Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer in Luke Part 1

LUKE 11:1-2b

¹ It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

   ‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
³ ‘Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴ ‘And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.’”

Main point: Before going into further principles in this series on prayer, we will see Jesus laying three important building blocks so that you will pray to God.

1. You should pray (1-2a)
2. You should pray with others (2b)
3. You should pray intimately (2c)

 

You should pray (1-2a)

1. Proof:
   1. Jesus Prayed: “It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place…” (v.1)
   2. His example prompt disciple to ask how to pray: “after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray…”
      1. In the Greek, there is the idea that as soon as Jesus was done praying, they went to ask Him to teach them how to pray!
      2. There was a sense of amazement about it, of wanting to learn how to pray.
      3. Others learn from their master: “just as John also taught his disciples.”
         1. Likewise, as disciples (which means total students), they want to also learn from their masters in praying.
   3. Jesus’ response assume we will pray: “And He said to them, “When you pray, say” (v.2a)
      1. It’s an issue of “when” and not “if.”
      2. οταν is a temporal adverb meaning “when.”
      3. This is what they call a third class conditional clause to show that it will be something that is likely to happen in the future.
      4. The verb “say” in the Greek is a present tense and communicates the action is expected to be an ongoing process (Fitzmeyer, 898).
2. Picture: Anthony’s mother praying for me in Iraq, it makes me want to pray, it makes want to have what she has, that motivated her to pray!
3. Practice:
   1. When was the last time you prayed?
   2. Or when was the last time someone’s prayer life amazed you, and you asked yourself or them, “I want to have that, I need to be like that…”

 

You should pray with others (2b)

1. Proof:
   1. “And He said to them, “When you pray, say” (v.2a)
   2. A second person plural verb, it refers to the disciples and all those who would follow after Jesus.  The plural indicates that there is a sense where prayer is also to be done with others (Fitzmyer, 898).
   3. Note the following references to first person plural throughout this section:
      1. “Give us…”(3)
      2. “our ^[c]daily bread.” (3)
      3. “…forgive us our sins,” (4)
      4. “For we ourselves also forgive…” (4)
      5. “who is indebted to us.” (4)
      6. “And lead us not…’” (4)
2. Picture: I’ve enjoyed calling and talking to all you guys throughout the week, and realizing that “Wow, this situation is bigger than what any one of us can handle alone…we need God’s help…we need to pray”…and to pray right there in pairs or group.
3. Practice:
   1. Questions to ask yourself:
      1. When you are going through tough time, do you pray with others?
      2. When you are going through good time, do you pray with others in praise to God?
   2. Practical ways:
      1. I’m going to have a prayer list with each day of the week with a member of the church to call up and ask them for their prayer on the phone for my ministry need. Sign up! Or do the same thing!
      2. Show up for prayer meeting!
      3. Go though church roster, pray for our members and then you will have a burden to call them up and pray with them on the phone!

You should pray intimately with God (2c)

1. Proof:
   1. “Father” is here in the vocative since this is an address towards God the Father.
   2. It is a title of intimacy, of nearness to God.
   3. Addressing God as “Father” is so common today that we are not surprised with how shocking Jesus’ teaching was.
   4. For the Jews, it was not until after the tenth century AD did they ever even conceived of the idea of praying and calling God “Father.”
   5. MOMENT OF TRUTH:
      1. Not everyone’s spiritual Father is God (cf. John 8:58).
      2. Galatians 4:3-6 describes our condition and the way to be able to be intimate with God in such a way you can call Him “Father.”
   6. Practice:
      1. Questions to ask yourself:
         1. What are your deepest concerns, heartaches, sin and desire? Have you prayed to the Lord about them?
         2. Who is the person most closest to you? What do you share with them?  Do you talk to your Father in heaven about them?
      2. Pray to Him as though He is your Father, because He is your Father.
      3. Pray to Him after this message or even now in your hearts to have Him make you close to you as a Father in your life!

 

CONCLUSION:  Intimacy with God is only possible if your sins are forgiven…Here is the Gospel: Christ died for your sins so that you can have a living relationship with God.  Will you trust in Jesus Christ?