Call God, “Father.”
Luke 11:1-13
Key Verse 11:2
“Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.”
In last week’s passage, we learned that we love God and love our neighbor when we are hard-working laborers in Jesus’ harvest field (10:2,3). We do this by participating in the propagation of his gospel message. We also learn that we love God and love our neighbor when we have the compassion of Christ in our souls like the Good Samaritan (10:33). No one can love his neighbor by his own strength, and no one can love his neighbor without the love of Jesus in his heart. This is because our neighbor who needs our love the most is very often like the wounded man left dying on the road. Who can love such a neighbor? Only Jesus can. And only those who have tasted Jesus’ love can. Therefore, to love God and love our neighbor, we need to spend much time listening to Jesus like Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his teaching (10:39,42). Christians who don’t listen to Jesus become crabby like Martha, who is quite an unpleasant Christian (10:40,41). But Christians who listen to Jesus like Mary can work hard and love their neighbor joyfully and spiritedly.
In today’s passage, we’ll learn how we can be empowered to love God and our neighbor through the Lord’s Prayer. The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer and it is the most recited and most famous prayer in history. May God bless us to learn the heart of God through the Lord’s Prayer.
Let’s read verse 1 together, “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.” Though the disciples hardly prayed, they were finally moved by Jesus’ constant prayer that they asked Jesus how to pray. I will be referring to Max Lucado’s book, The Great House of God, to visualize how we can live in the Lord’s Prayer. This book describes the Lord’s Prayer as an architectural floor plan of a house, and compares each part of the Lord’s Prayer to a room in the house. As an architect, this book helped me to think about how to transform prayer from an occasional activity into a constant dwelling place. Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life…” God does not live in a physical house, but a spiritual house. Also, the church is not a building, but a community of believers. So how can we dwell in God’s house? The rooms of a house can give us a picture of how we relate to God and each other. God’s house is the most stable and comforting house for our souls. Let’s take a look at the rooms in God’s house.
First, The Father’s Living Room (11:2b)
Jesus leads us into God’s great house with the short address, “Father”. Let’s read verse 2 together, “And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.’” Last week, I felt intimidated when I thought, what if God was going to come to my house for dinner, just like he visited Mary and Martha. Like Martha, my first response would be to feel nervous and anxious. We may feel just as intimidated about being a guest at God’s house. Do you feel welcome in God’s house? Well, Jesus tells us to begin our prayers by addressing God as “Father”. When you step into someone’s home, you can instantly feel whether you are welcome or not. At some houses, people enter into an elegant hall, with signs that say, “do not touch!”, or “No children allowed on the main level!” Well, I have good news for you. God’s house is not like that. Imagine stepping through the front door into a cozy living room. Your photo is on the lamp table, and there’s a comfy chair for you to sit in. Over the mantle of the fireplace is a famous portrait. Do you know it’s title? It’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Rembrandt. The prodigal had selfishly taken the father’s inheritance and squandered it on wild living. But now he reached the end of his pride and his pocketbook. The prodigal has nothing to offer except his humble apology, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” (Luke 15:21) Feeling unworthy, he asked that the father would accept him as a hired servant. But the father welcomed him back with open arms. “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:22-24). The son must have been amazed. He had abandoned his father, but his father did not disown him. Jesus’ teaching to call God “Abba, Father” was revolutionary in his time. The Old Testament Jews were not familiar with such an intimate relationship to God. Calling God “Father” was never to be found in the prayers of ancient Judaism. But Jesus repeats this name 156 times. This is because, when we come to Christ, God adopts us as his children. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” God did not adopt us because we are good, but simply because he wanted to out of his love, in spite of our sins. So, if we can’t earn our adoption and our salvation by our goodness, we can’t lose it by acting badly. Even Peter, Jesus’ top disciple, disowned Jesus three times, but Jesus fully forgave him and restored him with a home-cooked breakfast. Paul said in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Our Father God will never turn us away. The doors of his living room are always open for whoever desires to know him. Come into the living room of God’s house and get to know your Father God who loves you more than you can ever imagine.
Second, The King’s Chapel (11:2c)
The next room in God’s house is the Chapel. This is God’s personal dwelling. It is a place of glory and wonder. Let’s read verse 2 again together, “And he said to them, ‘When you pray, say: “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.’” “Hallow” means to highly regard, respect and honor. San Chappelle in France is one of my favorite chapels. It is like a jewel box containing fine artistic expressions of the stories of the Bible. Away from hectic city life, beautiful chapels prompt me to feel prayerful, as does the beauty of nature. If you’ve ever seen the wonders of nature, such as the Redwood Forest, Niagara Falls, or the Grand Canyon, it is a time for reverent awe and quietness.
Though God is our loving Father, there is another side to his character: holiness. God is holy, which means that he is separate from the world that he created. God’s fatherly love and forgiving grace toward us should not make us think that God will accept us while we stubbornly continue in a life of sin. God is very, very serious about our sins, because God is holy. When we persist in sin, God will be angry with us like a strict judge because of his inherent character of holiness. Therefore, the Holy God, the Judge of the entire world, must condemn us to eternal hell if we do not repent of our sins. Job learned how to have reverence for God who is holy. Disaster took away Job’s wealth, his 10 children, and his health. No insurance company would want to support Job’s situation. He had nothing left except his wife who told him to “curse God and die.” More than this, his so-called friends verbally criticized him for twenty-three chapters! Finally God answered, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38:3-6) The chapel is a place where we spend time to be quiet and reverent and repentant before God. The tragedy of modern people is the rejection of God’s holiness and ignorance of God’s judgment for sin. We are groundlessly proud of our cultural and technological achievements. Yet the world’s problems persist and increase because we deny God’s holiness by continuing and justifying our sins while pretending to others that we are good.
In Psalm 46:10, God says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” In the chapel we also see our God who holds the universe in his hand. In the midst of our daily struggles, God enables us to rise above our fears and weaknesses and to know that God will work out all things to exalt and glorify Himself. “Your Kingdom Come” is our prayer for God’s rule to come into our lives. Without God’s rule in our hearts, the devil will rule us and drive us to sin and cheat our conscience. We must spend daily devotional time in the chapel through prayer and Bible study, so that we repent our sins and so that God’s holy kingdom can come and rule our hearts. No one can honor and hallow God’s name without repentance.
Third, The Kitchen of Providence (11:3)
After the reverent chapel, the next room of God’s house can be smelled by it’s delicious aroma. It is the kitchen. Whether you are rich or poor, I’m sure that the kitchen is a central room in your house. Other rooms such as a dining room, family room, or garage are optional. But every house has to have a kitchen. That is because the kitchen is the place where our basic needs are met. Everyone has their own favorite stories about food and fellowship in the kitchen. I remember when I was young, I fed my beans to the dog under the table in order to make my friends laugh. I’m sure you have a special kitchen story too. Did you know that even God’s house has a kitchen? Do you know which Bible verse describes it? Luke 11:3a says, “Give us each day our daily bread…” Let’s read this verse together. The earlier verse of the Lord’s Prayer was about loving and honoring God, about coming to our Father God, spending time with him in the living room, and worshipping him with an awesome reverence in the chapel. But verse 3 begins the part of this prayer which involves loving our neighbor. Notice the word “us” in this petition. Jesus wants us to include others when we make requests for ourselves. When we pray for ourselves and others, we will come to discover that God is already concerned about providing our needs before we even ask him. Long before we were ever born, God created the world with all kinds of food for us to eat. Matthew 6:25 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”
The next words, “each day” tell us that we need to depend on God daily, just as the Israelites in the Old Testament had to collect bread from heaven once a day. God is not like a clockmaker who wound up the universe and walked away leaving us to fend for ourselves. Jesus tells us to depend on God each day and trust his provision. God also does not always give us candy or gourmet treats. Sometimes we have to be thankful for simple meals like bread and water, especially in a tough economy. But God knows exactly what we need, and we trust that he always has our best care in mind. Most of the times, he provides more than expected, certainly more than we deserve. We can also know that God has a loving purpose for giving us balanced meals of delicious dessert and yucky vegetables, just as Jesus gave his disciples a balance of glory and suffering in Luke 9. Proverbs 30:8-9 says,“…feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, ‘Who is the Lord?’ or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.” Like a loving mom who cooks well balanced meals each day, God has his own good purpose for the things he provides us each day. May we rejoice in God’s care to provide our daily needs, and may we trust God’s purposes for the ways he provides for our needs.
Fourth, The Protective Roof (11:4a)
Verse 4 begins, “and forgive us our sins…” Matthew’s gospel uses the words “and forgive us our debts” (Mt 6:12). The roof of the house may not be noticeable. But without it, rain and snow would come right down on our heads. A roof provides protection to those in the house. It can’t be left out, especially during cold winters. Before we can appreciate the roof’s protection, we need to realize that we each owe a debt we cannot pay. Romans 3:23-24 says, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. Credit card debt can be repaid with careful budgeting. But our debt of sin can only be paid by eternal condemnation in hell. It is a debt we can never finish paying off. So Jesus had to pay off our debts on the cross. The grace of Jesus is like a protective roof, which covers our sins and shields us from the storms of judgment that is due us. In last week’s message, we learned a new word--propitiation; at least it was new for me until recently. It means that out of his love, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved on the cross so that we can receive God’s forgiveness. May God bless you to take refuge under Jesus’ roof of grace. May we trust Jesus’ sufficient grace which covers all our sins like a protective roof.
Fifth, The Hallway of Forgiveness (11:4b)
Verse 4b says, “for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.” “Through the center of the Great House of God runs a long hallway. You can’t go anywhere without walking the hallway. And you can’t get through the hallway without bumping into people.” (Lucado p.121). Jesus once told a parable about a man who had a huge debt canceled, but after being free from his own debt, the man demanded payment from someone who owed him just a few bucks. This is the sad story of sinful man who always wants forgiveness while refusing to forgive. (Matthew 18:21-35) Here Jesus points out that God’s forgiveness has one requirement, which is to forgive others. Matthew 6:14-15 says, “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.” In this sinful world, we have all been wounded by someone at one time or another, and when we are wounded, there is a debt collector in each of our hearts which wants to make the trespasser pay every last penny. But we must know that revenge is never a part of God’s plan for us. When we are wounded by others, we first of all need to trust that God is in charge of judgment. Next, we need to forgive the one who offended us. Whether or not the other person wants to restore the relationship, we must forgive them at least for the sake of our own relationship with God. When we pass through the hallway of God’s house, it helps to realize that we are going to get jostled by others quite often. It is just part of being in God’s big family. So get ready to say “excuse me” and “I forgive you”, because the hallway is not really where we want to spend a lot of our time. There are more important rooms to dwell in such as spending time with the Father in the Living Room, enjoying awesome fellowship in the chapel, or a tasty meal in the kitchen. So it is wise to manage hallway traffic jams with a mindset of graciousness and forgiveness.
The Lord ’s Prayer ends with the petition, “And lead us not into temptation”. Just as Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, he continues to tempt us with all kinds of sin such as greed, lust, and selfishness, especially self-glory seeking. But there is something we can do to resist the devil’s temptations. God’s great house is enclosed by strong walls. They are equipped with the strongest security system against the devil. Our Father, who owns the house, has defeated the devil through sending his Son Jesus to die on the cross. Therefore, we can flee into God’s house for protection against temptation. Though temptation’s advertisements still can be seen through the window, we can be safe inside of God’s house, as Romans 8 says that “neither angels nor demons…can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.”
God’s house sounds so wonderful, but there’s one important question, How do we get in? Verses 5-13 conclude today’s passage with God’s encouragement to approach him in prayer. Let’s read Luke 11:9,10: “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. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” In verse 8, an impudent person knocking at the door at midnight gets attention, how much more our loving Heavenly Father is ready to answer our prayers. Here, the word “impudence” means bold and shamelessly persistent. God does not want us to be afraid to come to him, or to be doubtful about his willingness to answer us. God wants to encourage us to have bold faith to come to his house and knock on the door until he opens it and welcomes us in. It seems easy to be intimidated about knocking on front door of the house of God, but we do not need to feel this way when we already have the blueprint of God’s house. Since we already know what kind of a God he is-- fatherly, awesome, providing, forgiving—we already know what we can expect when we come to his door. Jesus gives us a wonderful invitation in Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”
In today’s passage we learned how to live in the Lord’s Prayer. Knowing God as our loving Father is like sitting in God’s cozy living room. Spending time of awesome reverence before God is like the quiet chapel. The kitchen reminds us that God provides all our daily needs. The roof is like the protecting grace of Jesus who covers our sins. The hallway is a place to remember to forgive others who keep jostling into us. God’s house is surrounded by a strong wall which keeps temptation out. May this blueprint help us to grow from visitors in God’s house to permanent residents as we dwell with God and his family through constant and persistent prayer.