Can You Hear Me Now? Good! Week 8
“Raising the Bar”
MATTHEW 6:9-13
INTRODUCTION:
Video Clip - X-men 2 - Chapter 33 - Start:1:44:47 - End:1:45:37 - Time: 0:55
You’ve just seen a guy that’s listened to our study of the Lord’s prayer over the last seven weeks and has put the power of this prayer to work! Man! Okay, that’s not true. The guy in the clip has not been here and I really doubt that saying the Lord’s prayer will give you super powers! But if you have been with us over these weeks, here’s what we have seen. We’ve seen how each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer, is an answer to a basic life problem. From confirming our value, to clearing up our confusion to mending our relationships to protecting us from hurtful temptation, and more, this prayer has provided us answers. It says, You have this problem? Here’s God’s answer.
We have wrapped this series in a wireless, cell phone metaphor hearing God ask, “Can you hear me now?” and understanding that when we listen and apply these phrases that He has said, “Good!” We have discovered that these phrases in this prayer are God’s call to us saying, “I will meet every need you’ll ever face... if you’ll trust Me.” The Lord’s prayer is like having a full coverage calling plan. For seven weeks we’ve seen that we can have an uninterrupted connection with Him and that He has our every call covered. He is, in the vernacular of the cell phone world, “raising the bar,” reminding us that He will meet our every need. This is not just a pattern for praying, although it is that. This is a pattern for living, for raising the bar in every aspect of our lives. Today, as we wrap up this series I want us to be reminded or if you haven’t been with us, to see that God is worthy of our trust, because He has the answer to our every need. Let’s see from each phrase what He supplies. But before we do will you bow with me? (PRAYER - DRAMA SET-UP)
I. HEARING THE LORD’S PRAYER:
{Drama: Get a Life}
What makes you feel cold? What is it you use to feel that warmth again when you feel inferior, insignificant, devalued? Well, that’s the very first, and I think the most important factor God provides in this prayer.
1. The Bible says that God’s answer to my value is His parenthood - He wants to be our perfect, personal Father. You know, the desire to feel significant is universal. Inferiority haunts so many. That person in our drama represents multitudes of people who don’t like themselves, who don’t feel good about themselves, who don’t think they are worth much. And so they try to boost themselves up through self esteem books or by buying status symbols or giving themselves to others to be used or they take therapy or go on drugs, whatever, just to feel warm again. But God says, “No, your true value, your true significance comes in a relationship with me.” That’s why Jesus said pray: "Our Father in Heaven."
When God becomes your Father and you become His child that settles it, you have value! Your significance comes not from all the things you achieve or the things you buy. Your significance comes from your relationship to God. God becomes our ultimate carrier, the one we can count on for the best clarity and benefits in the plan for our life. We learned that “Father” is God’s favorite name and that the word there actually means “Daddy.” A term of intimacy. He wants us to know Him as a person not a power. We learned that God, unlike earthly fathers, is perfect. He is perfectly caring, consistent, capable & wants us to be His child! Gal. 4:6-7- “You can tell for sure that you are now fully adopted as his own children because God sent the Spirit of his Son into our lives crying out, “Daddy! Father!” Doesn’t that privilege of intimate conversation with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are a child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.” (Msg)
God says: “When you become a part of My family, I establish an eternal relationship with you. You get My caring, My consistent love, My capable comfort.. You get Me!” It is incredible.. The Creator of the universe, the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-possessing, all-present God wants to have an intimate relationship with you! That makes you extremely valuable! That should take care of your inferiority. God is for me! God’s answer to my question of value is His parenthood, His fatherhood. So, call Him Holy.. He is. Call Him King.. that’s true. But if you want to touch His heart and have Him touch yours, use the name He loves to hear- “Our Father... who is in heaven..”
2. God’s answer to my fear is His person, His name. We pray: "...may we honor your holy name." His names tell us the kind of relationship he wants with us. We learned that he wants to relieve our stress. Jehovah-Shalom. Judges 6:24- "The Lord is our peace." (GW) Peace is the opposite of fear. God wants to teach you how, in spite of difficulty, discouragement, defeat, distractions, disappointment, death, divorce, stress, crisis, and sickness, how to have on-going tranquility on the inside.
His name also reveals that he wants to heal my hurts. In Exodus 15:26 is the name Jehovah- Rophe = God is my healer. Now, He won’t necessarily heal every time but He will eventually heal all of us who know His name in eternity! You fear being hurt? Physically, emotionally? Psa.147:3 "God is the healer of the brokenhearted. He is the one who bandages their wounds."(NLT)
We also learned that his name tells us how much He wants to forgive my faults. Jeremiah 23:6 says "And this is His name: The Lord is our Righteousness." Jehovah-Tsidkenu. (Scudnew) Isaiah 43:25, "I am the God who forgives your sins, and I do this because of who I am."(GN) Why does God forgive? Because you earn it? No. Because that’s who He is.. That’s a part of his character. So, when you start getting down on yourself, fearing you don’t measure up, listen to God say, “Because of the death of Jesus and your faith in Him, guess what? Not Guilty!.”Not because of anything we’ve done but because of who He is. The result of honoring His Name? Fear replaced by true peace, true happiness, true joy. You have an inner peace and joy that transcends anything this world can dish out. Our fear is erased by His Name. Psa. 33:21 “In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust His holy Name.”(NLT)
3. God’s answer to my confusion is His plan, His purpose. Questions of confusion are another kind of problem. "Why am I here? Who am I? Where am I going? What is the meaning of life? Why is all this happening to me?" Those are confusing questions. We saw in week three of this series that Jesus said to pray: “May your kingdom come and your will be done, here on earth as it is in heaven.” We learned that God’s will could be looked at in two ways. 1. He has a revealed will for us. That we are clearly to imitate him, live for him and eventually live with him in heaven. Those parts of his plan are clearly revealed in the Bible. But we also learned that he has a personal plan for our lives and that Proverbs 3:5-6 gave us a four step process for discerning God’s will or plan for my personal life. ➀ We “Trust the Lord with all our hearts..” ➁ We “lean not on only our own understanding,” ➂ “in all our ways we acknowledge Him..” And then, and only then.. ➃ He will make your paths straight (NIV) or direct your paths” as the KJV says. So, from that passage we looked at some questions that we could ask to ascertain God’s personal plan for our life. 1. Is my desire consistent with Scripture? 2. Have I taken time to pray? 3. Have I sought Christian counsel? Talked to others that know God well? 4. Have I hammered doors down or are they opening easily? Although those questions aren’t infallible we learned that they can be very helpful. In fact, I’ve talked to several of you who have used those and have said that some of your confusion has been cleared up. When you get in God’s master plan for history and God’s personal plan for you, confusion will disappear.
4. God’s answer to my worry is His provision. "Give us the food we need for each day.” -or - “Give us this day, our daily bread." We learned that worry focuses on uncontrollable difficulties where we have little or no control and results in inaction. So when Jesus in Matthew 6 says "Do not worry.." he’s not talking about genuine concern - situations where we have some control and can take action. He is speaking of things wherein you have no control and just fret over them. He is talking about “stewing without doing.” It’s like sitting in a rocking chair.. You may move a lot but you aren’t getting anywhere!
So what do we do? We ask God for assistance, we remember God’s resources because when we worry we’ve forgotten God’s promise that He will meet our needs. Not our wants, our needs. And we trust God’s timing. In other words God says, “Relax. I can take care of it. I will provide all that you need on a daily basis.” His answer to my worries is His provision. We saw that in week four.
5. God’s answer to my guilt is His pardon. "Forgive us our sins." We saw in our fifth week that we must first recognize that none of us are perfect, that we’ve all sinned, we’ve all blown it, made mistakes. And we saw that as a result of our sin that we all have regrets. But God says, “I have some anytime minutes I’d like to give you. You can use them anytime and are available anywhere. They are my complete forgiveness.” That’s what Jesus Christ came to do. He says, I want to pardon you. I want to forgive you instantly, completely and freely. 1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins, because we can trust God to do what is right. He will cleanse us from all the wrongs we have done.” So many of your problems are caused by an unclear conscious. It causes physical problems, emotional problems, it ruins relationships. In fact, that week we heard a faith story from one who had discovered God’s forgiveness and freedom. God’s answer to my guilt is His pardon.
6. God’s answer to my relationships, especially my strained relationships is His power - His strength to forgive. This is where His anytime minutes become our rollover minutes. That is we are to rollover our forgiveness from God to extending His forgiveness to others. We looked in week six that our biggest problems are really people problems, getting along with other people. When I do things that hurt other people it causes guilt. When other people do things that hurt me, it causes resentment. These are the Siamese twins of misery - guilt and resentment. What I’ve done to others and what they’ve done to me. The Bible says there is only one answer for those two problems. Forgiveness. Forgiveness from God for my guilt and forgiveness extended to others for my resentment. We saw how so many people cannot let go of the past and cannot get on with the present because they’re hanging on to grudges, just like they hang on to guilt. God says, "Forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sinned against us." You say, I just can’t forgive that person - that’s why you need Jesus. He can give you the power to let go of the past so you can get on with the present and into the future. Phil. 4:13- "I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength."(LB)
7. Last week we saw that God’s answer to my temptations is His protection. We pray "Keep us from temptation and deliver us from evil." We saw that wonderful promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 where God says, "There isn’t any temptation that you have experienced which is unusual for humans. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.” We talked about how all of us have areas in our lives we’d like to change, that are out of control, bad habits we can’t seem to stop. We know they’re wrong but we just don’t know how to stop them and things we don’t want to give into but we end up giving into, things we do want to do but we end up not doing. God says, I will protect you, I am faithful. He can help you break free and He can help you change. So, we talked about four practical things to do. 1. Refuse to let the Devil intimidate you. James 4:7: “So give yourselves completely to God. Stand against the devil, and the devil will What? “...run from you.” Two parts: do both.. Give yourself completely to God and stand against the devil. 2. Request help from God. Pray that microwave prayer: “Help me, Lord! SOS!” Understand that He wants to help you with this. 3. Refocus your attention. The devil’s primary target is your mind so mind what you put in your mind!
4. Reveal your struggle to a Christian friend. James 5:16 "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed." His answer to your temptations is His protection.
These seven problems may cover them all. They’re pretty much all here aren’t they? God’s answer to my value is His person - He wants to be my perfect “Daddy.” God’s answer to my confusion is His plan and purpose. God’s answer to my worry is His provision - "Give us the food we need for today." Not tomorrow, next week or next year.. Today. God’s answer to my guilt is His pardon. God’s answer to my strained relationships is His power to forgive. God’s answer to my temptation is His protection. That about covers it doesn’t it? That’s what I call “raising the bar. That’s what I call a blank check. God says all your needs I will meet, please just trust me.
That’s what the Lord’s prayer says to us.. Jesus says, “Listen, when you pray God is promising you within this prayer a number of things.. His parenthood, person, purpose, provision, pardon, power and protection. That is what God is saying to you in this prayer.” So, what are we saying to God when pray the Lord’s prayer?
II. PRAYING THE LORD’S PRAYER:
Well, if we genuinely say these words to God. Not just rattle them off, not just ritualistically repeat them, but when we genuinely pray this pray I think we are saying something very, very important to God.
We are saying, “God, you are the source of my life.” Whenever I have a need, the first place I look is to God. I don’t look to my job, my wife, the government. Seventy or eighty years ago a guy named Lenin came up with an idea: “Put your trust in the government and it will meet all your needs.” That idea fell as hard as the bricks did from the Berlin wall. We think, isn’t that great! It proves you don’t look to the government to meet your needs. Let’s not get too haughty. Maybe we don’t think the government meets our needs but it sure looks like we think the Gold Card will. Master Card fill my home, Visa fill my life. The answer to your needs is not the government and it’s not the Gold Card. It’s God! He says, I will meet all your needs. So when you pray this prayer remember you are saying, “God you are what I need most of all. You are the source of life... now and forever more.”
You’re saying, “God, I am putting my life completely in your hands. I’m trusting you, when my earthly parents fail me to be my perfect Father. When I am afraid, I am trusting you to relieve my stress, heal my hurts, forgive my faults. When I’m confused, I’m asking for your plan and purpose to be revealed in my life. When I’m worried, I’m trusting You for my daily provision. When I’ve sinned I trust Your pardon. When I have a strained relationship, I’m trusting that you will help me forgive. When I’m undergoing that tremendous temptation, I’m trusting You for your protection.” When we pray this prayer we are saying, “God, You are everything I need.” But please, please understand this: the Lord’s prayer is not just a pattern for praying. The Lord’s prayer is a pattern for living. The Bible teaches us that as I use this model to pray I can also use it to evaluate my own life.
So, please understand this about this prayer:
I can’t pray "Our Father," unless I’ve been born again into God’s family. God is the creator of everybody but He is not the Father of everybody. He is the Father of those who ask to become His children. I can’t say "Our Father" unless I’ve been born again into God’s family.
I can’t say "holy is your name" unless God has first place in my life. Since His name tells us that He is Jehovah - the I am - I must set him apart and make him first.
I can’t say "Your will be done" unless I am committed to actively doing His will, to living His way, every day.
I can’t say "give us today our daily bread" without a willingness to trust God’s provisions. To say, “God, I trust you to supply my needs, not my wants.”
I can’t say "forgive us our debts, our sins" if I am holding onto an unforgiving attitude toward others.
I can’t say "keep us not into temptation" if I continue to expose myself to compromising situations.
I’d like us to say the Lord’s prayer together. There are a number of versions but let’s say this out loud together.
Our Father in heaven, may we honor your holy name.
Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today, our daily bread and forgive us our sins as we have forgiven those who sinned against us. Keep us from temptation and deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen
I’m going to ask you to bow your head and just think about your relationship to God in the context of this prayer that we’ve just said and talked about today.
Prayer:
“Our Father in heaven” Ask yourself, “Have I ever committed my life to God by giving myself to His Son, Jesus?” Do I have a personal relationship with God and Christ?” I’m not talking about religion. You may be Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Baptist, Buddhist, whatever. I’m not talking about religion, I’m talking about a relationship. Have I ever invited God to be my father? You do that by asking Jesus into your life. Have you done that? If you’ve never done that, why not today?
I can’t say "we honor your holy name" unless God has first priority in my life. Ask yourself: “What is taking first place in my life right now?” How do I know what is first place? Look at your calendar and your wallet. Who gets the first part of your time? Your money? Face the truth. Ask God to help you in this area.
How about the third area, "Your will be done." “Am I committed to living God’s way all the time or is this just a Sunday thing for me?” Make a commitment right now to talk to Him and someone you trust about your life and the way your are living it.
Ask yourself this: What should I stop worrying about and start trusting God to provide? What is outside my control that I need to let God control?
I can’t say "forgive us our sins" if I’m holding onto an unforgiving attitude toward others. “Am I holding a grudge against someone else? Am I harboring an unforgiving attitude?” Who do I need to write a letter to? Who do I need to call?
I can’t say "keep me from temptation" if I continue to expose myself to compromising situations. Is there a temptation that I need to ask God to help me with? Am I willing to change? Am I willing to ask someone to help me stay accountable?
“Father, this prayer teaches us so much, thank-you. I want every person in this room to know you as their “Daddy.” Please give them the courage to ask their questions, to seek your face. And for those who know you as their personal heavenly father may this be the day when they say, “I want my life to be totally surrendered to you.” May today be the day that those decisions are made. And to you indeed is all power and glory forever. In Jesus name, Amen.”
{All references taken from the Holy Bible, New Century Version, unless otherwise noted.}
{A major resource used for this message was Rich Warren’s sermon: "Trusting God for Every Need" written in 1998}
