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Disciples Learn to Pray: The Lord’s Prayer (Part 1)
Matthew 6:9-13

     If you were one of Jesus’ disciples, alive while he was on earth, you’d have seen miracles.  Heard parables.  Shared meals and travelled with the Son of God.  But there’s one privilege I think we’d all like having if we were in that inner circle.  We could ask Jesus questions, our questions, every day.  We could ask “why” questions, “when” questions and “how” ones as well.   
     In today’s Scripture one of the disciples approached Jesus after he’d spent time in prayer.  He asked the Lord, “how should we pray - can you teach us?  John the Baptizer taught his followers how to pray.”  
      Does it seem to you like the disciples wanted to learn a different or somehow better way to pray?  Let me describe the typical, daily prayers of a faithful Jew and you can make up your mind.  All men were expected to go to synagogue three times a day to pray at 9:00 am, noon, and 3:00 p.m.  They’d stand with both arms extended, palms up, and recite several verses from Deuteronomy 6 called the Shema (meaning “hear”): “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord our God is one...”. This was followed by the synagogue leader helping them recite 18 benedictions that asked God to bless Israel.  
     They were also expected to pray privately and with their families; many of those prayers were also memorized and recited. That’s a lot of ritual praying.  Every year of their life, men would communally chant the Shema and 18 blessings, adding up to 1,095 repetitions.  Multiply that, and a multitude of other formulaic prayers, by however many years of adult life.  Can you see how that amount of repetition could become monotonous or lifeless? 
     When you or I pray a familiar prayer, in unison, week after week, like The Lord’s Prayer, might we admit that sometimes we say the words, but we’re not fully tuned in?  We may suddenly find ourselves saying “amen” and realize we don’t know where our mind wandered. Theologian John Stott calls that kind of distracted or rote praying, “all lips, no mind, no heart”.  Aren’t there times we’ve all prayed on autopilot?  We may say each phrase perfectly, but the deeper meaning and power of the prayer doesn’t reach our soul, as God intends?  I suspect that the disciples may have had that sort of struggle. After long years of repeating the same prayers every day, they noticed and were drawn to Jesus’ prayers.  He wasn’t all lips, no head, no heart.” His prayers were fresh and genuine.     
     Jesus did agree to teach his closest followers how to pray; he gave them what’s often called a model for praying, which we’ll soon see has 5 distinctive parts.  You can find this recorded in Matthew 6.  I love that the Lord’s Prayer can also be found in Luke 11, but he had a different audience.  He was preaching to a crowd and decided to share with them “the best way to pray”.  This morning we’ll consider the first 2 parts of The Lord’s Prayer; it begins with God’s name and character, then God’s Kingdom coming, and finally praying for God’s will to be done.

Our Father, who art in heaven
      “Pray like this,” said Jesus; start with, “Our Father”. He’s showing how them how they should speak warmly to God, because He is like a Father/abba/daddy.  This close, relational name of Father reveals that God wants us to turn to him and trust Him.
     Something else that’s interesting here is the pronoun “our”.  Have you ever really noticed or thought about how this model prayer uses plural pronouns, never singular? “Our” and “us” are used, but never “I” or “my”; that reveals that when we pray, we should be in community as often as possible, not alone.  That is the well-rooted plan for God’s people, both before and after the arrival of Christ in our world.  God’s plan and preference is for His followers to come together for communal prayer.  
     “Our Father who art (is) in heaven”….  Heaven.  That word suddenly turns our attention to a glorious, as-yet unseen realm, where God reigns. We who are earth-bound and time-bound can’t imagine that splendid place, but we believe we’ll arrive there “by and by”, as the older hymns say.  Where God abides, we too shall abide. 
      Now, I have a cute story to introduce the next part of this prayer.  In a Sunday School class some younger kids were working on memorizing The Lord’s Prayer.  Toward the end of class, the children were to recite it in unison.  One girl’s voice was a bit louder and more confident than the others.  She said: “Our Father, who art in heaven, how’d you know my name?”  That’s a great question, actually!  The  mixup stalled things in the classroom - a few kids were laughing and some were whispering the details to others.   
      The young girl who didn’t know what “hallowed” meant is not alone.  I’m not sure how old I was before I learned it meant “holy”.  Holy is the word that I believe best encompasses every attribute of God. The Psalmist David said God’s name deserves the highest honor: no one is like our God - He is holy.
     One of the times we speak of God’s holiness is during our traditional Holy Communion service: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might.”  Saying a word three times means it’s significant, or maybe a better word is “magnified”.  God’s holiness is magnified or ever-expanding.  I got curious about this so I went looking to see where “holy, holy, holy” could be found in the Bible.  I discovered there’s only two places it’s mentioned.  The prophet Isaiah described a vision: in it he saw angels in heaven glorifying God saying “holy, holy, HOLY.”  And in Revelation, the last book in the Bible, John is also given a vision; he too saw angels praising God, saying, “Holy, holy, HOLY”.   Our God is holy.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven
   So far we’ve considered “OUR Father, who is in HEAVEN, HOLY be your name.”  Next comes: “Thy KINGDOM come, thy WILL be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  First, we’ll think about God’s will being done.  E. Stanley Jones, a renowned evangelist, shared a simple, easy-to-remember illustration that can help us stay focused on God’s will, instead of our own.  Jones said, “If I throw a boathook from my boat, and it catches hold of the shore, do I take the rope and put it over my shoulder and pull the enormous shore to me, or do I grasp the rope and pull myself to the shore?”
     When we pray, we “cast” our prayers out to God – but are we secretly hoping we might pull God (with a rope over our shoulder) over to our will?  Or when we pray, are we trusting God, and allowing Him to draw our boat closer to his perfect will?  If we pray that first way, pulling with all our might so God follows our ideas, we’re being stubborn, not wanting our boat/life to follow God’s way.  I bet we’ve all had some defiant, “I want what I want” times.  Hopefully, sooner rather than later, we realize it’s so much better if we allow God to guide us toward what He knows is best for us.  To fully surrender our will and put our trust in God is not always easy, but when God’s will is done our lives will be blessed. When we pray, let’s remember to surrender our wishes, to release them and instead ask God for His perfect plans, His will to be done here on earth, just as it is always done in heaven.  
      And last, but not least, Jesus said the disciples should pray that the kingdom of God would come, that it would break into the lives of people on earth. That happened when God sent us His son. And that kingdom expanded as Jesus explained to people everywhere he went that there was Good News.  If they admitted they were sinners, separated from God, and they were ready to repent, Jesus would forgive them and welcome them into His kingdom.  Every person who believes and receives this Good News helps the Kingdom of God grow here on earth! 
     Has anyone here ever listened to Handel’s Messiah?  If you have, you likely know the part sung so softly it almost makes you hold your breath in suspense.  The choir, in a hushed whisper sings these words: “the kingdom of this world is become”, meaning it is becoming…  Then, after a half a breath’s pause the choir explodes with the Good News of Revelation 11:15: “The kingdom of this world is become the Kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.”  
     Right now, at this moment, God is counting on us to help usher in the Kingdom of God on earth.  As Christians, we must never forget that is our primary mission. Then, one fine day, you and I will be called by God to join His heavenly Kingdom, where the Lord, Jesus Christ, will reign forever and ever. 
    We’re ending today with that special selection I’ve described from Handel’s Messiah (advance the video below to the 1:30 mark).  As we listen, I pray we’ll each experience the quiet longing, the moment of heightened suspense, then the thrilling announcement of triumph, of God’s reign that shall last forever and ever. Amen.

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