Familiarity breeds contempt.
This is a concept that says that when we are so close to someone or something,
we lose respect for them or we don't have the appropriate awe that we should.
I was reading about famous celebrities recently
whose kids just knew them as mum or dad.
And some of them could never understand the fascination with their parents.
I remember reading about Michael Jackson
and his son just couldn't understand why people wanted to come and get a photo with his dad.
His dad was just dad.
Why would you want to get a photo with him?
But then years later they would have a realisation, a shock.
Oh, dad is someone famous.
I think this is true for many parts of our lives.
There's things we have and things we see every day and they become normalised
and we don't realise how amazing they are.
We're currently in a series on prayer
and we've seen that the world is crying out for an experience of God.
Prayer is a global phenomenon
and people all across the world want to talk to a God who listens and responds.
Because in all of us there is that nagging feeling that there is more to this life.
And so people go chasing for spiritual experiences
because we crave more than this life.
People go up mountains, they cross the world,
seeking and never finding.
What if the way to experience and talk to this God
was right in front of us?
But we had become so familiar with it
that we've just discarded it.
I'm talking about the Lord's Prayer, of course,
which Debbie just read for us.
It is such a classic and simple prayer.
It's easy for a child to pray.
It's pervasive.
It's set at weddings and funerals.
It's in movies.
But is it possible
that we don't really even look at it anymore?
Our eyes just glance over it
looking for something more spiritual,
something deeper.
For Christians,
there is a longing to draw closer to the God of this universe
who shows us His love through His Son.
A longing to come before our Father,
to pour our hearts out to Him
and to know that He listens and responds and loves us.
But is it possible that the Lord's Prayer
has become so familiar with it
that we've discarded it?
Maybe not from our lips,
but maybe from our hearts.
Today, we are going to stop
and we're going to take a few moments
to look at the words of this prayer.
It was a prayer that was taught to the disciples by Jesus
and if it was good enough for them,
it is more than good enough for us too.
We're going to be learning how to pray,
how to talk to God,
and we don't want to forget the very things
that Jesus taught us to do.
So today, we're going to walk through the Lord's Prayer,
maybe like the celebrity's children,
there'll be a moment of shock and recognition for us
as we see this prayer anew.
My prayer is that it will encourage us to pray.
And I'm hoping and praying that it draws us
to talk with God as He is,
as a Father,
and come before Him.
So as we have a look at this prayer,
it's only appropriate that we do indeed pray.
So let's pray.
God, we thank You that You are our Heavenly Father
and we thank You for the privilege it is
that we can come and talk to You as Father.
Be with us this morning
as we look at this wonderful prayer
that Jesus taught us to pray.
Help us to reconsider what it means for us
and help us to use it
to talk to You and draw closer to You, Lord.
Amen.
And so the context of this prayer
is that Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray,
not like the pagans who babble on and on and on,
and not like the Pharisees,
who are the hypocrites who get their reward
by praying out in open.
And the prayer starts in a completely radical way.
The great and awesome and majestic
and all-powerful God of the heavens,
the one who created the world and sustains it,
who knows every living being,
who placed the stars across the sky,
knows how many pieces of hair is in this very room,
we get to call Him Father,
our Father in heaven.
This is the God who couldn't be approached
by the priests in the Old Testament
without blood of a sacrifice
so that they wouldn't die.
And Jesus teaches us to call this God Father.
Father, it's not just the position of authority in a family,
it is also one of intimacy.
And so we're called to call God Father.
It is an incredible privilege
that Jesus tells us to call God Father.
But the flip side of this is
we can become too familiar with God.
As a heavenly Father,
we can forget the awesomeness of God,
just like with those celebrity kids.
Now, the only reason that we can indeed call Him Father
and not tremble guilty before Him
as one who is guilty before a judge
is because we pray in Jesus' name.
Jesus, the Father's Son,
the one who was raised to God's right hand,
He is now intervening for us.
He's saying,
these ones,
these ones I've adopted into my family,
these ones,
even these ones in Chatswood,
I have died for them.
These ones come into our family.
The only reason that we can call God Father
is because we approach Him in Jesus' name.
That's why when we often finish praying,
we say,
in Jesus' name,
Amen.
It's not some kind of magic formula
that makes God have to hear us.
It's because of the finished work of Jesus.
Jesus,
we are adopted into God's family.
How else could we approach God
other than by being adopted into His family?
And so this prayer,
this first line of the prayer,
sets us up for the whole prayer.
It recalls God's position as Father.
It reminds us of the Son's work in salvation,
and so we come adopted into His family
with the rights of a son.
We could be coming to God as a harsh judge
who may listen to us,
who may give us mercy and forgiveness,
but the God that Jesus reveals
is not like that.
He is a loving Father
who delights to hear the rest of our prayers
because we're one of His kids.
We're part of the family.
And so if we were to look at nothing else,
if we were to pray nothing else,
if we were just to dwell on this one line
of the Lord's Prayer,
it would begin to implant in our hearts
a comforting trust of God.
That the God that Jesus reveals to be our Father,
He is not distant,
but He is close to us.
When we are struggling,
when we can pray nothing else in our lives,
when we are crying out to God,
sit on this one line,
that God is our Father,
and that because of His grace and love for us,
we can indeed come before Him.
And so we have this introductory first line,
our Father in Heaven.
And after that, we have our first request,
that God's name would be hallowed.
It's a strange word.
The only other time I can think of it
is in one of the Harry Potter books.
It's a strange word,
but it just effectively means holy.
This is not a prayer for God's name
to be holy or special.
God's name already is holy.
But this is a request that we recognize who God is.
That He is a Father that we only come to as children,
and we want Him to be seen for who He is.
We want Him to be seen as holy.
And so hallowed be your name is a request.
It's a request that we would make God seen to be holy.
May my words and actions show you, God,
that you are holy.
As a Christian, I'm a bearer.
We are bearers of God's name.
We are carriers of His name.
Christians.
God, keep me from dishonoring your name.
Praying this places us in a position
where we're not desiring that our names would be famous,
but that God's name would.
It shows a heart that is captivated by God's awesomeness
and a desire for others to see Him.
It's not a desire that people would see how great I am.
It's not that, you know, James Barnett,
that name, that person, he's great.
No, no, no.
It's that God's name would be great.
But we don't always hallow God's name.
It's more than taking God's name in vain.
It's even more than blaming God.
But it's far worse when we forget who He is.
It's the lack of gratefulness and gratitude
that springs from a selfish heart.
And so to hallow God's name as this second request prays of us
is not just to show that God is good and holy,
but to have a heart that is full of joy and gratitude towards Him.
And so far in these two first lines of the Lord's Prayer,
we come to God as a Father,
grateful to Him,
and then we request that God's kingdom would come.
Now, God is, of course, ruling right now.
He is ruling in His kingdom.
This is not a request that God would come,
as if He isn't ruling now,
but it's a request that God's kingdom would come into our lives
and into the rest of the world.
This prayer is one of lordship.
God, I want you to be the Lord of my life.
You are a loving Father
because of your son I'm adopted into your family.
And so this part of the prayer asks
that we would live as one of His kids in His family.
It's a prayer that God would extend His lordship
over all of our lives.
It's a yearning that God would have lordship
over every part of our lives
so fully that we'd want to obey Him
with all of our hearts
and with all of our minds
and with our bodies with joy.
Because we are made to serve God.
We are made to serve Him with our bodies,
with our hearts,
with our desires,
with our spirit.
But we can choose to let God's kingdom reign in our lives.
We can let Him partially reign in our lives.
It would be like someone that appears to be a model citizen.
I'm going to pick on Dan
because Dan's in front of me
and because he's reporting to me now as a U13er.
So, you know, I think that's okay.
Is that okay, Dan?
Let's say Dan is a model citizen of Australia.
Upstanding citizen.
What does an upstanding citizen do?
He always follows the road rules.
He never speeds.
He never risks a parking fine.
He's always back to his car early.
So he looks like a model citizen,
always paying his tax on time.
Have you ever paid tax, Dan?
You probably will this year.
Do you remember what that was like?
So he appears to be a model citizen.
But at home,
he flaunts the rules.
You know, there's other people's mail that comes to his house
and he's always opening it up,
which is illegal, it turns out.
He's illegally downloading videos and movies
out of impatience for them to be released here.
He's making counterfeit money on the side.
He'll pay tax out of that, I'm sure.
It appears that he's a very good citizen of Australia,
but secretly,
he's just out to make his own patch a little better
at the expense of everyone else.
It's not that hard to imagine for us.
We all have those nooks and crannies,
those parts of our lives
that we don't want other people to look into.
Parts of our lives that either fill us with pride
so we don't want to hand that over to God,
or maybe it brings us shame.
And so we don't want the light of day to be shone on it.
But this part of the prayer calls for God's kingdom to come
into all of our life.
Our actions, our words, our feelings, our desires,
even our secret desires.
And we can only do that,
we can only bring this prayer to God
because he is, as that first line said,
he is an approachable father.
But that's not the only aspect to God's kingdom coming.
We want to see God's lordship extend
over our lives, but also across the world.
To see the whole world
know the love that we have as God's children.
It truly is a wondrous gift.
It's not one that's diminished when we share it,
but it instead grows from us
out to the rest of the world.
It was Isaac's birthday during the week,
and it's always interesting watching
other kids on one of the kids' birthdays.
If you've got more than one kid,
you would know what this is like.
Because our other two,
well, one of them in particular,
felt like they were missing out.
You know, one has all of these presents.
Where is my present?
They feel like they're missing out
because presents can't be shared
on a birthday.
But that's not the gift of the gospel.
It actually grows
as we share it.
We don't, you know,
want to need to hold on to it
because it will be
stolen by someone else.
This gift that God has given us
to be brought into his family
grows and extends
as we share it.
We don't need to be selfish
with this gift.
So as we start,
we pray
to an approachable,
awesome,
and holy Father.
We want to place ourselves
into his family
under his rules
with his kingdom
extending over our lives
and we want to see
this kingdom spread out.
And so being in God's kingdom
means that we will then pray
your will be done.
Jesus teaches
the disciples
and us
this final
part of the prayer
that orients us to God.
These opening parts
of the prayer
are all about us
and God.
We've reminded ourselves
that God,
he's the Father,
he's awesome,
his kingdom should be
over our lives
and the whole world
and now Jesus says
to ask
for God's help
to do his will
and not our will.
This is incredibly hard.
because I like
doing my will.
I'm sure it's true
for all of us.
If you've ever
tried to
choose a movie
to watch
or
a place to go
and eat
with a group of people,
you will know
how hard it is
when everyone
wants their will
to be known
above others.
the only way
to pray
this prayer
your will
be done
with any meaning
is if we remember
the one we are
praying to.
And there'll be a quote
on the screen
from Tim Keller.
He says,
unless we are
profoundly certain
God is our
Father,
we will never
be able to say
thy will be done.
Unless we are
profoundly certain
God is a Father,
we will never
be able to say
thy will be done.
Otherwise,
God is just going
to be some kind
of impersonal cloud
forcing us
to obey Him
out of some
mysterious will
or nefarious plot.
Like a child
submitting to a parent
out of fear
of punishment,
we'll only obey
this distant God
until we can flee.
But a child
will submit
out of love
and trust
and they'll
continue to come
back if the
parent is a
loving Father,
if our God
is a loving
Father.
If we can't
say your will
be done from
the depths of
our heart,
we will never
know peace.
We will always
be trying to
enforce our
will onto the
world and the
people around
us.
But that is
beyond us.
Only God
has that kind
of control
and that's
why we
submit to
Him.
These first
petitions bring
us before God
as a Father
who is awesome,
whose kingdom
we want to
spread across
our lives
and it's all
about God.
It's a God
centered prayer.
It protects
our hearts
from self
centeredness.
Otherwise,
when we pray,
we would
just start
by praying
for the
things that
we want
and that
list could
be unlimited.
And so
Jesus has
taught us
in this first
half of the
way to pray
that it's
about recognizing
that God
is our
true food,
He is our
wealth,
He is our
happiness,
and now
recognizing who
our God
is and what
He has done
for us,
now we bring
our list of
prayers to
God.
But this
is in
light of
who He
is,
it's a
new frame
of heart.
And so
we pray,
give us
today our
daily bread.
It's a
prayer for
necessity,
it's not a
prayer for
luxury.
Bread was
a staple,
much like
rice is
for many
cultures,
it's not
fancy,
it's basic,
it's a
way of
asking God
for our
basic
needs.
The early
church
father,
Augustine,
thought that
this prayer
was a
smaller part
of a
prayer from
Proverbs
30 verse
8.
Let me
read,
it's a
request of
God,
keep
falsehood
and lies
far from
me,
give me
neither
poverty
nor riches,
but give
me only
my daily
bread,
otherwise
I may
have too
much and
disown
you and
say,
who is
the
Lord?
Or I
may become
poor
and steal
and so
dishonor
the name
of my
God.
It's a
prayer with
such a
recognition
of our
failures,
that we
are weak
if we
have a
little,
and we
are weak
if we
have a
lot.
God,
only give
me as
much as
I can
handle.
Have
any of
us prayed
like that
before?
Can any
of us
actually say
we've
limited
how much
we've
requested
of God?
God?
I'm
sure my
prayers
and our
usual
prayers
are more
God,
please bless
me,
bless me
more and
more,
money's
tough,
fix that
problem,
bless me
financially
please.
But this
is a
prayer that
is such
a reminder
of what
we already
have.
That we
have
everything.
We've
been adopted
into God's
family,
we have
God
himself.
what do
we need
more
zeros in
our bank
statement
for,
for however
many years
we have
left on
earth?
Because
ultimately
we don't
need
status and
comfort
here.
We need
God as
our Lord
and Father.
And so
we move
from requesting
the basic
things that
we need
and we
move to
requesting
relationships.
Firstly,
with God,
and then
with others.
Forgive us
our debts
as we
have also
forgiven
our debtors.
To request
that our
debts
from God
would be
forgiven.
This is
still mind
boggling for
me.
To actually
say to
God,
you should
forgive me.
You should
forget all
the times
I've wronged
you.
We can
only do
that because
of the one
that we
are in
debt to.
Jesus'
sacrificial
death on
the cross
is the
only way
to approach
God as
a father
and for
us to
have the
audacity,
the shamelessness
to say,
God,
please forgive
me.
Forget all
the times I've
wronged you.
Please forget
all the times I
will wrong you.
This brings
an amazing
freedom.
And yet
we can
find it
difficult
to come
before God
and to
confess
because that
means we
need to
admit that
we've done
something wrong
to someone
outside of
us,
that we
can't cope
on our
own,
we can't
be good
enough on
our own.
No one
likes that
feeling of
being wrong,
no one
likes that
feeling of
admitting to
someone else
that we
have been
wrong and
yet this
prayer
embraces it.
God,
I have
wronged
you.
I am
the one
to blame.
I am
the one
who has
broken this
relationship
with you,
God,
and yet
you offer
to forgive
me.
Martin
Luther said
that if we
find confession
difficult,
the heart
is not right
with God
and cannot
draw
confidence
from his
gospel.
If we
find confession
difficult,
the heart
is not
right with
God and
we cannot
draw confidence
from his
gospel.
Confession
should bring
confidence and
joy because
it sends us
back to our
need for
God's
grace,
the very
heart of
the Christian
faith.
And here,
Jesus rightly
links our
relationship with
God with
our relationship
with other
people.
forgive us
our debts
as we
forgive those
who we
are indebted
to.
And so
if we
have seen
our sin
and God's
radical
forgiveness
of us,
we will be
able to
forgive others.
God
reconciles
and heals
our relationship
with him,
but he does
that with
people too.
Our God
is one who
reconciles
and heals
relationships.
He heals
us and
makes us
able to
forgive and
reconcile with
others, to
be a community
that is
treasuring
Jesus
together.
But if
we haven't
fully understood
our sin
and the
gift of
grace and
sought forgiveness
from God,
we are not
going to be
able to forgive
others.
not even
that, maybe
we won't
even see
the need
to forgive
other people.
Wouldn't it
be a terrible
shame if
people were
to describe
us as
people who
held grudges?
I'm not
sure if you
know someone
who holds
grudges or
whether that's
been said of
you, he
always holds
grudges.
That guy, he
just doesn't
forgive anything.
Imagine if
God held
grudges
against us.
And yet
our self
righteous
hearts and
the hardness
of hearts
gets in the
way of
understanding
what God
has given
to us and
the forgiveness
he offers.
And it
stops us from
holding out
that love to
others.
Our Father
is a God
who heals
relationships
with us and
him and us
and other
people between
one another.
Praying this
prayer,
pushes us
to go and
seek forgiveness
from others.
To forgive
others in
light of
God's
radical
forgiveness.
We've
prayed so
far to God
requesting bread,
asking God
help me depend
upon you for
all things.
We've
prayed,
Father
forgive me
when I
don't depend
on you.
and now
we pray
lead us
not into
temptation,
deliver us
from the
evil one.
This prayer
is acknowledgement
of all that
is in between,
that life
is one of
temptation
and responses
to it.
The Bible
tells us that
God will
test us
to craft
us into
his people,
burning off
our selfishness
to reveal
humility,
burning off
ignorance
to reveal
knowledge
of God.
But this
is a prayer
that we
would
not walk
into temptation,
that we
would not
actively
entertain
sin.
From one
side comes
the temptation
of riches
and power
that makes
us forget
God
and our
need for
him.
The opposite
is a
temptation
of poverty
and thinking
that God
is not
there,
he is not
listening.
The other
way is
temptation
of the
flesh
that says
what my
body
craves
is better
than what
God
wants
for me.
This
prayer
asks
that we
would walk
a narrow
line
between
all of
these.
That we
would walk
close to
him,
turning the
eyes of
our hearts
away from
these
temptations
and drawing
closer to
him.
And when
we've
moved
through
all of
the steps
of this
prayer,
it indeed
helps us
to do
so.
So we
pray to
an amazingly
loving,
approachable
father who
is awesome
and holy.
We want
to place
ourselves in
his family
to be
spreading
his kingdom
in the
knowledge that
he provides
all that is
necessary,
especially
forgiveness
and relationship
with others.
Jesus
so that we
can then
walk
his way.
Jesus
didn't teach
this to be
a formula
for us.
It is a
wonderful
prayer,
but it's
not that we
should just
say these
words and
think job
done,
tick.
More than
that, it
contains a
structure, a
pattern for
us, which is
really helpful
to bring
before God.
Martin
Luther
described
praying
through the
Lord's
prayer is
riffing on
the Lord's
prayer.
To take
the words,
it's like a
musician like
the Andy,
playing around
on a chord,
moving around,
to take the
words of the
Lord's prayer
and to pray
around them,
to riff on
the Lord's
prayer.
And so
even something
simple like
praying for
our daily
bread, well
this is a
prayer that says
thank you God
that I have
a job, so
that I have
money, so
I can go to
the shop and
buy bread.
Thank you
for our
society that
has farmers
and produces
wheat to
make bread
and that these
shops can be
open when I
need it.
It is a
prayer that
thanks God
for all of
these conditions
that can
sustain us
and cares
for us.
this stands
in contrast
to the way
we might
ordinarily
pray, the
way we might
default to
prayer.
Often our
prayers can
just be
completely made
up on the
spot.
Maybe it's
not reflecting
the God
who is
revealed in
the word
to be,
but our
prayer just
comes from
our needs
and who
we are.
We can
get carried
away with
what we
think we
need and
forget what
we already
have.
If left to
ourselves,
we'll just
pray what
comes into
our mind
and then
we'll get
distracted with
what comes
into our
mind.
If we
take the
structure of
the Lord's
prayer and
riff on it,
maybe say
the line and
then pray
based upon
that,
it forces
us to use
the full
language of
prayer,
of confession,
of praise,
of request.
Praying the
Lord's prayer
requests that
the gospel
would be
moved forward.
It pushes
us to
accept from
God what
he chooses
to confess
even when
we don't
want to.
Praying the
Lord's prayer
like this
forces us
to look for
things and
to thank
God and
praise him
in good
times and
in bad
times.
It presses
us to
repent and
seek forgiveness
during
prosperity and
success.
It disciplines
us to keep
every part of
our lives and
to give every
part of our
lives to
God.
It combines
the warmth
and comfort
of praying to
a God who
is a father
with passionate
pleas for
our desperate
needs.
I think this
prayer is like
a really full
meal that
has vegetables
that are good
for building
up the
function of
the brain
and the
body.
It's got
protein for
muscles.
It's got
carbohydrate for
energy.
And it's a
good meal that
has all of
these in the
right amounts.
Can anybody
think of a
good meal like
this?
Anybody?
Sorry?
What's a good
meal that's got
all of these in
good parts?
I've heard
someone say a
Big Mac and
I want to slap
that person on
the wrist.
The sugar to
carb content to
protein vegetable
is way out.
I like to think
of like a nice
roast because
my family comes
from England
and the Sunday
roast you've got
some kind of
meat, you've
got green
vegetables, you've
got maybe some
kind of white
potato carb or
sweet potato or
pumpkin, that kind
of thing.
I also see
wonderful different
types of hot
pot that do
this.
It's veggies,
it's meat, it's
carbs, it's
balanced.
But sometimes,
I think that's
what a good
prayer should be
like.
It's not just
one type of
prayer, it's a
full prayer.
But sometimes
we pray like
fast food.
It's the,
whoever said
that, the
Big Mac of
prayer.
You know, we're
tired, we're
busy, we don't
really care about
what we're
praying, and so
we quickly grab
that Big Mac and
it's gone in three
seconds.
It doesn't cost us
much, but it
gives us even
less.
It doesn't
satisfy the body
and it just
leaves you feeling
hungry, maybe a
little bit sick.
It's okay to have
fast food
occasionally, but
imagine if it was
just Big Macs.
I'm pretty sure
there's a movie
made about this
where a guy only
ate fast food.
Imagine what it
would do to your
health.
It would be
terrible if we
just prayed fast
food prayers,
focused on us.
Our spiritual
health would be
terrible.
If it was just,
I'm too busy, I
don't have time to
pray a full prayer,
I'm just going to
quickly fire something
up.
Our prayer, our
relationship with
God will be
shallow.
Our prayer life
would be
unsatisfying and
it would leave us
wanting more.
We wonder why we
don't have healthy
relationships with
God, but look at
what we are putting
into our prayer
lives.
Don't forget the
awesomeness of the
Lord's prayer out of
familiarity.
Pray the Lord's
prayer because it
is a full meal
that will sustain
our souls and
bring us into
relationship with
God closer.
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father,
I thank you that
we have the joy
of calling you
Father and that
we have this
wonderful full
meal of a
prayer from your
son Jesus.
God, help us
not to forget
what this prayer
is out of
familiarity.
But Lord, we
ask that we
would use this
prayer not
just as a
structure, not
just as words
to say, but
as a way to
remember who
you are and
what you have
done and all
of the wonderful
gifts that you
give to us
every day.
Father, help us
to constantly
be reminded
of who you
are and the
fact that we
can bring our
requests and our
desires to you
and that you
love us and that
you listen to us
and you respond.
God, it will not
be easy starting
to pray.
Lord, we need to
learn how to pray.
give us the
encouragement and
the comfort to
challenge one
another, to be
talking about our
prayer lives with
one another, that
it would not just
be a secret thing,
but it would be a
thing we do as
family as we
seek to know you
and to draw closer
to you, Lord.
We ask this in your
son's name.
Amen.
As Nick said, I'll
be at Pishon
Cafe this Wednesday
morning at 7 a.m.
if you would like
to join me to
continue learning
how to pray.