“Our FATHER” Sermon / Luke 11:1-13 / Pr. Lucas A. Albrecht / Sunday July 28st 2019 / Season of Pentecost / Mount Olive Lutheran Church

SERMON NOTES

Text: Luke 11:1-13
Theme: “Our FATHER”
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Intr – Looking around in our world, this is the way the Lord’s Prayer seems to be read most of the times in our day:

Father somewhere out there:
Shallowed be thy name;
My kingdom come, my will be done;
Don’t give us this day our daily bread
Forgive my debts even though I make mistakes like everyone else
So I can unleash on others;
Blame us not for the temptations we fall in;
Don’t judge us for our evil;
For mine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
A men. Or women. Or any gender you like.

“Yes, pastor the world is going crazy right?” Well I’m not actually talking about the world when it comes to non Christians, because this prayer was not given for them. Jesus gives this prayer to His disciples. One can expect that attitude from the people of the World. But the People of the Word received this prayer as a banner, as a logo, our national anthem. It is our trade mark as followers of Christ. We need to be constantly going back to the Prayer the Lord has taught us so we don’t fall pray of these same misuses, misunderstandings and even blunt twisting of the words that the Lord has given us. Also, the importance of prayer in our daily life.

1 – Praying to the Father

_Parallel readings give us the fuller version of the Lord’s Prayers. But even here we can see the whole: Where the Kingdom of God is, there His Will is done.
And where the Lord doesn’t lead us into temptation, there we are delivered from evil.

_Prayer: Jesus doesn’t say “if” but “when”. It is implicit that as a Christian, one of the things you do is to pray. Fire generates light and heat. Lightning generates thunder. Water makes you wet. A Christian prays. Jesus himself prayed many times. Why wouldn’t I need it? “We are in a situation where no person can perfectly keep the 10 Commandments, even though he has begun to believe. The devil, with all his power together with the Word and our own flesh resists our efforts. Therefore, nothing is more necessary than 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 10 Commandments,”[1] Your prayer is considered by God as the prayers of St. Paul, or Peter, or Luther, or the greatest pastor you know, because God accepts prayers not because of the person, but because of Himself and His promise in the Word.[2]

         When you pray the Lord’s Prayer you are praying to a Father. You pray as a child of a beloved Father.  How radically different that is from not only the way deity and spirituality are often times dealt with in our day, but back in the day too. (Energy, Ruler, Old Angry Man, Patriarchal Bigot, the stars… Or even yourself)

As a Christian, you have a Father. When you pray to a Father then you know:

_You are a child;
_You have someone who has authority over you;
_You know you have someone that lets you know you frequently fall and disobey; you need to repent from that;
_You know that you want to do His will because you love Him;
_You know you have a good model of a Father. If an imperfect father can give good things to His Children, what about our Perfect Father in Heaven?
_You are loved unconditionally. In a world with many bad to terrible examples of fatherhood, He provides us with the perfect Father Figure.

About “asking whatever you want”: Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit that God will freely give to us. This is the starting point and the finish line of our entire prayer life.

2 – The Lord’s Prayer

Do we read it from to bottom, or do we often read it backwards?[3] That is, we start by what we need for our personal good, and then time permitting we remember to pray about God and His Will and His Kingdom?

The Lord’s Prayer:

Name – In a world of shallow things and people who are only another face in the crowd, you know Your Father has a name. This is pure Gospel. You can call your Father by his name.
Kingdom and Will – People like to exalt as a virtue when someone lives his or her life “in His own terms”. In the Lord’s prayer we ask the opposite - We want to give in God’s Kingdom under God’s Will That makes a world, a whole kingdom of difference.
Bread – An Easter egg message in this petition is contentment. We don’t ask for bread for a lifetime. We ask bread for this day. Trust that the Lord will provide is implied.
Forgiveness – That petition could go together with the bread one, “Give us this day our daily forgiveness.” What bread is for the body forgiveness is for the soul. For where there is bread, there is bodily sustenance. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is salvation and life eternal.
Leading, Deliverance – Where to you want God to lead you? Away from temptations and further away from evil. He leads you to green pastures, calm waters. He leads you in Christ to life everlasting.

Here we see also the main points of our Christian faith
God – Baptism – Justification - Communion – Sanctification

Cc – Now, in times when you think your Father is not hearing you, remember this:

         Parents who have had the experience of taking their child to the first day of school or daycare know that it can be a challenging and difficult experience for the kid. It is the moment when they move away from family safety to a place we might call, looking through the child's eyes, both lonely and hostile.

From an adult's point of view it doesn't seem like much right? They leave drop child off early in the morning, and at some point in the afternoon they are there to pick the child up. How much that would be, 6 or 7 hours? A day runs so fast away, that’s not that much ... But what about the kid’s perspective? I think we remember rather well that when we are children, the notion of time is different. Everything seems to take longer. For the child that day seems to have no end. There may be doubt, anxiety, fear; cry. “Where is my father, my mother? Why did they turn their back to me, did they forget about me?” When will this all end?

After what seems like forever, the moment comes when they are there to pick us up. Then comes relief, peace; the comforting assurance of their presence.

We can remember this illustration in the hardest, most lonely moments of our existence, when the feeling is that Father has dropped us somewhere and turned His back on us; that He has forgotten His children. Remember, our notion of time is different, and that’s the source of many a distress, insecurity, and fear.

But the Father never forgot us. He never ever forgets us. In Christ He never stops looking after us, not even for a second. He was always there and always will be, all the time. And in His time He will bring relief, security and peace. And the Lord’s Prayer is there for you for everyday life to remind you and assure you of His presence. Doesn’t matter how the people of the World prays it. As you make part of the People of the Word, you may share in faith your joyful hope you have from your Father. Our Father. In Heaven and here, on earth, close to our hearts.

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[1] Luther, M. The Lord’s Prayer. Large Catechism. In: Book of Concord. Reader’s edition, p.577-78
[2] Large Catechism. Book of Concord. Reader’s Edition, p. 581.
[3] As Martin Luther refers to it. From:  Lc 11.1-13 - Prof. Dr. Vilson Scholz - 7º Domingo após Pentecostes - (Perícope - Trienal C)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1iY5cJXqvA