Remember Who You’re Talking To
Notes
Transcript
Good morning!
If we haven’t met…
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Talk through United in Prayer
One thing we do regularly as Elders is ask, “What does Gateway need?”
And recently we’ve begun thinking about the need for us to engage with what God is doing outside of our church. To partner with Him in his work not only in our church family, but in our city, in our region, and around the world.
And partnering with God always begins with prayer.
So what we’re going to do is take time each Sunday morning to be united in prayer.
And each week will have a focus. So week 1 will be Sumner, then Puget Sound, then around the world, and then for our needs within the church.
And we’ll take time - as we’ll do in a few moments - to pray as a family for these needs, and then as we gather in Community Groups, we’ll take time to pray in the same direction, and if you get our weekly email those needs will be sent out as a reminder so you can pray in the same way in your own time of prayer with Jesus.
Moravians
I wonder what God will do in us.
Pray for Sumner
Scripture
Dictionary of Biblical Imagery Father, Fatherhood
Yet Jesus also shows us what kind of a heavenly Father we have. He teaches us to go to our Father for everything we need (Mt 6:9–13; Lk 11:2–4). There is no need to be reticent, for we are to call him Abba (Mk 14:36; cf. Rom 8:15, Gal 4:6). There is no need to be timid, for he has a big house with plenty of rooms to spare (Jn 14:6; cf. Jer 3:19). There is no need to be fearful, for God will run to us, throw his arms around us and kiss us when we return from our prodigal wanderings (Lk 15:20). “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” (1 Jn 3:1 NIV).
According to Gallup research, more Americans will pray this week than will exercise, drive a car, have sex, or go to work.
Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary vi. Teaching on Religious Observance (6:1–18)
This address does, however, express forcibly the tension in the disciples’ attitude to God, who is at the same time in heaven, transcendent, all-powerful, the Lord of the universe and yet Our Father, concerned for the needs of each disciple, and entering into an intimate relationship with them.
ME
Happy New Year Everyone!
We are going to spend the first 4 Sundays of 2024 focusing on prayer. The New Year is a great time to refocus ourselves on practices which help us hear, love, and obey Jesus together. And prayer certainly is that.
I’d love to say I’m totally excited about these 4 weeks, and I am partly.
But I’m also largely intimidated.
When we discussed doing a sermon series on prayer in our elders meeting several months ago, I said, “I feel very inadequate to teach on prayer because I feel so inadequate in my own prayer life.”
And Doug said, “You should say that to everyone.”
And so, Doug, there you go.
It’s not a shock to any of you but I’m certainly not a prayer expert.
I’m not the hired gun prayer guy to come and show you 5 tips to improve your prayer life.
While I may not have expertise, I’ll tell you what I do have, books that I own on prayer!
And you may ask, have you read them? Read them, I own them! But no, I nearly read 1 in full during the holiday break but that’s about it.
Maybe you’re thinking, Chris is the pastor, and he’s insecure about prayer?
And then I’d say welcome to the real world where pastors have as many if not more insecurities than you do.
But let me just tell you a few of the reasons I have a hard time with prayer, and maybe you can relate.
I have a hard time with prayer because prayer feels unproductive and inefficient.
I’ve got a sermon to prayer! People to meet with, papers to write, seminary videos to watch, family to tend to, an endless to-do list…sitting in silence feels almost irresponsible on some level.
I’m busy.
I feel so limited in this season of life that the thing that so often gets left out is prayer.
I have so many things to pray for, I care about all of you, my family, my friends, my own needs…
There are so many things to pray, for I don’t even know where to start so I just don’t…
I have a hard time with prayer because I’m easily distracted.
My mind wanders easily. I forget what I’m praying about!
Prayer is hard because I can’t see God.
It’s hard to have a conversation when you can’t see him and he doesn’t speak back.
Can we just admit that’s difficult? I find it hard.
Prayer is hard because sometimes I pray and I forget that I’m even praying.
Golf grip story...
Prayer is hard because I’m not sure it works.
I’m easily anxious, overwhelmed, concerned about a lot of things, and when I pray, I don’t always feel better, so did it work? Sometimes I feel better by doing other things so maybe those things are more effective than prayer and prayer may work for some more holy people but not for me.
I’ve prayed for serious things, I’ve asked God to save two babies and he didn’t answer those prayers…
And yet, I still have a desire to pray.
I love God and I want more of Him in my life and yet I wonder, how? How do I pray?
WE
I wonder if I’m not alone.
It’s been said that one of the easiest ways to make a Christian feel bad is to simply ask, “How’s your prayer life?”
If you’re here and you think you’re crushing it in prayer, you’re probably not.
Prayer is something that cannot be mastered and that frustrates us.
Maybe you’re a young married couple and it wasn’t that long ago that you can go back and think of a time where you could do whatever you wanted with your time.
And your time with God was awesome because you had SO MUCH TIME! But now, you have a job and a spouse who is great, but also takes time. And prayer has gone by the wayside.
Maybe you’re older and you’ve been at prayer for a long time…
And you can remember a time when you were passionate about prayer and there was an intimacy with God that was deep, but now the fire has faded. And you wonder what’s next? How do you grow in prayer at this stage of life?
I imagine most of us want to see growth in prayer this year…
And yet maybe you think about your schedule between getting the kids up at 0 dark 30 in the morning, getting them out the door, going to work, getting the kids back from school, doing bedtime, wanting just 5 minutes by yourself in the evening, and you think when would I do that?
Maybe you feel so overwhelmed with life, health concerns, financial concerns, emotional distress, and you think I really don’t want to be silent in prayer because then I have to face those worries, those fears, I’d rather just distract myself?
Maybe you’re here and you don’t want anyone to know that you just don’t pray, you want to, but you just don’t.
Prayer is a part of being human.
Did you know according to Gallup polls, more people will pray this week than drive a car, go to work, have sex, or exercise?
I’m reading a book called “Sun House” by David James Duncan
Highly recommend old DJD. These characters are not Christians but each are searching for an interaction with the divine. They know something is there and so they either rail against their IDEA of God or they go searching into other religions like Hinduism to interact with the spiritual world.
We’re all praying! Different amounts, different ways, to different beings, but we all pray.
But how?
How do we pray? We buy books and read some of them, listen to podcasts, sermons.
Maybe we want the magic bullet to fix where we’re at and just zap us into a better prayer life.
Maybe you have someone in your life who is a giant of prayer. They have something with God that you want. It’s not just what they say but HOW they say it.
How do we get in on that?
It’s 2024
We live in the age of the iPhone and the endless barrage of texts, emails, notifications, sales, and software updates. How do we get out of this endless cycle of distraction?
How do we escape from our own business and feeling overwhelmed?
How do we get guidance from God on how to live?
How do we grow in a deeper relationship with God that’s more than just showing up for church and community group?
How do we pray?
GOD
God must have known this would be an issue for us, because in the Bible, Jesus took the time to teach his disciples how to pray.
Jesus’ disciples were not prayer novices. As Jews they prayed 3x a day. They knew their Old Testament better than just about anyone living today. But they watched their teacher pray, and something about Him was different.
1 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
Teach us to pray!
So Jesus did.
There are two passages where Jesus teaches the disciples how to pray - Luke 11 and Matthew 6, we’re going to focus on Matthew 6 as a guide these next 4 Sundays as we ask Jesus the same question, “Jesus, can you teach us to pray?”
!!!!!!!!!And the first thing we’ll see that Jesus teaches us about prayer is this: Remember who you’re talking to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PAUSE FOR 1
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3
Remember who you are talking to.
That’s the only thing I want you to remember this morning.
When you pray, remember who you’re talking to.
Where do we see that in the Bible?
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
We’re back in Matthew.
We walked through Matthew last year. Matthew is all about Jesus - the promised King - and Matthew wants you and I to give our allegiance to him and be his disciple.
And in Matthew 6
Jesus is in the middle of his first and most famous teaching - the talk on the hill - or the Sermon on the Mount as it’s more popularly known.
And the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus’ magnum opus on what it’s like to live with God.
And at the beginning of Matthew 6, Jesus says that living with God isn’t just about doing good stuff,
Because you can do good stuff for the wrong reason. And that includes fasting, charity, and even prayer.
And so before we get too far down the road let’s take a second and think - how would you define prayer?
Take a moment and just consider if my 3 year old came up to you and asked what is prayer, what would you say?
Prayer is talking to God about what we are doing together. - Dallas Willard
Prayer is conversation with God. It’s a type of speech. It’s talking with God about what we are doing together. It’s relationship. Love. Conversation.
And the first thing Jesus says about prayer is remember who you’re talking to.
He begins by saying, pray then in THIS way…
So if Jesus shows us THIS way, then what is the OTHER way?
When you pray remember who you’re talking to, don’t be like this..
5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.
Jesus is talking about the pastors and religious influencers of his day who prayed impressive prayers, but whose real motivation was not intimacy with God but impressing people.
“When it comes to prayer, God isn’t grading essays, he’s talking to children.” – Tyler Staton, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools
In prayer, we are being loved by God, not graded. What if we prayed like that?
PAUSE FOR 3
He also says
7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words.
Jesus might be referring to the famous story of Elijah vs the worshipers of Baal who endlessly cry out all day, “O Baal, save us!” but nothing happens.
Maybe you’ve heard of the illustration of God as a vending machine, if I just press the right buttons in the right order, he spits out what I want.
Or maybe another example is like God as divine AI or ChatGPT, if I just give him the right input, then he will automatically give me the right output and make my life better and easier.
Here’s something I struggle with -
Is the Lord’s prayer a formula?
It’s not. But it is, kind of. Maybe a better word is a guide.
Jesus is not giving us IKEA instructions on how to pray. Just put the words in this order and your cancer will go away! Say this phrase and your anxiety will stop!
It’s not that, but he is guiding us towards conversations with the REAL God.
God’s not a divine professor, he’s not divine Artificial Intelligence.
Remember who it is that you’re talking to…
You’re talking to the Father.
8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
When we pray, Jesus teaches us to remember who we are talking to.
And you know what, Jesus reminds us that before we even pray, before we even decide to pray, before we even think about prayer..the Father is already loving us.
1 John 3:1 (NIV)
1 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
What if we prayed this year like children and not performers?
I heard this week that the only way to pray wrong is by trying to pray right.
And I think that’s right, but I don’t believe it.
I want to.
I want to pray like a child.
9 “Pray, then, in this way:
‘Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Jesus says the first thing I want you to know about prayer is remember who you are talking to, the Father.
And this was revolutionary.
The Jews prayed 3x a day to God, and their prayer sounded a lot like this, it began
“Magnified and sanctified may his great name be!”
And that is true.
And yet Jesus reminds us - while God is magnificent and holy, he is also our Father!
What does that mean?
He wants to give us what we need. He cares about us. He is tender with us. We don’t have to be timid around him. We don’t have to shy away from his presence. He protects us. He knows us. We are united with him.
When you pray, remember who you are talking to.
But he’s not just my father or your father he is OUR Father.
God loves you, and many others.
When we pray, Jesus instructs us to remember that we are not alone.
Matthew is writing to the church and just assumes they are not only praying by themselves but praying together.
Prayer is a team sport.
Remember who you’re talking to, he’s not just your divine butler, but he’s the almighty father of the billions strong, international, timeless family of God.
Remember he’s not just our father, he’s our father in heaven.
When we hear heaven we start singing that Mercy Me song I can only imagine and we think about pearly gates and where we go after we die.
When Jews thought about heaven they thought of the fullness of the universe, including here and now.
Heaven was way out there in the sky but also right here in the air I breathe.
Our Father is so big that no matter where you are, he’s close.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there.
9 If I take the wings of the dawn,
If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand will lead me,
And Your right hand will lay hold of me.
Remember who you’re talking to, the Father who is infinitely vast and yet is unbelievably close, and he’s the Holy One.
Matthew 6:9 (NASB95)
…Hallowed be Your name.
It’s not halloween be your name.
Hallowed.
It’s like when I say I went to Augusta National - the golf mecca - it was Hallowed ground. Enough so that I literally got the cops called because I was trying to drive around and get inside.
It’s so hallowed, a normal person like me can’t go there. It’s too special!
Jesus is saying, pray that God’s name be hallowed!
It’s not just his name like what he’d put on his nametag, but his fame, character, and reputation.
Jesus is saying, remember who you’re talking to, and ask that the Father be adored, treasured, and loved by not only you, but everyone and everything in all creation.
Jesus is saying, remember that you’re talking to the one whom every heart is restless until they find their rest in Him.
You know how kids always think their parents are the best at something…
It’s like that with the Father, we are to desire that he be loved. Because when we pray we are to remember who we are having a conversation with - the Father, our Father, the Father in the heavens, the Holy One whom we love.
YOU
So let’s consider for a moment, what would it look like for us to remember who we’re talking to when we pray?
Consider how you address God in prayer
Consider how you address God in prayer
A name is powerful.
You probably have pet names for your spouse. Anytime Morgan calls me Chris I’m like, “That just sounds weird.”
Nicknames for your kids or your pets.
What do you call God when you speak with him?
Now, it’s not that if you say FATHER you say the magic word.
But I think what Jesus is getting at is we are to remember who we are speaking with when we pray and in Jesus’ mind the term that best applies the character of God is Father. A term of power and strength and authority but also intimacy and love and care.
So sometimes I think when I pray I just jump right in,
God thank you for this meal…
And I say God in like .2 seconds.
And again, it’s not that it’s wrong but I haven’t taken the time to consider who I’m talking to.
When I say God, what do I mean?
Do I picture the divine professor who is grading my prayer? The divine chat gpt who I’m hoping that by saying these words will just give me success in what I’ve decided to do?
Or by God do I mean Father, Son, Spirit, the trinitarian being who upholds the universe, who created it with his words, who gave me new life through his Spirit and without whom I wouldn’t have breath?
“Who one believes God to be is most accurately revealed not in any credo but in the way one speaks to God when no one else is listening.” - Nancy Mairs, cited in Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools
Jesus wants us to remember when we pray who we are talking to.
Why does it matter if we remember who we’re talking to?
If you and I are talking and it becomes clear that I have no idea who you are or what you care about, how is our relationship? Not great.
Another thing is that as I remember who God is, I remember who I am. I’m a child loved by God. A creature with a short life span. A tiny part of the universe that God is upholding himself, and I can just relax a little bit. My Father has got this.
What if this week when you prayed you just said his name and lingered…let thoughts about him come to mind…think about who he is.
Maybe don’t even close your eyes but go outside and consider his creation and think about he made all of that AND you.
Pray as you can
Pray as you can
I often make prayer an activity that bums me out because I’m not doing it right.
And so I don’t pray.
Maybe you’re like me and you can get spun up about doing it right and that keeps us from doing it at all.
Jesus says “Pray”
So just pray.
Richard Foster said that “By praying we learn to pray.”
Thomas Merton wrote, “If you want a life of prayer, the way to get it is by praying.”
Mother Teresa said, “If we really mean to pray and want to pray we must be ready to do it now.”
If you’re bad at prayer, like I am, remember that Jesus died for you.
If you haven’t prayed this week and don’t want anyone to know, remember that the Father loves you.
If you only want to pray because you want to rail at God, know that Jesus prayed “My God My God why have you forsaken me?”
Remember who you’re talking to, the Father who is near and available to you because of Jesus’ death and the forgiveness of our sins. So no matter where we’re at, we can just pray because the Father is listening and loving us.
WE
What would it look like if when we prayed we remembered who we were talking to?
What if we came before God as ourselves as children and him our loving Father?
What if we came before the Holy God as sinful people in need of saving and realize the creator of the universe has made a way for us to be in relationship with Him?
Jesus teaches us how to pray.
And I don’t know about you but the Lord’s prayer is beautiful, and yet I know it too well. So sometimes it’s helpful to hear other prayers in other words and be reminded there are so many ways to pray that remind me of who God is and who I am.
So here’s one by Ted Loder
Holy One,
there is something I wanted to tell you, but there have been errands to run, bills to pay, arrangements to make, meetings to attend, friends to entertain, washing to do…
and I forget what it is I wanted to say to you, and mostly I forget what I’m about or why.
O God,
don’t forget me, please,
for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Eternal One,
there is something I wanted to tell you,
but my mind races with worrying and watching,
with weighing and planning,
with rutted slights and pothole grievances,
with leaky dreams and leaky plumbing
and leaky relationships I keep trying to plug up;
and my attention is preoccupied
with loneliness,
with doubt,
and with things I covet;
and I forget what it is I want to say to you,
and how to say it honestly
or how to do much of anything.
O God,
don’t forget me, please,
for the sake of Jesus Christ.
Almighty One,
there is something I wanted to ask you,
but I stumble along the edge of a nameless rage,
haunted by a hundred floating fears
of terrorists of all kinds
of losing my job,
of failing,
of getting sick and old,
having loved ones die,
of dying…
I forget what the real question is that I wanted to ask,
and I forget to listen anyway
because you seem unreal and far away,
and I forget what it is I have forgotten.
O God,
don’t forget me, please,
for the sake of Jesus Christ...
O Father…in Heaven,
perhaps you’ve already heard what I wanted to tell you.
What I wanted to ask is
forgive me,
heal me,
increase my courage, please.
Renew in me a little of love and faith,
and a sense of confidence,
and a vision of what it might mean
to live as though you were real,
and I mattered,
and everyone was sister and brother.
What I wanted to ask in my blundering way is,
don’t give up on me,
don’t become too sad about me,
but laugh with me,
and try again with me,
and I will with you, too.
What I wanted to ask is
for peace enough to want and work for more,
for joy enough to share,
and for awareness that is keen enough
to sense your presence
here,
now,
there,
then,
always. - Ted Loder, “There Is Something I Wanted to Tell You”
Communion