The Lord’s Prayer, Part 4 | How to Pray Well

Luke 11:4

In Luke 11:2 to 4, Jesus gave his disciples a pattern for prayer. Teaching them how to pray in response to the request of one of his disciples. And so, Jesus taught them to pray this way, “Father, hallowed be your name. Your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins, for we,” also, “we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” There are five petitions there. The first two sympathize with God’s interest. They put God, God’s name, God’s will ahead of our own interest; even before we make one petition about our daily lives.

 But then, the last three petitions, after we framed our prayer in God’s name, and in his will, in his interests. The last three petitions are about our interests and about the regular concerns of our daily lives. But even, as we speak of our interests and we speak of our concerns, it’s important to point out that, the Lord’s prayer and all true prayer, really, this prayer is about lining up our hearts with God’s heart. Prayer is not about God considering, us and our wills. Doing what we want. It’s not about conforming God to us. Making the, the, creator bow to the creature. Prayer is about us being conformed to him. It’s about us learning to sympathize with his thinking and learning to want what he wants, in order, that we might do what he wants us to do.

And that’s abundantly clear in the first two petitions: Hallowed be your name, and your kingdom come. To see God’s name, exalted, and glorified, and hollowed, and to see his will accomplished on earth to see the extension of his kingdom. To see the spread of his dominion over the entire earth, that is what we want more than anything else. And even as we transition, in our prayer time, into more mundane matters of daily life, like our daily need for bread. The point of praying is to line our hearts up with Gods.

 We conform our expectations to God’s promise. To his stated intention to provide for us and care for us, according to his will. In prayer, we make a practice of accepting whatever comes from God’s hand for that day. Never demanding more, but always receiving everything that he gives us with gratitude. We come daily to our father. Always mindful, always grateful that he never tires of us, but that he receives us, gladly, as a father who loves to hear the voices of his children. And as the days and the weeks, the months, the years go by, in our Christian lives, we are drawn by his loving ways. All the more learning to trust in his goodness. Drawn ever deeper into a more intimate communion with him. So that we are conformed to his perfect image.

 So, the Lord’s prayer, like all true prayer, it’s about intimate communion with our father in heaven. It’s, it’s how we learn to partake of the divine nature that he might conform us more and more into his image and that couldn’t be more evident, as we come into this fourth and fifth petition.

 The fourth petition, Luke 11:4, “Forgive us our sins. We ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us,” and then finally, “Lead us not into temptation.” So, we’ve talked about praying for God’s exaltation, his dominion, his provision. Today, we’re going to learn about praying for absolution, which is God’s forgiveness and then, also, praying for God’s protection.

 First, let me make an observation before we start to unpack a bit of an outline here. When we come to the petitions about routine matters of our daily lives, the, the need for daily bread, forgiveness of sins, and protection from falling into temptation. Notice how Jesus has given greater weight to our spiritual lives.

 Those three petitions, they are all connected to one another. The, the conjunction ‘and’ keeps those petitions joined together. But there’s just one petition for our physical needs. There are two petitions for our spiritual needs. Care for the body is important, to be sure. God has made us, as human beings, of flesh and spirit. Body and soul were composed of parts. God has joined the material to the immaterial and, to him, both parts matter. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have created them.

 We’re not platonic dualists. We don’t believe that the spiritual is higher than the physical. We don’t believe that the body doesn’t matter, that it’s inconsequential, that it’s inherently evil. We don’t believe that the spirit is inherently good. In fact, it’s from our dead spirits that we need to be born again.

 Since God has made us both physical and spiritual, both of those components, of what it means to be human, matter to God. And yet, we still need to recognize the proportionality in what Jesus tells us to pray here, one petition for the body, two for the soul. That is a good thing to remember during these troubled times, isn’t it? When so many are concerned about mitigating the spread of a virus on the one hand. While others are alarmed that mitigating the spread is going to destroy the economy. Both are concerns having to do with the body, with that prayer for daily bread.

 Seems we’re being forced to choose these days between today’s health and tomorrow’s livelihood. As the world’s governments react, as the public health and infectious disease control experts scramble to flatten out the curve, so hospitals and health care providers are not utterly overwhelmed by the numbers of people infected and flooding the hospitals. There is a cost, isn’t there, to all this.

 There’s a financial cost and an emotional cost and some would call it a psychological cost, of the isolation and the change to the economy. Kids coming out of schools and people not going to businesses, and restaurants not open anymore, and all the rest. And I don’t know about you, but I am seeing a lot of sinful responses to this health scare, to this social isolation and, also, to the looming financial crisis.

Everyone thinks that they’re on the right side of this issue. They think they see things clearly. They act more responsibly than the other side, and most logically, in keeping with all the data, and all the facts, and everything else that’s out there. In all of the noise, in all the inundation of the stories, the bombardment of story after story and feed after feed: You know what we’re not hearing much about in the news? We’re not hearing a public call to repentance. We’re not hearing anyone call us to entreat God, to humble ourselves before a holy and righteous God.

 Get on our knees, and confess our sins to God, and seek his forgiveness. And folks, the nations of the world have much to confess and seek forgiveness for. Do they not? Things like sexual immorality, infidelity, and then destroying the evidence of that immorality, and the murderous practice of infanticide, in this country. God hates the bloodshed of those sins. Things like faithlessness to the covenant of marriage. Very few take their covenant seriously, any longer, but God does. The Lord has been a witness, Malachi 2:14, “between you and the wife of your youth, you’ve acted treacherously against her faithless.” So, she is your companion and your wife by covenant.

Things like injustice, greed, violence, covetousness. We, throughout the world, no matter what country we live in, we are super saturated with sin. We may be waiting in vain. As Christians, we may be waiting in vain for the world to reflect on its sins against God. We may be waiting in vain for the world to confess sins and repent, turn to Christ. And as the, this virus spreads around the world, as the financial markets collapse, as the things that we have relied on totter and sway, really seems like a good time to reconcile with God, don’t you think?

Nations of the world may not consider its sins, may not confess them to God, may not turn to Christ in repentance and faith, but let that not be so for the church. The Church of Jesus Christ should do all those things. It is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. And whether in times of plenty or in times of great need. Whether in sickness or in health. Our greatest needs are never physical. Which means our prayers ought not to be preoccupied with all the physical, temporal, material matters of life.

 Our deepest needs are spiritual. And so, our greatest concerns in prayer should be about spiritual matters. What pertains to maintaining godliness. What pertains to our holiness. What pertains to us walking in righteousness and pursuing righteousness. That which affects our relationship with God ought to be the focus of our prayers. We’re so thankful, aren’t we, that Jesus has simplified that list of all the things we can pray for, he’s boiled it down to just two things at the end of the Lord’s Prayer; spiritual pardon and spiritual protection. In verse 4, we’re to pray for spiritual pardon and spiritual protection. Or according to our outline, we’re to pray for absolution and protection. Which looks backward and forward. Absolution looking backward and protection looking forward. Looking to the past. Looking to the future.

 In our daily prayers, we’re concerned about taking care of the sins of yesterday or moments ago, even and then asking God to protect us from sinning tomorrow, or even with our next step. So it’s, “Give us each day our daily bread,” verse 3, and then this in verse 4 “And forgive us our sins and lead us not into temptation.” So, we’re going to consider, our need for absolution and forgiveness of our sins, and, also, our need for protection.

You’ve been following this series with us. We’re looking, this is point four, in our outline. Pray for God’s absolution and then also, point five in our outline, a little later, pray for God’s protection. Pray for God’s absolution, point four. Pray for God’s protection, point five. Again, Jesus said, when you pray, say, father, and then in verse 4, “forgive us our sin, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.” These are massively important petitions and tremendously effective, as well, because of their sanctifying power, because of their power to transform us, and at the very core, the very depth of our being.

These petitions have the power to conform us into the very likeness of God. Yes, they give us comfort, assurance, peace to know that we’re reconciled with God, to know that there’s nothing between God and us that there is no division because of our sin. Yes, they give us confidence, as we go forward, in God’s strength, walking in holiness, resisting temptation, never falling, and failing, but more than that, these petitions have the power to turn us into humble people. People that can learn from God, people who are teachable, people that are moldable, responsive to God. So, they can turn us into humble people, on the one hand, and then, also, turn us into meek people. Meek people on the other hand, making us forgiving and merciful. Purified people for God’s own possession. People who are zealous for good works, because we share in the very character of God the father, who is by nature, compassionate and merciful.

 Now I want to show you these two sides of this. These two petitions making us a humble people and a meek people. I want to show you this by posing several questions of interpretation that come up in this verse. These are theological questions, that, that grapple with this issue of forgiveness. We ask, as we ask and answer these questions, we’re going to see how this petition has power to transform us into humble people and into meek people.

Here are the questions, several here. First, what does Jesus mean by describing our offenses as sins and then as debts? Sins and debts. What distinction, if any, is he making there? Is he intending to make? Is there any distinction at all?

Second thing, second question: How is it, that we as Christians are in need of forgiveness for our sins when, isn’t this true, that we’re already justified by God? So, do we already possess a pardon? Why are we praying for a pardon? What is this petition about?

 A third question. God’s forgiveness here sounds like it’s conditioned upon our forgiving others. Does that make God’s pardon conditional? I thought forgiveness was an unconditional gift of God. I think, I’ve been taught that since Sunday school. So, do we have that wrong? Is there something to correct here? And fourth does the father ever lead his children into temptation? I mean, why would we pray to prevent that? God doesn’t lead us into temptation, does he?

So, with those four questions. Those identified. Let’s walk through them. And we’re gonna put those four questions under two headings for this morning. Becoming humble people, who reconcile with God and becoming meek people, who resemble God. So, number one, becoming humble people, who reconcile with God. And number two, becoming meek people, who resemble God.

 First heading, number one: Becoming humble people, who reconcile with God. Under this heading, we’re going to tackle those first two questions, starting with this one, What does Jesus mean by describing our offenses in the way he’s described them here, in verse 4? Notice, when they are between us and God, our offenses, Jesus refers to them as sins and then, when they are between ourselves and others, he describes them as debts, indebtedness.

 The first term sin, that’s a general term. It’s a large, comprehensive term. It’s a word hamartia. Translates the Hebrew word khata, which means to miss the mark. It’s like an archer with bad aim that can’t hit the target. That’s what we are. God sets the target. He says: Here’s the bullseye. Hit it perfectly every time and every time we let an arrow fly, we miss the target, because our aim is off, because we are dead in our trespasses and sins. Because we are depraved as we are, you know, in you know, have original sin, and we suffer that malady. We will always miss the mark.

So, a sin is an infraction. A sin is a violation. It’s a transgression, and a transgression always points to a standard. Which is the holy law of God. So, sin, hamartia, this is the broadest, most comprehensive New Testament term to speak of anything that is opposed to God whatsoever. A violation of his revealed law. Second term there, debt. Debt means, what we are used to thinking it means, here on our own language and our own cultural societal usage.

 The word debt comes from the business world, the finance world. It refers to something that’s owed. Refers to something that’s contractually required. Financial background of this term, that is, it is the basis, then, for a moral and ethical sense. So, what is owed to another human being, morally. That’s this term. And what is required ethically, of us. So, an ethical moral debt to humanity.

 So, when Jesus used the term sin, we think in vertical terms. We think in terms of our transgression of the law of God. We think in terms of what God has required. What God has commanded, and our violation or adherence to that standard. With the word debt, we’re thinking of our offenses in horizontal terms. We’re thinking in terms of moral and ethical obligations among human beings, a man to man, woman to woman.

 Another way to look at this distinction is through the lens of the biblical mandate to love. Greatest commandment is to “love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And then the second, which is like it, is to love our neighbor as ourselves.” And it is important to note that the same God who commanded love for God, also, commanded love for our neighbor.

You see that reflected in the Ten Commandments. By the way, there’s a record of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 verses 3 to 17. And there’s another record of the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5:6 to 21. You see, in the first table of the Ten Commandments: commandments one through four. They stipulate our love for God. You see, in the second table of the Ten Commandments, commandments five through ten: They stipulate our love for others, for humanity.

 So, the God who commanded the one, commanded the other, as well. So, we’ve become moral debtors against our fellow man when we break any of the commandments in the second table, dishonoring our parents, murder, adultery, stealing, bearing false witness, and coveting. And by the way, coveting takes all those previous sins even deeper into our hearts, going into the internal motivations, thoughts, not just our outward speech, behavior and all that. It’s also inward.

 God takes note of dishonoring thoughts and attitudes toward our parents. He takes note of angry thoughts, which anger leads to murder. He takes note of the lustful thoughts, the lustful things that turn to fornication and adultery. All those sins, all of them driven by covetousness and greed. So, we have a moral and ethical duty to love our neighbor and when we violate that love, as is stipulated in the law of God, we become debtors to our fellow man.

We are indebted to others or others are indebted to us, as Jesus acknowledges here. We’re also, though, debtors to God. We’re debtors before God. Whether we violate our duty to love God or our duty to love man. We become debtors to God, if we violate any of those commandments. For the same God who commanded love for God, also commanded love for man. When we break God’s law, we are debtors to God’s law. Debtors to God, because we’ve committed sins against God

To forgive. What a word. To forgive is, it’s such a relief. It’s like turning a relief valve on a, on a canister that’s about to explode with pressure. Aphiemi is to to let go. All the, all the ways this is translated, just such a relief from this stain and crushing weight of the burden of sin. Aphiemi means to let go. It means to, to, send away. It means to cancel. It means to pardon. It means to release and that, all of that, is what God does when he forgives us. Out of his pity, in his mercy, in his compassion, God releases us from the debt. He removes the crushing weight of the guilt of our sins and he casts it away.

When he forgives, Isaiah 1:18, “Though our sins are like scarlet”, he removes the stain from that fabric and we become, as white as snow. Though our sins are red like crimson, though we’re shown to be in the evidence of the stain on our garments, we’re shown to be murderers. All those sins become white as wool and that is great news. That’s the news we call the gospel, isn’t it? That whoever believes that gospel will not perish, but have everlasting life: If they repent of their sins, and forsake their sins, and put their faith in Christ, who paid for all their sins.

Our father, this, this text, which is, in our order of, of, exposition of Luke’s Gospel, seems to be so apropos for this time. We do pray that what we’ve learned from Luke 11:4 would be such a gracious encouragement from you, but provoke our holiness. Make us humble people and make us meek people. Let us never hold grudges. Let us always be eager to forgive and to let things go. But as always, be pursuing holiness, because we love you, we want to be a people purified, zealous for good works, that we might bring all glory and honor to you, in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. It’s in his name that we pray, amen.