Instruction About Fellowship & Prayer

In a study of the Lord's life, we are in a six month window, the last six months of his life. And we're actually in a three month period, which is like month six to month three of that six month period before the Lord's death. A time when he is concentrating ministry in the area of Jerusalem and around Jerusalem in Judea and also across the Jordan River into Korea, he will take some time over there as well. But in this particular part of our Lord's life, there are two things that characterized this part of his ministry. One is conflict and we've seen escalating conflict with the Pharisees and the religious leaders and just intensifying incredibly after our Lord in the sense that they want to kill him. And they're looking for any opportunity they can discredit him or arrest him or to put him to death. And so they are they're hounding him. They are on his heels. It's very intense time. But it's also a time for a second emphasis in our Lord's ministry and that is instruction. And so this this time period, this three month time period is often called conflict and instruction because those are the two infacies of this time. But we're seeing that the Lord, even though he is pressured with time and with opposition, he is taking time to instruct his disciples and instruct others as well. And the two events that we're going to look at tonight both have to do with instruction. There's a sense in which he pulls away from the intensity of the conflict and takes some time to spend with friends and some time to spend with his father in prayer. And that is really an amazing thing in this time of really intense conflict and ministry that the Lord would do that. We actually are in Luke chapter 10 tonight and we actually looked at most of this story the last time we were together. It's the story of Mary and Martha at the end of Luke 10 verses 38-42. It's just one of those real human interest stories. If you want to call it that in the New Testament, one of those stories that is just so true to life, just so real in our own experience. Everyone in this room probably finds yourself either at some degree to some degree, a Mary or a Martha. And we all need the input of our Lord as we will see him as well. Just to remind you that we took a look at Mary in this story. Jesus has come to the home of Mary and Martha there in Bethany. And Mary is found sitting at the feet of Jesus. That's the posture of a disciple, a learner, one who sits at the feet of the teacher, the master. So she's wanting to learn. And the text also says she is hearing, listening to what Jesus says. And so she is listening to his word. She is at his feet learning and listening to his word. And she's also doing some serving because most manuscripts say she is more over or also sitting and listening to Jesus. So she was doing some serving too. But then we saw Martha. Martha is busy. Martha sees the Lord coming and she says, I have got to get things ready. And she dives into fixing a gourmet meal with lots of different dishes. And so she's got stuff going on every part of the stove and in the oven and in the crock pot and in the microwave. I'm sure just all over the place. She's got stuff cooking and she's getting stuff ready for the Lord. She's very busy setting the table and making sure everything is just right. And while she's very busy, she's very distracted. In fact, that's the word that Luke uses of her in verse 40. Martha is distracted by all the preparations. She's nervous about things. She's preoccupied with everything that has to be done. All the arrangements for the meal. So she's bustling around trying to get everything done. And while that's going on, she's getting angrier by the moment. And she goes in and out of the kitchen, you know, into the dining room and looks over into the living room and sees Mary sitting there at the feet of Jesus. And she's getting angry. And so she at one of those trips out to the kitchen to the dining room. No doubt she just gets real red face and angry. I mean, you can just see the scene. She comes up to the Lord there in verse 40 and she says, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. You can just see that, you know, it's not just the potatoes that are boiling over in the kitchen. It's her as well. She's boiling over and her anger is very apparent. But she's also very critical because you can just sense in her reaction to what's happening there that she believes she is the one that's really doing what's right. You know, she's busy. She's trying to do what's right for the Lord. She's trying to get a meal ready and look at Mary over there. Mary just sitting there and she's very angry and critical of her sister. Now, if you're a type A person or if you're the kind of person who really likes to get stuff done, you find yourself a Martha occasionally. And maybe someone who is sitting at the feet of Jesus learning, you become very critical of. And so we all find ourselves in this story. What I want us to focus on now is what we didn't get to the last time. And that is the third person in this story. And that is Jesus. We're going to take a look at Jesus for a few minutes in verses 41 and 42. His response to Martha is so very instructive. Not only about his own character, but about us in our Martha times and also in our Mary times, but especially our Martha times. The first thing that strikes me about Jesus response in verse 41 is that he is understanding. He says Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. Now I know that I'm assuming some to indicate that tone of voice of our Lord, but I just can't see our Lord turning in anger, firing at Martha. Martha, Martha, I just can't see that. I mean, you know, he doesn't use the middle name here. So we know that he's not, he's not after Martha like a mother would be, right? He doesn't use the middle name. Martha, Martha, I think is really the sense that I get of what he's saying. I think there's a tender love that comes through. I think he is cooling down her anger and calling attention to her distraction with his compassion. And so I sense that there's compassion in those words. She has said to Jesus, Lord, don't you care that my sister is likely to do all work by myself? And he is showing her, yes, I do care. In fact, I care enough to show you that you are too distracted. I care enough about you. What you need is not help with the meal. What you need is a better perspective on life. And so yeah, do care, but I care more about you. And I, so I think there's a gentle, gracious understanding here. And I think it's, I think it's spoken in that way because Jesus understands her temperament. Jesus understands her personality. And I think there's a sense in which he says, I know that this is your attempt to please me. I know what you're trying to do, Martha. And I appreciate that. I love you for wanting to do your very best for me. But Martha, Martha, you're distracted with so many things. Worried and upset about many things. So he's understanding. I think his response is also gracious. You are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. What do you think Jesus meant by that? Only one thing is needed. Food for the soul rather than food on the table. Okay. Quite possibly there's some of that here. Anything else you think might be intended in those words? Thank you. You would have preferred a sandwich with a great atmosphere. That reminds me of a verse in Proverbs. You know, better is better as a dinner of herbs where love is than a steak with strife. I think there's probably some of that in Jesus' words as well. There's an interesting way to look at this. If you have a marginal note in your Bible, which I do in mine, I'm sure that many of you may be most of you do. In verse 42, but only one thing is needed. Literally, the original says only a few things are needed. Really only one. So that leads me to believe that maybe Jesus is not talking about Mary in the sense that there's only one thing that's really needed and that is to sit at my feet. I think maybe he was talking about the meal. I think he was talking about Martha. I think he was saying Martha only only a few things are needed. Really only one dish would have been fine. Sandwich that that would have been fine. I think Jesus is saying I appreciate your effort to make sure everything is just right. The desire for excellence, the desire to do your very best for Jesus. That's a wonderful motivation, but really only one dish is necessary. And here's the reason why Martha doesn't know this, but she has the precious son of God in her living room. And he has precious little time left. She doesn't know he's only got six months left to live, but less than that now. If she had known that, do you think she would have been busy back in the kitchen or do you think she would have been sitting with him? See, only one dish is necessary. I think that says something about our Lord. You know, Jesus one time said about himself in Matthew chapter 11, come unto me, are you the laborer and heavy laden? I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easy and my burden is white. I think that can mean a lot of things, but one thing that I think it does mean is that Jesus' expectations are not burdensome. It's very easy for us to think, oh, in order to please him, I've got to be perfect. I've got to be just right. This has to be, you know, just, and what Jesus is saying is I love that. I appreciate that spirit and that desire, but my yoke is not heavy. I'm not placing burdensome expectations on you that are meant to drive you into the ground. That's not what I need. Sometimes we feel like we've got to do better and better and better, give our very best better than really what is needed. God does deserve our best. I don't mean to imply that we can be lukewarm or lackadaisical about our life, but it is possible to get in a performance mode of living the Christian life to the point that we don't really enjoy the Savior. You know, we're just doing this, and this, and this, and this, and this, trying to do better and more, and we're on this performance track of God to fix more dishes, better dishes, and make sure none of them burn. And the Lord is saying, one dish would be fine. I just want time with you. And I think if she had realized that he had so little time left before he died, I think she would have seen things much differently. Does that make sense? Does that make sense about this story? Or are you seeing something else? Anything else, impress you from what Jesus says here to Martha? I think you can give us a little bit of life. Well, that's true. Yeah. We really do have a tendency to lose sight of the big picture. We don't see the forest. We do see all the trees, and we see what's wrong with all the trees, and what we need to do, fix what's wrong with all the trees, and we lose sight of the forest. We really do. And I think Jesus is bringing perspective to Martha. And when you find yourself in Martha mode, then maybe it's time to back up and get a little better perspective on what's really important in life. And notice how Jesus ends this in verse 42. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Jesus is not saying that the meal is not good, and he doesn't appreciate it. But when you put things in perspective, given the time that he has left, it's better to spend time with him. So he is focusing her. Mary is into something that will never be taken away from her. We can eat all the food, and it's going to be gone in a half hour, but what Mary is doing is eternal stuff. It's going to last forever. And I think what Jesus is doing is focusing Martha on what's really important, and we need that sometimes don't we need that we need to be focused on what's eternal, what is really significant. Not on what is passing. In all of our busyness, we sometimes get so enmeshed in things that are very temporary, and we lose sight of the things that are eternal. So I think that's what Jesus is doing here, and it's just such a real life story, isn't it? You ever find yourself in Martha's shoes? I think we all do. We need that focus and that perspective. Okay, anything else here? Any question? We need to explore before we leave this story. Okay, good to go. Let's jump into chapter 11 then because the very next thing that happens is this story about Jesus prayer. So there is instruction about prayer in this passage. Luke chapter 11 verses 1 to 13. Verse 1 says, one day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples. Now, what really impresses me about this is that Jesus was praying. You think of what's going on in his life. You think of the intense opposition of the Pharisees and the religious leaders. You think of all of what's happening in his ministry and the need to train the 12. He's got precious little time left. I don't know about you, but when you realize I've got a deadline here and I don't have much time, what's one of the first things that gets shoved out the window? Prayer, isn't it? I'll have time for that later. There will be times for reflection right now. I've got to get stuff done. So what impresses me about this is that Jesus had such perfect balance in his life. Yes, he is up against a deadline. He's got some guys that still don't have their minds wrapped around what's happening. They still don't understand what's happening. They've got a lot to learn yet and there's just a few months left. The opposition is increasing, but he takes time to pray. Takes time to pray. One of his disciples, as he watches evidently, Jesus praying, says Lord teach us to pray. He said, you know, never find in the gospels they ask Jesus to teach them to preach or they ask him to teach them to do miracles, but they did ask him to teach them to pray. There was something amazingly powerful about watching our Lord pray or hearing him pray that caused these men to say Lord teach us to pray. We've got to learn this. And so Jesus is going to do some instruction. And what occurs next is what is often called the Lord's Prayer. How is this prayer often viewed and seen and used? What do you think of when you think of this prayer? You know what's coming next, the Lord's Prayer. How's it often used? Repetitious. In what way? I think it was just a bit respected. Something just to be in the box. Okay, in many places it is repeated as a part of the liturgy, part of the church, order of worship and so forth, and just repeated. Some churches do it every Sunday. The Lord's Prayer. Is there anything wrong with that? Not necessarily anything wrong with that is there. But do you think that's what Jesus intended? You think Jesus gave this prayer so that we would have something we could memorize and recite? I see some heads shaking out. I agree. I don't think he did. Nothing wrong with that. Certainly, but I don't think that's the real purpose of it. What is the purpose of this prayer? Okay. Now, outline. The guideline for us in prayer. The disciples have just said, Lord, teach us to pray. And so the Lord says, okay, when you pray, here are the things you ought to pray about. Here are the kinds of ways that you should pray. Here are the categories, if you will, for your prayer list. Here's the way that you should pray. He's not saying, repeat this. What he's saying is, here are the things you should be thinking about as you pray. Here are the things that should form, if you will, your prayer list. It's a guide. It is a model for us in prayer. Now, as we're going to look through this prayer, I'm going to point out several things about the prayer on your outline there that prayer is as Jesus describes the kinds of praying that we ought to be doing. And again, if you have footnotes in your Bible, you'll see that some of these phrases have a longer version in some of the early manuscripts. And we've talked about that before. I'm going to take the longer version because it's what we're accustomed to most. Jesus starts out by saying, our father in heaven. The first thing prayer is is prayer is relationship. Our father in heaven is interesting to me that Jesus, when he's teaching us to pray, does not say that we should pray our friend who is in heaven as though we're equals. Now, the Bible does talk about Jesus being our friend, right? So there is some, an element of truth to that. But Jesus is saying, when you pray, that's not what it's about. Pray our father. Jesus does not say, pray our master who is in heaven as though we are slaves. Jesus does not say, pray our king as though we are one of the masses of his subjects. What Jesus wants stressed in prayer and for us to understand about prayer is prayer is about a relationship with our father. Now, what does that term father communicate about our relationship with God? What are some things that that term would communicate to you? We have a sonship. So we are his children. He gave us life, didn't we? We were in his family. Son, ship, anything else? Love? Father's fixed things, don't they? They take care of problems when we're little children. That's what we've got here. Father, child, relationship. What does a father do? Guides and directs. He gives guidance. Yes. Protects. He provides. All of those things are, he leads. All right, all of those things are inherent in the concept of a father. And obviously if you've come from a background where your father image is not a healthy one, please understand that God is the kind of father. He's perfect. He's the perfect father. He is everything a father should be. All of us human fathers fail from time to time. But our heavenly father never fails us. And so he knows us well. He provides. He protects. He loves. He guides. All of those things you said. He longs to give us what is best for us. And we can always come to him. When my kids were little, if they came to my office, they had free reign to come in anytime. And they were like, what was happening? If I was in the middle of a meeting, that was okay. I might have to tell them, we'll have to wait a little while. But they always were able to get my ear. And you always, you always can come to your celestial father's office. He's never too busy for you. You can always talk to him. And so he is in relationship with us as our father. We are his children. So prayer is about a relationship. It's not a master slave relationship. It's not a king subject relationship. It's not even a friend, a buddy buddy relationship. It is a family relationship. That's what prayer is. We're coming to our father. We can have confidence. We'll provide for us and we'll love us and we'll listen to us and we'll guide us and we'll protect us. And all those things are inherent in that relationship. Beautiful relationship. So prayer is relationship. Secondly, prayer is worship. Prayer is intended to be worship. And one of the things Jesus wants us to do in prayer is worship. Notice the next phrase, hallowed be your name. This is the attitude with which we come into the presence of our father. Now, what do you think of when you think of the word hallowed? Holy honor. Holy honor. Okay. Anything else? Reference? Yeah. It does come from the same root word as the word holy. And so the idea really in hallowed is something that is set apart for holy use for holy purposes. And thus it generates respect and reverence. That's the idea of hallowed. If you've ever gone to Gettysburg or Arlington, Symmetry, you may hear the word hallowed use at times or read it. This is hallowed ground. And what is meant by that is that this is this is ground that has been set aside for a special purpose. And when you approach this property, when you approach this place, you recognize there must be a certain amount of decorum and respect and reverence for this place. You wouldn't put a carnival on the battlefield at Gettysburg. You wouldn't build a mall on the Symmetry at Arlington. That's hallowed ground. And there's nothing frivolous about it. It's designed to create awe and remembrance and respect. And so when we come into the presence of our Father, we are on hallowed ground. And we're to come into His presence, remembering who we're talking to, whom we're talking. We're talking to the sovereign of the universe. This is not frivolous. We're talking to Almighty God. He is our Father. Yes, but we are on hallowed ground. This is not carnival stuff. This is not shopping mall stuff. This isn't this is a place of respect and reverence and remembrance of who He is. hallowed be your name. So Jesus is not saying when we pray, we should pray hallowed be your name and just move on to the next phrase. He's saying when you pray, recognize you're worshiping. You're entering into hallowed ground and you're worshiping the one who has been set aside for for respect and reverence in the deepest terms. So prayer is worship. Okay, any other comment about that question? How do you name? Okay, thirdly, then prayer is submission submission. Notice the next phrase, your kingdom come on earth, your kingdom come, your will be done is the extended version of it. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Okay, when we pray, Jesus said, submit your plans to his plan. Submit your will to his will. Come under his kingdom. Now, I would venture to say that we do very little praying like that. Most of our praying is to get my will done in heaven. Right? To get God to agree with what I want done. Lord, this is what I want. This is what I need. This is what. And so we're trying to get our will done in heaven. And what Jesus is saying, that's backwards. When we pray, we need to be getting God's will done on earth. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Your kingdom come. In other words, Lord, this is not about my kingdom. This is not about my plans. This is not about me. It's about you accomplishing what you plan to do in my life. And so when I pray, prayer is basically submitting myself to him. So when we pray about our day, maybe we need to rethink the way we pray. Maybe we need to think more in terms of Lord. This is what I plan to do today. There's nothing wrong with making plans and having goals set and thinking through what you need to do. Nothing wrong with that. Lord, I need your help with that. But if you have another plan, I submit all my plans to yours today. And whatever you bring into my life today, your kingdom come. And you be the Lord and I want to submit myself to you. So whatever happens today, Lord, I submit to your plan and your purpose. I want what you want done. What you have planned in heaven to be reality in my life on earth today. And that's backwards the way we usually pray. Wapray. So prayer really is about submission, not to get our will done in heaven, but to get God's will done in earth. That's the proper perspective. Okay. Comment your questions about submission, praying submissively. I don't know what God is about today. You want the Lord to get his will done in heaven to get the good God help of those first ones. I'm going to explain the work that you've done today. You know, it will be done today. It really does affect everything about our lives, not just prayer, but everything about our lives. Lord, let your will be done in my life today. Your kingdom, not mine. And a willingness to submit our plans to his. That's what Jesus is talking about. I can't help but think about what people say. We don't know what pray for, but the spirit we're only for. Yes. Maybe kind of contradiction. We don't know. We don't know. And that's what Paul says in Romans 8. We don't know how to pray as we ought. What we should ask. But the spirit does intercede for us. And doesn't mean we shouldn't pray. It doesn't mean the sun total of our prayer ought to be. Lord, your will be done. Now I'm gone. Okay, there are things we need to be praying about. And we pray to the best of our knowledge, but with the recognition that we really don't know. All the factors that God knows. And so we pray the best we can, but we leave it up to the Lord to accomplish his will. And we're fine with that. We're submissive to that. I think that's the purpose of prayer is to be submissive to God's will, what he wants done. Okay, then prayer fourthly is requests. Here we're unfamiliar ground. We know about this request. All right. And this is a valid kind of prayer. Nothing wrong with this, but it's not all that prayer is. But notice Jesus next expression verse three, give us each day our daily bread. Now what does what does that say to you about prayer and what praying for requests should be? Is there anything in those words that stands out to you daily? Yeah. Yeah, very important concept. What does that communicate to us about praying for our needs? Okay, the recognition that we're dependent on him. We can take our cares and concerns to him. You know, in Bible times life really was lived more on a day-to-day basis. You fixed food for what you needed that day. Didn't have refrigerators and freezers. Okay, so you prepared food for what you needed that day. So even the act of preparing for meals was a day-to-day thing. I mean women in Bible times didn't know anything about what cook once a month or shop once a month, type plans we have today, where you buy everything you need and stick it in the freezer for a month. I mean, it was a day-to-day thing. Life was more of a day-to-day thing. They understood more of dependence on God because Lord, you're going to have to provide for me today, and the next day I'm going to have to depend on you the same way. So daily is a very important concept in requests. This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Lord, teach me to number my days. In other words, take each day as its own separate numbered day. Okay, living with that perspective, day-to-day, today is difficult for us in our culture in this day and age. And so I think that is a very important part of this. We live expecting and trusting the Lord to provide for us today. And daily dependence. What? In my lifetime, I've known a lot of people who live in the past, and they're all like this, and talk about what happened yesterday, and what a good life is, a bad life ahead. On the other hand, I'm writing a lot of people who can't wait for the Lord. Can't wait to make a quick victory in the world. But I'm going to live totally in the future. Today goes by and I forget that today is the day of the day. The day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day of the day. Exactly. More importantly, the Lord said nothing. They saw the Lord tomorrow. I'll teach you that He put a few things in the future. We live today because we miss this moment. We miss one. But only because man gets to live. Is it so true that many people live with regrets about yesterday, or living in yesterday's successes, or whatever, and so many people live only for the future. I'm going to do this when I turn certain aids, like you said, and forget that God gives us life a day at a time. I think that's part of what that Psalm 9, verse 12, so teach us to number our days. To realize that every day is a special gift from God, and it holds potential for what God has for us for that day. And to number our days means we see each day as its own numerical quantity. Each day is something God wants to give us. There's something about that perspective on life that we just lose so easily. But there's something else in this request. Give us our daily bread. Is there anything else about requests that sticks out to you about that? Not just the daily part, but needs. Okay? Is that in the word bread? Is that what you're thinking, Lance? Okay. Our needs, yeah. Where it comes from? Give us. Comes from the Lord. Yeah. Okay. So putting these ideas together, I think we're hitting on something that Jesus is really emphasizing here. And that is daily mundane needs. Necessities. Bread is a necessity. I mean, the common elements of daily sustenance, you know, our daily bread. Down to earth needs God wants us to pray about. There's nothing wrong with praying for proper shelter and physical necessities like food and clothing and other physical necessities. These are needs in life. And God wants us to pray that He will daily provide for us those necessities of life. They're very mundane things. But they're needed things. And God wants us to pray about those. So prayer is requests. That's not all prayer is, but it is requests. And then let's just summarize the last two things quickly. Number five, prayer is confession. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. Forgive us our sins. Prayer is confession. There's not only a need for daily food. There's a need for daily cleansing and confession. And that ought to be something we regularly pray. But when we ask God to forgive us, I think the emphasis of this verse is that we should do so with a tender, merciful forgiving spirit. And that's why He says, for we also forgive, or some versions, the Matthew version, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who trespass against us. You see, if we do not have a forgiving spirit toward others, then we're showing that we really do not have the kind of sensitive spirit to come to God and ask for His forgiveness. And Jesus talked a lot about that. And you remember the parable we've already looked at in Matthew 18, of the man who was not willing to forgive the small debt when he had been forgiven millions and millions of dollars. So where to forgive other people? That shows a tender heart that really is genuine in coming to the Lord for forgiveness. Okay, and then finally prayer is protection. Lead us not into temptation. And it's not as though we have to pray that the Lord will not lead us into temptation as though He might lead us into temptation. We don't want Him to do that. It's not that. It's not that the Lord would ever lead us into temptation. So we have to ask Him, Lord, please don't leave me that way. Really, this passage is saying more about us, but what it's saying is that without His leading, we will inevitably move toward temptation. If we are not sensitive to the Lord's enabling and the Lord's leading in our lives, then we naturally drift toward sin. So Lord, what Jesus is saying we should pray for is Lord, please lead us because we know if you are leading and we're following your lead, we will be protected from the paths that will lead us toward sin. So we want to follow your leading today. We know we'll be protected if we do that. It's not that Lord, I want you to lead me today, but please don't lead me into temptation. You'll lead me right toward temptation yesterday. That's not that. The Lord doesn't do that. The Lord never does that. But it is a plea for the Lord to make me sensitive to your leading, help me to follow you because if you are leading, then I won't be taken down the path of temptation. So I want to be sensitive to your leading. So prayer is protection and we should certainly be asking for protection from temptation. Now, our time is up and the Oana workers are wanting to give you back your children. So we need to stop. Next time we'll come back and finish up this prayer because the Lord talks not only about the actions of prayer but the attitudes in prayer. And there are a couple of really important attitudes that we need to take note of in this instruction on prayer. We'll get to that next time.