Prayer at CrossView Church as the visible engine that drives our church
I have sin to confess. I don’t pray enough. Talking to God and God answering specific prayers of mine is not the driving force and power of my life and service to God, the church, or my neighbors here in LA. And this is sinful because it belittles God’s power and generosity. Prayerlessness exalts me and strengthens the foolishness of living and serving in my own power. How evil in its dishonoring of God! How stupid in its effects on me and those God has given me relationships with!
We have sin to confess. We don’t pray enough. Talking to God and God answering specific prayers of ours is not the driving force of our life and service to God, one another, or our neighbors here in LA. And this is sinful because it belittles God’s power and generosity. Prayerlessness exalts us and strengthens the foolishness of living and serving in our own power. How evil in its dishonoring of God! How stupid in its effects on us and those God has given us relationships with! And I take the major responsibility for this as the one God has called and you have affirmed to be a pastor at this church.
I have asked God to forgive me. Perhaps we should pause and ask God to forgive us as a church family.
I want prayer to be the visible engine that drives our church. God wants us to be a praying people because he wants to give to us and pour out power, fruit, and growth in us for his glory. And if he did it without us praying then we’d get the glory and wrongfully think that it was because of our strength. We need to pray as a church. We need to pray often as a church. And we need to have God grow our prayer life together and when we’re scattered and sent all over this LA area.
Now the good news is that our salvation, service, and life does not ultimately depend on our prayers. It depends on God and his Son Jesus Christ who prays for us (Heb. 7.25). Our life depends ultimately on the Holy Spirit and his intercessions and prayers for us (Rom. 8.26-27). This is good news. This is rest. Jesus prays for us and the Father answers in kindness to us. The Spirit prays for us and the Father answers in kindness to us.
Priorities in Shared Prayer Requests
What we pray for is driven largely by what we value and what we believe is true and important and good. This may or may not be right. We should pray according to God’s Word and let our values and views on what’s important and good be shaped by Scripture. I recently got an email from a friend with several prayer requests and an update on previous requests that were prayed for in the past. Some of the prayer items read:
Pastor John’s wife, Christy has a very bad kidney infection. He took her to the ER recently for it. Please continue to pray for her as the last 2 months have been difficult for her healthwise; Jane Smith hurt her back at work. Please pray for speedy healing and for extra financial blessings to cover any medical bills and loss of work; Wilma has a cold and also requests prayer for her actress friend, Tanya, who's sister was rushed into emergency surgery after an internal rupture. The report was that it didn't look good; John took a bad fall and is in the hospital at Cedars Sinai; William needs work soon before his unemployment runs out; Sally’s grandson Julius needs major healing in his kidneys and a Holy Spirit miracle. The latest report is he is doing somewhat better.
Now hear Jesus’ prayer priorities: “Let this cup (of suffering on the cross) be passed from me, yet now what I will, but what you will; Keep those who believe in me from the evil one; Thank you 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; may those who believe in me be one even as we are one; Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory.”
Our problem is that our values and prayer requests are shaped by our own desires and understanding which needs to grow in biblical faith. To multiply the problem, we learn how to pray from each other, and so when most of us pray primarily for physical and temporary things and things that don’t have to do with God being central, we rub off on each other and strengthen the problem. The good news is that this also multiplies the stimulus for growth. As more and more of us talk to God and ask God for things the way Jesus teaches us and the way Scripture shapes us, then we may also rub off on each other and help each other grow as church members seeking to enjoy Christ and make him known together in all things to Angelenos and all peoples.
Addressing God as “Father,” “Dad,” “Daddy,” or “Abba”
Now prayer is natural to humanity. Humans of all religious backgrounds have prayed throughout the centuries and millennia in all parts of the globe. Now why is it natural even to those who do not believe in Jesus Christ and treasure him? It’s because we’re all made in God’s image. We were made to reflect God in relationship not only with only other humans, not only in ruling over this created world, but in knowing, enjoying, hearing from, and talking to God. All humans are made for this and this is what makes us distinct from monkeys, ants, trees, and every other finite created thing.
But not everyone prays to God as he has revealed himself. Jesus tells us to pray in v. 9 like this: “Our Father in heaven.” There is Bishop Gene Robinson who prayed at for then President-elect Obama saying, “O God of our many understandings…” God has revealed himself as our Father by virtue of creating us and redeeming us. By uniting us to Jesus Christ, we are adopted as his sons and rightfully call him “Father” (Dad, Daddy, Abba). That is why we pray in the name of Jesus, because that means we are praying in conscious dependence on our being in Jesus Christ, united to Jesus Christ. So Jesus says:
CSB John 14:13 Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
CSB John 16:23 In that day you will not ask Me anything. "I assure you: Anything you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name. Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be complete… 26 In that day you will ask in My name. I am not telling you that I will make requests to the Father on your behalf.
We don’t pray in Jesus’ name because it’s a buzz word or code word that makes God pay attention. We pray in Jesus’ name because only in him and in our union to him are we legitimately children of God and thus have access to all God’s riches, grace, and kindness because of Jesus Christ (cf. Rom. 8.32). So when we start our prayer to “Our Father in heaven” we should consciously be praying in Jesus’ name from the start. There is actually no biblical example of ending our prayer with the words, “in Jesus’ name.” There is nothing wrong with that, but there is nothing wrong with starting out with that conscious trust in Jesus Christ and our union to him. Thus, Bryan Chapell encourages us to “Pray Backwards.” That is, start our prayer in the name of Jesus so that our whole confidence and approach to God the Father is in conscious union with the Son, Jesus Christ. To start with “our Father” is to start with a thoughtful praying in Jesus’ name.
There are two reasons why we should pray the way Jesus teaches us here. The first reason is because we are forgiven of our sin (vv. 14-15). This forgiveness comes through Jesus (Matt 1.21) and is connected to us being united to Jesus (in him). So the first reason we should pray like Jesus teaches us is because we’re forgiven children of God united to Jesus Christ (in Jesus Christ). The second and third reasons for praying this way will be looked at later.
So with us now confessing our prayerlessness, understanding our need to shape our prayers and values by Scripture, and calling God our Father in thoughtful dependence on Jesus Christ, we’re ready for God’s main point to us: Understand, celebrate, and incorporate the priorities Jesus’ teaches for our talking to God as his followers.
They come in two trios. We’ll cover one this week and the second trio next week.
Trio #1 – 3 God-glorifying Requests for the World (vv. 9-10)
Request #1 Ask the Father that his name would be honored as holy (v. 9)
Jesus begins: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” What does “hallowed” mean? Who uses that word today? Christians don’t even use it in their circles apart from quoting or referencing this prayer. It can be literally translated, “Treat your name as holy” or, “Hold your name in reverence.” The CSB translates it, “Your name be honored as holy.” So we are asking the Father that in this world, in our city, in our church, in our families, and in our lives, God’s name would be honored as holy. Why?
It’s because we don’t honor God’s name as holy. To talk about God’s “name” is to talk about God himself. The name of a person in the Bible is bound up with the person and stands for the person. We treat it like it’s profane, unholy, normal, and nothing special. And that is disrespect to God. To honor your marriage as holy is to not look at porn, the tv, magazines, the internet, or women around you with lustful intent. And when you do, you don’t honor the relationship with your spouse as holy. For sons and daughters to honor all mothers equally on mother’s day with no special honor for your specific mother is to treat her like all the rest when she is not! She gave birth to you. She raised you. She’s special. She’s holy to you in that way that no other woman is! To treat that like normal is to belittle her and your unique relationship to her. So it is with God. To not honor God’s name as holy according to who he is and your unique relationship to him as creature to creator (and redeemed to redeemer for Christians) is to dishonor him.
And we pray this to the honor of God’s holy name because God cares about his holy name’s honor.
ESV Isaiah 48:9 "For my name's sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
And God cares that his name is honored correctly as holy because his name is glorious.
CSB Exodus 34:5 The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name Yahweh. 6 Then the LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: Yahweh-- Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, 7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. But He will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
So to honor God’s name is to honor him as holy according to who he has revealed himself to be and not according to what our imaginations imagine him to be or hearts “feel” that he is.
God is Triune. And God is Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth. He is everywhere though he is not everything nor in everything. God knows all things and makes the library of congress, all the information in all the libraries of the nations, and all that the information on the internet that has been, is, and will ever be, and it is like the abc’s and counting to 10 for God. His wisdom will outthink and out-strategize the wisest and most innovative and strategic thinkers in the history of humanity altogether. It would be like a competent adult trying to out-strategize 3 dozen 2-year olds. God is all powerful so that all the nuclear power in the world and force even of the sun would be like an tiny ant’s strength to the power of a 22 year-old college athlete. God is gracious in Christ and is more patient than parents who never turn back on their child who dishonors and violates their love and trust again and again and again.
And yet, we think his grace runs out so we don’t repent and seek forgiveness. We think he’s powerless so we come up with our ways to manipulate circumstances as would-be solutions to problems. We forget he’s wise and ask for everybody’s advice but his. We dishonor his knowledge and trust the so called “expert opinion” of whoever else. We belittle his presence and long for the presence of other people without giving a thought that he’s with us. We dishonor God and treat his name as unholy so we pray, “Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy.”
Request #2 Ask the Father that his kingdom would come soon (v. 10a)
Jesus taught his disciples to pray for the coming kingdom, the one they were proclaiming and would ask about before the ascension (Acts 1.6). This kingdom came in the coming of Christ, was secured and accomplished at the cross and resurrection, is breaking in more and more in the world as people repent and trust King Jesus, and will be consummated at Christ’s return. So the disciples prayed it then looking forward to the kingdom not knowing that it was different than they expected (since Jesus didn’t reveal his plan to die until about the time of the transfiguration). But now our prayer for the kingdom to come means praying for the spreading the gospel and reaping more of the subjects and co-rulers of the kingdom (the elect, the church) and praying for Jesus to return.
1 Cor 16.22 – Maranatha! (Our Lord Come!)
Request #3 Ask the Father to cause his will to be joyfully obeyed (v. 10b)
This is asking for something that God obviously wants because it is what he wills. And how is God’s will done in heaven? It is done immediately, joyfully, powerfully, enthusiastically, passionately, gladly, quickly, and completely. On earth this is not the case. In LA this is not the case. But we want it to be the case. God wants it to be the case. Right now it’s like the time of the judges or the time right before the global flood.
ESV Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.
CSB Genesis 6:5 When the LORD saw that man's wickedness was widespread on the earth and that every scheme his mind thought of was nothing but evil all the time,
The Father’s will being done would benefit the city greatly. It would bless the neighborhoods. And it would glorify God’s greatness and show his wisdom in goodness in what he wills and wants.
Now all three, the Father’s will being done on earth like it is in heaven, the kingdom coming, and the Father’s name being honored as holy will come when Christ returns. So we long for this, look forward to this, hope for this, and live as we draw closer to it.
CSB Revelation 22:1 Then he showed me the river of living water, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the broad street of the city. On both sides of the river was the tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, 3 and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. 4 They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 Night will no longer exist, and people will not need lamplight or sunlight, because the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.
So as we look forward to Christ’s accomplishment on the cross and his resurrection fleshed out and completely pervading the whole universe, we pray for it. We pray for the Father’s name to be honored as holy, for his kingdom to come in its fullness and for God’s will to be done.
Why pray like this? The first reason was because we’re forgiven in Jesus Christ for our sins. The second and third reasons are given in 6.5-8. Look at 6.5-6. We pray this way because we don’t want to pray like the hypocrites who get the sorry reward of impressing people we shouldn’t care to impress. Now look at vv. 6-7. We also pray with these priorities because we don’t think God will hear us for empty repetitions and a multiplicity of words. We know God knows what we need so we pray the way Jesus tells us. We pray the way Jesus tells us to so that we don’t pray the way he tells us not to pray.
These values and prayer priorities taught by Jesus kill self-centered showmanship to impress others and vain, wordy, repetitious mantras hoping that God will hear us. Of course he’ll hear us, we’re praying to our Father for our world’s good in his glory! How can we really pray for God’s name, kingdom and will if we pray for our name to be recognized, our kingdom to be built, and our will to be done? You can’t. Jesus’ prayer priorities for us as disciples cuts the nerve on praying to impress other disciples and religious people if you truly value these priorities.
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