HG105 Luke 11:1-13 The Lord's (Disciples') Prayer
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1 Now 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.” 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 forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And lead us not into temptation.”
5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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!”
You might be forgiven to think that we have looked at the Disciples’ Prayer before and you’d be right. But Jesus did not only teach it once and this was a different occasion to the first. Remember we are trying to go through all four gospels chronologically. The first time was in the Sermon on the Mount, this time on His journey south to Jerusalem. If we compared this prayer with the one found in Matthew 6 we would see that Luke’s is much shorter but that is not to say that it does not ask or say the same things. And this should remind you that there is not just one way to pray. The two Disciples’ prayers are there as templates for prayer not for simple rote repetition that God hates. The pattern is set to help us not to limit us.
Preaching the Word: Luke, Vol. 1—That You May Know the Truth The Structure of the Prayer
We are not enslaved to the structure or obligated to always follow it, as for example when Peter cried out, “Lord, save me!” when he began to sink (Matthew 14:30). If he had begun first with “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come …” he would have been blowing bubbles before he got to the point!
When I first came here I preached on Asking, Seeking and Knocking knowing that we have a Father who will hear us when we pray. And from verses 5 to 8 we can see that we should be persistent in prayer for He is greater than a friend who would not rise up to help except with persistence. God is all the more willing to come to our aid when we need it. And so it is that we will again look at the prayer that has been known all this time as the Lord’s Prayer though we really know that it should be called the Disciple’s Prayer as our Lord would not be able to pray it Himself for He does not need to be forgiven being sinless.
There is a particular phrase I want to give more attention to and that is: Thy Kingdom Come
Let us put it upon its proper basis:
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Following Jesus is the call to self-denial and self-sacrifice. The ego has to go, the ‘I’ has to go. All our independence and decisions are gone. We are no longer the Captain or Pilot or Driver. We are no longer king of our lives but instead have another King rule over us who has a different agenda and purpose. We, the moment we become Christians, are those who have said; “Jesus to you my knee bows for you are King over me. You are sovereign.” And so when we pray ‘Your Kingdom come’ we no longer set the agenda for we obey the King’s command.
This prayer is intensely personal. In the earlier one in Matthew Jesus taught them to pray: ‘Our Father’ but here it is simply ‘Father’. This, in Luke, is not a communal prayer said together but one we pray when we are alone. And the word ‘Father’ is of the most intimate kind, that is; Father, or dearest Father, or Abba Father, it is extremely personal like talking with our own Dad’s. We can come with boldness to Him just as a little child asks for ice cream without any sense of shame. He is a loving Father who cares for His children who welcomes us into His presence. We know that He has the resources that we do not have. And He will not withhold the good. Of course, with this we still have to hold Him with the utmost respect He is, after all, absolutely holy and absolutely righteous and absolutely good.
And whilst I say that this prayer is intensely personal it is in joining with others in submission to Jesus that we start to become the answer to the prayer: Your Kingdom Come. All of history is running its course with will culminate in the reign of Christ. But we are of those who bow the knee now rather than those who will be forced to admit who truly is the ruler of the universe. Those who do it now will have eternal life but those who refuse will have eternal punishment.
All of Scripture attests to the fact that God is Sovereign and His Son will be the one to sit on the throne:
1 Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
6 “As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.”
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
10 Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
be warned, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
for his wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
We have to decide which kingdom to be in for there are only two that matter: The Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. The Kingdom of Light or the kingdom of darkness. There is no other choice.
But let us also be clear that the kingdoms of the world are already a part of Satan’s kingdom. But one day all the kingdoms will truly belong to God and His Christ. We should not be so concerned about the kingdoms of this world for we are of royalty of a different kingdom. For now Satan has power but soon it will be completely overruled.
The Kingdoms of this world come and go. History bears this out. There have been around 22 great world kingdoms that are no longer in existence today. Once it was Macedonia, once it was Iran, once it was Mongolia, once it was Rome, once it was Russia, once it was Germany, once it was Great Britain and today there are powers on the rise but the one that is top dog for now is the USA. And quite possibly it could be the EU or perhaps Islamic nations. Come and go, and come and go they do. Both the UK and USA have been undermining the Christian roots that have kept us central to world power but it is on the wane for we have also left behind the One True God. But either way the kingdoms of this world are not the kingdom of God. The politics may be frustrating but we are citizens of a different Kingdom. It is God who allows the rise and fall of nations and there is nothing anyone on earth can do about it. Except repent.
We are part of a Kingdom where One rules in the form of the Trinity. And it is Jesus who is called King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Kingdom of God that we pray will come is the most used saying in the New Testament: The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven, meaning the same thing. It is what Jesus preached, what John the Baptist preached and what the Apostles preached.
In fact, the whole Bible is about the Kingdom of God. In the past we read Jesus speaking
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
The Kingdom is now:
21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.”
And the Kingdom is also to come when Jesus comes back. It is past, present and future.
But is it right to speak of the kingdom in this way. Does God rule now or not?
Of course He does. The Kingdom of God is universal. God does already rule. He rules over everything including the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of darkness and all the nations for it is He who allows what happens. God is sovereign over all. Even Satan is ruled over and he has to submit to the will of God.
11 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. 12 Both riches and honor 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.
God has total power. He created us and the universe and He also sustains it.
1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
So, when we pray about His Kingdom to come, is that what we are praying for? No, for He reigns supreme already and everything and everyone is subjected to Him even if they do not realise it. So, we are not praying for this Kingdom to come so what are we praying for?
There are at least three ways that this is answered and for two of them we have responsibility to be an answer to this prayer.
What are these three ways?
Firstly, it is through salvation.
I think that some still have the idea that the Church will somehow become all powerful and cause the Kingdom of Heaven on earth but, I have to say, this is not what God had mind. Jesus said that few will be saved. And few will. This does not sound like an all-encompassing Church along the lines of the Roman Catholic Church or the Anglicans. But, what is true, is that the Kingdom of God comes every time someone comes to faith in Christ. When we pray for the Kingdom of God to come it is praying for the salvation of souls. Every time we pray for people to become Christians or we sing songs about going into the world and the Light of the Word shining this is praying ‘Your Kingdom come”. Indeed we are coming up to Christmas, I am sure it is a surprise to you all(!) and we may sing:
Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
Every time someone comes to faith the Kingdom of God comes and grows. And when we pray we are also asking God in what way can my life be used to bring people into the Kingdom of God. And we know it is by both word and action. It is not a shy Christian life but one asking God to make us effective for His work, as it says in:
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
And he who wins souls is wise.
For this indeed is the work of God who wants all to be saved. We also know that there is a battle for the souls of people. We are to seek first the Kingdom of God instead of everything else we need. And part of that is being missionary minded in seeking to see people saved from this other kingdom where only darkness and pain is in store.
What is the second way “Your Kingdom come” is answered?
It is in the way our lives reflect the Kingdom. That is, the way of holiness. The more we live the Kingdom the more it comes in our own lives.
And the third way the Kingdom comes is in the Second Advent, the Second Coming. When we pray this we are praying for Jesus to come back. We are praying: How long, O Lord. Stop the way this world is going and come take over. John prayed this
20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Of course, it will mean that judgement will come too. Then for a 1000 years Jesus will reign over all the Kingdom of the world:
15 Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
At the end of the 1000 years a new Heaven and new earth will be created.
We are praying for a spiritual kingdom rather than an earthly one. And these three will answer the prayer: “Let your Kingdom come”.
In saying all this the point of this whole passage is to be brief and real in our prayers with persistence, urgency and expectancy. He will hear us when we trust Him for our everything whilst we submit to His reign in our lives. Let your Kingdom come!
Benediction
Benediction
12 saying with a loud voice,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying,
“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”
Bibliography
Bibliography
Fitzmyer, J. A., S. J. (2008). The Gospel according to Luke X–XXIV: introduction, translation, and notes (Vol. 28A). New Haven; London: Yale University Press.
Gaebelein, F. E., Carson, D. A., Wessel, W. W., & Liefeld, W. L. (1984). The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Matthew, Mark, Luke (Vol. 8). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.
Hooks, S. M. (1996). Sermon Outlines for Growing Christians. (S. E. Stone, Ed.). Cincinnati, OH: Standard.
Hughes, R. K. (1998). Luke: that you may know the truth. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
Leadership Ministries Worldwide. (1996). The Gospel according to Luke. Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014). John MacArthur Sermon Archive. Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.
Larson, B., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1983). Luke (Vol. 26). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
Nolland, J. (1998). Luke 9:21–18:34 (Vol. 35B). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
Exported from Logos Bible Software, 17:54 24 November 2018.