Midweek Lenten Series: The Lord's Prayer
The Introduction: Our Father who art in heaven
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Jesus
says in our text for this evening, “And when you pray, you must not be like
the hypocrites. For they love to stand
and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by
others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut
the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward
you.”
Prayer, it has been
said, is the voice of faith, an integral part of the Christian life. So that we may learn better this aspect of
our life of faith, throughout our midweek services we’ll be talking about
prayer. But not only about prayer, in
general, but the most excellent prayer that can be offered; the prayer given to
us by Jesus Himself, who catechizes – teaches His disciples and us how to
pray.
The appointed Gospel text for Ash
Wednesday and the Introduction of the Lord’s Prayer go well together. In this little text we see two reasons why we
pray. First, there’s the command. Jesus doesn’t say, “If you pray” or “If you
ever get around to it, go ahead and offer a petition or two.” But, He bids us, “When you pray,” leaving no room for a Christian life that’s devoid
of prayer. It’s a given, like someone
beginning a sentence, “When you eat…” God expects us to pray, even commands us
to pray. Sounds like Law, which it
is. But without God’s command, our
sinful flesh would become lazy and never bother to offer even a single petition. We need this command so that we can crucify
our sinful nature, which cares nothing about prayer or seeking God’s
grace.
So, how’s your prayer life? When you tell someone, “I’ll pray for you,”
do you actually do it? Do you
remember? “Pray without ceasing.” “Call upon Me in the day of trouble,” God
says to us. But how often we don’t
pray. Is it apathy? Do we not take it seriously? Do we doubt that God even hears us? Or maybe it’s because we’re afraid. We know our guilt, we know our shame, we know
our sin, so how can we, who are unholy sinners, even dare to approach the holy,
mighty God. I don’t know about you, but
when I was a kid and did something wrong, I ran from my father. So, maybe because of our sin, we hide from
God, holding our prayers to ourselves.
If we don’t pray, maybe we can skirt by unnoticed by our Heavenly
Father.
So, because of all
our excuses that we find not to offer up our petitions Jesus urges us to
prayer; to call upon His Name in every trouble, to lead a holy life that is
spent in prayer. It’s God pleasing, He
wants to hear from you. He’s intensely
interested in the petition that you have to bring before Him. And more than that, He has promised to hear
you.
This is the second
reason why we offer our petitions to God, we pray according to the promise of
God that His ear is turned to you as a loving father hears the pleas of his
children. He hears us for the sake of
His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who journeyed to the cross, shedding His blood
for you, the curtain in the temple separating God from His people has been torn
in two.
Are we sinners? Are we unholy? Are we full of guilt and shame? You bet.
But because Jesus has washed you in the tide of His blood, cleansed you
in His forgiveness, bathed you in His righteousness, because we have Jesus as
our brother, we have God as our Father; our loving Father who receives your
prayer through the precious blood of His Son.
Jesus teaches us to pray, “Our Father,”
not master, not creator, not overlord, but Father. Dad.
Daddy. You’re family. Through Jesus’ Father who art in heaven He
has adopted you as His own dear children, claiming you in baptism, that we can
go to Him as dear children ask their dear father. In repentance, yes, but not in terror,
because He’s loving and merciful to sinners like you and me. Nor do we go to prayer with doubt that He
hears, because He has promised, in His sacred Word, to hear you and answer you and
has bound Himself to that promise. How
does God answer? Well, keep coming back
and we’ll explore that question.
God doesn’t hear you
because you speak many words. God
doesn’t hear you any better if you use eloquent speech. God doesn’t hear you because of how righteous
and holy you think you may be. Our
Father hears us because of Jesus. Prayer
is a conversation with God, but a conversation in which God has the first
word. He has spoken to us by His
Son.
David cries to God in
Psalm 51, which we have cemented in the morning and evening prayer office
liturgies, “O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.” God opens our sinful lips, by His Word of
promise, so that our lips and tongues are free to give a full-throated prayer
that delights the ears of our Heavenly Father.
Jesus teaches us that when we pray, we can
go into our closet and pray, “Our Father.”
With His command, He crucifies our sinful flesh that would flee from
prayer but with His promise, He gives us the guarantee, signed in His blood,
that we can go to our Father in heaven as a child approaches His loving and
forgiving father. That He’ll hear us and
answers us. His ear is tuned into your
petitions because there is no sin, no matter how secret, that our brother,
Jesus, didn’t suffer and die.
Now, with the heavens ripped open by
Christ, we can offer our prayers and petitions as children of a loving
Father. When you pray, say, “Our Father
who art in heaven.” “With these words,
God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are
His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as
dear children ask their dear father.”
What a blessing and gift we have that the Lord of heaven and earth,
creator of all that exists, has given us His Son that we can call Him Father
and so desperately desires to bend His ear low to us - to hear and answer every groan, every sigh,
every petition with the utmost interest and loving care. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life
everlasting. Amen.
