[38:56] And next three years, I hope to have it emptied. So you can have it all. And if it's helpful. So, you know. Bless you.
[39:15] So, I don't, you don't have to come home with me. I'm going to come to your home. A long way of answering your question. Sorry, I had a question. Sorry, I just, you've kind of done it already, but I wonder if you could briefly outline how you pray that personally, and also how you think that might be kind of incorporated in a corporate gathering, how that might be prayed, the Lord's Prayer.
[39:41] Yeah. Very great question. So I'll take the second first. I grew up, and when I say that, it's not like we grew up the right way and you guys are missing it. Not that. But I grew up in a church where we prayed the Lord's Prayer every week.
[39:55] And you could criticize that because it gets redundant and you're not really entering in anymore. But you can choose to enter in. And that was formative. We did the Apostles' Creed and the Lord's Prayer. So there was always this formative act where we were remembering again what believed in the creed and we were remembering again what Jesus told us to pray.
[40:14] So I would advocate, and a lot of you are worship leaders, somehow finding a way to incorporate that prayer on a regular basis corporately. It's in plural pronouns. Us, us, we, we, right?
[40:26] So, and you can do that musically. There's some beautiful renditions of the Lord's Prayer, as you know. But I think some more could be composed. And just, it'd be beautiful.
[40:40] You're singing all these other songs and then at some point I could see ringing this beautiful bell. Ding! And then the congregation just sings the Lord's Prayer. Be marvelous. So that's one way to incorporate.
[40:51] Second, privately. Yeah, it's the first thing I do every morning. Before getting out of bed. I lay there, pray the prayer, as thoughtfully as I can.
[41:02] Usually one of those phrases will be the one that's the one I need to pray the most. And then it becomes more specific and I pray the specific things that come to my mind. Then I put on the armor, get out, make coffee, go to Bible study.
[41:18] Yeah, so every day pray through the Lord's Prayer. Slowly. And it just reminds you what the Father wants for you. And what Jesus says, you can boldly ask.
[41:28] You don't have to ask, is this okay? Lord, is it okay if I ask for a Maserati? You've got to question that. But for the kingdom to come, no problem.
[41:39] That pleases the Father. Yes? Thank you, Daryl. For me, just remembering again what it means to have Jesus recapture my imagination as I pray through the Lord's Prayer.
[41:53] It's a prayer that I've prayed so often that sometimes it becomes a mantra. Yeah. But thank you for reigniting deeper layers of engaging with Christ, engaging with the Father, and also being able to lament the losses of, you know, the confusion between my earthly Father and the Heavenly Father.
[42:15] Thank you for acknowledging that. Yeah. I'm deeply concerned for our generation's current postmodern kind of attention deficit and given the quote-unquote attention economy that technology companies are using to, you know, target us, whether it be Netflix or different apps, we could joke about that, and we talk about binging and shows and whatnot.
[42:45] But it truly is something that I've been lamenting because it changes the way we think. Oh, good time. The way we focus has become so detrimental because of what is surrounding us, the water we swim in.
[43:00] And so what I would love to hear from you is how can we know the impediments of technology, and it's not going to change.
[43:12] It's going to only grow more aggressive in our life and in our hybrid technological lifestyle. So what advice would you give us in fighting for that attention with Christ in praying the Lord's Prayer?
[43:28] Oh, brilliant question. And the phrase you used at the beginning was, ignite imagination or re... It was really good. Yeah, so that would be the function of the Lord's Prayer.
[43:43] We live in our imaginations, and all of this technology is bombarding our imaginations all the time. Right. So to pray the Lord's Prayer is to renew the imagination, to have it full of the Father's desires and the Father's passions and Jesus' desire for us, right?
[43:59] That's really well said. So how can we get past this tension deficit and all the bombarding? Well, I'm going to say something really simple.
[44:14] When you have your quiet time, do not use this. It's too tempting. I know there's some beautiful apps on here for... Okay, so we can work with that to some degree.
[44:27] It's too tempting. I mean, I know. I get up, getting ready to go have my quiet time. I'm making my cup of coffee. This is on the kitchen sink. And I'm tempted to hit this.
[44:38] And I go, Lord, I'm just checking the weather. You know what I'm going to do. You know what I'm going to do. And if I've got an email from somebody, that's the end of that.
[44:53] Where that email could have waited 15 minutes. No? The world wouldn't have fallen apart if I hadn't answered it in 15 minutes. Right? So I would suggest that along with all that technology, you have one of these.
[45:10] Something you can actually hold in your hand. It smells. You can move the pages for your quiet time. So you move into another part of the house or wherever you're going to do that.
[45:22] And this is away from you. On mute. I don't know anything else to do. We have some friends.
[45:33] When you go over to see her, you go to dinner there, she has this little basket and little sign, kindly deposit your phone. And my wife has decided we're going to do that.
[45:45] Our 13-year-old granddaughter was with us recently. And we were playing games. We were playing Uno. And we go around turns. And while everyone's having her turn, she's on the phone.
[45:57] So next time she comes, Jennifer, just put that there for a while. Oh, Grandpa. Because I want your eyes. I want your face. I want your attention.
[46:08] So wouldn't the Father of us all want that too? Does that help a little bit? Yeah. I'm going to have to fight that. Now, I know that some of you use train time or, you know, SkyTrain time for devotions.
[46:23] And I get that. You'll just have to be super disciplined just to stay with that. Because it's kind of hard on the train to do this. Right? Although probably our culture would have no clue what this is right now.
[46:37] May as well. People look over there. I wonder what that thing is. There was one more question. Then I'll shift here. What you have preached was such a phenomenal world that God has beautifully shown to us.
[46:56] And now we're living in a different world where such a contrast to the world that we live, that God has designed for us. What went wrong with the transition of that beautiful world that God has given us in that prayer?
[47:10] And now the life that we live is so far from the ideals, maybe, or like the vision, the desire of God for us. Profound question.
[47:22] And the answer is found in Genesis 2 and 3. Yeah. And this is not to sell a book, but a new book. I'm downloading stuff, getting rid of it.
[47:35] On Genesis 1 to 11, it came out called The Story of All Stories. It's just come out. And I work really hard on Genesis 2 and 3. And that's where Scripture describes what happened.
[47:46] God builds this beautiful world. Human beings are now placed into it, and it goes wrong. What goes wrong? I'm going to watch the time if I can tell you a little more. I'm going to give a lecture on this, and it's called The Tale of Two Trees.
[48:00] And what it is, you've got two trees in that garden. You've got the tree of life, and you've got the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the tree of knowledge of good and evil is not the tree of knowledge. It's not the tree of good and evil.
[48:11] It's the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I have to say the whole thing. Knowledge of good and evil. And if you trace that imagery, knowledge of good and evil, through the Old Testament, you discover children do not have it.
[48:23] They do not have the knowledge of good and evil. And senile people, seniors, I'm pointing to myself, senile. That's not a prophetic word.
[48:35] But seniors have lost it in Scripture. Children don't have it, and seniors have lost it. And so you trace this, and you discover then the knowledge of good and evil is the knowledge that makes you think you can live independently of God.
[48:53] Children don't have it yet. And as your grandparents get older, they cannot live independently. They have to depend on other people. So God says, you can enjoy my garden.
[49:05] You can have everything you want. God, just don't try to live independently of me. And it unravels. Then Jesus comes from heaven to earth and teaches us the Father's desire.
[49:18] This is how it was supposed to be and will be when he finally has his way. Did I help you with that? Okay, let's shift. I'd like to be able to give you this input, partly because I wrote a book on the Lord's Prayer.
[49:33] What I wrote on this, I'll still stand by, but now I've learned more. So I'd like to give this to you in the last few minutes. The first petition, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name on earth as it is in heaven.
[49:48] Now, you might know that this term name is a way of saying nature and character. It's parallel to glory. Glory is a way of saying nature and character, too.
[49:58] The Father wants us to know his name. That is, he wants us to know his nature and character. So the other Lord's Prayer, John 17, where Jesus himself prays, he says to the Father, I made your name known, and I will make it known.
[50:16] I made your nature and character known, and I will make it known. Jesus wants us to know the Father's name, and so does the Father. Now, what is the Father's name? There are all kinds of names.
[50:27] El Shaddai, Almighty, The Rock, El Rofay, Yahweh, Jairus, so many names. But the name above every name is the name Yahweh. And Yahweh is related to the verb to be, and so the way you translate the name Yahweh is, I am who I am.
[50:46] Not in a philosophical sense, I am who I am, I'm contemplating my being, go away. But in a relational way, as I am with you and for you.
[50:59] The sacred name Yahweh means, I am God with you and for you. This is God's name. This is the Father's name. This is the name he wants, hallowed.
[51:10] Now, hallowed, it is a really hard word to render into English. I can't find a word that really captures it. It's related to the word for holy. Holy is hagios.
[51:23] This verb is hagiodsdo. So, holify. I can't come up with a word. But, I think there are three words that capture three levels of meaning in this hallowed.
[51:36] I can give you these three words. They're verbs. You ready? Treat. Include. Include. Eliminate. If you were to take a Greek dictionary, Greek dictionaries will give you first meaning, second meaning, third, and like that, like in an English dictionary.
[51:53] You will find those words. Treat. Include. And eliminate. So, let me walk those through. So, the first level of meaning of hallowed is treat.
[52:05] Treat as sacred. Set apart as immensely special. Treat as of ultimate concern and importance. So, the first line of the Lord's Prayer is, Father, so work in me that your name is of the greatest importance to me.
[52:23] That makes sense? Father, so work on earth that your name, your nature, and your character are the greatest importance on earth as they are in heaven.
[52:37] Again, the prayer is not, let me treat your name as of ultimate importance, although I want to, and it's a good thing. But I'm asking for a work of the Father.
[52:49] Tim Keller says, something or someone is going to be hallowed in your life. Every human being hallows something. Treat something of ultimate concern.
[53:01] And what you treat of ultimate concern is going to determine everything about you. Father, please hallow your name in me so that you determine everything about me. Now, are you surprised that that's the first petition given the first commandment?
[53:16] The first commandment, you shall have no other gods before me. Literally, it is, you shall have no gods between me and you. I don't want anything between you and us.
[53:27] So, first commandment, God will be God in my life. First prayer, make it so, God. Now, this is a request for a massive miracle.
[53:40] I mean, Tim talked about slow and sudden. This is slow. To work a revolution in our own souls. My goodness. To dig deep down inside so that the Father and His character are of ultimate concern.
[53:55] A friend of mine, Dale Bruner, says, you can translate this, be the center. Come and reorder my twisted heart so that you are the center.
[54:06] All right? Does that make sense? Treat. Now, second level. Include. Include another in the circle of holy. Include another in the circle of holy.
[54:18] As Jesus prays in John 17, 9, sanctify them with the truth. Father, you give them the truth. Now, include them in the truth. I myself am the truth.
[54:29] This is the way this verb is used. Include is used in the rest of the New Testament. In Ephesians 5, 26, Christ sanctifies the church. That is, He cleanses the church.
[54:40] That is, He includes the church in His cleansing. 1 Corinthians 7, 14. The unbelieving spouse is sanctified by the believing spouse. Paul is saying that the unbelieving spouse is brought into the orb of holiness through the believing spouse.
[54:56] So, the first petition is, Father, include me in the inner life of Your name. Include me in Your holiness. Include me in Your power. Include me in Your wisdom.
[55:07] Include me in Your light. Include me in Your joy. Bring us into all that Your name means on earth as it is in heaven. Include me in everything You are. Wow.
[55:19] That make sense? And then, the third level would be eliminate. Eliminate that which is incompatible with holiness.
[55:30] And this is where you get the idea of separate. That's related to holy and holiness separate. So, this prayer is, Father, take away everything in me that is not in sync with Your name.
[55:43] Huh. Take away everything in me. It doesn't square with Your nature and character. Romans 15, 16.
[55:57] Paul says, He's a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, that my offering of the Gentiles might be made sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
[56:07] I think that's Paul saying, I've done this work, now clean it up. Get rid of everything in it that was not of You. So, the Lord's prayer is, Father, eliminate from my mind and my heart all that it does not square with You.
[56:20] Eliminate all wrong, twisted, and distorted ideas I have of You. So, three levels. Make Your name my ultimate concern, treat.
[56:33] Include me in all that Your name means. Means. And then purify me of all that is not of You. We have that great hymn, Be Thou My Vision. Be Thou My Vision, O God of My Heart.
[56:46] And you know the phrase. Not be all else to me, save that Thou art. That's how to pray. Be hallowed Your name. And we're asking Him to do it because I can't.
[56:59] I cannot treat His name that sacred. I cannot include myself in it. And I certainly cannot eliminate the stuff that's in the way. Now, why is this the first petition?
[57:10] Because the Father is an egocentric narcissist? No. Because our wholeness is at stake. What we hallow affects everything about us.
[57:22] Father, be hallowed Your name in me so that You shape everything about me. Talk about a revolution.
[57:35] Amen. So, Lord Jesus, thank You that You love us so much that You know our needs and You know Your Father's great desires and You bring them together in these words.
[57:52] And I pray for all of us that we might enter ever more deeply into the reality of which these words speak. Teach us to pray.
[58:05] Teach us to pray this all the time. And as we sit and stand here in the heart of this great city, we ask, Father, hallow Your name in our city.
[58:21] We can't do this. Break through. Bring Your kingdom in our city. Do Your will in our city.
[58:41] Fulfill the great plans that You've articulated throughout the years. Your good pleasure be accomplished in our city. We pray that You give bread to everyone who's hungry in our city.
[58:53] And we pray daringly that You forgive the sins of our people, our sins. And, Lord, will You teach us how to forgive others? And then, Lord, Father, You know how the evil one sneaks around in our city.
[59:09] He's telling people lies. He's giving them wrong identity, understanding of their identity. And He's lying to us about who You are.
[59:19] So, will You so work that the truth about who You are breaks through into our souls and into our city? For Yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory.
[59:31] Forever and ever. On earth, as it is in heaven. Amen. Okay. Okay.