WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.140 Good morning, church family. Today we're going to read from Matthew chapter 5, and we're reading from verses 7 through to 13. 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:20.920 Jesus is continuing to teach his disciples, teach us, and now he's continuing with prayer. 00:00:21.519 --> 00:00:24.019 So we're starting at verse 7. 00:00:24.019 --> 00:00:34.700 And when you pray, do not keep up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. 00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:40.600 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 00:00:41.700 --> 00:00:43.000 Pray then like this. 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:48.359 Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:00:49.359 --> 00:00:54.359 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:00:55.439 --> 00:01:02.980 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:01:03.920 --> 00:01:09.519 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:13.079 Okay, good morning, everyone. 00:01:13.879 --> 00:01:21.899 Well, yeah, as Simon introduced, we're going back in to the Sermon on the Mount today. 00:01:22.099 --> 00:01:24.739 And next Sunday, we're going to focus in on the Lord's Prayer. 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:33.879 I'm going to take us through the first half of the Lord's Prayer, and then David Corder will take us through the second half of the prayer next week. 00:01:34.319 --> 00:01:38.219 And then after that, we're going to pick up where the story left off in chapter 8. 00:01:39.519 --> 00:01:43.979 So we've finished the Sermon on the Mount, so you might be wondering, why are we going back into it? 00:01:44.920 --> 00:01:50.699 I don't think it's because I didn't do a good enough job when I taught on this passage last time. 00:01:50.699 --> 00:01:58.280 The other elders didn't say that anyway, but there's two main reasons that we're going back in to focus on the Lord's Prayer. 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:12.960 First and foremost, it's because the elders, we felt that there was just so much substance in the Lord's Prayer that there wasn't enough time to study it properly when we looked at the full context of verses 1 to 18. 00:02:13.560 --> 00:02:19.759 And prayer and forgiveness are so crucial to living the Christian life. 00:02:19.759 --> 00:02:24.319 So it's worth taking some extra time to focus on these things. 00:02:24.840 --> 00:02:34.780 The second reason is that we hope to, as we go through these two topics in particular, prayer and forgiveness, looking at the whole prayer, 00:02:34.780 --> 00:02:45.519 we hope to kind of touch down in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount to show how the entire message of the Sermon on the Mount fits together. 00:02:45.520 --> 00:02:51.780 Often we take this part of the Bible and we just treat it like an encyclopedia, 00:02:51.980 --> 00:03:02.420 but we're going to see through this topic on prayer and forgiveness that we'll see Jesus' Sermon on the Mount as it is, one single message. 00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:08.260 Okay, well, with that preamble, let's get into our passage for today. 00:03:09.080 --> 00:03:13.340 As we come to the topic of prayer, please have two things in mind. 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:22.900 And I hope to help us to be able to use the Lord's Prayer as a guide for our prayers, as a launching point into what to pray for. 00:03:23.539 --> 00:03:26.120 I think that's one of the benefits of the Lord's Prayer. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:30.379 It gives us a formula to launch into prayer from. 00:03:30.800 --> 00:03:32.620 It's a good gift from God in that respect. 00:03:32.620 --> 00:03:40.259 And the other thing to keep in mind is I'm more interested in our constant attitude of prayerfulness. 00:03:40.980 --> 00:03:48.020 Rather than picturing just your morning prayer time, 1 Thessalonians 5 tells us, 00:03:48.180 --> 00:03:54.560 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks in all circumstances. 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:00.620 It's walking through life and, in a sense, never saying amen. 00:04:00.620 --> 00:04:09.200 So I'm really thinking of a prayerfulness rather than the activity of a single prayer. 00:04:10.920 --> 00:04:13.460 So a prayer, what is it? 00:04:13.520 --> 00:04:20.819 Well, John Calvin, the great theologian, called prayer the chief exercise of faith. 00:04:21.459 --> 00:04:25.300 The chief exercise of faith. 00:04:25.300 --> 00:04:33.139 Let's just consider for a moment just how much faith has to overcome for us to pray sincerely. 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:43.560 Our secular society, in which most of us have grown up, sees the universe, the world, as a closed system of cause and effect. 00:04:43.759 --> 00:04:45.780 There is no supernatural realm. 00:04:45.779 --> 00:04:51.579 And yet, a Christian prays as if God is always present. 00:04:52.219 --> 00:04:57.539 Not intervening here and there, but always with his hands on the wheel everywhere. 00:04:58.919 --> 00:05:03.159 It just doesn't come naturally to where we've grown up. 00:05:03.639 --> 00:05:10.779 Or consider our secular friend's view of adulthood, becoming an adult in terms of being independent. 00:05:10.779 --> 00:05:18.659 A person to be respected is someone who succeeds by their own grit and their own giftedness. 00:05:19.539 --> 00:05:24.779 But then a Christian is meant to live with the posture of a child, suckling milk. 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:34.139 Add to these two massive obstacles that we're in an age of instant gratification. 00:05:34.979 --> 00:05:41.379 And we're in an age where we let our feelings and desires tell us whether to do something or not. 00:05:41.819 --> 00:05:45.399 And prayer, let's face it, isn't always exciting and fun. 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:49.099 There's a lot of obstacles to praying. 00:05:49.100 --> 00:05:54.460 No wonder prayer doesn't come naturally to who we once were. 00:05:56.700 --> 00:06:03.240 If prayer was simply a spiritual activity, it would just require skill and self-control. 00:06:03.379 --> 00:06:08.879 But it goes deeper because prayer is the chief exercise of faith. 00:06:10.140 --> 00:06:16.439 Nothing quite like prayer expresses our new life in Christ as a child of God. 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:28.920 And so I think we should expect the powers of hell would attack us at this nourishing route of living the Christian life. 00:06:30.720 --> 00:06:35.180 So having said all that, how's your prayer life going? 00:06:35.740 --> 00:06:36.720 How's your prayerfulness? 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:46.360 When I reflect on what stifles my prayerfulness, a lot comes to mind. 00:06:46.960 --> 00:06:48.920 I don't know if you can share with me these things. 00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:54.960 What stifles my prayerfulness is wanting to be independent so that I get the credit. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:01.720 Not thinking prayer is all that useful because I can't see the immediate results. 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:08.980 Not feeling like I need to pray because life is going smoothly at this present moment. 00:07:09.100 --> 00:07:13.980 Or I pray just to make sure that life keeps going smoothly. 00:07:14.420 --> 00:07:18.520 So it's quite, I just get to the point and get on with the rest of my day. 00:07:19.780 --> 00:07:25.440 Or maybe I'm just overwhelmed with guilt and shame. 00:07:25.439 --> 00:07:28.540 I feel so unworthy to talk to God. 00:07:29.779 --> 00:07:32.519 Or my desire for other things. 00:07:32.920 --> 00:07:41.339 There's so many things my heart desires that to pray, to spend time with God, I'd just rather be doing something else. 00:07:42.540 --> 00:07:50.319 Or maybe I fear that my words, my half-hearted desires, my half-hearted attempts won't be acceptable enough to God. 00:07:50.319 --> 00:07:56.339 Or maybe I fear what others will think of my prayer and evaluating my prayer. 00:07:57.279 --> 00:08:01.120 And then there's sometimes I fear that prayer will work. 00:08:01.819 --> 00:08:08.779 And I'm worried what God will take away from my life to make me more holy. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:13.199 Maybe it's going to hurt if he answers my prayer. 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:24.060 Now, if you can resonate with any of that, with all that swimming around my soul, how can I approach God with confidence? 00:08:25.420 --> 00:08:33.360 What reason is strong enough to persuade my heart that I really can approach God? 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:36.779 We're going to come back to that question. 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:43.659 But for now, let's not comfort each other and excuse each other by saying we all struggle with praying. 00:08:44.720 --> 00:08:51.399 Because if prayer is the chief exercise of faith, then it's not just one aspect of the Christian life that we're struggling in. 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:53.659 We are struggling in faith. 00:08:55.019 --> 00:08:58.960 And faith doesn't come from pulling ourselves up from our bootlaces. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:05.340 Faith comes from looking outside ourselves and looking to God and what he has done for us in Jesus. 00:09:05.820 --> 00:09:11.580 And no surprise, that is exactly where the Lord's prayer begins. 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:14.680 All true prayer begins here. 00:09:16.340 --> 00:09:22.100 Before any Christian prayer can occur, it's as if God asks us to pause and consider. 00:09:23.100 --> 00:09:24.680 Who do you take me for? 00:09:25.780 --> 00:09:27.620 Who am I to you? 00:09:28.960 --> 00:09:31.580 Now, I'm borrowing these questions from J.I. Packer. 00:09:31.660 --> 00:09:32.500 They're good questions. 00:09:33.160 --> 00:09:34.600 First question we need to answer. 00:09:34.820 --> 00:09:36.759 Who do you take me for? 00:09:37.240 --> 00:09:38.220 Who am I to you? 00:09:40.220 --> 00:09:44.879 Do you take me as a judge of external performance? 00:09:45.720 --> 00:09:48.240 Like a judge on Australia's Got Talent. 00:09:48.980 --> 00:09:55.600 This is the religious person's assumption that we see in verses 5 and 6. 00:09:55.600 --> 00:09:59.080 That hypocrisy, that actor putting on a mask. 00:10:00.300 --> 00:10:13.500 If you believe God's law is all about external behaviour, then you're constantly evaluating your worth and your value before God according to your performance, either succeeding or failing. 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:17.919 And often when we think of prayer, we might feel like we're failing. 00:10:18.919 --> 00:10:27.460 It's viewing God like a manager at work who doesn't really care why you're doing your work so long as you're doing it. 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:29.159 And the more you do, the better. 00:10:29.159 --> 00:10:32.339 So are we coming to God? 00:10:32.980 --> 00:10:37.259 Do we picture him as a judge of external performance? 00:10:38.439 --> 00:10:41.639 That's a religious view of God's law. 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:46.980 And Jesus shows the shallowness of that view of God's law in chapter 5. 00:10:46.980 --> 00:10:56.039 I think this kind of attitude is often expressed in pompous prayers. 00:10:57.200 --> 00:11:02.879 Almighty God and Father, I extol you for your unconditional election. 00:11:03.320 --> 00:11:09.580 Jesus' substitutionary atonement, imputing his righteousness, your spirit's irresistible core. 00:11:09.960 --> 00:11:12.600 For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory. 00:11:12.600 --> 00:11:17.820 Now, in a sense, there's nothing wrong with those words, so don't get me wrong. 00:11:18.019 --> 00:11:25.200 But I think a religious view of prayer, the more jargon, the better. 00:11:25.960 --> 00:11:28.540 The more we can puff ourselves up, the better. 00:11:28.680 --> 00:11:32.779 Because we're viewing God as a judge of external performance. 00:11:34.700 --> 00:11:41.660 So if you view God as a judge, we'll either use prayer to get more righteous credit. 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:49.000 With God or we will be so afraid of failing, we just won't step out in faith. 00:11:49.259 --> 00:11:50.659 We won't exercise our faith. 00:11:52.460 --> 00:11:54.019 So who do you take me for? 00:11:54.080 --> 00:11:56.100 A judge of performance? 00:11:56.279 --> 00:12:00.399 Or maybe you take me for an automated vending machine. 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:08.879 As if God is this impersonal force that just wants the right input and then he will reward you with blessing. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:12.320 This is a worldly view of prayer. 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:15.439 It's just about reciting the right words. 00:12:16.620 --> 00:12:20.279 It's heaping up empty words, Jesus says. 00:12:21.080 --> 00:12:22.779 Now, a quick clarification. 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:25.120 Jesus isn't forbidding repetition. 00:12:25.399 --> 00:12:31.879 Jesus himself repeats himself, even I'm repeating myself now, in his prayers. 00:12:32.519 --> 00:12:34.120 There's nothing wrong with repetition. 00:12:34.120 --> 00:12:41.700 The problem is using our mouth without engaging our mind and our heart. 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:45.060 Speaking to God without thinking. 00:12:45.240 --> 00:12:46.060 That's the problem. 00:12:46.059 --> 00:12:51.939 It could be expressed as our Father in heaven. 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:53.619 Hallowed be your name. 00:12:54.079 --> 00:12:55.179 Your kingdom come. 00:12:55.659 --> 00:12:57.859 Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:12:58.000 --> 00:13:02.519 Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. 00:13:02.839 --> 00:13:05.619 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:13:06.019 --> 00:13:10.819 Please help me get all HDs in my studies and give me a smooth and happy day. 00:13:11.059 --> 00:13:12.039 In Jesus' name. 00:13:12.439 --> 00:13:12.799 Amen. 00:13:12.799 --> 00:13:12.939 Amen. 00:13:14.740 --> 00:13:17.219 It is taking God for a robot. 00:13:18.439 --> 00:13:21.699 Just put the right input in and he will give you blessing. 00:13:23.139 --> 00:13:25.539 It's even treating prayer like magic. 00:13:25.979 --> 00:13:29.740 You just need to cast the right spell and poof, there you go. 00:13:30.039 --> 00:13:30.859 There's the result. 00:13:32.279 --> 00:13:34.039 And then we often complain. 00:13:34.339 --> 00:13:35.199 Prayer doesn't work. 00:13:35.200 --> 00:13:44.960 I think we can see this in the church through mindless reciting of liturgy. 00:13:45.540 --> 00:13:49.080 Now, again, there's nothing wrong with liturgy. 00:13:49.259 --> 00:13:52.480 And our church has a liturgy. 00:13:52.660 --> 00:13:53.560 It's not written down. 00:13:53.559 --> 00:14:02.679 But I assure you that there's certain phrases when we pray that we know that the rest of Grace Evangelical Church will go, yes, that's a good phrase. 00:14:03.419 --> 00:14:04.459 We have a liturgy. 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:10.280 Are we saying it meaningfully or are we just reciting it? 00:14:10.279 --> 00:14:23.879 So do we take God for a judge or an automated vending machine or do we take him for who he is? 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:27.340 Our father in heaven. 00:14:29.159 --> 00:14:32.700 Not an impersonal force, but a personal God. 00:14:33.320 --> 00:14:41.600 Not a judge of external performance, but a loving father who is attentive to our needs, verse 8, ready to provide. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:46.240 He isn't ignorant that you have to tell him what you need. 00:14:46.379 --> 00:14:50.299 He isn't unwilling that you have to somehow convince him to care. 00:14:50.299 --> 00:14:56.899 I take you for the God in heaven who has all power at your disposal. 00:14:57.919 --> 00:15:01.899 To me, by your mercy, you are my loving father. 00:15:02.419 --> 00:15:06.479 I know that you only ever give me grace and compassion. 00:15:07.019 --> 00:15:10.319 When I ask for food, you don't give me a rock or a snake. 00:15:10.699 --> 00:15:12.000 You are a good God. 00:15:12.819 --> 00:15:15.059 You are our father in heaven. 00:15:15.059 --> 00:15:23.079 Christian prayerfulness overflows from faith in a right view of who God is. 00:15:23.579 --> 00:15:26.719 Fatherly care, heavenly power combined. 00:15:27.219 --> 00:15:29.219 What a combination of who God is. 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:35.139 Emma makes me these little Bible verses to pin up on my office wall. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:37.599 And this is the latest one. 00:15:37.819 --> 00:15:39.799 Isaiah 57, 15. 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:43.339 I'm really enjoying this verse at the moment. 00:15:43.479 --> 00:15:53.439 For thus says the one who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is holy. 00:15:53.439 --> 00:15:57.519 I dwell in the high and holy place. 00:15:57.519 --> 00:16:13.500 Does it sound familiar? 00:16:15.639 --> 00:16:19.199 Sounds to me like blessed are the poor in spirit. 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:22.000 So theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 00:16:22.000 --> 00:16:31.200 Starting at this point, remembering who God is, remembering who we are in God. 00:16:31.700 --> 00:16:35.799 This is why it's a good time to spend some time reflecting on who God is. 00:16:36.860 --> 00:16:43.440 In our small group, we have a running joke about the preamble to prayer at Grace Evangelical Church. 00:16:43.440 --> 00:16:52.620 Most people spend a bit of time putting some theological things in at the start of prayer and then they move on to asking for things. 00:16:53.580 --> 00:17:04.700 Now, it is possible that that preamble is just putting on a hypocritical act, just trying to say things to impress other people and impress God. 00:17:05.180 --> 00:17:12.960 But it also could be a way to reorientate our hearts to remember who God is and who we are in relation to him. 00:17:13.440 --> 00:17:15.740 Now, please understand me. 00:17:15.799 --> 00:17:18.340 I don't care if you put a preamble in or not. 00:17:18.640 --> 00:17:19.440 That's not the point. 00:17:20.019 --> 00:17:29.519 My main point is that our prayer should all be soaked in and come back to revolve around our understanding of who God is. 00:17:30.559 --> 00:17:35.720 At the end of a prayer, we shouldn't be thinking, wow, that's a prayerful person. 00:17:35.900 --> 00:17:38.700 We should be thinking, wow, God is good. 00:17:39.500 --> 00:17:40.380 I can trust him. 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:49.280 Christian prayer only flows from knowing who we are in the Son of God. 00:17:49.420 --> 00:17:50.820 Do you remember chapter 5? 00:17:50.940 --> 00:17:55.260 Jesus tells us what true righteousness is. 00:17:55.900 --> 00:18:00.420 It's not merely external but internal. 00:18:00.420 --> 00:18:05.140 We see it as he talks through anger and lust and unfaithfulness. 00:18:05.940 --> 00:18:17.860 And the true righteousness isn't measuring up to the list of rules, but it is sharing the Father's heart of love, being full of truth, not retaliating to evil, but choosing to love those who harm you. 00:18:18.460 --> 00:18:21.880 We're called to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. 00:18:21.880 --> 00:18:27.940 Now, with all that in mind, let's return to that question. 00:18:28.500 --> 00:18:48.680 What ground is strong enough that whatever is swimming around your soul right now or in any moment that is stifling your prayerfulness, what ground is strong enough that you can sincerely and confidently know that the living God is my dad in heaven? 00:18:48.680 --> 00:18:54.720 Well, let me give you two quotes from the Sermon on the Mount. 00:18:56.080 --> 00:18:56.900 Jesus says, 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:02.320 I didn't come to abolish the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them. 00:19:05.259 --> 00:19:13.140 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 00:19:13.140 --> 00:19:27.540 And the rain fell and the rain fell and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock. 00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:51.379 Our half-hearted feelings, our half-hearted attempts to relate to God, we fear that they're not acceptable enough, but in Jesus, who fulfilled the law for us, who was the only faithful son, in him, faith in him, I am accepted, fully accepted. 00:19:51.380 --> 00:19:55.580 I can't add to that acceptance, I can't take away from that acceptance. 00:19:56.580 --> 00:20:00.560 If I'm feeling unworthy in him, I am justified. 00:20:01.860 --> 00:20:03.200 I am righteous. 00:20:05.120 --> 00:20:10.020 Once an enemy, in the son, I am adopted. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:17.180 To call God father is what it means to pray in Jesus' name. 00:20:17.180 --> 00:20:21.539 How else would you have the boldness to call God your father? 00:20:24.019 --> 00:20:34.779 It is in Jesus, in him alone, our only foundation, our only righteousness, that we know God is our father in heaven. 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:43.620 All his heavenly power is working for us, for his fatherly care of us, his adopted children. 00:20:43.619 --> 00:20:51.059 So that's the first step when praying in prayerfulness, is to bring this to mind. 00:20:51.139 --> 00:20:54.679 And the word of God is a great place to bring this to mind. 00:20:55.159 --> 00:20:56.139 Our father in heaven. 00:20:56.739 --> 00:21:00.799 So that being so, what is it that you really want most? 00:21:03.219 --> 00:21:07.879 A vending machine, God, what I want is the gifts that God can give me. 00:21:08.039 --> 00:21:09.279 They are the valuable thing. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:16.339 With a judge of performance, I want to use prayer to puff up my sense of righteous credit. 00:21:18.019 --> 00:21:30.379 Apart from seeing God as our father through Christ, I think John Stott helps us to see what our prayerfulness actually looks like in God's eyes when it's bent in on ourselves. 00:21:30.380 --> 00:21:39.660 When we get our view of God wrong, it twists those first few petitions in the Lord's Prayer. 00:21:40.160 --> 00:21:52.720 When we get God's identity wrong and who we are, suddenly what I want is my own little name, my reputation to be defended and made much of in the world. 00:21:52.720 --> 00:22:00.799 It would be, I want my power to be effective, to make my own little sphere of influence grow. 00:22:01.460 --> 00:22:07.980 It would be my own desires, my own will to be established and getting upset when my way is frustrated. 00:22:07.980 --> 00:22:25.319 But if we remember who we are, who God is, our divine father, suddenly, well, not suddenly, over time, our hearts, desires and ambitions turn away from self and towards him. 00:22:25.319 --> 00:22:30.359 Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:32.679 There will, what do you want? 00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:33.859 What do you really want? 00:22:34.259 --> 00:22:36.659 Our heart's desire will be directed towards him. 00:22:38.119 --> 00:22:40.879 What we really want is more life. 00:22:41.960 --> 00:22:48.359 And when we remember that our life is found in the sun, all of blessing is found in Jesus, 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:58.639 then what I want is more of God to lift himself up and to fill up my heart and to fill up the world because that is the source of life. 00:22:59.179 --> 00:23:00.479 Hallowed be your name. 00:23:00.740 --> 00:23:04.979 I want your name lifted up everywhere, starting in my own heart. 00:23:05.759 --> 00:23:07.919 You're not treasured like you should be. 00:23:09.199 --> 00:23:10.379 Hallowed be your name. 00:23:10.639 --> 00:23:11.659 Your kingdom come. 00:23:11.779 --> 00:23:15.679 I want your good rule to take over my heart. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:19.580 I want your good rule to come finally. 00:23:20.480 --> 00:23:23.799 Make this world full of peace and justice. 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:27.100 I want your will to be done. 00:23:27.820 --> 00:23:34.100 I want to be convinced from my heart that your ways are best and joyfully do what you say. 00:23:35.080 --> 00:23:39.900 And in my circumstances in the world, I want your will to conquer. 00:23:40.539 --> 00:23:41.840 Your ways are best. 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:46.779 Let's just slow down and take a quick look at each of these. 00:23:46.919 --> 00:23:47.859 Hallowed be your name. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:51.599 The children's talk really helped us to understand what this means. 00:23:52.500 --> 00:23:55.079 This isn't part of the address to God. 00:23:55.259 --> 00:23:58.099 So our father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 00:23:58.419 --> 00:24:01.539 This is the start of what we're asking for. 00:24:02.819 --> 00:24:03.679 Hallowed be. 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.119 It's a request. 00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:06.220 It's a prayer. 00:24:06.220 --> 00:24:11.000 Hallowed means to respect, to honour, to make holy. 00:24:12.440 --> 00:24:14.259 But God already is holy. 00:24:15.240 --> 00:24:19.019 So it's asking for God to lift up his name. 00:24:19.120 --> 00:24:23.460 And it's not just a prayer against people using God's name as a curse word. 00:24:23.720 --> 00:24:29.100 A person's name represents the whole person, their character, what they've done. 00:24:29.099 --> 00:24:36.480 God, make who you are the highest place in every heart in all the world. 00:24:37.679 --> 00:24:38.919 That's where you belong. 00:24:40.500 --> 00:24:43.579 Tim Keller helps us to understand the depths of this prayer. 00:24:44.759 --> 00:24:47.379 He says, hallowed God's name. 00:24:47.439 --> 00:24:53.079 It's not merely to live righteous lives, but to have a heart of grateful joy toward God. 00:24:53.219 --> 00:24:56.859 And even more, a wondrous sense of his beauty. 00:24:56.859 --> 00:25:05.579 We do not revere his name unless he captivates us with wonderment for him. 00:25:08.199 --> 00:25:13.279 So as I pray for my little boy, Samuel, I want him to be safe. 00:25:13.419 --> 00:25:14.479 I want him to be healthy. 00:25:14.639 --> 00:25:15.619 I want him to be happy. 00:25:15.899 --> 00:25:23.619 But my deepest desire for him is that he comes to see and treasure and live for Jesus. 00:25:24.259 --> 00:25:25.579 What am I praying for there? 00:25:25.579 --> 00:25:25.899 What am I praying for there? 00:25:26.859 --> 00:25:31.179 I'm praying that God's name would be lifted up in Sam's heart. 00:25:32.579 --> 00:25:41.039 Or as you pray for our nation, Lord, use this time where what the world thinks will give them life is being stripped away. 00:25:41.199 --> 00:25:44.359 Use it to reveal that true life is found in your son. 00:25:44.959 --> 00:25:49.379 Help people or cause people to repent and come to you for life. 00:25:49.479 --> 00:25:50.559 What are we praying for? 00:25:50.559 --> 00:25:54.980 That God's name would be lifted up and treasured and trusted. 00:25:57.059 --> 00:25:59.059 That he would have a rightful place. 00:25:59.980 --> 00:26:03.679 When you, Father, are lifted up, I see more of you. 00:26:04.519 --> 00:26:08.139 And if you are my treasure, that's what I want. 00:26:08.140 --> 00:26:13.540 Secondly, your kingdom come. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:17.860 Again, Jesus is sitting on his throne. 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:19.140 He is ruling. 00:26:19.680 --> 00:26:20.640 He is the king. 00:26:21.620 --> 00:26:28.420 But to pray for his rule to deepen and extend is for people to embrace that rule gladly. 00:26:28.420 --> 00:26:37.920 Have you ever noticed how things can just dominate your desires and your thinking and just take control of your life? 00:26:38.560 --> 00:26:45.700 Praying your kingdom come is firstly praying, Lord Jesus, rule over my thoughts. 00:26:46.320 --> 00:26:47.240 You direct them. 00:26:48.180 --> 00:26:49.519 Rule over my desires. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:51.579 You tell me what to desire. 00:26:52.720 --> 00:26:54.160 Rule over my commitments. 00:26:54.619 --> 00:26:56.319 Rule over my emotions. 00:26:58.920 --> 00:27:00.400 How do we see this? 00:27:00.619 --> 00:27:07.279 When we're praying for a brother or sister who's caught in sin, Lord, your kingdom come. 00:27:07.940 --> 00:27:16.559 Break in with your grace and free them from the illusion of life being found where they won't find it. 00:27:16.559 --> 00:27:21.359 But convince their heart that your way will give them life. 00:27:22.220 --> 00:27:23.440 Your kingdom come. 00:27:23.740 --> 00:27:24.559 Your rule. 00:27:25.579 --> 00:27:26.940 Take control of their heart. 00:27:28.379 --> 00:27:37.740 It's praying that the church has witnessed through our daily attitudes and be like salt and light that others would see and join us in glorifying God. 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:43.079 So for Jesus' rule to be embraced, we're starting with ourselves. 00:27:43.819 --> 00:27:46.660 And then we want that to be embraced by more people. 00:27:46.920 --> 00:27:49.940 And we want that rule to be all over the world. 00:27:51.900 --> 00:27:55.180 I'm not content with my sinful heart. 00:27:55.620 --> 00:27:57.839 I'm not content in this world. 00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:02.220 My soul hungers and thirsts for righteousness. 00:28:02.920 --> 00:28:04.079 Come, Lord Jesus. 00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:07.240 Your kingdom come in my heart. 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:09.099 Your kingdom come fully. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:10.099 Come back. 00:28:11.200 --> 00:28:14.900 Once you're ruling, that's when blessing will flow. 00:28:16.120 --> 00:28:16.920 And the third prayer. 00:28:17.059 --> 00:28:18.400 Your name be lifted up. 00:28:19.099 --> 00:28:20.339 Have the rightful place. 00:28:20.859 --> 00:28:24.160 When you are treasured, your rule will be embraced. 00:28:25.039 --> 00:28:27.859 And so your will be done joyfully. 00:28:30.279 --> 00:28:34.519 Again, God's will at one level is already being done. 00:28:34.519 --> 00:28:39.759 He uses the worst evil to achieve his eternal good ends. 00:28:40.180 --> 00:28:43.519 His will is being done in heaven and on earth. 00:28:44.639 --> 00:28:50.700 But at another level, have you noticed how hard it is to pray this prayer with integrity? 00:28:50.700 --> 00:28:51.700 I want comfort. 00:28:51.700 --> 00:28:52.700 I want comfort. 00:28:52.700 --> 00:28:55.319 I want comfort. 00:28:56.360 --> 00:28:57.180 I want health. 00:28:57.519 --> 00:28:58.299 I want harmony. 00:28:58.519 --> 00:28:59.420 I want success. 00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:00.600 I want it now. 00:29:01.180 --> 00:29:02.860 And I want it done in my way. 00:29:02.859 --> 00:29:08.519 To then pray, your will be done. 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:11.419 It challenges my will. 00:29:11.420 --> 00:29:26.300 The degree to which we can pray this with integrity, what you will, when you will, how you will, depends on how much we trust that God is our good father. 00:29:26.299 --> 00:29:39.639 Often, this prayer is going to provoke repentance as we pray this because we will see that our will is just at odds with what God's will is. 00:29:40.940 --> 00:29:44.700 Here's how Martin Luther put it, what this prayer is praying. 00:29:44.700 --> 00:30:02.400 Grant us grace to bear willingly all sorts of sickness, poverty, disgrace, suffering and adversity and to recognise that in this, your divine will is crucifying our will. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:14.720 I want to add to that, not just crucifying, but resurrecting our will to joyfully, trustingly choose to go God's way. 00:30:17.360 --> 00:30:24.820 It's trusting like a four-year-old who doesn't quite understand what their parents are doing all the time. 00:30:24.900 --> 00:30:30.560 They may not understand, but it doesn't stop them from trusting and running into their parents' arms. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:38.079 So in heaven, God's name is always lifted up. 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:39.759 He is always worshipped. 00:30:40.500 --> 00:30:45.539 Because he is lifted up in heaven, his good rule is fully embraced. 00:30:45.940 --> 00:30:48.139 And so his will is joyfully done. 00:30:49.019 --> 00:30:58.559 And so as a child of God, what we want most is for heaven, what's happening in heaven to be happening on earth more and more. 00:30:58.559 --> 00:31:03.220 In our own heart, in our church, and then filling up the world. 00:31:05.919 --> 00:31:07.319 So that's this prayer. 00:31:07.460 --> 00:31:09.659 David's going to take us through the second half next week. 00:31:09.720 --> 00:31:12.700 But let me just make a few comments on the second half. 00:31:12.700 --> 00:31:21.120 It's not as if we need to not be selfish and pray for what God wants first and then we pray for ourselves. 00:31:22.019 --> 00:31:32.420 But if we believe that his kingdom and his righteousness is where life is truly found in the son, then that interprets what my needs are. 00:31:32.420 --> 00:31:42.759 If I need to have faith in order to live for him, I can come to him with all my needs, expecting him to be ready to give. 00:31:42.980 --> 00:31:44.300 I need his provision. 00:31:44.519 --> 00:31:46.060 I need his forgiveness. 00:31:46.460 --> 00:31:47.740 I need his protection. 00:31:47.740 --> 00:31:48.740 I need his protection. 00:31:48.740 --> 00:31:49.740 I need his protection. 00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:56.079 This first half of the prayer reshapes what our needs actually are. 00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:00.559 And we can come to him knowing he's ready to provide. 00:32:04.180 --> 00:32:09.759 So hopefully that helps us know what we're praying for, what we should be praying for. 00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:15.579 And I know that praying this doesn't come automatically. 00:32:16.519 --> 00:32:23.299 In fact, God has given us prayer so that as we pray this, these desires would become ours more and more. 00:32:23.559 --> 00:32:27.039 So don't wait to pray until you feel this. 00:32:27.579 --> 00:32:32.019 God is telling us pray like this and then you'll start to desire it. 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:39.460 But having said all this, you might have a lingering doubt, a lingering question in your mind. 00:32:39.460 --> 00:32:42.539 Not because you don't believe God's word, but because you do. 00:32:43.360 --> 00:32:45.600 The question rises out of verse 8. 00:32:46.900 --> 00:32:51.860 If our father knows what we need before we ask him, why do we need to pray? 00:32:52.660 --> 00:32:54.420 What's the point of prayer? 00:32:55.620 --> 00:32:57.259 He doesn't need our prayers. 00:32:58.740 --> 00:33:04.160 And God often graciously provides for us without us asking. 00:33:04.360 --> 00:33:06.400 So why pray? 00:33:06.400 --> 00:33:06.600 Pray. 00:33:09.200 --> 00:33:15.500 I think we can find the answer when we look at Jesus' life and his praying life. 00:33:16.140 --> 00:33:18.220 He prays when he's faced with hardship. 00:33:18.700 --> 00:33:21.280 He gives thanks to the father again and again. 00:33:21.519 --> 00:33:26.400 When he's making big decisions, his prayerfulness is just scattered throughout his life. 00:33:26.400 --> 00:33:33.759 And I've always wondered with Jesus' life, was he just pretending to pray, to give us an example to follow? 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:44.480 Because if prayer is spreading out our helplessness before the Lord, the son of God, did he really need help? 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:52.200 Or was his prayer life just part of his human nature? 00:33:52.200 --> 00:33:58.259 But think for a sec about John chapter 5. 00:33:58.940 --> 00:34:01.580 Let me read a few verses from John chapter 5. 00:34:01.799 --> 00:34:04.940 There, in John 5, the Jewish leaders are wanting to kill him. 00:34:05.519 --> 00:34:06.400 And here's why. 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:13.240 For this reason, they, the Jewish leaders, tried all the more to kill him. 00:34:13.559 --> 00:34:24.680 Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God. 00:34:24.679 --> 00:34:32.960 Do you hear what privilege it is to call God father? 00:34:34.739 --> 00:34:36.639 Jesus gave them this answer. 00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:43.779 Very truly, I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself. 00:34:44.859 --> 00:34:52.940 He can do only what he sees his father doing, because whatever the father does, the son also does. 00:34:52.940 --> 00:34:58.280 For the father loves the son and shows him all he does. 00:34:59.460 --> 00:35:10.920 Now, there's a lot of amazing statements in that short little passage, but I find perhaps the most amazing, the son can do nothing by himself. 00:35:14.159 --> 00:35:17.519 He doesn't want to do anything by himself. 00:35:18.079 --> 00:35:19.740 He doesn't want to be independent. 00:35:19.739 --> 00:35:24.919 He wants to be filled with his father and what he is doing. 00:35:26.479 --> 00:35:33.119 I don't think prayer is just part of our weak humanity as dependent creatures. 00:35:33.500 --> 00:35:34.299 It is that. 00:35:34.519 --> 00:35:35.859 We are dependent creatures. 00:35:35.860 --> 00:35:47.000 I think prayer is part of the divine, eternal son of God relating to the father, what he's always been doing. 00:35:47.700 --> 00:35:50.340 He's always been receiving from the father. 00:35:51.880 --> 00:35:58.559 Prayer is to enter into the childlike relationship of the son of God with the father. 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:11.639 Calling God our father is outrageous unless it's true that Jesus really is the son of God. 00:36:11.639 --> 00:36:18.940 And unless it's true, we really have, by his mercy, been brought into his life. 00:36:21.179 --> 00:36:26.159 Prayer is the son's glad dependency on the father. 00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:37.339 Prayer is learning to be prayerful, to be conformed to what God desires. 00:36:38.539 --> 00:36:43.940 Prayer is becoming the children of God that we now are in the son of God. 00:36:43.940 --> 00:36:49.220 Becoming more like Jesus, who is glad to be dependent on the father for all things. 00:36:50.179 --> 00:37:00.460 Transforming our desires to align to the father and joining the father in his mission to give his eternal life to rebellious and imprisoned hearts. 00:37:01.200 --> 00:37:02.659 That's what prayer does. 00:37:03.340 --> 00:37:10.539 It's entering into the relationship between father, son in the joy of the spirit. 00:37:10.539 --> 00:37:16.219 Let me finish with a quote from Calvin, John Calvin. 00:37:16.219 --> 00:37:22.039 Christians pray in order that they may arouse themselves to seek him. 00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:27.019 That they may exercise their faith in meditating on his promises. 00:37:27.820 --> 00:37:32.860 That they may relieve themselves from their anxieties by pouring them into his bosom. 00:37:32.860 --> 00:37:45.760 In a word, that they may declare that from him alone they hope and expect, both for themselves and for others, all good things. 00:37:47.079 --> 00:37:49.260 That's what a child does with their father. 00:37:51.099 --> 00:37:59.140 So church family, let's keep exercising our faith by becoming the children of God that we are in Jesus. 00:37:59.139 --> 00:38:02.779 Will you pray with me as we finish? 00:38:02.859 --> 00:38:03.219 Let's pray. 00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:09.980 Father, thank you for your mercy. 00:38:11.599 --> 00:38:17.659 We were cut off from you rightfully because of our wayward hearts. 00:38:17.659 --> 00:38:25.819 And yet, by your mercy, you have brought us into the life of the son of God who fulfilled the law on our behalf. 00:38:26.839 --> 00:38:30.319 Who died the death so that we could be brought into your family. 00:38:31.679 --> 00:38:42.759 Father, I pray that that deep identity of who you are and who we are in Jesus would take root in our hearts more and more. 00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:46.600 And that that would overflow in prayerfulness. 00:38:48.480 --> 00:38:51.220 Lord, make us prayerful. 00:38:52.720 --> 00:38:57.160 Individually and as a church, because that will honour you as our good father in heaven. 00:38:58.000 --> 00:38:59.280 I pray this in Jesus' name. 00:38:59.640 --> 00:38:59.900 Amen. 00:38:59.900 --> 00:39:00.020 Amen.