A, Mid Week Lent 3- Sermon Series "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures - Work"

By the toils of Jesus, Lord teach us how to work; allowing the Holy Spirit to inspire work within us.  Amen.

If you’re going to do the job, you may as well do it right the first time.

But how was God to do the work of saving humanity?  He tested humanity and showed that anointing the Israelites as his chosen people was not good enough.  He placed kings over Israel and they too failed.  His most faithful king, King David, also turned away from God, trusting the strength of his own fighting men.  Even David, was not good enough!  God had to find the right way for humanity to fulfill all righteousness; one that was effective, functional, and perfect.

God needed the work to be more than just pragmatic, that is, done because a certain deed works, or  for the love of the deed.  No!  He needed the work done to convey his deep love for humanity.  This love needed not just be practical but personal, relational, and demonstrate to the recipient their worth to God the Father, and his willingness to make the recipient holy.  Only through becoming holy can a person come to God without fear of God’s almighty holiness causing death.

It seems God the Father was in a bit of a quagmire over how to sort out humanity’s sin and at the same time, give us access into his holy presence, for a relationship that brings life rather than death.

In Jesus Christ, our Heavenly Father found the effective, functional, and perfect answer to bring the work of righteousness to completion.

Last Sunday, we heard Jesus at Jacob’s Well with the Samaritan Woman.  Here, Jesus proves to be the perfect mediator between a Holy God and a sinful woman.  Without fear the woman speaks to Jesus, and without condemning the woman, Jesus condemns her sin and gives her his Word of life, God the Father’s Word of life!

To the woman, Jesus teaches and says, “[T]he hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.  God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:23–24 ESV)

Then to his disciples, Jesus teaches and says, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.  …Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.  I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. …Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.”  (John 4:34,35b,38 ESV)

See how Jesus works!  He mediates the two together.  Sinner and teachers, so the sinner leaves to become the teacher, and the teachers learn that they are sinners. 

But the work Jesus does just does not end there!  We know if the work was finished here, it would be left undone, and the sinners would not have the power to teach, and the teachers would lose the power to learn about their sin.  God needed to do the complete job.  If he was going to do the job he needed to do it right.  If there was to be righteousness on earth, Jesus needed to finish, complete, or fulfil all righteousness.

The mediation work of Jesus was completed on the cross, when Jesus cried out, “it is finished”!  He hung his head, and he died!  The work was done!

God now calls you to hang your heads, and know that, “it is finished!”  His work is done and so too is yours.  However, like the disciples Jesus taught, you are called to enter into the labour of others, to continue the work of others!

Therefore, the teacher-sinner paradox continues.  Jesus’ work is finished in you, but now through you he seeks to finish it in others.

It now seems we are in the same quagmire as God.  We have been finished, but death is not finished for all others.  In fact, certain elements of death still remain with us in this life, and will not be finished until the death of eternal death in our earthly death.  How do we demonstrate the death of eternal death to others, while we live on this side of death? Or, how do we teach others about life in the realm of death?

What does God’s Word say?  We go back to the work and Word of Jesus!  See how he functioned while he lived under the sentence of death, and listen to what he taught, knowing his death and resurrection justifies what he said and taught.

True worshippers of God the Father, workers of God, worship in spirit and in truth. 

Jesus said, “‘it is finished’, bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” (John 19:30 ESV)  You and I are called to give up our spirits and know it is finished.  This involves allowing the Holy Spirit to give us life, having died to sin, so he can inspire us to live in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 

We the sinners, learn from our sinfulness to become the teachers, continually being taught by the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ righteous work, what the toil of God is.  So, what is the toil of God, given to us?  It is the work of holiness.

Paul gives us the reality of Jesus’ finishing work, saying, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him.  For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”  (1 Corinthians 3:16–17 ESV)

The paradox of God’s holy work is strange to the world, and therefore, takes time to sort itself out in us.  This is because we still struggle with the works of darkness and death!  But God the Holy Spirit is constantly bringing us to the completed work of Jesus Christ on the cross.  In fact, this is the work and purpose of the Holy Spirit in us, as individuals, and within the worshipping community of those needing to gather around Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit works to call, gather, and enlighten us with faith in Jesus Christ’s work.

Jesus left humanity’s visual presence, but he has not gone!  He is hidden but now we see him with faith, given through the Holy Spirit’s work. 

God the Father perfectly finishes the job by sending Jesus Christ, to work salvation on the cross.  He continues this work, by also sending the Holy Spirit, to finish this salvation in us, by constantly leading us to Jesus Christ, out of our sins.  You are both a student and a teacher of the Holy Spirit!

In this finishing school of the Holy Spirit, Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12 ESV)

What is it you learn and teach?  What are these strange works, we both learn from, and teach?  What are the good works, the greater works we do now, since we are under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, who makes us alive in Jesus Christ, so we can reflect this life, to the masses who are dead and dying around us?

These are the works of confession!  Confessing our sin, learning from what God teaches us about his forgiveness of sin, and teaching others about how they can be forgiven, by sharing what God has forgiven, and how God has forgiven in Jesus Christ.

In this finishing school of the Holy Spirit, “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV)

Let us allow the Holy Spirit to foster in us, “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places.”  (Ephesians 1:19–20 ESV)

Amen.

Next week: we hear about the love of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to love.

A, Ash Wednesday- Matthew 6:19-21 "The Litany of Jesus' Treasures"

Matthew 6:19–21  Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Who is Jesus?  How do you explain Jesus to someone else?  Who is Jesus to you? What makes Jesus important to you, for you in your day-to-day life?

Jesus tells those who listen to his Sermon on the Mount, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasurers on earth… but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

In coming weeks, we will be examining a litany of Jesus’ life to see his treasure.  Then we can identify our treasure to gain a deeper understanding as to why and how Jesus gave up his divinity and served humanity through what he treasured.

Last Sunday we came to and from the Mountain of Transfiguration.  Now we travel with Jesus in remembrance to the Mountain of Calvary, to the cross, where the Gospel was nailed out for our deliverance from sin and death. 

We are being led to God’s kingdom, forgiven, and equipped to forgive.  Given what we need to walk the way of this wilderness through heartache and suffering.  But also, given it with hope in the great day of salvation, when Jesus will lead us through the Jordanian waters of death into the eternal land of milk and honey.

However, first we find ourselves on the mountain of teaching with Jesus as he opens up the Law to us in greater depth than the Old Testament, and with greater width than we can possibly fulfil during the length and breadth of our lives on earth.

Jesus begins the Sermon on the Mount with the beatitudes, “nine statements of blessedness”, then calls the hearer to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. 

He explains that he has not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfil them.  Then what would have surprised everyone he teaches, one’s righteousness needs to exceed that of the pharisees and scribes, to enter the kingdom of heaven.

He expounds the laws of murder and adultery to include, hatred and lust.  He teaches how to pray, giving them his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, to turn meditation from themselves to God and his gifts.

What becomes apparent to all who listen with the right heart to his Sermon on the Mount, is that no one can fulfil what the law and the prophets have said.  And even more so!  Now, that Jesus has expanded the Commandments to include not glorifying the self, nor being anxious or worrying.  As well as increasing hating and calling one a fool into the same as murder, and likewise desiring with sexual hunger as the same as adultery. 

In the midst of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus focuses on what are one’s treasures.   A treasure is literally anything that you set aside as security for yourself.  He then focuses us on the greater treasures of heaven.  But the sting he leaves with us is this:  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

What is your treasure, where is your heart?  What is your haven of heavenly treasure?

To work out firstly what your heaven might be, we can place ourselves in the shoes of the young man who came up to Jesus, enquiring…

“Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”  And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.  The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?”  Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”  (Matthew 19:16-17, 20–22 ESV)

Jesus tells him to sell all his goods.  Or, to rid himself of all the things he deems good for his existence.

Now that you are in the shoes of this young man, how do you receive these words from Jesus?

This should rightfully make you feel uneasy.  With his word, Jesus cuts to the heart of every person’s treasure.  Or what we can rightfully call, goods or riches that have become idols or gods.

Jesus follows on, and says to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven.  Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”  (Matthew 19:23-24 ESV)

The disciples get the gist of Jesus’ word and on hearing, “they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”  But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:25-26 ESV)

God gives us what we need to live, but we take these things and they become treasures greater than the treasures of heaven.  But they perish, and once we’ve made them our gods, we too are in danger of perishing with them. 

Yes!  We all die!  However, these earthly treasures tempt us to trust them and lead us away from being saved.  One’s treasures can lead, not just to a physical death, but an eternal death!

The treasures of the kingdom of heaven are only possible through God.

So, what Jesus was teaching at his Sermon on the Mount is that getting the treasures of heaven is only possible through him.

In a moment we are going to receive the imposition of ashes and I will announce to you as I place an ash cross on your forehead, “remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.”

We do this in full realisation that through humanity’s knowledge of good and evil, we lost access to God, and that we live under the curse of death.  But upon the knowledge of the law we live looking forward in faith in the knowledge of Jesus Christ.

During the Lenten season we will examine just what this knowledge of Jesus Christ is.  After the imposition of ashes, we will pray the “Litany on the Life of Jesus” which will be the form of our five meditations. We will also learn of the activity of God the Holy Spirit as Jesus passively lived seeking treasures of his Father in Heaven, his name, his kingdom, and his will, as he walks to the cross for us.

In this Litany of Jesus’ treasures, the Holy Spirit will seek to give you a deeper understanding and teaching of…

1)   The prayers of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to pray.

2)   The gifts of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to give.

3)   The toils of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to work.

4)   By the love of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to love.

5)   By the cross of Jesus, so we might allow the Holy Spirit to inspire us to live. 

In allowing the Holy Spirit to rule in our hearts, bringing us to Jesus, we will be Holy Spirit prepared to tell others what the Gospel is.  How we are blessed by forgiveness.  Understand for ourselves God’s purpose for us, despite the curse of sin and death in our lives.  And therefore, show the compassionate steadfast love and generosity we receive, to others, who like us, need God’s forgiveness and salvation.  Amen.

C, Maundy Thursday - The Lord's Prayer #7 - Matthew 6:11 "Give us today our Daily Bread"

This is the last sermon in the Lenten series and as you can see by the diagram, we come to the crux of the Lord’s Prayer.

From the outset, theological language scholars struggle to know what the Greek adjective “daily” actually is.  There are several possibilities such as: give us this day the bread of existence; give us this day the bread for today; give us this day the bread for tomorrow; or give us this day the bread for the future.

Within the context of the Sermon on the mount, Jesus talks about the things we need for survival, saying…

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  (Matthew 6:19–21 ESV)

And, “…if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.”  (Matthew 6:30–34 ESV)

Every day has enough of its own trouble, so we pray to our Father, “give us what we need every day.”  So, what do we need every day from our Father who is in heaven?  Or put better, “What does God require of us every day?”  What does God require of you if every day has enough of its own troubles and deceptive treasures?

Jesus highlights the troubles of the day, as working for treasures that leads your heart away from the true treasures of heaven, as well as being anxious and distracted in one’s desire to have what one decides to be enough of these treasures.

It’s here you’re called out of trusting yourself, back to trusting OUR father in heaven.  You are called to know that Jesus not only teaches God’s children to pray this prayer, but has been praying these petitions for you, and on your behalf before the Father.  He has proven himself 100% faithful to the Father, even unto death, and is now raised in victory over death, and intercedes on your behalf, before the Father, for your victory over death.

Our Father in heaven, Jesus the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit want God’s kingdom, power, and glory, to be your eternal reality in community with them.

For this to happen, God gives us access to him through his holy name, to call on him, to deliver us from every evil within and from without.   Having begun the work of moving us from evil to holiness, he continually seeks to lead us away from all kingdoms, which lead to evil and death, to his kingdom.  This is a kingdom of holiness and peace, set apart for you to be with him in all his power and glory.

While we are here on earth, he forgives us our sin.  It is his responsibility and pleasure to do so!  Because he is a steadfast loving God, we have a right to receive his forgiveness and a right to be able to forgive others.  He gives us the freedom and the will to accept that responsibility of passing his forgiveness onto others. 

As Christians, or, children of a loving God, we give the right to others to receive our forgiveness.  When we struggle to forgive, God gives us the responsibility to ask him to help us forgive as he has forgiven us.

If these are not enough troubles for each day, then we can add on what we need to eat, wear, and sleep.  But as we have heard he wants us to seek first his kingdom and the treasure of his holy righteousness and will.

Each day it pleases God that we ask him for the bread to sustain us now, tomorrow, and forever!

In fact, when we pray for our daily bread, the Lord’s Prayer names the treasure or bread of eternal life in our praying for deliverance from evil into the holiness of God’s name.  The Lord’s Prayer names the treasure or bread of eternal life which leads us from the temptation of building our own kingdoms into his kingdom of peace and sabbath.  The Lord’s Prayer names the treasure or bread of eternal life which restores in us the will of God, so, in prayer we can confess our sin, praise him for our forgiveness, forgive others, and confess our unity as his children through our common forgiveness of sins.  These are our daily bread. 

Therefore, our daily bread and true treasure of the heart is Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ gives us himself in this prayer when he gives us the words to pray it.  Jesus’ prayer, our Lord’s Prayer to his Father and our Father, is the word of God given to us from he who is the Word made flesh.  The Lord’s Prayer is taught by Jesus, the source of grace, who fulfils grace, at the cross!  The Lord’s prayer is both treasure from the mouth of God, and treasure in the ear of God, for all who receive it from Jesus, believe it in the heart, and pray it to the Father with the mouth.

If it’s our Father in heaven’s good pleasure to give us eternal rest in his kingdom of power and glory, how much more will he give us our daily bread each day of our troubled life on earth?  Therefore, Jesus tells us to seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and his righteousness, his treasures, and everything we need for this life, like, food, clothing, and shelter will be supplied by our Father who loves us.

If God would go to such lengths to provide for your salvation, by having his Son die for you, and raise him, why would he then not provide the lesser things for you? 

Furthermore, why would Jesus, who faithfully died for you, mandate for humanity on Maundy Thursday, a new covenant to receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation?  As well as command us to do this eating and drinking of his body and blood in remembrance of his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, if he would then go on to not give us the things we need for this life? 

Also, why would Jesus tell his disciples and then after his resurrection and ascension, send the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth, give us understanding in his word, engage faith within us, creating the will in us to do the greater work of confessing our sins, now that he has gone to the Father and prays ceaselessly for us, if he wasn’t sustaining us in this life? 

And why would the Holy Spirit move us to baptise in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and believe in our baptism into God’s kingdom, if he weren’t going to lead us through this kingdom of life, and away from all its troubles that end in death?  Only then not to raise us from death into his kingdom of eternal life, peace, and holy community!

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer you are in community with the Triune God, glorifying him in his presence and fulfilling your function in creation with all others who believe and pray.

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer you pray a Holy Spirited lifegiving prayer, because you are allowing God the Holy Spirit, to turn you from your helplessness, and place you in Jesus Christ the Son of God, and he in you.

Every time you pray the Lord’s Prayer you are forgiven and fed on God’s holy eternal living bread. 

Jesus Christ is our most treasured and holy daily bread.  Amen.   

Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, let all your gifts to us be blessed, blessed are you our daily bread, may the world be clothed and fed.   Amen.

C, Midweek Lent 1 - The Lord's Prayer #2 - Matthew 6:9, 1 Chronicles 29:10b-13, Psalm 145:10-13 "We join with Jesus in his Prayer"

Our Father in Heaven… for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen. 

Last week at the Ash Wednesday service, we began learning about Prayer.  Throughout this Lenten Season and on Maundy Thursday we look at the Lord’s Prayer and its petitions.

While Jesus was on earth, he spent much of his private time in prayer.  Full of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was led out to quite places to pray.  When we peruse the Gospels, we hear that he prayed.  Sometimes, he prayed in public, to demonstrate it was not his power healing the person, but rather he was submitting to the power of God.

We too can submit to the power of God in prayer.  And when we do, we judge correctly the three realities of prayer…

1) We were originally created to be in fellowship with God.

2) Since the fall we are weak and helpless.  But, because of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of the Father, we are now “blessedly helpless”.  

3) All our right prayers are Holy Spirited prayers. 

Although Jesus was the Son of God, he gave up his authority as the Son and took on the weakness of humanity.  In doing so, he became the archetypal Son of all humanity, the Son of Man.

Jesus glorified God in his fellowship with God the Father in prayer.  In his healings, those around him also glorified the Heavenly Father.  And, when others sought to glorify him, he avoided the opportunity for them to do so, not letting it happen.

But Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit throughout his ministry.  He joyfully praises God when the seventy-two disciples returned praying, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.  (Luke 10:21ESV)

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” (Luke 10: 22 ESV)

Hear how this prayer of praise becomes teaching.  A little later on he teaches about the Holy Spirit and how he teaches, saying, “And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say,  for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”(Luke 12:11–12 ESV)

The Holy Spirit teaches us what to say and what to pray.  Jesus full of the Holy Spirit taught the disciples what to pray.  Through his word to the Apostles, in the Written Word of God, he teaches us who have been filled with the Holy Spirit what to pray.  In our weakness we need the Holy Spirit to lead us in what to say and what to pray.

Today, we focus on the first thing and the last things the Holy Spirit teaches us and leads us to pray in the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father in Heaven… for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen. 

The introduction comes straight to us from Matthew 6:9.  The Lukan equivalent begins simply with, “Father”, in Luke 11:2.  However, the doxology of the prayer is nowhere to be seen in the prayer that Jesus gives. 

Before we go discarding it from the prayer, we need to realise, what this doxology is, and from where it comes.  We must first return to Jesus’ prayers and ponder the heart of Jesus.  It has long been held that the Lord’s Prayer summarises the entire Psalter of the one-hundred and fifty Psalms.  The psalms that were written down by Kings David and Solomon, other temple authors, and the prophets, are the prayers of Jesus inspired in these men and written down long before Jesus was incarnate in flesh.  But once in the flesh he prayed the very prayers he inspired them to write.

Prayer fulfills God’s desire to be in fellowship with humanity, and we glorify him in that fellowship.  The Holy Spirit leads us in glorifying the fellowship of Trinitarian love with us, and within us.  We glorify God with praise and thanksgiving. 

We find this language of glorification right the way through the Psalms, and we find it in the words that come from Jesus’ lips.  We also hear it come from the lips of those who praise God, when they witness the acts of Jesus, while he moves amongst the people of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, as well as the gentile surrounds, he visited.

To narrow the doxology to one place in the Psalms, we hear the Lord’s Prayer doxology, most clearly in Psalm 145:10-13…

All your works shall give thanks to you, O LORD, and all your saints shall bless you!  They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,  to make known to the children of man your mighty deeds, and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.  The LORD is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.  (Psalm 145:10–13 ESV)

Outside of the Psalms we also hear a similar doxology recorded in First Chronicles chapter twenty-nine.  First and Second Chronicles are the historical record of worship events including the building of the Temple, so it is no surprise to see a similar doxology here.   King David prays these similar words, when he charges the assembly prior, to Solomon’s anointing as king, and his death.

“Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our Father, forever and ever.  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.  Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honour come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.  And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.” (1 Chronicles 29:10b–13 ESV)

These words of glorification are prayed by an assembly.  Even if Jesus is to pray by himself it is within the assembly of the Triune God.  He prays in a Trinity of Love, together with angels and archangels.  But even on earth King David leads the congregation before God and calls on his name in prayer.

So we come the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer.  We pray “our” Father not “my” Father.  Why?

Firstly, because Jesus teaches us to do so.  But he does so because of the greater reality of what we are called into.  This greater reality is not just the hidden reality of the Trinity, the angels ands archangels, but also the whole company of heaven. 

Secondly, this reality is a catholic reality.  Lutherans tend to recoil when we hear the word catholic, thinking we mean Roman Catholic.  But believing Romans like us who believe in the Lutheran Church are all a part of the catholic church.  As we confess in our creeds, we are apostolic and catholic in faith.

Thirdly, we adhere to the words of the apostles, and therefore we are gathered by the Holy Spirit into one holy congregation around Jesus Christ. 

This includes those who have gone before us, and now worship in the company of heaven. 

And it includes all who worship in the realm of time on earth, in our congregation, parish, denomination with others around the world. 

It also includes those still yet to be born, baptised, and abide in the faith given to them.  These are our unborn children, and the generations to come.  All these are the catholic church gathered by the Holy Spirit before Jesus, inside and outside of time.

When we say, “Our Father”, we pray as the body of Christ, and we join in the fellowship of God’s kingdom, glorifying him for his power and his kingdom, which is a kingdom of love that extends to us here on earth through forgiveness.

This introduction can be prayed as a perfectly succinct prayer in itself, “Our Father, the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours now and forever.  Amen.”  This prayer stands on its own and honours God in his eternal realm. 

But we are given petitions to pray here on earth by Jesus.  And these petitions teach us how the Holy Spirit moves us from evil to holiness.  The Holy Spirit does this so we might join Jesus, our ascended Great High Priest, in his petitioning the Father of love in heaven.

Next week, we continue on our journey of joyful discovery, examining the Lord’s Prayer and its petitions as prayer worked in us by the Holy Spirit.  But also, as a teaching or doctrine of the Holy Spirit, how the Holy Spirit practically bridges the divide between evil and holiness.  Amen.

C, Ash Wednesday - The Lord's Prayer #1, Matthew 6:1-21 "Prayer Introduction - What, Why, & How"

Matthew 6:1–21 (ESV)  “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,  so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “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.  “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.  Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.  Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread,  and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,  but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.  “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.  “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

During the midweek Lenten services we will be examining prayer. 

Why do we pray?  Why did the disciples asked Jesus how to pray?

What is prayer and why would we want to pray? 

There are different kinds of prayer, but all prayers begin deep within the human heart.  Prayer begins with a deep yearning for something.  What puts the deep yearning in the heart will determine what kind of a prayer it is!

For a Christ-centred understanding of prayer, we examine what Jesus says about prayer.  That is, to put forward a wish or make a plea that glorifies and justifies our Father in heaven.  If we do not do this, prayer would simply be human coveting, and not prayer as God would have us understand it.

The Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, does not specifically give us the Lord’s Prayer, but the text before and after it.  Nevertheless, the Lord’s Prayer is taught by Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount, but what he says before and after it, on giving and fasting, also applies to prayer.

He warns, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.  Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others.”  (Matthew 6:1,2 ESV)

“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.” (Matthew 6:5–6 ESV)

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,  that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16–18 ESV)

So, we get the picture!  Prayer is not done as a work of righteousness, to be seen, to get acknowledgement, to be a hypocrite.  “Hypocrite” is an interesting word biblically when it is broken down, as a hypocrite is a hypo-critic.  In Greek, hypo means under, by, or with; and critic is from krino, to judge or decide.

Understanding this, makes Jesus’ words stand out for us, where he says to those criticizing him for healing on the Sabbath, “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24 ESV)

Surprisingly perhaps, the Old Testament word for prayer, is from a word meaning, to judge – (פָּלַל) pâlal, and it functions as making a judgement to ask or intercede.  Another word commonly used in the Old Testament, to judge, is shâphaṭ (שָׁפַט), but it functions as judgement to vindicate or punish.

One who prays to justify themselves or to punish others would be one who hypocritically judges or prays. The truth is we probably wouldn’t even recognise this as prayer, but rather as coveting or bearing false witness.  Whereas one who judges with a right judgement, prays also with a judgment that pleases our Heavenly Father.

So, prayer is judgement, but right prayer is right judgement which makes a judgement that justifies and glorifies God. 

But why would we want to pray?  Even if we wanted to pray, how can we pray with a right judgement?

We need to be taught how to pray.  The disciples became increasingly aware of this the longer they spent with Jesus.  Why?

We hear from Luke eleven, Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.” (Luke 11:1 ESV)

Their request demonstrates one very simple point.  There is nothing or no one in all of creation that can help us to pray.  We are helpless and cannot come to God in prayer unless he first comes to us.  As is written in one of the liturgical orders of absolution and confession, the pastor sings or says,  “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” And the congregation responds, “He made heaven and earth”.  This is from a Psalm of David, Psalm 124:8. 

The King leads the congregation of Israel in declaring he and his congregation needs help from the maker of heaven and earth.  And we too are the same, regardless of our status in this world as princes and princesses or paupers.

If God did not exist, we would be completely helpless.  However, because God does exist, we are blessedly helpless.  “Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 124:8 ESV)

So blessedly helpless, we are taught how to pray.  Before Jesus was on earth, the job of teaching was through the priests, the prophets, and the family.  The last in the old era was John the Baptist who taught his disciples how to pray.

But Jesus teaches a new and right way to pray which truly acknowledges the help we need, and we get the help to pray from the Holy Spirit who proceeds from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, God the Son.  

Just as Jesus bore the weakness and the helplessness of human flesh and perfectly relied on his Father through the Holy Spirit, to pray, we too are given the Holy Spirit to help us pray.  We are also encouraged to continue asking for the Holy Spirit in prayer, reminding us it is he who guides us in right judgement and right prayer.

Jesus teaches us in Luke eleven, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 ESV)

Therefore, we want to pray because the Holy Spirit has been given to us.  The Holy Spirit uses both, guilt produced by the Law to make us flee to God in prayers of confession, and also, the Gospel to reassure us we have the invitation as adopted Sons to join our prayers with Jesus’ prayers, the petitions of our great high priest.  This is all because, Jesus has been raised to the right hand of the Father.

The Holy Spirit gives us the will and heart to love God and pray to him calling him Abba, Father.  This is not an official title of fatherhood, but a personal loving title of Daddy.  Just as a baby learns to say, dad-da  or mum-ma, the Holy Spirit, teaches us in God’s Word to say, “Our Abba.”

“For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”  (Romans 8:14 ESV)

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” (Romans 8:26 ESV)

Jesus teaches us to pray because he wants us to have the right relationship with our Father in heaven.  This is a restored relationship that was lost; impossible to reconcile ourselves to God, and come to him in complete confidence.

Therefore, three things we are taught about prayer are…

1) We are created to be in fellowship with God.

2) Since the fall we are helpless.  But, because of Jesus, we are now “blessedly helpless”.  

3) All right prayers are Holy Spirited prayers. 

We the blessedly helpless are blessedly helped both by Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  We now have the freedom of loved children to call on our Father in prayer. Amen.

Next Wednesday we will look at the oneship Jesus teaches us when we pray his prayer, the Lord’s Prayer to our Father, and what this does for us.