praying the mission (1): jesus christ, our only teacher on how to pray (under revision)

8/8/2019 Praying the Mission (1): Jesus Christ, Our Only Teacher on How to Pray (Under Revision)

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P r a y i n g t h e M i s s i o n ( 3 ) : J e s u s C h r i s t , O u r O n l y T e a c h e r o n H o w t o P r a y Page 1

Introduction

When the disciples asked Jesus, Lord, teach us how to pray, they were essentially Jewish

disciples asking their rabbi to teach them how to pray. Undoubtedly, these were young men

who had grown up in the synagogue listening to, repeating, and participating in Jewish prayers,

some of which we know comes from the liturgy known as the Qaddish (or Kaddish). A prayer of

the synagogue, the Qaddishlikely goes back to Jesus time and it begins much like the Lords

Prayer, Exalted and hallowed be his great name in the world which He created according to his

will.

1

Essentially, Jesus was teaching His disciples shortened forms of at least five parts of whathas been called the Eighteen Benedictions.

2The parallels are surprising.

There are even more. In the Apocrypha (the Jewish writings written primarily between Malachi

and Matthew, not included in the Hebrew Scriptures), we find a parallel to the last request in

the Lords Prayer: lead us not into temptation. In Sirach 2:1 weread, My son, if you come

forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation. And again in 33:1, No evil will

befall the man who fears the Lord, but in trialhe will deliver him again and again.3

Later, in

the Babylonian Talmud, we read of a Jewish evening prayer probably dating back to the time of

Jesus. And bring me not into sin, or into iniquity, or into temptation, or into contempt.4

Fast forward to the last quarter of the first century. Archaeological evidence points to the fact

that as early as A.D. 75 both the Jewish Christians as well as the Gentile Christians probably

would have experienced the Lords Prayer as a fixed element in instructions on prayer in all

1Clinton E. Arnold, ed. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, Volume 1: Matthew, Mark,

Luke. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002, p. 45. Similarly, the Qaddish continues with a parallel to the third phrase in

the Lords Prayer, May he establish his kingdom in your lifetime (ibid). The Kaddish can be viewed online here:

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=7&letter=K.

2 Joseph Jacobs, Jesus as Nazareth in History,Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. VII, (New York: Funk and

Wagnalls, 1916), p 102. See also online:http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=547&letter=L. See

also Jacob J. Petuchowski and Michael Brock, Eds. The Lords Prayer and Jewish Liturgy(New York: The Seabury

Press, 1978), p. vi. The Eighteen Benedictions are available online athttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen

Benedictions.htm.

3 Simon Kistemaker, The Lords Prayer in the First Century, inJournal of the Evangelical Theological

Society21:4 (1978), pp. 323-28.

4Ibid. Berakoth 60b. Online at:http://www.come-and-hear.com/berakoth/berakoth_60.html. See also,

Joacham Jeremias, The Lords Prayer, p. 30.

Part One:Jesus Christ:

Our Only Teacher

on How to PrayChurch in the Boro,Rob Wilkerson
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=7&letter=Khttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=7&letter=Khttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=547&letter=Lhttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=547&letter=Lhttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=547&letter=Lhttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen%20Benedictions.htmhttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen%20Benedictions.htmhttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen%20Benedictions.htmhttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen%20Benedictions.htmhttp://www.come-and-hear.com/berakoth/berakoth_60.htmlhttp://www.come-and-hear.com/berakoth/berakoth_60.htmlhttp://www.come-and-hear.com/berakoth/berakoth_60.htmlhttp://www.churchintheboro.com/http://www.robwilkerson.net/http://www.robwilkerson.net/http://www.churchintheboro.com/http://www.come-and-hear.com/berakoth/berakoth_60.htmlhttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen%20Benedictions.htmhttp://tzion.org/articles/Eighteen%20Benedictions.htmhttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=547&letter=Lhttp://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=7&letter=K


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ChristendomBoth churches, different as their situations were, were at one on this point: that

a Christian learned, from the Lords Prayer, how to pray.5

For the Jewish Christians, they

would have learned the Lords Prayer from Matthew and his gospel, whose version of the

prayer, is addressed to people who have learned to pray in childhood but whose prayer stands

in danger of becoming a routine.6 Lukes gospel, on the other hand, was written to Gentiles,

and his version of the prayer, is addressed to people who must for the first time learn to prayand whose courage must be roused.

7

Teaching someone how to pray today seems somewhat out of place, perhaps even weird. The

exceptions, of course, among some circles, such as the one in which I grew up, are the Sinners

Prayer and the Lords Prayer. Other than these, prayer is very much a spontaneous,

extemporaneous activity among many evangelical westerners, at least. For the disciples

however, spontaneous prayer would have been foreign, and definitely weird. Per one

theologian,

The disciples would not have been used to praying in their own words,

improvising as they went along. To them, prayer was something that had to be

learned, and this is why they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. In their

experience, prayer was a formal, liturgical event, conducted by the priests in the

temple or by the rabbis in the synagogueFurthermore, the prayers in a Galilean

synagogue would have been in Hebrew, which was fast becoming a dead

language in Jesus dayIf the prayers were in an archaic form of language, they

would almost certainly have been ritualized to a considerable extent couched in

set phrases that those who led public worship would have memorized as part of

their trainingThe prayers would therefore have had a carefully worked out

structure8

Jesus more than likely took what was already familiar to them in from Jewish synagogue

prayers rooted in the tradition of the Talmud, and freshly reinvested it with the original

meaning rooted in the original occurrence of these phrases and requests in the Old Testament.

This is not unlike what He did elsewhere in the Sermon on the Mount with the Midrash

statements. The original commandment not to commit adultery had been in some respects

spiritualized so that someone could keep it outwardly, though not inwardly. Jesus takes a

statement the disciples are absolutely familiar with, and freshly reinvests it with the meaning

5 Jeremias, p. 23. This author makes an interesting and rather obvious observation about why the Lords

Prayer is different in Luke and Matthew. *T+he variations are to be seen within a broader context: we have

before us the wording for Prayer from two churches, that is, different liturgical wordings of the Lords Prayer. Each

of the evangelists transmits to us the wording of the Lords Prayer as it was prayed in his church at that time.

6Ibid.

7Ibid.

8Gerald Bray, Yours is the Kingdom: A Systematic Theology of the Lords Prayer (Nottingham, England:

InterVarsity Press, 2007), pp 14-25.


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which was intended from the very beginning. He does the same thing on subjects like anger,

revenge, love, prayer, giving, fasting, etc. To miss this interplay Jesus has with the Jewish

literature of His day is to miss something very important going on here with His disciples. He

shows respect for the liturgy, builds upon it where it is thoroughly biblical and/or faithful to the

original Hebrew passages on the issues. But He also feels free to demolish that liturgy and the

theology behind it wherever it covers up Gods original intention. This is because He is the Lordand the Savior-King who has come to fulfill all the Old Testament, thereby rescuing His people

from sin, consequently setting up His rule as King over a True Exodus Kingdom.

In the rest of this article, I want to unpack five reasons why Jesus held is the only real authority

for learning about prayer. The first two deal with His position and His practice. The last three

deal with His relationship to the three Old Testament leadership offices: prophet, priest, and

king. The prophets were the authoritative voice of God. The priests were the authoritative

mediation with God. And the kings were the authoritative rule of God. Jesus fulfilled all three

offices, in the sense that He was the consummate, ultimate, perfect prophet, priest and king

out of all who had ever served in any of those offices. This makes Him the prima facie,

summum bonum, the-buck-stops-here teacher on prayer.

Jesus is the Teacher of Prayer Because of His Position

In his little book, Praying the Lords Prayer, Terry Virgo writes, *W+hen it comes to teaching the

subject, noneknows better how to instructus in prayer than our Lord Jesus Christ.9

There

are two main reasons for this, as Virgo explains.

First, Jesus is the best teacher on prayer because Hes the onlyTeacher who is one with theFather. Hes the only Teacher who is God in a human body. Jesus taught the following truths

about His relationship to and with the Father:

I and the Father are one (John 10:30)

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.

From now on you do know him and have seen him

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. (John 14:7, 9).

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me

Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me (John 14:10, 11).

Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me,

that they may be one, even as we are oneThe glory that you have given me I have given to

them, that they may be one, even as we are one (John 17:11, 22)

9Terry Virgo, Praying the Lords Prayer(England: Frontier Publishing International, 1987, 1993), p. 14.


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What this plainly tells us is that Jesus and the Father are one. That does not mean they are one

and the same. It just means they are inseparable from one another. This means they are two

different persons making up the same God. This is a difficult concept to grasp, no doubt. But it

is as true as anything else in the Scriptures, despite whatever confusion it may create in our

finite, created minds. Jesus is equal to the Father.

God the Father is a God who loves to be known by His creation. So He is a self-revealing God.

He wants to be known so He reveals Himself to humanity. He did so through creation,

Scripture, prophets, priests, Law, kings, etc. But the ultimate revelation of Himself was in and

through Jesus Christ. Paul writes in Colossians that Jesus Christ was, the image of the invisible

GodFor in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell (Col. 1:15). And to the Philippian

church, Paul also writes about Jesus that, though he was in the form of God, did not count

equality with God a thing to be grasped (Phil. 2:6). Absolutely stunning. To have met with

Him, eaten with Him, prayed with Him, played with Him, and ministered with Him was to have

actually eaten, prayed, played, and ministered with the Father, with God Himself! Amazing!

Thats why John began his first epistle this way:

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen

with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands,

concerning the word of life the life was made manifest, and we have seen it,

and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father

and was made manifest to us that which we have seen and heard we proclaim

also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our

fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. And we are writing

these things so that our joy may be complete (1 John 1:1-4).

True fellowship and complete joy rests on having fellowship with the Father andwith His Son,Jesus Christ. And if true fellowship and complete joy lies there, in that relationship, then so

does prayer. Prayer itself is, in fact, true fellowship and complete joy in a relationship with the

Father and Jesus Christ. And this is just what Jesus came to bring to us from the Father, so that

we could enjoy it with Him and with the Father. Therefore, it stands to reason that if Jesus

came to bring us this true fellowship and complete joy in a relationship with the Father, then

Jesus is really the onlyOne who can teach us how to pray to the Father. Who better to teach us

how to pray to the Father other than the person who is one with Him, equal with Him, and in an

eternal relationship of true fellowship and complete joy with Him?

Jesus was intimately in touch with the Father. He knew Gods character so Hewas fully aware of how the Father would act in different circumstances. He

knew the extent of Gods power and how He wanted to manifest it. He knew

Gods will and how He planned to accomplish it. There is no better teacher than

the one who knows his subject so perfectly.10

10Ibid.


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Theres no one else who can teach you how to pray like Jesus. No other preacher, teacher,

scholar, theologian, pastor, commentator, or author can reallyteach you to pray like Jesus. No

other human being in the history of humanity has ever been equal with the Father. Why then

have you and I found ourselves buying and reading so many books on prayer, and listening to so

many messages on prayer? Unless we have first been taught about prayer from the God-man

who is equal to the Father, all other teaching has no foundation to build upon. We start withlearning how to pray to the Father by learning and obeying the teaching of the Son.

Jesus is the Teacher of Prayer Because of His Practice

The second reason Jesus is the best teacher on prayer is because Jesus actually prayed. I always

get a kick out of the old saying by George Bernard Shaw, Those who can, do. Those who

cannot, teach. Its hilarious to me sometimes that there are so many instructors and

professors and teachers utilizing in their degrees to teach others, when they have actually had

no real experience in the field they are teaching. I suppose some of it has to do withfoundational information. A person doesnt necessarily have to have used math in a career

somewhere in order to teach math.

But I will say this: the teacher who has used math in a wide variety of applications is the teacher

who can help me most, because they can provide real life applications for what are otherwise

just theoretical core classes to be endured toward a degree. Wouldnt you rather have an

experienced teacher any day of the week, over a professor who has had zero experience with

the subject they are handling? Instructors with life experience teach it better, sympathize

better, use it correctly, and turn it from dry, old, crusty theory into mind-stretching, captivating,

useful information that makes me actually like it, want to use it, and push me to learn more.

Jesus is that kind of a teacher, especially when it comes to prayer. He wasnt just a teacher. He

was the prayer warrior! Jesus didnt just teach about prayer. He didpray. And He prayed a

lot! Marks gospel gives us a few insights into the prayer life of Jesus. Check these out and see

how they strike you.

And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a

desolate place, and there he prayed (Mark 1:35). Evidently, Jesus was dug in somewhere

pretty deep, because in the next verse, Simon and those who were with him searched for him,

and they found him and said to him, Everyone is looking for you (v. 36). They were so busy

with ministry, a significant truth had not occurred to them yet. And it happened to be the sametruth that had not occurred yet with Jesus mom and step -father, Joseph. After the feast in

Jerusalem was over, mom and dad left, but Jesus stayed behind. Mary and Joseph had

travelled a full day, and just figured Jesus had been hanging out with other friends or relatives

on the trip back (v. 44). But when they check on him, he was nowhere to be found. So all the

way back to Jerusalem they went to find him. Three days later, they finally found him in the

temple.


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His parents didn't know what to think. "Son," his mother said to him, "why have

you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you

everywhere. But why did you need to search?" he asked. "Didn't you know that I

must be in my Father's house?" But they didn't understand what he meant.

(Luke 2:48-50, NLT).

Mary, Joseph, and Simon Peter all did not get it. Jesus was on a mission from His Father. And

that mission involved being about my Fathers business, as the old King James Version

translates it. During His earthly ministry, clearly prayer was the most significant business from

the Father Jesus had to conduct. Thats why He would get up early, before everyone else, and

get out of town for a few hours to some quiet place, where no one could find Him, so that He

could talk to His Father.

I especially love the context of this passage, because it reminds me so often ofmy own mission

as a minister and leader of a church. My mission is the same as Jesus mission, which was the

same as the Fathers mission.

11

Our mission is to seek and save the lost, and to minister to thenations the power of God in the gospel. Jesus was doing just this in the first days of His

ministry. In Mark 1:29 and following, we see Jesus healing people everywhere. Mark writes,

That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were

brought to Jesus. The whole town gathered at the door to watch. So Jesus

healed many people who were sick with various diseases, and he cast out many

demons (Mark 1:32-34, NLT).

It was after a day of extremely intense ministry that we get to verse 35 about Jesus getting up

early in the morning. In short, Jesus was a human being who got tired from the demands of

ministry. And He knew what I know all too well, and that is that ministry will take up as much

time as I give it. Jesus, however, knew something so many of us church leaders have a hard

time learning, and that is that I should say yes to prayer with the Father, far more than I say

yes to ministry opportunities. In fact, I should say no to many ministry opportunities, for

one main reason: prayer with the Father is the most significant part of the mission I am on. Per

Terry Virgo,

Jesus life was packed with activity. God had anointed *Him+ with the Holy

Spirit and power and was with him (Acts 10:38) in all He did. He triumphed as

a man, yet He never worked independently of the Father. He openly declared:

the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Fatherdoing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does (John 5:19). If Jesus

had not kept in touch with God through prayer, He would have been acting on

His own initiative. But this was not Gods way. He wanted to tell His Son what to

11 See Praying the Mission (1): The Father as the Foundation of the Mission.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/38833115/Praying-The-Mission-1-The-Father-as-the-Foundation-of-the-Missionhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/38833115/Praying-The-Mission-1-The-Father-as-the-Foundation-of-the-Missionhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/38833115/Praying-The-Mission-1-The-Father-as-the-Foundation-of-the-Missionhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/38833115/Praying-The-Mission-1-The-Father-as-the-Foundation-of-the-Mission


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do and because of this, Jesus placed top priority on His secret relationship with

Him.12

Thats why we read elsewhere in Mark that Jesus, went up into the hills by himself to pray

(6:46). And in Luke, we find Jesus praying even longer before He chose His apostles: One day

soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. Atdaybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles (6:12 -

13, NLT). Again Terry Virgo comments, bringing us back to my main thrust on this point.

Jesus knew that it was only when He had received from His Father that He could

pass anything on to the people. The best teacher not only knows his subject, he

has had personal experience of it

The God-man with the most experience in prayer, and with the deepest relationship with the

Father to whom we pray is the onlyExpert to whom I should look to learn how to pray. Thats

why Jesus is the Teacher on prayer.

Moving on the last three reasons as to why Jesus is the greatest Teacher on prayer, when we

look at the Old Testament leadership offices of prophet, priest and king, we find all of them

communing with God. The prophet communed with God in order to communicate Gods will to

the people. The priest communed with God in order to communicate Gods forgiveness and

instruction to the people. And the king communed with God in order to communicate Gods

rule and reign to the people. Obviously, the Old Testament is rippled with stories of unfaithful

prophets, priests, and kings. But the beautiful thing is that the Father sent the Son to be the

once-and-for-all perfect fulfillment of these offices, since no one before Him could do that.

When we come to a text like Luke 11:1 and put ourselves in the shoes of the disciple who asked

for teaching from Jesus on how to pray, we see him addressing Jesus as Lord. I see that title

as carrying the connotations of all three offices. Essentially, that disciple was asking

Lord Jesus, as the greatest Prophet,

could you teach us what Gods will is in prayer?

Lord Jesus, as the greatest High Priest,

could you teach us how You mediate between us and God in prayer?

Lord Jesus, as the King of the Universe,

could you teach us about Gods reign and rule on earth?

Id like to attempt to break each of these down in the rest of this chapter. They are marvelous,

and have heightened my view of Jesus Christ all the more as my prayer-teacher. I trust it will do

the same for you, too.

12Virgo, p 15.


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Jesus is the Teacher of Prayer Because Hes God

First, Jesus was the consummate prophet. Prophets in the OT spoke for God. Jesus was God,

so this made Him the prophet. As the voice for God and ofGod, He was the authority on God.

Understanding this helps us understand the request from one of the disciples to teach them

how to pray. Luke is the one who records the disciples request for Jesus to teach them how topray. We dont know which one of the twelve it was, or if it was another disciple altogether.

Regardless, what we do know is that, 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

(Luke 11:1).

The request begins with a title: Lord. Originally, this was a title given by John the Baptist to

Jesus (Matt. 3:3; Luke 3:4). It was also the title Jesus Himself gave to God (Matt. 4:7, 10; 5:33;

9:38; 11:25; 21:9, 42; 22:37, 44; Luke 4:8, 12, 18, 19; 10:2, 21; 20:42-44). Finally, it was the title

Jesus gave to Himself (Matt. 7:21, 22; 22:43-45).

Putting it all together, these texts make it obvious that the title Lord makes Jesus equal with

God, so that Jesus is actually God Himself. When the disciples addressed Him, Lord, asking

Him to teach them how to pray, this was a realization on their part that they believed they were

asking God Himself to teach them how to pray. And I would venture to say that everyone else

in Matthews gospel who addressed Jesus as Lord believed He was God.13

It makes complete

sense then that the best person to go to in order to learn about prayer is God Himself.

Now this brings up an interesting point that must be addressed here, because its one that has

been quite lacking in much preaching and writing. As a result, it has produced generations of

Christians who have trouble being told what to do by a higher authority than themselves.

When we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord, that He is God Himself, and when we acknowledge

that and call Him that, it also makes sense that we would do what He says. The title Lord

carries an inherent meaning of authority, and therefore the inherent response that I will obey

and submit. His title throughout much of the New Testament is Lord Jesus Christ, so it is a

completely ridiculous notion that one can supposedly accept Jesus Christ as Savior but not as

Lord. As the old clich goes, Hes either Lord ofall, nor not Lord atall. Of course, in reality Hes

really Lord over me and everything else in the universe whether or not I care to acknowledge it

and submit to it.

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, the inherent understanding was

that they would actually do what He taught them to do. So lets stop at this point and make the

138:2, 6, 8, 21, 25; 9:28; 14:28, 30; 15:22, 25 27; 16:22; 17:4, 15; 18:21; 20:30, 31, 33; 21:9; 25:11, 37, 44;

26:22. Luke 5:8, 12; 7;6; 9:54, 59, 61; 10:17, 40; 11:1; 12:41; 13:23; 17:5, 37; 18:41; 19:8, 34; 22:33, 38, 49; 24:34.

As for Matt. 7:21-22, it could be argued that these people did in fact recognize Jesus as God but simply did not

obey Him as such, if for no other reason than that is the point of the text: Not everyone who says to me, Lord,

Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (See also

Luke 6:46-49). This is what made their sin all the more confusing and condemning, to recognize God in their midst

but choose not to obey Him.


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comparison right here: if you say youre a disciple of Christ, and if you call Him Lord is it

inherently part of your thinking that you will just do whatever He says without question or

doubt? If so, then youre not allowing His Lordship to genuinely function in your life. Youre

deciding when, where, why, and how you submit to His Lordship. Youre obeying on your own

terms, and not on His, which more or less makes you the lord of your life, instead of Jesus.

This point carries much weight before we even get into the Lords Prayer itself, for one

important reason: if we are truly disciples of Christ we will inherently want to obey Jesus and

pray like He taught us to pray. We will not want to make up our own formulations and

strategies for prayer. People do this all the time for two main reasons. First, they like to be

always coming up with new stuff. Second, new stuff always sells better than old stuff. Its

easier and more profitable to come up with new stuff on prayer. But to call Jesus Lord is do

do what He said when it comes to prayer.

I can tell you from firsthand experience the joy and peace that comes in submission to Jesus as

Lord when it comes to praying the way He taught. For years my prayer experiences have been

largely frustrating and confusion. Its like there was this grand ideal of what prayer should look

like in my mind, but when it came down to actually doing it I got distracted, confused,

frustrated, discouraged, and eventually so depressed I just didnt pray for long periods of time.

I wasnt measuring up to this ideal I had.

But do you know where the ideal came from? It came from all the biographies Id read about

godly men and women, missionaries, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc. Id read about their

prayer life, compare mine to theirs, make notes on what I felt like I needed to change, attempt

to make the change, only to hit a brick wall of confusion, frustration, etc. and the whole cycle

would begin again. Each time Id read another biography Id fall into the trap of thinking that

this new thing Id discovered in their life was where it was reallyat. So Id try once more, onlyto again fall into the cycle.

Youd have thought I might have learned my lesson. But legalisms powerful hold through

comparison is almost inconceivable. Perhaps youve been in the inescapable tractor beam of

legalism before, too. If so, you can relate to what Im saying. Its an endless, cyclical nightmare

of comparison and change which never reallyleaves you with any real sense of confidence

when it comes to your prayer life. Your security in prayerMY security in prayer, rested largely

on whether or not I was doing prayer the way these other people were. And since I thought

they were pretty godly people, I figured Id be as godly as they, or at least on the way there, if

my prayer life was like theirs.

But these men and women are not Lord! Jesus is! And the Lord Jesus teaches us to pray, not

these godly men and women. (And if they were alive today, theyd probably slap me for ever

looking to them for teaching on prayer instead of looking to Jesus first!) If your testimony now

is like mine several years ago, its because youre not recognizing the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

When you do, you ask the same thing as the disciples did, and you do what the disciples did.

You listen to Jesus teaching on prayer as if it were the most significant teaching on prayer ever


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written (because it is), and then you DO it that way. You do it His way, not yours, and not

someone elses. HE is Lord.

So the first step to praying is acknowledging Jesus Christ to be Lord. It is to acknowledge Him as

the ultimate source on how to pray and what to pray about. It is nottreating what He said

about prayer as just another great teaching on the Christians prayer life. It is handling thisprayer as THE quintessential, inspired, most monumental teaching on prayerever. And it is

doing it the way Jesus said to do it. Thats how you treat Jesus as Lord when it comes to prayer.

When I started praying like Jesus was Lord of my prayer life, I started praying like He taught me

to pray. And I can tell you that so much of the distraction, confusion and frustration almost

immediately disappeared in my heart and mind. All of the praying I did before was with anxiety

and worry, never knowing for sure if I was doing it the right way. So Id just sort of grunt my

way through it, hoping the Holy Spirit would just fill in the gaps. And to be sure, He was doing

just that (Rom. 8:26, 27)! But the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9, 11)! Jesus said,

He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 15:14). Its

amazing how mystical and complex we turn something like praying in the Spirit to be. The

Spirit wants to glorify Jesus Christ, which means the very first place Hes gonna point us in

prayer is the place where Jesus taught us how to pray. So the Spirit was eventually moving me

toward glorifying Jesus Christ by praying the way Jesus taught me to pray. Thats how He

calmed my soul and helps me pray.14

I recall those first days of making the switch. Id get to my office, put my stuff down, and go to

another part ofthe office where I would not be distracted. Id get on my knees, throw all other

thoughts out of my head (fighting hard throughout the process to keep them out), and just start

worshiping God for being my Father. I spent time blessing Him for His fatherly work in my life,

for the way He loves me and treats me, remembering how patient He is with me, etc. Id thenspend time thanking Him and worshiping Him that I had been called to be a part of His huge

family, so that I could call Him Our Father. That would then occupy my worship. Scriptures

would come to mind about this truth which Id use to exalt God. Then songs would come to

mind.

Id stay right there, worshiping and blessing and thanking God for being my Father, until I either

ran out of stuff, or until my heart was led by the Spirit to bless God for all it means for Him to

14This is not to downplay or dismiss in anyway the teaching of the Holy Spirits intercession for us in

prayer as taught in Rom. 8:26, 27. There, Paul is essentially teaching that when we dont know how to pray as we

ought, due to the sufferings we experience while we wait on God to redeem our bodies and this fallen world, we

just end up sort of groaning through the process. And it is there, in that moment, that the Holy Spirit takes our

groanings in prayer and then translates and interprets them to the Father who then hears and answers the

upgraded prayers of the Holy Spirit. The beauty there is that the Father is always going to answer any prayer

offered to Him by His Holy Spirit. Therefore, the emphasis is that we willget our prayers answered by the Father,

because the Spirit turns our weak prayers into prayers that are in alignment with the will of God. And there, by the

way, is the missing connection we always seem to neglect in the famous Romans 8:28 verse. God is working all

things out for good because the Spirit is always interceding in our prayer lives!


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be in heaven. Id meditate on His sovereignty, rulership, transcendence, omnipresence,

omnipotence, immutability, and all these incommunicable attributes which make God who

He is.15

Thats essentially what the phrase means, who is in heaven.

Following, Id spend time hallowing Gods name. Jesus wants that to happen, so I prayed for

it. Well get into this in subsequent weeks, but suffice it to say here that God is interested invindicating His name throughout the world as a miracle-worker and nation-gatherer. So I

prayed that God would produced fresh waves of signs and wonders, just like He did in the OT

and NT. That would lead me to recount those stories back to God and praise Him for His work

then, compelling me to ask Him for all that again today.16

I would then recount His love for the

nations, and His miraculous work among the nations as the authentication and motivation to

leave their worthless lifestyles and deities to worship the true God. That would in turn lead me

to pray for the nations, as the Spirit led, so that God would save them.17

I could go on and on about how I prayed the Lords prayer. Ill have more teaching and

recommend more resources later on when we get to that part of our series. Just know that

what Im telling you from personal experience is that when you decide to submit yourself to the

Lordship of King Jesus in praying the way He taught you to, the fog of frustration and clouds of

confusion in your prayer life will quickly be blown elsewhere. Theres just something about

good, ole fashioned submission that seems to make things simpler and less complex. When you

give the what and how to Jesus to figure out for you, little issues like the when and where sort

of figure themselves out, and the how gets much easier.

Jesus is the Teacher of Prayer Because Hes the Only Mediator

The second office that makes Jesus the only teacher of prayer is His priesthood.

15 Incommunicable Attributes is a theological phrase that describes all the ways that God is notlike us.

It works through all the ways in which God is different from us. A very helpful resource along these lines is the ESV

Study Bible chart on the Practical Implications of the Incommunicable Attributes of God and the Practical

Implications of the Communicable Attributes of God found online at

http://www.esvstudybible.org/sb/objects/chart-doctrine-06-07.htmlor on page 2512 of the ESV Study Bible

(Wheaton: Crossway, 2008). To dig and pray deeper into the incommunicable attributes of God, study Chapter 11:

The Character of God: Incommunicable Attributes inSystematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine

by Wayne Grudem (Wheaton: Crossway, 1994),pp. 156 ff.

16A quick story from one of the miracle stories in the OT or NT is helpful to spur me on in praying for

Gods name to be hallowed among the nations. Another helpful resource is a quick story fromThe Miracles and

Manifestations of the Holy Spirit in the History of the Churchby Jeff Doles (Steffner, FL: Walking Barefoot

Ministries, 2008).

17 Jason Mandryks brand new, updated version of Patrick Johnstones classic work, Operation Worldis

available now asOperation World 2010: The Definitive Prayer Guide to Every Nation(Biblical Publishing, 2010).
http://www.esvstudybible.org/sb/objects/chart-doctrine-06-07.htmlhttp://www.esvstudybible.org/sb/objects/chart-doctrine-06-07.htmlhttp://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=MGVCH3ztklgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+miracles+and+manifestations+of+the+holy+spirit&hl=en&ei=Ut21TKPuI4bGlQfSzdXsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=MGVCH3ztklgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+miracles+and+manifestations+of+the+holy+spirit&hl=en&ei=Ut21TKPuI4bGlQfSzdXsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=MGVCH3ztklgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+miracles+and+manifestations+of+the+holy+spirit&hl=en&ei=Ut21TKPuI4bGlQfSzdXsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=MGVCH3ztklgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+miracles+and+manifestations+of+the+holy+spirit&hl=en&ei=Ut21TKPuI4bGlQfSzdXsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://www.amazon.com/Operation-World-Definitive-Prayer-Nation/dp/1850788626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286987225&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Operation-World-Definitive-Prayer-Nation/dp/1850788626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286987225&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Operation-World-Definitive-Prayer-Nation/dp/1850788626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286987225&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Operation-World-Definitive-Prayer-Nation/dp/1850788626/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1286987225&sr=1-1http://books.google.com/books?id=MGVCH3ztklgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+miracles+and+manifestations+of+the+holy+spirit&hl=en&ei=Ut21TKPuI4bGlQfSzdXsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=MGVCH3ztklgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=the+miracles+and+manifestations+of+the+holy+spirit&hl=en&ei=Ut21TKPuI4bGlQfSzdXsBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://books.google.com/books?id=DA8xl4eagDcC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&dq=incommunicable+attributes&source=bl&ots=hBYEF9S-QX&sig=nQWmOyAwmGCCK70d8eH5DVUSTJA&hl=en&ei=Dtq1TKqaA4yssAPs4J2TCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&sqi=2&ved=0CDoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=http://www.esvstudybible.org/sb/objects/chart-doctrine-06-07.html


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Jesus is Teacher of Prayer Because Hes the Savior-King

The third office Jesus held which made Him the only real authority from which to learn how to

pray is His Kingship. Jesus was a prophet, a priest, and a king, in fulfillment of the offices, as

well as in fulfillment of every single person who had ever operated in any of those offices. As

the greatest King of kings, and Lord of lords who had ever lived, or ever would live, Jesus hasthe supreme right to reign and rule over everything. Yet because He was a prophet and a

priest, He was a differentkind of King.

Recognizing Him as Lord meant they recognized Him as King. He had after all, come to

inaugurate His kingdom on earth, and the Sermon on the Mount was His inauguration speech

about the nature of the kingdom. Nathanael recognized this, as did the other disciples, no

doubt. When meeting Jesus for the first time, Nathanael exclaimed, Rabbi, you are the Son of

God! You are the King of Israel! (John 1:49). So for the disciples, Jesus being Lord was the

same as Jesus being King. They were synonymous titles for the disciples.

King of Israel to a Jew translated into Savior of Israel. During the four hundred year silent

period between Malachi (the last book of the OT) and Matthew (the first book of the NT), a

theology had developed with the post-exilic Jews that the prophesied Messiah would come and

deliver them once and for all from the tyrannical rules of countries like Babylon, Assyria, Persia,

Greece, and eventually Rome. The latter kingdom is the place in world history where we find

the birth of Christianity. The Jews hated any kingdom ruling over them, so they were looking

for the promised Messiah to come, destroy the pagan kingdom ruling over them, and

reestablish the kingdom of Israel on the earth, and rule over it personally as their King. This

King would also function therefore, as the Savior of Israel.

This is how Jews thought of a Messiah King during the time period when they had just returned

from exile in Babylon. The walls and temple had been rebuilt and restored, and they were now

a nation trembling beneath the burden of making sure they dont go into exile again. For them,

a return to Jerusalem was like a New Exodus. Throughout this time period they had in mind

their first Exodus, when through the leadership of Moses God miraculously delivered them

from bondage in Egypt under the dictator, Pharaoh. Now, in this New Exodus, they had been

providentially delivered - through the leadership of Cyrus, Nememiah, Ezra and others from

bondage in Persia (formerly Babylon) under two not-so-tyrannical dictator-kings, Artaxerxes

and Cyrus. Israel didnt want to screw things up again, so they buckled down and got serious

about the Law of God again while looking forward to this promised Messiah-King that Isaiah18

and others19

had prophesied about many years earlier.

We think of Savior today in terms of salvation from sin. But the Jew of Jesus day was looking

primarily to salvation from pagan kings. However, the Old Testament promises of the New

18Isaiah 2:4; 9:5.

19Zechariah 9:9; Micah 5:2; Psalm 2, 110.


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Covenant pointed to the deeper need of salvation from sin, which, historically in the Bible, was

what put them under the yoke of bondage to other kingdoms to begin with. In a sense, the Old

Testament was essentially promising that when the internal constraints of sin were broken and

forgiven, the external constraints of pagan kingdoms wouldnt really matter, because the

message of the gospel could and would overcome them. It was in this way that the kingdom

would come to earth and that the King would reign through His family of born again andadopted sons and daughters, also called the church. Eventually, the King Himself will return

one day and finalize and consummate His Kingdom. But until then, His church is carrying out

His rule on earth with the scepter of the gospel message.

When the disciples asked the Lord to teach them how to pray, they were asking a King how to

pray now that the Kingdom had been inaugurated. To be sure the Holy Spirit had not yet come

whose function, according to Jesus was to take what He said and explain it to them (John

14:26; 15:26-27; 16:13-15) and therefore the dots had not yet been connected for them

regarding the full significance of the person and work of Jesus. This happened for the disciples

in Luke 24:13-49, prior to His ascension, and even more so after Pentecost when the work of

the Holy Spirit progressed and culminated in the New Testament. Nevertheless, what Im

saying is that even prior to this illuminating work of the Holy Spirit, there was sense among the

disciples that the Lord Jesus was also the King of Israel, the one whom they expected to come

and deliver Israel from bondage and be her promised Savior.

In Jesus, they recognized a King who delivered Israel from exile in Egypt in the first Exodus, and

from exile in Babylon, Assyria, and Persia in the New Exodus. And now they were looking to

Him as the ultimate and final Savior in the True Exodus.20

It would be very natural therefore,

for them to want to know what to expect, how to behave, and how to pray in this True Exodus

Kingdom. So they come to Him as Lord, looking for teaching as a Rabbi, and wanting orders

from Him as Savior-King.

My point for us is simple. Do we look at Jesus teaching on how to pray as orders from the

Savior-King? Do we look at the prayer from inside the context of a True Exodus Kingdom, ruled

by the Savior-King who has come as the final deliverer from any and all bondage? Or do we

look at it from the outside, as a series of phrases to be theologically analyzed, understood, and

appreciated? Do we understand the prayer as taught by the One who has tied together all of

history in His saving, redemptive plan? Or do we read and study and pray it as another valuable

nugget given to us by the Greatest Teacher who ever lived?

Perhaps the difference is confusing to you. But consider this. Of the two-dozen plus (andgrowing) resources Ive used to study the Lords Prayer, only two recognize the prayer as taught

by a Savior-King of a True Exodus Kingdom people. And of those two, only one really seems to

understand the implications that this historical-redemptive theology has not only on the prayer,

but for the people who pray it. The fact that the prayer is being taught by a Savior-King who

was personally and perfectly embodying the OT history of Israel in Exodus, and the fact that this

20 See Introduction: The Lords Prayer as a Biblical Theology for the True Exodus in this series.


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prayer is taught in the middle of His inaugural kingdom speech, and the fact that the prayer is

taught to His disciples who were the first citizens of this True Exodus Kingdom, all together

means the prayer is intended by Lord King Jesus to be much more than a formula or system of

praying the right truth about God.

The prayer is taught by a Savior-King who had inaugurated the Kingdom as a part of the missionHis Father had sent Him on.

21That mission was the True Exodus. It was to save His people

from their sins (Matt. 1:21). It was to proclaim good news to the poorproclaim liberty to the

captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to

proclaim the year of the Lords favor (Luke 4:18-19). It was to seek and save the lost (Luke

19:10). It was to gather and unify a people for His Father (John 17).

The implications of the prayer as taught to us by a Savior-King are all missional then. We look

to King Jesus to teach us how to pray in the True Exodus Kingdom because this Kingdom is all

about a mission. The mission is the same for us as it was for Jesus, except that His death, burial,

resurrection, and ascension guarantee the overwhelming success of our mission. The question

then is this: As disciples of Jesus, do we listen to His teaching on prayer as a Savior-King, and

therefore pray as those who understand our function in the True Exodus Kingdom? Do we pray

as those who seek to have a full sense and comprehension of the mission King Jesus has put us

on? Do we look to learn about prayer from Jesus as a Savior-King who has included us as a part

of the bigger plan to tie all of history up together in His salvation plan? We want to think this

way about Jesus when we look to Him and listen to Him and learn from Him how we should

pray.

Conclusion

21 See Praying the Mission (1): The Father as the Foundation of the Mission in this series.

praying the mission (1): jesus christ, our only teacher on how to pray (under revision)

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