“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
What to pray for
What to pray with
Sermon Text: Luke 11:1-13
1 One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”
2 He said to them, “When you pray, say:
“‘Father,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”
5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.
9 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Can you tell me, how would you rate your personal prayer life? Would you say that you are good at praying? Well, that maybe depends upon how you define good, right? If your prayer life consists of being in regular communication with God, every day bringing your requests for what you’d like to have God do for you—that doesn’t mean you have a healthy prayer life. You see, because each one of us was born with a sinful nature, often times the things we want, even the things we ask for, are not in line with the things that God wants us to have or even ask for. That means that as we grow in our spiritual lives, we need to let God kind of reshape our pray lives. Or as someone once said, the purpose of prayer is really not to tell God what we want, but rather, to claim what God wants for us. Or to put it another way, prayer gives us the opportunity to bring our will into conformity with God’s will, not the other way around.
So, with that goal in mind, today we ask God to kind of clear away the distractions, and direct our undivided attention to what he would have us pray for. We’ll do that by joining Jesus’ disciples in saying, here in our text;
“Lord, Teach Us to Pray”
Here Jesus will teach us:
What to pray for
What to pray with
The gospel writer sets the stage for Jesus’ lesson with these words, One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Jesus’ answer to that request is what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus begins by telling his disciples, “When you pray, say: ‘Father.’” Jesus wants us to remember what kind of relationship we have with God. Our prayers are not conversations between a slave and his master. We are not cowering at the feet of a dictator on his throne. We are climbing into the lap of our heavenly dad. It reminds me of those pictures of Elon Musk in the oval office. Maybe you’ve seen them. I mean here you have arguably the richest man in the world. He’s running all these billion dollar companies, even as he’s heading up the DOGE. And yet this kid has got total access to him. He’s playing with his hair. He’s whispering in his ear. How does that happen? It happens because that kid is Elon Musk’s son. That little boy not only has Elon’s ear. He has his heart, too.
You realize, the same thing is true for you and me. When God adopted us into his family through the washing of holy baptism, he made us his children. In so doing, he gave us access to himself. And like any loving father, he wants to hear what we have to say. So, what should we ask of our Father? Jesus tells us, Pray, “Father, hallowed be your name.” Now, someone might say, Isn’t God’s name already holy? Yes, it is. We’re praying that we might keep it holy. How do we keep God’s name holy? First, by teaching God’s word accurately. Not distorting it. Not picking and choosing. Not saying, “I’ll accept what the Bible says about this, but not about that.”
And secondly, we keep God’s name holy by living according to it. Think about it. As believers, you and I wear the name of God. We are little “Christ”ians. How we live our lives reflects on the name we wear. It kind of reminds me of when my dad sent me off to high school in New Ulm, Minnesota. His final words of advice were something along the lines of, “Robb, don’t be getting mud on the Raasch name.” In other words, “You better behave!” Or in the words of Saint Paul to the Ephesians, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received (Ephesians 4:1). When you and I pray, “Hallowed be your name,” we mean, “God, help me live like your child.
Next, Jesus teaches us to pray, “your kingdom come.” Hmmm. What does that mean? Some people think it means, “Jesus, I hope you come back soon.” Or as Jesus’ own disciples said, after Jesus rose from the dead, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). But actually, in this petition, Jesus is not referring to his coming kingdom of glory, or his current kingdom of power. He’s talking about his ongoing kingdom of grace, that is, his ruling activity in the hearts of human beings. When we pray, “Your kingdom come”, we’re praying, “Lord, through your word in sacraments, more firmly establish your rule in my heart. And not just in my heart. Come into the hearts of others. With this petition, we’re praying for Muslims and Buddhists halfway around the world. We’re praying for our unchurched brother-in-law and the skeptic down the hall at work. We’re praying that God will use us to bring his saving gospel to others, so that through the work of the Holy Spirit, they might become part of God’s kingdom, too.
Next, Jesus teaches us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.” Of course, our daily bread is more than that a loaf of flour and water and yeast. It’s everything we need to sustain our lives on this side of the grave, whether it’s food or clothing or shelter or good weather or good government or peace and order. And you realize, God gives people those things even when they don’t pray for them. Isn’t that right? If you or I forget to say the table prayer before we eat, does the food disappear? No, God, in his undeserved love, continues to provide for the needs of believers and unbelievers alike, whether they’re praying or they are not.
Well, if God gives us our daily bread even without asking for it, then why does he want us to keep asking for it? Two reasons. First God wants us to gratefully acknowledge that everything we have comes from the hand of a gracious God. And secondly, God wants our prayers to be an expression of our trust in God’s ability to provide for our needs on a daily basis. Rather than praying, “God, would you set me up for the rest of my life so I don’t need to keep coming to you for help,” Jesus wants us to pray, “Give us today our daily bread.”
From there, Jesus goes on to address our greatest need, when he tells us to pray, “Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” You might say that this is the most important petition of all. Without forgiveness, there is no such thing as prayer, at least not prayer that is heard by God. Why do I say that? Look t it this way: Scripture says that our sin separates us from God. Sin creates this barrier between us and a holy God and doesn’t allow our prayers to get through. The only way around that wall, or through that wall, is Jesus. By his perfect life and innocent death, Jesus has destroyed that barrier. But if we refuse to let go of our sins, if we deny them or even defend them as being not that bad, we are in effect rebuilding the wall. That’s why it’s so important in our prayers to acknowledge our sins, that is, to confess them, repent of them—so that we can know what? So we can know as St. John says in his first epistle, “If we confess our sins God is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9). And once we know that, once we know that, in the words of the psalmist, As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103:12)—once we know that, then we can apply God’s forgiveness to those who have sinned against us. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.
Now maybe you’re thinking, “Wait a minute. Do I always forgive everyone who sins against me?” No, I sometimes struggle to let go of the things that people say to me or about me. But that’s exactly why we’re praying, “Father, forgive us our sins,” so that his forgiveness can, in turn, empower our forgiveness of others.
Here in Luke’s account, Jesus adds one more petition. It’s the words, “And lead us not into temptation.” Again, you might say, “Wait a minute. Since when does God lead people into temptation? God doesn’t lead anyone into temptation. How does St. James put it? When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone. No, when we pray, “Father, lead us not into temptation,” we’re really praying, “Father, don’t allow me to be deceived by the tactics of the devil, my flesh or the world around me. Give me the spiritual wisdom, stamina and courage to say no to those temptations.”
My friends, those are the things that Jesus wants us to pray for. Did you notice that only one petition deals with our physical needs. All the rest of them deal with spiritual needs. Jesus wants us to give our undivided attention to things that have eternal significance.
But Jesus is not only concerned about the content of our prayers. He’s also concerned about the attitude with which we pray. Or to put it another way, Jesus teaches us not only: I. What to pray for. He also teaches us: II. What to pray with. In other words, with what attitude we are to pray. Here in our text, Jesus first, pray with persistence. And, secondly, pray with confidence.
As an illustration of persistence, Jesus asks you to imagine that you have an unexpected guest show up at your house—and you have nothing to feed him. So you run to your friend’s house, to see if he has any food. But because it’s in the middle of the night, your friend says, in effect, “I’m already in bed. Go away.” But because you won’t take no for an answer, because you keep pounding on the door, to the point of embarrassing yourself, what does Jesus say our friend will do? Jesus says, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need (Luke 11:8). What’s the point? It’s that God rewards persistence. Don’t give up. When it seems like God is ignoring you, when it seems like God has no reason to answer your prayer, keep praying. What did Jesus say? Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
I should tell you that in the original language these are all present tense verbs. It’s not, “Ask once.” It’s “Keep asking.” It’s not “Take a glance around the room.” It’s “Turn the room upside down.” It’s not, “Tap, tap.” It’s Bam, bam, bam.” Come to God boldly, and confidently. Confident not in your prayer, because it’s to worthy of an answer; confident not in yourself, like God owes you one. No, confident in your God, because he is your good and merciful Father in heaven. God loves you as his precious child. He can’t wait to give you good gifts. In fact, here in our text, Jesus draws a comparison between earthly fathers and their heavenly father he says, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
It’s true, isn’t it? If imperfect parents like you and me can still give our kids good gifts, how much more can a perfect parent give the best gifts of all to his children? And that’s what God wants to do. He wants to give us good gifts. In fact, in the end, isn’t that why we pray to God? We don’t pray because God commands us to pray. No, we pray because God allows us to pray. He invites us to pray. He gives us access to his private cell phone. And he promises that the line will never be busy. You’ll never get his voicemail. More than that, he promises to hear and answer our prayers. And best of all, he promises to answer our prayers not in the way that we think is best. (Can you imagine how messed up things would be if God always gave you what thought you wanted?) No, thank God that he answers our prayers in the way that he knows is best.
My friends, that’s why Jesus tells us what we should pray for. He tells us what we should pray for so that our prayers can more clearly match what God wants to give us. Earlier I said that the purpose of prayer is not to try to get God to do what we want. No, prayers are how we request the even greater gifts that our gracious God wants to give us. The better we know what God wants for us, including what we should pray for, the better our prayer life will be. In fact, that’s why in our service today, along with the disciples of old, we said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In Jesus’ name. Amen.