Our Lord's Prayer

 

[The following is a manuscript of my message delivered at Pilgrim Reformed Church on Sunday morning, the 1st of June, 2025.  A recording of our service should be available on our YouTube streaming channel: 

https://www.youtube.com/@pilgrimreformedchurch1992/streams.]

I have a test for you this morning.  What is the Lord’s Prayer, how does it go?  “Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name”, right?  Would you believe me if I told you that is not the Lord’s prayer?  It is the prayer our Lord taught us

According to the Apostle Luke, Jesus had been praying off by Himself.  When He finished, one of His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray like John the Baptist had taught his disciples.  Jesus then proceeded to teach them what we now call the Lord’s Prayer.  The Apostle Matthew also recorded this prayer, but he includes it as part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

And don’t get me wrong - it is a good prayer.  But Jesus intended it as an example for us in how to pray, how our prayers should be structured.  That’s why you’ll sometimes see it referenced as the Model Prayer.  Jesus prayed a lot.  We see this in the Gospel accounts, not necessarily the words He spoke but that He often went off to pray.

So yes, this is the prayer Jesus gave us, but there is another that more closely fits the title of the Lord’s Prayer.  And it must have been overheard by His beloved disciple John.  Please listen and follow along to when our Lord Jesus prayed to His Father God, as recorded in the 17th chapter of the Apostle John’s Gospel account, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Holy Bible this morning.  This is our Lord’s prayer…

1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, 2 as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth.

20 “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

--John 17 (NKJV)

Let us pray…  Heavenly Father, thank You for listening when we pray.  Thank You for listening even when we don’t follow the model Jesus gave us.  Father, we admit that we don’t always take the time to just stop and talk with You.  That’s all You want from us, that we just talk with You, tell You how our day has been, ask for Your help with our troubles.  But too many things in life distract us, demand our attention, keep us from talking to You and listening for Your reply.  Please forgive us these times, Father.  Help us make the time to spend with You so we can grow ever closer to You and our Lord Jesus.

Speak to us now, Father, that we might hear Your voice through Your Spirit within us and better grasp the message You have for us this day.  Please keep us strong in our faith, of one mind and one purpose in our love, our worship, and our service.  And please keep us healthy and safe through these trying times.  This we pray in the precious name of Your Son, Christ Jesus our Lord.   Amen.

Jean McMahon once wrote this amusing little tale for Reader's Digest:

"Attending church in Kentucky, we watched an especially verbal and boisterous child being hurried out, slung under his irate father's arm.  No one in the congregation so much as raised an eyebrow -- until the child captured everyone's attention by crying out in a charming Southern accent, 'Y'all pray for me now!'"

Smart kid - seeking intercession from a higher authority, asking for prayer when events got out of his control.  I can only imagine that laughter ensued, and I bet the preacher had to work hard to get the service back on track.  It’s always a challenge to work with children and animals – you never know what they’re going to do.

You know, though, the kid took a great path in asking for folks to pray for him.  At that particular point, he was not in a good situation.  His father was obviously not feeling very merciful right then, and his patience had completely dissolved.  The boy was in trouble and he knew it.  So he asked everyone to appeal to God on his behalf.

Of course those prayers might not go exactly the way he would want.  Sure, some could pray that the father wouldn’t be too rough on him, but others might pray that the boy learn from this little episode and start behaving better.  Either way, God would listen and answer in the way He knows would be best.

In the first part of our scripture reading, Jesus prays for Himself.  But there’s two things I want you to note here.  The first is that there are only five verses in this section.  Of the 26 verses in this prayer, only five are devoted to Jesus for Himself.  And second, the only thing Jesus is asking for is that He be glorified so that His Father God will be glorified.  That’s pretty selfless, which pretty much defines Jesus.

There’s also an interesting description of eternal life in that short section: to know God.  To know the only true God, and Jesus who was sent from God, is eternal life.  To know Them in the fullest sense, understanding the truth of Them, the way of Them, can only come once we have come to Them in heaven, when everlasting life is indeed ours.

In the second section, Jesus prays for His disciples, those alive at that time and walking with Him.  Jesus was worried about them, worried about how they would handle what was about to occur.

The end is now at hand.  Jesus and His eleven – Judas had already left to put his scheme in play – had just finished their last supper together, left the upper room, and headed to the Mount of Olives.  This is when Jesus went off by Himself to pray, to open up His heart to His Father.  His arrest, trial, torture, and execution would follow in the coming hours.  He sought God’s protection over His followers, His friends, that the Father watch over them and keep them safe, that they be shielded from Satan and his deceitful attacks.  Jesus loved His followers and wanted them to be cared for after He was gone.

I’d like to take just a moment to pick apart the last section of our Lord’s prayer, because this is for us.  This is what Jesus prayed to God for us.

In verse 20, He adds, “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word”.  In the previous section, Jesus prayed for His disciples, primarily for the apostles, but also for all those who were following Him at that time.  Now He is adding in all those who will come to believe in Him through the witness – both verbal and written – of all those living disciples.

We have their words, their witness reports, right here in our Bible, contained in the four Gospel accounts and the many letters written to the early church and to certain individuals by these disciples.  We have read these words, or heard them read, and they have led us to believe.  We – right now, today, 2000 years later – we are the ones Jesus prayed for!

Verses 21, 22, and 23 tell us what He prayed, that we may be one with Him and with our Father God.  If we are all one with Jesus and one with God, then we will also be one with each other!  And truly all believers are one, because we have God’s own Holy Spirit within us, within each of us.  That is our common tie: God’s Holy Spirit.  Jesus prayed that all believers will live, think, and act as one body, one church.

Verse 23 tells why: that we may be made perfect, and that the world may know that Jesus was indeed sent by God.  And also that the world just might see His love at work in us, through us.

In verse 24, we see a hint of the promise of eternal life in heaven, that we may be with Jesus wherever He is.  Jesus wants us to be in heaven with Him, so He asks God to make this happen.  If we’re with Him, then we can behold His God-given glory for ourselves, no longer hidden from our sight, not just something we’ve read about but can now see.

Verses 25 and 26 acknowledge that, while the world does not know God, the truth of God, we do, because Jesus has revealed the truth to us.  He brought us the truth – He is the Truth!   And He closes that prayer with the plea that the love of God - the love with which He loved His own Son - may be in us, with us, and Jesus in us as well.

These are the words that our Lord Jesus prayed to His Father God.  He did not instruct us to pray in this manner, because He had already given us an example to follow.  This was a private conversation between Jesus and God.

Remember how Jesus told us to go into our private room and pray in secret, not as a public spectacle?  Well, this is what He was doing.  I don’t know how John was able to overhear it and record it in his Gospel, but I sure am glad he did, or we would not know how Jesus Himself prayed all those times He went off alone.  It also shows us the even greater depth of Jesus’ love for us.

This prayer was an intimate conversation, concerned more about the welfare of others than for Jesus Himself.  This is how we should pray.  This can be another model for our own prayers, even though Jesus wasn’t using this as an example.  So let’s be sincere in our prayers, remembering how much Jesus loves us, thinking of others more than ourselves, seeking to glorify God in all we do, giving Him the honor and praise He deserves.  All in the blessed name of Christ Jesus our Lord.  Amen.

Let us pray…  Almighty God, thank You for listening to and answering our prayers.  We understand that You don’t always answer us the way we might want You to, but we trust You that You will do what is best for us and everyone else involved.  We know that You work all things to good for those who love You and are called to Your purpose.  We do love You, dear Father, and we try to do as You call us.  It saddens us when we think that there are so many souls who will never accept Jesus as Lord.  And there are many who have not heard of Him, have not been told of all He did and taught.  We admit that we have not done as good a job as we could reaching out to these people.  Too often we find excuses not to carry out our mission of making more disciples.  Sometimes we’re too busy, too distracted.  Sometimes we’re just too hesitant, too afraid of getting it all wrong and doing more harm than good.  Please forgive us those times, dear Father.  Please help us reach out to the lost, to anyone who does not know Jesus as their personal Savior.  Help us be more like Your Son in our love and our ways.  Help us show Your love to others by giving of ourselves, giving of our love freely, unconditionally, sacrificially, just as Jesus gave of Himself for us.  And please help us share our Lord Jesus with others so that they too may be saved by Your mercy and His sacrifice.  

Father, please shield us from Satan as he attacks our faith, trying to make us his own.  Help us be better servants, glorifying You in all we do so that the world can see You in us, through our deeds, in how we live.  And help us remain strong, faithful, and true to You in all things, no matter what comes our way.

Please hear us now, Father, as we pause for just a moment to speak to You through Your Spirit within us, promising to be more obedient to Your commands, and seeking Your help to do so…

Lord Jesus, You gave us an model of the manner that we can structure our prayers, but too often we use it as our only prayer rather than just an example to follow.  Your prayer to Your Father, made in private, gives us an even better example of how we should pray.  Thank You, Jesus, for being so selfless, for putting others ahead of Your own needs.  Lord, we know it disappoints You, but sometimes we struggle to follow the example You gave through Your own life and interactions.  It's so hard to love all people, to give more of ourselves to those who don’t care about us.  And it hurts to admit that too often we hesitate to witness to You and the Gospel.  Please help us in our struggles to show You to the world.  Help us be more like You, loving all others, even those who hate us and wish us harm, without any concern for reward or recognition or even being loved in return.  Help us reach out to the non-believing world, sharing the Gospel message, showing Your love through our love.  Give us the words to say, show us the deeds to do to lead the lost to You.

And Jesus, please shield our minds and our hearts from Satan’s lies and the world’s empty promises.  Guide us around all the devil’s traps and snares.  Help us see though his temptations.  Help us keep our focus on the things of heaven and the needs of others rather than on anything this world might offer.  This we pray in Your blessed name, Christ Jesus our Lord and our Savior.  Amen.