As I’m sure you noticed, both
of our Bible readings tonight gave what we now know as the Lord’s Prayer.
As I’m sure you also noticed, the two versions of the Lord’s Prayer we read
tonight are a little bit different from each other. And neither of them
is exactly the way we say the Lord’s Prayer today. That’s why I don’t
usually introduce the Lord’s Prayer by saying, as a lot of people do, that it’s
the prayer Jesus taught us. I’m not saying it’s wrong to introduce it
that way, but technically, it’s really not true. What we pray is similar,
but it’s not quite the same prayer Jesus taught the disciples, at least not
according to the best sources we have on the subject.
The other
thing you probably noticed is that the setting for the two versions of the
Lord’s Prayer are different. In Matthew, Jesus teaches this prayer to
everyone listening. It’s part of a larger speech Jesus made on a
mountainside, what we now call the Sermon on the Mount. In Luke, Jesus
teaches this prayer only to the disciples, and teaches it to them as a direct
response to one of the disciples, who asked Jesus to teach them to pray.
Which setting
is the “true” setting? Which version of the prayer is the “true”
version? We have no way to know. Does it matter? Not a
lot. It’s kind of a matter of historical curiosity as to which setting
was the “true” one, but that’s all. The differences in the two prayers,
which we will talk about in weeks to come, are really not all that big.
The principles of prayer that Jesus was trying to get across are the same in
both cases.
I do find
it interesting, though, that in one case it was Jesus who made the decision to
teach people how to pray, and in the other case it was the disciples who made
the decision that they needed to learn how to pray. Because I think both
of those things are true. I think God wants us to pray, and I think we
have a need to pray.
To me,
that shows the most powerful thing about prayer. Prayer involves a
relationship. It involves us talking to God. It also involves God
talking to us. Both of those things are necessary for us to have a
relationship with God.
Now, I
don’t know how much or how often anyone here prays. Maybe it’s quite a
bit. Maybe it’s occasionally, once in a while. Maybe it’s rarely if
ever.
That’s
okay. Our prayer life, like other aspects of our faith, involves a
process. If you don’t pray very often right now, I’m not trying to make
you feel guilty. I’ve had times in my life when I did not pray very
often, either.
What I
want to do, though, is encourage you to pray more. Because that’s how we
start feeling close to God. That’s how we start feeling that God is with
us in our lives. By talking to God. By God talking to us.
Think
about it this way: have you ever had a close friend who moved away?
Or, have you ever been the one who moved away from a close friend? What
happens? At first, you call each other up fairly frequently. You
keep in touch with what’s going on in each other’s lives. You still feel
close. But gradually, what usually happens? Those calls come a
little less frequently. Then a little less. Then a little
less. It goes from every day to once a week to once a month. Then,
maybe it’s a call at Christmas. And maybe you keep up on social media for
a while, but as time goes on, that becomes less and less, too.
And as
that happens, what else happens? You don’t feel like you’re as close as
you used to be. Your friendship is not as strong. You might still
care about each other. But the close relationship you once had is not
there any more. It’s gone.
Why
not? What happened? You stopped talking to each other. You’ve
drifted apart. Not because you intended to. Not because either of
you made a conscious decision that you did not want to be close any more.
But you got busy. You got distracted. You were living your
life. The other person was living his or her life. And so, you
stopped communicating. And you don’t feel as close any more. If it
goes on too long, this person you used to be so close to can become a complete
stranger to you, because you don’t know what’s going on in their life any more.
That’s how
it is when we don’t pray. If we don’t talk to God, if we don’t listen
when God is talking to us, if we stop communicating with God, that’s what
happens. We stop feeling close to God. Our relationship to God is
not as strong. God still loves us. And we may even still feel love
toward God. But the close relationship we once had with God is not there
any more. It’s gone.
It’s
probably not because we intended to break that relationship. That can
happen, but that’s not usually how it works. Usually, we don’t even make
a conscious decision that we don’t want to be close any more. But we get
busy. We get distracted. We’re living our life. And we stop
talking to God. And we don’t feel close any more. And if it goes on
too long, God can feel like a complete stranger to us.
But the
thing is, that relationship can be repaired. God does not want to feel
like a complete stranger to us. And I don’t think most of us want God to
feel like a complete stranger to us, either. After all, the fact that
you’re here, in church, or sitting at home listening to this message, shows
that you do want to have a relationship with God. And it shows that you
want that relationship to be closer than it is now.
But here’s
the thing. Think about that close friend who moved away again. Have
you ever seen them again, after a long time apart? What happens? At
first, you’re really happy to see each other, right? You shake hands, or
you hug, or you do whatever you do. You’re excited to get caught up on
each other’s lives. But then, after a while, something else
happens. You start struggling for words. You cannot think of
anything to say. You want to pick up the relationship, you want it to be
close again, you want it to be the way it used to be, but it’s not, because
it’s just been too long. You no longer have much to say to each other.
And it can
be that way with our relationship with God, too. Sometimes we want to go
back to God. We want to have that close relationship with God
again. We want to start praying again. But we go to pray and--we
start struggling for words. We cannot think of anything to say.
It’s just been too long. We no longer have much to say to God.
And I
think that’s one of the reasons Jesus gave us what we now call the Lord’s
Prayer. If we need to talk to God, if we need to pray, but we just cannot
think of anything to say, we can say that. Whether we use one of the
versions out of the Bible or we use the version we learned as kids, it does not
matter. The important thing is that we use it. The important thing
is that we talk to God. When we feel like we don’t have anything to say
to God, Jesus has given us words to say. Jesus has given us something we
can always use to talk to God and restore that relationship.
The Lord’s
Prayer gives us all the basics we need to say to God. We acknowledge who
God is, that God is our Father and that God’s name is holy. We state a
desire to have God’s kingdom come on earth and have God’s will done on
earth. We ask for as much as we need for today. We ask for
forgiveness, and we ask for the ability to forgive others. We ask not to
be tempted to do wrong, but to be delivered from wrong. And we
acknowledge that God is all-powerful.
That’s
really all we need to say to God. We’ll go into each of those in more depth
in the coming weeks, but those things are all we really need to say.
There’s a lot more we can say to God, but those things are all we really
need to say. If we say those things, and mean them, our faith will
be strong, and our relationship with God will be restored.
So, if we
want a stronger relationship with God, this is the place to start.
Prayer. Talking to God, and listening as God talks to us. And if we
can think of nothing else to pray, we can always pray the Lord’s Prayer.
If we pray it, and mean it, our relationship with God will get stronger.
And God will not seem like a stranger any more. We will feel close to
God, as close as an old friend. Because when we pray and come near to
God, that’s who God can be--our oldest and best friend.
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