The Fourfold Privilege of Prayer, Part 1 | How to Pray Well

Luke 11:1

Once again, let’s read from the text, and we’ll just abbreviate our reading this time, and go Luke 1:1-4, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.’ And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”’”

When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, he gave them a precious gift. And the gift is this: It’s access to the Father in Heaven. That’s the gift of prayer. All that comes from having access to the Father in Heaven, having access to God, comes along with that gift, worship, daily communion, satisfaction of the soul, forgiveness, protection from sin and evil and error, sanctification, holiness. All those things are brought through the gift of prayer, and as you can see, what Jesus taught, here, is not difficult, the words are simple, the form is concise, it’s easy to remember and therefore, it is easy to put into daily exercise, daily practice, which is always Jesus’ intent in teaching, that we should not only listen, but obey; that we should not only hear what he says, but then to do it, and to do it for our good.

I want us to learn to enjoy this gift, which can only be known through personal experience. Christ, here in this text, is eager, eager to teach his disciples about prayer, and I want us to understand why that is and then indulge ourselves in this privilege that we have been given of coming to God in prayer.

So to do that, as I said, we’re going to introduce the Lord’s teaching on prayer, generally following the introduction that Luke has provided in verse 1-2. Again, look there at verse 1 and 2. Luke writes this, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: “Father…” Then on he goes. I’m going to give you four points. We’re going to walk through the text phrase by phrase, see four areas that we can access using this special key of prayer. Might call it a four-fold key because it provides every believer with access to four rooms, four privileges, in prayer.

Here’s the first, number one: Prayer is a key to spiritual blessedness. Prayer is a key to spiritual blessedness. Luke’s introduction in verse 1 tells us, “Now Jesus was praying.” “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place.” And it’s because Jesus is praying that this disciple, unnamed, unknown to us, but this disciple observing Jesus’ example he’s prompted to ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Stop and consider for moment the simple point that Jesus prayed. The Gospels show us that Jesus prayed, and that he prayed often, sometimes for very long periods of time. He liked to pray alone. He liked to pray in desolate places where he would not be interrupted by others. His disciples, they were familiar with his habit; they respected his privacy, gave him his space. As you can see there in verse 1, the man waited to ask his question until Jesus finished praying. He knows what Jesus is accustomed to doing, and he leaves him alone. Jesus’ praying was a familiar sight for the disciples, so this man didn’t interrupt him, didn’t bother him, waited to ask his question.

So we’ve got to ask the question, “Why did Jesus pray?” In answering that question, by the way, there are many who have fallen into very serious and significant error about the nature of Christ. Some errors even rise to the level of rank heresies. So we want to be very careful as we think about this and answer the question, “Why did Jesus pray?” We need to speak carefully about this. We are dealing, here, with the profound mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, that is, the union of two natures in one person, a divine nature, a human nature joined together, two natures in one person: Christ.

First, we acknowledge that Jesus is truly human. That is to say, he is human in every way. Yes, miraculously conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary, a unique, unrepeatable miracle. But following his miraculous conception, everything beyond that is human. Jesus’ prenatal development in Mary’s womb, I think she even took prenatal vitamins, it’s somewhere in the Greek, but she watched her diet and all the other stuff women do when they’re pregnant, weird cravings and all the rest, you know? She, she felt all that.

He grew in the womb. His birth, down the birth canal, into the world, crying, all the stuff that babies do he went through that; his infancy, his childhood, his being reared in the home, entrance into adulthood, all of that, normal human life, embracing of responsibility, taking on the job of a carpenter to provide for his family, his father Joseph having passed away, evidently. He lived in the community, lived in Nazareth, provided for a family, all those things normal to human life, Jesus engaged in. He had all the normal human experiences of human life through a truly human nature.

That said, we understand that Jesus had no sin. So he never experienced guilt, never experienced shame, which means, of course, that when he taught his disciples to pray in verse 4, “Forgive us our sins,” that’s a petition that Jesus never prayed for himself. That’s why some refer to this prayer as, The Disciples’ Prayer,” the one he taught to his disciples, not, The Lord’s Prayer, the one he prayed for himself. That’s technically true. The Lord’s Prayer, the prayer our Lord prayed, is in John 17. That’s known as the High Priestly Prayer. It gives us a unique insight into the nature of the special relationship Christ had with his Father.

But Jesus never prayed things like, “Forgive us our sins.” First person plural, including himself in the sinfulness. He never did. He never included himself in such a petition because even though “he is able to sympathize with our weaknesses, being in every respect tempted as we are,” Hebrews 4:15, yet he is different than us, in this respect, that he is without sin.

So I guess the saying is not true, “To err is human.” Jesus is truly human, yet he never erred, he never sinned. We’re so thankful for that. Jesus is the representative head of a new race. Praise God for that. The progenitor of this new race is without sin. Being a sinless man, then, he represents the perfection of humanity, which is what God intends for all of us, perfection, sinless perfection. It’s in him that we have hope for a new existence, beloved, a new existence that does not involve in any way the power or presence of sin. We’re one day going to know what it’s like to live and be human absent sin.

So Jesus Christ does have a human nature. To sin is not human. Jesus is human, he never sinned. In fact, sin is like a cancer that enters into humanity and destroys it. I’m so grateful that sin is not natural to us in our condition, in the way God created us. Aren’t you? Because this is our hope as Christians, resurrection life, glorification in Christ.

 Jesus has a human nature. He also possesses a divine nature. Jesus Christ is God. He’s truly God, manifest in the flesh. The Bible says, several passages, John 1:1-3, “In the beginning was the Word. The Word was with God. The Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him,” through the Word, “Without him was not anything made that has been made.” So if it’s in the category of created, of made, it’s not him. He did that. God the Father created all things through the Son by the power of the Spirit.

Jesus himself, when he was challenged about his nature and identity, He made profound claims of deity, telling the truth about his possession of a divine nature. In John 8:58, he took on the divine name, saying plainly to his accusers, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was”, and he said this in language that they could not escape the meaning of “I am.” You know what that hearkens back to? Moses and the burning bush, right, Exodus 3:14. “God,” Yahweh, “told Moses, ‘You tell them, “I AM has sent you to them.”’” Jesus said, “Truly, truly, before Abraham was, I am.” He equated himself with the “I AM,” the Yahweh of the Old Testament. Again in John 10:30, he claims the very essence of God, saying this simply, “I and the Father are one.” That’s the Shema of Israel, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one,” “ehad.” Jesus uses the same language, oneness meaning the essential unity with God, exact equality with God, divine simplicity, divine immutability, “everlasting to everlasting, you are God,” that’s Jesus Christ, that’s what he is saying about himself. He is Yahweh.

Isaiah 9:6, He’s “the wonderful Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” That’s exactly what Gabriel told Mary before the conception. Luke 1:35, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and therefore the child to be born will be called ‘Holy, the Son of God.’” We could go on and on, but that is enough to help us understand the absolute uniqueness, the only begottenness of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ.

So when Jesus prays, when Jesus is praying, it is not his divine nature praying to God because he himself is God. Entering into prayer is entering into communion with God, so since the Son of God is always in communion with the Father, since his divine nature is always in communion with the Father, always sharing in the divine essence, he exists in his divine nature in unbroken union with God, always in communion with God. The Son of God is in an immutable state of unbroken union, unbroken communion, unbroken fellowship with the Father. But our text says clearly in verse 1, “Jesus was praying,” and what does it say? “When he finished.” That’s not true of his divine nature, but it is true of his human nature. So when Jesus prays, prayer is an expression of his human nature. It’s a perfect human nature. There’s no sin to confess, there’s no guilt to atone for, there’s no shame to remove, and yet, Jesus prays.

So we have to ask the question again, “Why does he pray?” Because he has to? Well, yeah! Prayer is the normal longing of Christ’s human nature. Prayer answers the very deepest need of the immaterial part of the human nature. Think about this and I don’t intend be funny or to come across in any irreverent way, but how did Jesus have fun? How did he have fun? How did he enjoy himself? What did Jesus do for rest and refreshment? If you pause and think about what you do to answer that question, then think about him.

In reading of the Gospels, can you imagine him for one moment sitting by the pool, sipping a fruity drink with an umbrella in it? No. Did he at any time say to his disciples, Man, we’ve been really busy; how about watching a little TV? Playing some video games? Unfitting, isn’t it? How about, you know, the twelve of us, thirteen of us, taking a vacation, go see the sights? That’s not to say    he didn’t need rest. He did. It’s not to say he didn’t need refreshment. He did. He even taught his disciples to get rest and refreshment for themselves, to pull away for a time.

But how? By what means were they rested and refreshed? Every Sabbath day where they were hearing the Word of God like we do on Sunday, the first day of the week, hearing the Word of God, singing praises to God, and praying. So what did he do even during the week? He called them away. He caused them to retreat into prayer. He didn’t encourage them toward for some form of self-indulgence for rest and refreshment, did he? Not once. And yet prayer did serve the needs that they had for rest and refreshment.

Beloved, we, too, by praying as Christians, not as non-Christians, not as unbelievers, not as followers of some other faith, but we, too, by praying, we are able to exercise a unique state of spiritual blessedness, to find spiritual rest and refreshment in our God. By praying we are able to experience relief at times, offloading deep, tremendous burdens that are too heavy for us to bear, matters that perplex the mind and pain the soul, those things that, as Romans 8 says, “the Spirit helps us bear with groanings that are too deep for words, helping us in our prayer.” Because we don’t even know how to pray, as we ought, at times, right? Sometimes, as you know, that prayer is an experience of wrestling as we’re troubled in our spirit, anxious in our minds.

Perhaps we’re agonizing, sorrowing in prayer. Whatever it is, whether in times of great joy or times of profound sorrow, prayer allows us to reach down to the very depths of our immaterial being. We have a material side that’s well attended to by our world. We have an immaterial side that is ignored, denied, rejected, neglected and to our detriment. We’re able through prayer to reach down to the depths of the immaterial being, allow real expression of spiritual matters, bring them up to the only one who is able to minister to that deepest of our needs. As Peter says, prayer is “casting all your anxieties upon him because he cares for you.”

Listen, as I’ve said, that’s something that the gifts and the offerings of the modern world cannot provide, can never provide, never will find an antidote to. There’s no drug you can take. There’s no vacation that’s worth it, that will minister to these needs, no matter how much money we get, no matter how much we accumulate, no much, no matter how much we travel and get around and see, no matter how many thrilling, interesting experiences we rack up in our lives, no matter how much of the bucket list you try to check off, how much pleasure you enjoy. You all know and understand this, that material things are utterly unable to address immaterial needs. A temporary lift we find in those things.

As pleasurable as they can be, it’s just that, it’s temporary, isn’t it? It doesn’t last. After all the money is earned, after all the stuff is purchased, and then stored or sold at a garage sale, at a fraction of the price, right?  And so we go off and earn more money, get more stuff, and do the whole thing again like rats in a cage. After we return from the travel, after all the experiences end, the empty feeling returns, right? That sense of hollowness and for those without Christ, that’s all they have. So what do they do? Like rats in the cage, hitting the bar, more pellets, more pellets, more pellets, more pellets, they go run the wheel again. The only answer is more of the same, pursue some other dead, material end. The immaterial needs of the soul are never, ever, ever, ever met.

But for us, beloved, for us, for all who have received the grace of God, for all who have embraced Jesus Christ in faith, for all who repent of our sins, trust in Jesus’ atoning death on the Cross, why? Because God is holy and we are not, we are filled with sin, and we’re going to answer to that holy and just God one day. If we trust in him and the Savior that he sent us, if we trust in his atoning death on the Cross for our sins, my sins personally, gone! My conscience is cleared from dead works. I’ve put my faith in Jesus Christ, and he covers me with the righteousness like a garment. I’m found in him by the Holy Spirit; I’m united to him in his death and his resurrection and in his new life. By the Holy Spirit I’m adopted into God’s family. I’m a child of God, and I’m bid to come and call him father. He’s given us the right to become children of God, John 1:12. What is that right if it’s not the right of access, to come to our father in prayer, just as Jesus came to the father in prayer, and set the pattern for us?

Prayer is a key to spiritual blessedness, to enjoy the rest, to enjoy the refreshment, to find the consolation that we need. The blessing, this is a blessing that Jesus sought for himself. It’s not a dead end. It’s not an empty ritual. Prayer is the gift of communion with the living God. Jesus Christ, in his perfect sinless humanity, he prayed because he loved to spend to time in prayer. It was rich fellowship for him, the very marrow of his life; full, rich, thorough enjoyment, unmitigated pleasure, wholly refreshing, restorative, replenishing his strength and filling his soul.

And get this, Jesus is eager to bring us into the same joy, same privilege of spiritual blessing. Look at the, look, look back a page or so at Luke 10:21, and notice, there, that Jesus rejoiced, it says in Luke 10:21 and following, “He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.”  Why? Because the father was pleased to hide the unsearchable riches of eternal truth from all the wise and the understanding of the world, and then to do what? “To reveal all those things to little children,” that is, to all of his disciples.

Look at verse 22, Jesus says, “All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Listen, if you’re in Christ, beloved, that is you! That includes you! And that is what Jesus is pleased to do. Whenever he teaches his disciples, he is pleased to reveal the father to them. That’s what he came to do. Christ died to bring us to God.

Remember what we read in Luke 10:39, a disciple named Mary, she sat at Jesus’ feet. She sat at his feet listening to his teaching. What does Jesus do? He commends her because “she’s chosen the good portion,” verse 42. Jesus’ teaching about the father in heaven, the good portion which will never be taken away from her and learning about the Father, Mary’s prayers are thereby educated, her communion is informed, her fellowship is enriched, her spirit is ministered to in the most profound way possible. Commun with the father in prayer is an abiding privilege. It’s a permanent, irrevocable gift. It will never be taken away. From the very deepest dungeon of the earth, at the farthest reaches of the earth, at the very lowest of places, prayer is able to immediately transport us into the very throne room of God in heaven. What a miracle!

Consider Jonah, he prayed from inside the belly of a great fish, evidently, a fish that dove to some great depths, deeper than as Jonah 2 says, deeper than the roots of the mountains. In the very pit, he said, “I called out to the Lord out of my distress.” What’s he doing? He’s praying. What would you do in the belly of a big fish, diving down into the depths of the ocean, deeper than the lowest mountains? Pray! No atheists in the belly of a fish. “I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, you heard my voice.”

Again, “While my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.” Incredible. From the depths, there, fleeing from the presence of the Lord, God grabbed him, threw him into the belly of a fish, threw him down to the depths of the sea. Immediately, he’s in the throne room of heaven, in the temple of the Lord. God heard his prayer, ministered to his soul, and delivered him, yeah, by spitting him up on shore, but delivered him, right?

Jesus teaches us, here, as his disciples, who the father his, what he’s like. Then he teaches us how to commune with him in prayer. As I. Howard Marshall puts it, “Jesus was initiating them into the same close relationship with the father that he enjoyed.” Isn’t that marvelous? We think about Christ, we read, study. This, this one that we are reading about, that we worship, that we pray to, he says, you know what? I want to give you the exact same access of relationship to the father that I have. Incredible. Such a deep, intimate privilege that Jesus enjoyed for himself and he’s pleased to bring us into the same communion.