Teach Us to Pray

Preached at Hanover Street Presbyterian Church

On March 5, 2006, the First Sunday of Lent

By Pastor Thomas C. Davis

Texts:

Romans 8: 24-27

For in hope we were saved.  Now hope that is seen is not hope.  For who hopes for what is seen?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.  Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Luke 11: 1-4

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples."  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 indebted to us.  And do not bring us to the time of trial."

Sermon Text

"Teach us to pray," pleaded the disciples of Jesus.  John was teaching his disciples how to pray.  "Teach us too, please!" they begged.  There were, of course, many Jewish examples of how to pray.  The psalms were prayers sung, and Jews knew plenty of them by heart, because they sang them Sabbath after Sabbath in the synagogue.  But apparently, the disciples weren't content with these traditional prayers.  What they wanted was to experience the same intimacy with God as Jesus enjoyed.  Their families and rabbis had given them lots of religious instruction; but reciting traditional prayers wasn't scratching where they itched.

So, they asked rabbi Jesus to teach them to pray.  They weren't just asking for words.  They were asking how to get as close to God as he was.  "Show us how to do this Jesus.  Show us how to get into your holy groove.  Show us how to talk to God as personally and intimately as you do!"

Jesus responded with what later came to be called "the Lord's Prayer."  You will notice that the version of the Lord's Prayer which we read this morning, from the Gospel of Luke, is shorter than the one we usually recite in worship.  Luke's version stops with "lead us not into the time of trial," or otherwise put:  "lead us not into temptation."  Notice, there is no "but deliver us from evil," and also, no doxology, that is, the praise that goes:  "For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever."  If you trace the various versions of the Lord's Prayer down through the centuries, you will see that the prayer got longer and longer as it was used in worship.  Strictly speaking, therefore, the prayer which we have come to regard as the one that Jesus taught his disciples is not so.  It's a longer prayer.  But the added material is certainly in the spirit of the shorter version.  And the specific words which Jesus taught to his disciples are probably not the most important thing about the prayer anyway.  In Matthew's gospel, where Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray, Jesus says, "Pray in this way," not "say this," as in Luke's version.  Matthew's lead up to the prayer suggests that the general content is most important, not the specific words uttered.

So, if we look at the general content of the prayer, what do we find to satisfy our yearning?  How does the Lord's Prayer answer the disciples yearning, and ours too, to be closer to God?

Well first of all, you'll notice that the Lord's Prayer is very short, and very simple.  Jesus taught his disciples "not to heap up empty phrases as the nations do."  Don't try to impress God or whoever else might be listening.  Short and simple will do just fine, Jesus taught.

 Whenever I'm away at a conference, I look for published materials to help me plan worship.  I've found that good prayers are hard to find.  Worship language is almost always floury and wordy.  But the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples is lean and keen.

He starts with an expression of reverence and submission; and he approaches God intimately.

"Our Father," he begins.  Notice, "our father," not "my father."  Calling God father immediately sets an intimate tone for all that follows, but this intimacy isn't exclusive; it's inclusive.  The "our" establishes at once that the one praying recognizes a connection to a community of worshipers.  Thus, the Lord's Prayer is very intimate, but it's not private.

There's a country song that goes:  "Me and Jesus got our own thing goin'.  We don't need anybody to tell us what it's all about."  That's not the posture I hear in the first two words of Jesus' prayer:  "our Father."

The next phrase expresses a reverence for God, and submission to God's will:  hallowed (or holy) be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  This part of Jesus' prayer contains the very core of his preaching.  He talked more about God's coming kingdom than anything else.  The prayer says:  Get with God's program.  Welcome this coming kingdom, and move in resonance to it.  Use the uniquely personal gifts that God has given you to promote the coming of God's kingdom, so that earth will come more and more to resemble heaven.

After establishing a tone of reverence and submission the prayer moves to practical needs.  When I consider my own needs, I think first about material things.  Maybe you do too.  Most people do, I suppose.  We worry about having enough money to pay our bills, to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.  Jesus knew that such material concerns loom large for us.  So, when teaching his disciples how to pray, he addresses what was foremost in their list of needs:  daily bread.  "Give us this day our daily bread," he prayed.  Again, he was praying for a people, not just for himself.  And note, he prayed just for help for today, not supplies for tomorrow, or next month, or next year.  He once taught his disciples not to fret about what lies ahead.  "Today's trouble is enough for today," he said.  So, Jesus asked God, on behalf of others, for daily bread.

Then he got around to our spiritual needs.  The physical anxieties had been addressed.  Now his disciples could attend to their spiritual needs.  And what does the Lord's Prayer indicate is our primary spiritual need?  --To be forgiven.  To get at-one again with our neighbor, and with God, after we have damaged a good relationship.  Recognizing the deep, deep human need to be forgiven, and to enter again into a right relationship, Jesus prayed to God-- and once again not just for himself, but for the whole community-- "forgive us our sins, as we have already forgiven others who have sinned against us."  Jesus knew how hypocritical it is to ask God to forgive us if we have not forgiven others, so he said:  Forgive us, as we have already forgiven those who have done us wrong.

Then comes a phrase of great compassion for frail human beings:  "and lead us not into temptation."  Our Ash Wednesday text said that the Spirit drove Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted there.  That wasn't the devil's idea.  That was God's idea.  God drove Jesus into the wilderness to test his faith there.  The Hebrews believed that that sort of thing happens a lot.  The book of Hebrews lists one champion of faith after another who underwent trials to test their faithfulness, and won.  Still, Jesus begged on behalf of his community:  don't lead us into such trials.  Spare us this testing.  Know that we may break, O God.  We do trust you.  We do love you.  But please, don't put us to the test.  And if we must be tested, then help us to prevail.  Deliver us from evil--not so much the evil that might destroy us from the outside, but the potential to do evil that resides within each and every one of us.  Jesus taught once that it's not something from outside that defiles a person.  It's something inside.  Don't arouse that evil propensity inside us by testing us, Jesus pleads; but if we must be tested, then deliver us from that evil.

The prayer of Jesus is a wonderful guide for those who want to see God more clearly, know God more dearly, and follow God more nearly, day by day.  But, there are times when we are so down that even this wonderful guide seems inadequate.  Paul's remarks to the Christians in Rome address such painful and empty times.  Paul writes: don't worry about how to pray.  The Holy Spirit is already praying for you, even before you open your mouth.  The Spirit knows what you need, and is already praying for you in sighs of deep sympathy, too deep for words.