We were designed to commune with God (Genesis 1:26; 3:8). Jesus knows what's in us (John 2:24-25). He came to this world and while still divine, laid aside His omnipotent powers during His sojourn (Philippians 2:7). He lived under the same situation and the same constraints that we do today. He never used His divine power, but at the point of every miracle He caused, prayed to the Father who sent forth His power through the Holy Spirit and produced the miracle. No, Jesus was not a super-human special-effect walking around glowing everywhere; it would have been quite difficult for us to consider Him our example if He never became dusty and tired and travel-worn, and lived an a-bara-cada-bera life. Jesus lived as we live. But you ask, "Pastor Larry, how can you say that? How could Jesus do that?" And the answer of Scripture is, through the power of prayer and of the Word of God with the communion of the Holy Spirit. So today we will look into the mechanics of prayer as Jesus taught it. How could we do better than to look to Jesus to learn how to pray?

His disciples heard Him in prayer. And they were impressed! Luke 11:1 presents the picture to us:

And it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught His disciples.

This occasion came some time after the sermon on the mount when He had in their presence first spoken what we today call "the Lord's prayer" (MB 102). The fact of Jesus' connection with heaven was unmistakable. The disciples wished for the same communion as their Master. And so they asked. In response, the Master Teacher began by reminding them what prayer was not about.

Prayer is, emphatically, not about self-righteousness. It is not about making people think we're pious (Matthew 6:5), nor about meriting God's blessings (Matthew 6:7). Our Father is not a vending machine on contract with us. He is the sovereign, covenant-keeping God. Yes, the Bible contains a vast collection of powerful promises--and many conditions--but our Father Himself determines how to answer us.

When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer to our prayer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than we ask, but not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life. DA 266

We can always pray for and receive victory over sin, but in some other forms of blessing for which we ask, where we--in a precise way--cannot be as sure what God's will for us is, we must give Him room to exercise His wisdom and His timing.

When Jesus taught about prayer, He urged His disciples to pray "in secret," or "in private" (Matthew 6:6). This removes any temptation to pray in order to impress onlookers.

Matthew 6:7 shows us that Jesus had another important warning for His disciples: don't use empty repetitions. He was concerned that they might mistakenly pray with the same motivations as the heathen who "think that they shall be heard for their much speaking." If your God is distant or bored or a seeker of arbitrary stroking then I guess you might need to give Him a long, fully-decked-out speech. Maybe four or five of them or forty or fifty of them! But our Father in heaven is not that way at all. He already knows what we need. He wishes us to pray because He knows that that will help us recognize our need and strengthen our spiritual muscles.

Want to hear a good explanation of this? Hear this paragraph written in 1855:

Every saint who comes to God with a true heart, and sends earnest petitions to him in faith will be answered; but we must have enduring faith. We must not for a moment let go the promises if we do not see and realize the immediate answers to our prayers. We must not waver. We must rely upon his sure promise, "Ask and ye shall receive." God is too wise to err, and too good to withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly. Man is erring, and although his petitions are sent up from an honest heart, he does not always ask the things that are good for himself, or that will glorify God. When this is so, our wise and good Father hears our prayers and will answer them, sometimes immediately, but gives us the things that He knows are for our good and his own glory. The blessing received by us will be that which we need the most. If we could look into the plan of God, we should plainly see His wisdom and that He knows what is for our best good. Our prayers will be answered if they are sent up in faith, but nothing hurtful will be given. If we have, in the honesty of our hearts, asked any thing that God sees will not be good for us, He may withhold the thing desired, but in its place give us the blessings we most need. If the answer to our prayers does not come just when we expect it, we must not distrust God, for that will bring darkness. Our confidence in God must be strong." Ellen G. White, "To the Church," RH, June 12,1855

Sometimes it doesn't seem like God is hearing our prayers. But it may be because we have erred in what we have asked for--even though we sent up our prayer with an honest heart. In such cases the Father may "withhold the thing desired, but in its place give us the blessings we most need" "sometimes immediately," and sometimes not immediately. In such cases we must have faith. Don't worry. God will answer. But He is not a vending machine; He is God; He will answer in the very best way and the very best time. Is that hard to understand?

Let's move on now to the actual pattern Jesus gave us in the Lord's prayer. Let's take it in point by point...

"Our Father"

I am not alone. I am part of "we," I am part of "our." We, collectively have a Father. Yes, we pray to our Father personally, but He is not just my Father, but "our" Father. When I pray, I am addressing the One who has not only made me, but everyone else. I am part of the family of the universe.

Just think how different this is from what we are probably used to. Usually when we think of prayer, we think of God and me. But Jesus teaches us to address our Father in the context of the fact that we are part of the entire population of all of the beings in the universe.

Do you remember when John was in vision as recorded in the book of Revelation, and he was overwhelmed with the glory of what he saw? Do you recall when he bowed down to the angel? Turn to Revelation 22:8-9:

And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things. Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

See, we know from the plain teaching of Scripture what happens when someone dies. We know that people do not go to heaven and become angels. So when the angel here says "I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book," we understand that this is an angel--a different kind of being than we are--that is addressing John. But although he is different than a human-being like us or like John, he can say he is a fellowservant of God, of our brethren the prophets. He is functioning in a prophet-like capacity in his interaction with John. His view--the angel's view--is that he and John are both servants of God, "brethren" one of another. We are just a part of "the whole family in heaven and earth" (Ephesians 3:15).

The very beginning of the Lord's prayer brings our relation to the whole map of the universe into focus. All of the conflict between forces of good and evil is arrayed, for all of the beings in the universe are watching, keying-in to the action, considering with utmost interest the progress of the war toward closure. We pray to "our" Father--our Father who's unselfishness and goodness has been called into question by Satan. Our Father who has been maligned and attacked.

But not only is He "our" Father, but He is our "Father." I have a heavenly Father. This prayer is going somewhere. It is addressed to my Father. And my Father owns it all. My Father is the source of goodness.

That's who I am praying to. I have a relation to Him--I am made in His image, and He is at work to fully restore that image in me. He is restoring our freedom to choose righteousness instead of sin. That's who we are talking to!

"Which art in heaven"

Our Father is in heaven. He is holy. We are on earth. We come from the worst "neighborhood" in the universe--the only one where the reign of sin continues. We are growing up in "the bad part of town," on "the other side of the tracks." Earth is not "snob hill;" it's the pits! We were born onto ground-zero--born onto the battlefield between good and evil--and that's why things are so warped here.

I heard that a recent movie--put out by Disney no less--portrays a very different picture of God than what the Bible does. It contains, for example, a cardinal who launches a campaign to rid the church of the depressing image of Jesus on the cross and replace it with the image of the "buddy" Christ--Jesus giving a thumbs-up sign to worshipers (See AFA Journal, January 2000, p. 3). This is blasphemous. Paul said that the "offense of the cross" had not ceased. (Galatians 5:11). There is no thumbs-up smiling-buddy Jesus for us to worship who says of sin, "Hey, no problem." The Bible says rather that Jesus died for us the most humiliating death, "even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8). On the contrary, Satan wants to give us the "thumbs-up" on sin. "Go ahead. You have my permission" he says. And of course we do. Then we'll be lost. "Go for it" says the devil. Are we that stupid? Yes, I guess that we have been. But we can't stay that way. So the Lord Jesus incorporated a help for that in the prayer. When we pray, He counsels us to pray to our Father "which art in heaven." He wants us to remind ourselves of the difference between God and ourselves, to experience with fresh recognition God's superiority in relation to us.

The Lord's prayer also contains six requests by the one who prays; six pleas to the Maker of all that is. The first three have to do with God's kingdom, and those are the three we will look at today. The first of these requests is...

"Hallowed be Thy name"

This is not just a simple statement, as it may sound to us in English. In the Greek language, this is an imperative--a command. When you pray "hallowed be Thy name," you are asking that God's name be protected--be perceived--be maintained, as holy. You are asking, "May I, as your child and representative, do nothing that would lead anyone to think that You are not holy!" When you present this prayer, you are asking for overcoming power so that you can be holy too; like Father, like son and daughter. What does the Bible say? "Ye shall therefore be holy, because I Am holy" Leviticus 11:45.

"But pastor Larry, wasn't that what God said to the Levite priests? Does that count for us?" Yes, God said that to the Levite priests. But in Leviticus 19:2 God commands the priests to "Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy." The priests were first commanded to be holy. Then they were commanded to plead with others to be holy.

We find in Leviticus another fascinating thought about holiness. In Leviticus 22:32-33 we read "Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the LORD which hallow you, That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD." What was that? "I am the Lord which hallow you." Quick now: how many Levite priests came out of Egypt? That's right: none. The Levite priesthood was instituted after leaving Egypt. God is reminding them that He brought the whole lot of them out of Egypt to be holy. Do you recall the intention that God communicated to His people at the foot of mount Sinai?

Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. Exodus 19:4-6

The idea was not lost to the New Testament, either. Peter also reminds us of God's will for us: "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).

In the marvelous book Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p.107, Ellen White speaks of this portion of the Lord's prayer as follows:

This name is hallowed by the angels in heaven, by the inhabitants of unfallen worlds. When you pray, "Hallowed be Thy name," you ask that it may be hallowed in this world, hallowed in you. God has acknowledged you before men and angels as His child; pray that you may do no dishonor to the "worthy name by which ye are called." James 2:7. God sends you into the world as His representative. In every act of life you are to make manifest the name of God. This petition calls upon you to possess His character. You cannot hallow His name, you cannot represent Him to the world unless in life and character you represent the very life and character of God. this you can do only through the acceptance of the grace and righteousness of Christ.

Everything that is is within the domain of God's authority, within the space in which He is holy. If you are joined to His kingdom, then you also must be holy. If you would represent Him effectively to others, then you must also be holy. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are our friends, but they are not our "thumbs-up" buddy. I'm sorry. They are holy.

"Thy kingdom come"

The second plea in the prayer is "May Your kingdom come." And what is that? It is no less than a personal commitment to hasten and a request to be involved in bringing His kingdom to full realization. When we pray, "Thy kingdom come," we are praying that God will do what it takes. And what it takes is to bring an end to sin. And what it takes to bring an end to sin is to change us. So when we pray "Thy kingdom come," we pray, "God, deliver me from sinning. Give me victory!"

Jesus wants our heart, because he knows that unless our heart gets repaired, we will never stop sinning. If you and I do not stop sinning, that has both local and global consequences. Locally, it means that we will be lost. When God closes up the sin problem once and for all, we'll be in the burn pile by our own choice. But globally or universally, it means that our lives can provide no evidence that God is right and Satan is wrong in the bottom-line issue in the great controversy. A life given over to sin and Satan provides no evidence vindicating God's character; rather, that life supports and sustains the charges Satan has made that God is selfish and His servants are all selfish too.

Remember now, this was the very track that Satan took in His argument with God in the book of Job. "Job just worships You because You give Him all this good stuff. He's a selfish man, and I'd prove it if You'd just let me" (See Job 1:10; 2:4-5). And remember the plain way that we noticed this a few weeks ago (See the sermon "Why 2 K?") in this quotation from Education, p. 154?

Unselfishness, the principle of God's kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates; its very existence he denies. From the beginning of the great controversy he has endeavored to prove God's principles of action to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God. To disprove Satan's claim is the work of Christ and of all who bear His name.

If God's kingdom is going to come, selfishness will have to go. Its that simple. But selfishness is kind-of built-in, and it takes more power than you or I have to get it out. It takes the power of the gospel and the power of prayer.

Will God's kingdom come with-or-without us? It will come, but it won't come without somebody (whether its you or me or not) who let's it come. Consider this from Acts of the Apostles, p. 564

There are many who, though striving to obey God's commandments, have little peace or joy. This lack in their experience is the result of a failure to exercise faith. They walk as it were in a salt land, a parched wilderness. They claim little, when they might claim much; for there is no limit to the promises of God. Such ones do not correctly represent the sanctification that comes through obedience to the truth. The Lord would have all His sons and daughters happy, peaceful, and obedient. Through the exercise of faith the believer comes into possession of these blessings. Through faith, every deficiency of character may be supplied, every defilement cleansed, every fault corrected, every excellence developed.

Prayer is heaven's ordained means of success in the conflict with sin and the development of Christian character. The divine influences that come in answer to the prayer of faith will accomplish in the soul of the suppliant all for which he pleads. For the pardon of sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift He has promised, we may ask; and the promise is, "Ye shall receive.

When we pray "Thy kingdom come," we are asking for help to be changed, and giving God a license to turn our life upside down so that He can empty all of the garbage out. Through prayer "all" for which we plead may come to fruition. We are praying that when temptation comes we'll faithfully do our part and resist it, authorizing God to provide the power to make our resistance effective. God would have us claim much. Claim, not in the sense of forcing God to give, but claim in the sense of receiving what He's already prepared to give to us.

"Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven"

The third plea in the Lord's prayer is that God's will will be done in earth as it is in heaven. This is much like the previous request (Thy kingdom come), but it makes plain that we want it to come on earth. Are we used to thinking of God's kingdom as coming in some external space--some place--any place--except here? How is it that God's will is done in heaven? In what spirit is it accomplished?

In heaven, service is not rendered in the spirit of legality...In their ministry the angels are not as servants, but as sons. There is perfect unity between them and their Creator. Obedience is to them no drudgery. Love for God makes their service a joy. So in every soul wherein Christ, the hope of glory, dwells, His words are re-echoed, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within My heart." Psalm 40:8. Thoughts From the Mount of Blessing, p.109.

Did you know that it could be that way in your heart? It can. Are we ready to submit to and participate in achieving the completion of God's will? Will you open the door of your heart to Jesus for that purpose?

We are only half done, but there is more than enough for us to receive in what we have heard this morning. Let's summarize:

1. Prayer was how Jesus lived without sinning, even though He had taken our sinful nature and become, so very much, one of us.
2. When we ask Him for it, God always gives victory over sin. But in His divine wisdom He may answer some of our other prayers much differently than we expect.
3. We are part of the vast community of all heaven. That matters. We are part of a kingdom of righteousness.
4. Our Father owns this place. We are His children, and He has authority here. The question is not "can He answer," but "am I really willing to ask?"
5. Jesus urges us to keep in mind the difference between God and us.
6. To pray the Lord's prayer is to plead that the Lord will make us actually and authentically holy.
7. To request that God's "kingdom come" means to make a commitment to hasten its coming and to ask for real victory over sin in our life through the presence and power of Jesus.
8. Praying the Lord's prayer means asking God to put within us a more-than-human willingness to really give up our selfishness.
9. Prayer is heaven's ordained means of success in the conflict with sin and the development of character.
10. Love for God makes serving Him a joyful experience.

If we will incorporate these truths into our prayer experience, His power working through us can turn the world upside down. So roll-up your sleeves my brothers and sisters.

And pray.

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Last Modified 23 March 2000