Sermon Tone Analysis

A minister parked his car in a no-parking zone in a large city because he was short of time and couldn’t find a space with a meter.

So he put a note under the windshield wiper that read: “I have circled the block ten times.

If I don’t park here, I’ll miss my appointment.

Forgive us our trespasses.”

When he returned, he found a citation from a police officer along with this note: “I’ve circled this block for ten years.

If I don’t give you a ticket, I’ll lose my job.

Lead us not into temptation.”

Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning.

Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.

… through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

PRAYER Communion with God, usually comprising petition, adoration, praise, confession, and thanksgiving.

The ultimate object of prayer in both OT and NT is not merely the good of the petitioner but the honor of God’s name.

The Lord’s Prayer is given to us in two forms.

The first, in terms of location, is found in as part of the Sermon on the Mount.

In this version, it is part of Jesus’ sermonic teaching on the Kingdom of Heaven and our relationships with God as the King, with one another as fellow citizens of the Kingdom of God, and with the world as it exists in opposition to the Kingdom.

The second, our Gospel text today, is the result of a question put to Jesus by a disciple, possibly not one of the 12, after Jesus had stopped praying.

Given that the Scriptures show that

Jesus prayed for long periods of time (), as well as for very brief moments (), we can see that the amount of time one spends in prayer is not the key component.

In addition, the words of Our Lord in are most instructive and encouraging for those of us who feel that we can only pray properly when we have plenty of time and space to be uninterrupted for an hour or more:

The importance of prayer in our Confessional Evangelical Christian life is evident for us in that Dr. Luther makes the Lord’s Prayer the 3rd Chief Part of his Small and Large Catechisms.

Concerning it, Luther writes,

1 We have now heard what we must do and believe, in what things the best and happiest life consists.

Now follows the third part, how we ought to pray. 2 For we are in a situation where no person can perfectly keep the Ten Commandments, even though he has begun to believe.

The devil with all his power, together with the world and our own flesh, resists our efforts.

Therefore, nothing is more necessary than that we should continually turn towards God’s ear, call upon Him, and pray to Him.

We must pray that He would give, preserve, and increase faith in us and the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments [2 Thessalonians 1:3].

We pray that He would remove everything that is in our way and that opposes us in these matters.

3 So that we might know what and how to pray, our Lord Christ has Himself taught us both the way and the words [Luke 11:1–4], as we shall see.

[1] We have now heard what we are to do and believe.

The best and most blessed life consists of these things.

[2] Now follows the third part, how we are to pray.

We are in such a situation that no one can keep the Ten Commandments perfectly, even though he or she has begun to believe.

Besides, the devil, along with the world and our flesh, resists them with all his power.

Consequently, nothing is so necessary as to call upon God incessantly and to drum into his ears our prayer that he may give, preserve, and increase in us faith and the fulfillment of the Ten Commandments and remove all that stands in our way and hinders us in this regard.

[3] That we may know what and how to pray, however, our LORD Christ himself has taught us both the way and the words, as we shall see.

It is faith, not our works, that brings us into God’s presence in prayer, for as it is written,

It might not be easy, but it is simple.

Prayer is not easy because it is based upon faith.

In prayer we draw near to God, although as Paul told the Greeks in Athens,

It is faith, not our works, that brings us into God’s presence in prayer, for as it is written,

Teaching on the generosity of God, James writes a cautionary note concerning the importance of faith, saying,

After answering the unnamed disciple’s request with the words which guide us in prayer even today, Jesus gives us a lesson on the faithfulness and responsiveness of God the Father.

Even as we, with our limitations, know not to give bad things when our children ask for the necessities of earthly life, God, out of His unlimited love gives us what we need for Kingdom life.

God knows our frame; He knows that we are dust, as Abraham exclaimed when interceding for Sodom for the sake of his nephew, Lot.

He knows that we cannot live in His Kingdom without His aid.

We confess this in the Small Catechism concerning sanctification in the 3rd Article of the Apostle’s Creed:

The Lord knows that we cannot live in His Kingdom without His presence.

Our Small Catechism teaches, concerning sanctification in the 3rd Article of the Apostle’s Creed:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.

But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.

In the same way He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

In this Christian Church He daily and richly forgives all my sins and the sins of all believers.

On the Last Day He will raise up me and all the dead and will give eternal life to me and to all believers in Christ.

This is most certainly true.

We believe, teach, and confess that, as a free gift, God gives to us the Holy Spirit when He baptizes us into Christ.

If you came to Bible Study, you learned about that over the past three weeks.

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Confirm Your Calling and Election

The same Holy Spirit who calls you and seals you, who sanctifies you and keeps you, also enables you and empowers you to pray:

3 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, 4 by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

If you see the Spirit as passively watching us struggle against Satan and the Old Adam, you are completely wrong!

You are asking, and God is working.

You are groaning, and God is working.

You are praising, and God is working.

You are repenting, and God is working.

In whatever element of prayer you are engaged, God is working.

However you say it, whatever you brought to the “sweet hour of prayer,” God is the one who is working both the willing and the doing on behalf of the good will of God.

Ask me how I know!

I dare you!

How do you know Pastor?

Can I show you?

Yes/Amen!

That’s the plan of God! That’s why your prayers are always heard, and always answered!

It just doesn’t matter!

It doesn’t matter whether we look like we are on top of the world, or look like we are in the valley of the shadow of death.

It doesn’t matter whether we appear to be the head or the tail.

It doesn’t matter whether we appear to be rich or poor!

We don’t even look at the things that are seen, but at the things that are not seen

And so we pray.

M.C.

Hammer sang “That’s why we pray, just to make it today,” but that’s too small.

Our prayers aren’t last desperate gasps after a shadow of a hope.

Our prayers are the fruit of faith, the substance of that for which we hope, and are the proof of the matters which we do not see!

We don't pray in order to make it; we pray because in Christ, we’ve got it made!

So let the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen!