ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN

Matthew 6:9-13

Sermon in a sentence: things happen when you pray that don’t happen when you don’t pray

An apologetic for prayer
1. one of our best Oregon writers is John Daniel. He studied with Wallace Stegner in the writing program at Stanford University. He writes essays & poems. His latest book – Rogue River Journal – recounts the 5 months he spent in the winter of 2001 living alone in a cabin overlooking the Rogue River in southern Oregon.

2. though he’s not a church go-er or a professed Christian, in the book he writes one of the best apologetics for prayer that I’ve ever read – I do pay attention to experience, and experience tells me that to pray may not be an unreasonable thing to do.

And then he recounts answers to prayer in his life – while his mother was suffering & dying and while he was in a near accident driving on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in a thunderstorm. His point – things happen when he prays that don’t happen when he doesn’t pray.

He shares his discipline of prayer. He meditates & prays as soon as he wakes up in the morning. He gives thanks for food, the day, the silence, the river, the wake-up call of his brain directed to his little finger and not to his ankle or leg or skull.

He feels uneasy praying for himself. In his own words: "then I realized that I didn’t have to ask anything for myself. I realized I’ve got a wife at home whose safety and happiness I very much desire. I’ve got a brother and a niece and two young-adult step sons, one of them to be married this summer. Oh yeah…I have in-laws in their eighties, one of them taking treatment for prostate cancer. I have two young friends expecting their first baby, another couple separated and maybe divorcing. I have a three-year old friend whose drawing of a bear hangs on the wall to my side as I write. I’ve got a lot to pray for."

3. his whole apologetic for prayer is based on his experience of answered prayer and his conviction that prayer changes things, therefore, he’s going to pray for those closest & dearest to him.

Lord, teach us to pray
1. Luke 11:1 tells us that the disciples of Jesus asked him to teach them to pray. Think of this – there is no record in the gospels of the disciples ever asking Jesus to teach them to preach/teach, or lead, or counsel, or heal, or cast out demons. Only, Lord, teach us to pray. Why, teach us to pray?

2. I line myself up with Darrell Johnson on this one in his book on the Lord’s Prayer – perhaps it is because they could see that Jesus’ leading, counseling, healing, casting out demons, and teaching ministry emerged out of his relationship with his ‘Father.’ And they could see that the key to that relationship was prayer. Jesus, after all, was always slipping away to pray (but Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed – Luke 5:16).

3. the key to Jesus’ life was his prayer life. We want to learn how to pray like Jesus. Lord, teach us to pray.

4. and Jesus taught them to pray. The Lord’s changes the way we understand God, ourselves, and the world. This morning I want to focus our attention on the words at the middle of the prayer – on earth as it is in heaven.

The dignity of causality
1. this prayer is at the center of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus’ sermon describes what happens when the kingdom of God breaks into our lives & takes hold of us – kingdom ethics, lifestyle.

2. at the center of the Lord’s Prayer is this phrase – on earth as it is in heaven. The living God has a passion to bring the reality of heaven on earth. For example, right now in heaven the Father’s name is being hallowed, his kingdom is being actualized, and his will is being perfectly done. So be it on earth!

3. to pray the Lord’s prayer is to participate in heaven’s invasion of earth. This prayer is meant to change the world! Jesus was a kingdom subversive. He was a revolutionary. His very first gospel words spell this out – The time has come. The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news (Mark 1:14).

4. Jesus came to change the world. To change our lives. To change the social order. He came to bring heaven to earth. And prayer is how that change is fueled.

5. I want to introduce you to a phrase that the mathematician-philosopher-Christian Blaise Pascal uses of prayer – ‘the dignity of causality.’

6. Pascal meant that when we pray, God uses our prayers to bring about the fulfillment of his kingdom purposes. When we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we participate with God in the transformation of the world.

7. we have dignity – God gives us a hugely important role to play. He calls us to pray. We experience causality – our prayers make a difference. Things happen when you pray that don’t happen when you don’t pray.

8. Father, may your name be lifted up on earth as it already is in heaven – may your kingdom come on earth as it has fully come in heaven – may your will be done on earth as it is fully done in heaven – give us this day our daily bread on earth just as all of our needs are met in heaven – forgive us our debts on earth just as they are fully forgiven in heaven – lead us not into temptation on earth just as we are free of temptation in heaven – deliver us from evil on earth just as heaven has been delivered of all evil.

9. the Lord’s Prayer is all about bringing heaven to earth right now. In this prayer Jesus wanted to teach us that from the human side of things – our prayers – we can make a difference. We can move history. On earth as it is in heaven.

10. prayer is where the sovereignty of God interacts with the prayers of his people to bring about his coming kingdom. God himself has willed that our prayers shall assist him in his heavenly/earthly mission.

11. things happen when you pray that don’t happen when you don’t pray…because prayer brings the presence & power of heaven to earth.

12. Friday morning I met with 19 teachers in John VanAcker’s classroom at Trost School. I was invited to lead a prayer meeting. As I listened to those teachers pray, I heard in some of their voices the conviction that their prayers were going to make a difference in their school this coming year. Why? On earth as it is in heaven. They were calling down God & his goodness, faithfulness & power upon their school.

Opportunities to pray
1. 1st, sign up to pray for an hour prayer in our 48 hours of prayer this Friday & Saturday.
* moving into our new schedule on September 18
* 4 opportunities awaiting us as a church
a) clarification of CAC direction
b) shape of our new building
c) staffing – Kyle candidating
d) people

2. 2nd, sign up to be a part of a CAC prayer team for Praying For You. We are 1 of 8 Canby-area churches doing this. 10,000 cards were mailed out earlier this week. As prayer needs come back to us we need a team of people to pray for them.