This is the Way [9-7-25]

September 7, 2025

Luke 11:1-13

“This is the Way”

Do you pray with confidence? Do you pray often? Do you have clear thinking about the purpose of prayer?

One of the things passed on to Luke by the followers of Jesus was that they were impressed with the example of his prayer life. Luke records many examples of Jesus being alone praying. Then, like today’s passage, there are times when Jesus teaches about prayer. That’s going to be our focus today. What Jesus teaches about prayer.

Luke 11 gets right to it. When Jesus finishes a time of prayer, his disciples ask him to show them the way to effective prayer:

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.” And he said to them, “When you pray, say:

“Father, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread,

and forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.

And lead us not into temptation.”

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 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. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

First things first. After the disciples ask Jesus to teach them, he begins with, “Whenever.” Whenever you pray. That word, whenever, is Luke’s way of saying Jesus understands this prayer to be a prototype for all prayer. It’s an example of what prayer should be. He’s not saying it’s wrong for us to say this prayer in worship every Sunday. He’s not saying that at all. We can hold two things together at the same time. We can embrace this prayer as a prototype and say it together every week. We’re flexible people like that.

At its simplest, whenever means a template is about to follow. Whenever – here’s a good pattern to follow for prayer.

Years ago, when I was in my first years of worship leadership and preaching, I thought I had to write out the pastoral prayer. I thought there

needed to be a certain eloquence to public prayer. I was such an idiot. Amen? Jesus reminds us we’re simply talking to our Heavenly Father who wants to hear from us. We don’t need to impress God. We certainly don’t need to impress people with our prayers. If we think that, we’re barking – or praying – up the wrong tree.

So here’s what Jesus teaches us. I’m going to start with as literal a translation of the original Greek text as I could find:

Father

Hallowed be the name of you

Come the kingly reign of you

The bread of us {for} the Day give to us the

Every day

And forgive us the sins of us

And indeed we ourselves forgive all who are

Delinquent to us

And do not lead us into being put to the test

Let’s break it down.

“Father,” Jesus begins. Father. A short, simple way to address God. Which is markedly different from how pagan prayers address God. Generally, pagan prayers begin with long introductions. The point is to grab the attention of the gods. A hilarious passage from 1Kings 18:25-29 makes the point. In it, Elijah confronts prophets of the pagan god Baal. They’re trying to get their god, Baal, to show himself by bringing fire down upon a sacrificial bull. It’s a no go. Here’s how the scene unfolds:

Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.

One translation gets even more earthy. When Elijah mocks them in verse twenty-seven, it translates or he is relieving himself, as perhaps he is pooping. Look at the lengths they go to get their god’s attention. It would be like trying to select a winning lottery number just to get an audience with your god. He may have little to no desire to listen to you.

The One, True God is a God of grace and mercy. Simply crying out to Him as Father is all we need to do. We don’t have to add any extra names or recite any flattering divine attributes to coax God into answering. Simply Father. Jesus gives us a term of respect and intimacy. Nothing else needed. No pretense or eloquence. Simply Father.

“Hallowed be your name.” You can also render it, “Let your name be sanctified.” In other words, we are holding God’s name in highest

reverence. Here’s where Ezekiel 36:22-23 leads us:

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes.”

God is bringing glory to His name through Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ death and resurrection, God intervenes directly to save us from our sin. That’s how He brings glory to His name. How foolish, knowing all that, it would be to not hallow the name of God.

Why do we hallow God’s name? Because He has promised to save us. And in Christ, God has saved us.

“Your kingdom come,” is a simple petition. We look forward to the day when the reign of Satan will be ended. This is about God’s timing.

“Give us each day our daily bread,” is fully loaded and deeply packed. Let’s jump right into it with a look at Proverbs 30:8-9:

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

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.

In our prayers, we are to ask for provision for the bare necessities to sustain life. What does that say to the heresy of the so-called prosperity gospel? What does that say to our prayers to win the lottery? You hear where this is going.

There is a repetitive nature to verse three. “Give us each day,” means each and every day. Over and over…what we need to sustain life. Here’s something to think about. This is a dangerous part of the prayer for most of us to be praying. Think about having more than we need or deserve. Think about living with abundance. How many kinds of apples do we have

to choose from at the grocery store? I once heard somebody complaining that Honeycrisps were $3.59 per pound. Are you kidding me? You could eat a different variety of apple a day and it would take you almost seven years before you’d have to repeat. And that’s just apples grown in the United States. There is abundance.

Think about that in light of this prayer. Those of us living in abundance would not be thrilled if God were to grant this petition literally. And thinking this part of the prayer through obliterates the utter foolishness of the prosperity gospel. Proverbs 30:8-9 provides the foundation for verse three. Let’s look at it one more time:

Remove far from me falsehood and lying;

give me neither poverty nor riches;

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.

We simply want enough and we want to be satisfied with what we have.

I love how an old prayer puts it:

“O GOD, TO THOSE WHO HUNGER, GIVE BREAD; AND TO THOSE WHO HAVE BREAD, GIVE THE HUNGER FOR JUSTICE.”

Next, Jesus instructs us to pray with forgiving hearts:

“And forgive us our sins,

for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

With this twist, here’s something you might want to remember:

WE OUGHT NOT TO EXPECT TO RECEIVE FROM GOD WHAT WE ARE NOT PREPARED TO BESTOW ON OTHERS.

Don’t get me wrong. This doesn’t mean that forgiveness is conditional. As in, you can only receive forgiveness when you are forgiving. No, no, no. But not being able to forgive others means you have not truly accepted the forgiveness that comes from Christ and Christ alone. It’s the whole principle of how can you give something you don’t have? How can you draw from a pool that is empty and dry? An inability to forgive others is the clearest sign that one has not received forgiveness.

How often have you heard someone say, “I’ll never forgive that person?” I hope not too often. The moment someone says that, they’ve already condemned themselves. If you can’t give it, you clearly haven’t received it.

This might be the hardest of these key petitions in the Lord’s Prayer to live out on a daily basis. Which is why Jesus encourages us with the verses that follow. We can have a robust prayer life because we are secure in the Father’s love. We can forgive those who sin against us because we have no doubts whatsoever of the Father’s love. All things are possible through Him who loves us. If you truly believe you are forgiven, you will be forgiving. Amen?

Let’s start the week with Christ-honoring, God-centered prayer. We can confidently go to the Father in prayer because we are secure in His love. We pray persistently because we are secure in His love. We pray confidently because we are secure in His love. Let’s vow together, from this day forward, to never lose heart…to never lose hope…to pray consistently and confidently to the God who loves us beyond measure. In the Powerful and Risen name of Jesus Christ, the praying people of Covenant Church

say:

SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone