~1ERYSTORIES-2Desmond Ford

When Jesus' disciples asked him to teachthem to pray, he taught them the Lord's Prayer. Although

this prayer is for the believer, and tells us we are God's children, italso teaches us that we are sinners, and don't know what to pray

for. Intriguingly, the Prayer is a summary of the fourGospels-in reverse.

;Asushad been praying, and the disciples came tohim. One of them asked, "Lord, teach us to pray"Some commentators suggest we take that veryliterally The request was not, "Teach us how to

pray," but, "Teach us to pray."Jesus did both. He said, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father'"

and he gave them a prayer to pray:

One of his disciples said unto him, "Lord, teach usto pray, as John also taught his disciples."

And he said unto them, "When ye pray, say,'Our Father which art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins;for we also forgive every one that

is indebted to us.And lead us not into temptation;

but deliver us from evil.'" (Luke 11:1-4 KJV)

Our identity in the Lords PrayerTo pray correctly, we must know about the name of God andour own name.

Please note that this prayer tells us our name and identityWho are we? When we pray, "Our Father," it means we are

God's children."Hallowed be thy name" means we are God's worshipers."Thy kingdom come," means we are subjects, or citizens

of God's kingdom. ,"Thy will be done" means we are God's servants."Forgive us our sins" means that we are sinners before

God."Lead us not into temptation" means we are frail creatures."Deliver us from evil" means we are an endangered

species."For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory"

(Matthew 6: 13) means we are "trustors."

We do not know what to pray forWho are we? We are children of God. We are worshipers. We

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are subjects. Servants. (Let's not pretend God is our servant; weare his servants.) We are sinners. (I'd better be careful how Ipray because a sinner hasn't much sense.) Paul wrote, "We donot know what we ought to pray for" (Romans 8:26 NIV).

I was once in a prayer circle of Pentecostal ministers.There were many pious, godly men among them. They werepraying and asking for all kinds of things, and I voiced myconcern.

I said, "I wonder how it is we can be so dogmatic thatwe're going to have our specifics answered when the apostlePaul says we don't even know what we should pray for."

They were open enough to say, "Yes, that's worthconsidering. "

Some Pentecostalists are very strong on "Name-It-and-Claim-It" theology. But if Paul says we don't know what weshould pray for, we need to be very careful. The Lord's Prayerreminds us that we are faulty sinners.

Prayer for the twice-bornThe Lord's Prayer also gives me a description of what I am-achild of God. How wonderful I This prayer is only for thetwice-born. You cannot pray it until you are converted.

No unconverted person ever says, "Thy will be done."What the unconverted person says is, "My will be done." Theunconverted person says to God, "It's not your will, it's mine."At the end of life, God will say, "Yes, not my will but thine.Good-bye."

We are sinners and frail sinners at that. We need help. Weare in danger. "Lead us not into temptation." We're anendangered species.

And the only way out is to be trustors. "Deliver us.""Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory" "Thine isthe glory" That suggests something about how meek andloving we should be.

Summary of the Gospels in reverseThe Lord's Prayer is a summary of the four Gospels. Matthew,Mark, Luke, and John are summed up in this prayer.

But in reverse.The prayer begins with a summary of John's Gospel, the

last Gospel.The first part of the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father which art in

heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy willbe done" is a summary of Johns Gospel.

One way to study a book is to find the key words."Believe" is one of the key words in John's Gospel. It occurs injust about every chapter, about 100 times. But "Father" beatsthat; John's Gospel mentions God as "Father" 120 times.

It is in John's Gospel that we read 28 times about the willof God. And in John's third chapter, we learn about how weenter the kingdom of God.

"Our Fatherwhich art in heaven,

hallowed be thy name.Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, as inheaven, so in earth.

Give us day by dayour daily bread.

And forgive us our sins;for we also forgive

everyone that isindebted to us.

And lead us not intotemptation;

but deliver usfrom evil."

(Luke II: 1-4 KJV)

Johns Gospe'Why does the lord's Prayer work from the end backwards?Because John's Gospel is the most mature and developed of thefour Gospels.

The four Gospels point out the transition from Judaism toChristianity. Matthew's Gospel is the most Jewish. It is like asteel clasp, clasping together both Old and New Testaments.(Matthew has 99 references to the Old Testament. That's nottrue of John, luke, or Mark.)

But as you come to John's Gospel, you come into a fullChristian atmosphere in its burgeoning maturity.

The lord's Prayer begins with the Christian essence ofJohn's Gospel about God as "Father." The Jews never prayed toGod as "Father." It was Jesus who came and taught us that

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when we pray, we should pray, "Abba." (The Aramaic word for"Daddy," or "Papa.")

Luke and forgiveness of sinsAs we move on in the lord's Prayer, we find it deals with theforgiveness of sins.

This reminds us of luke's Gospel, which has the most tosay about the sympathizing, compassionate nature of God andhis generosity in forgiving sins. luke's is the Gospel about theoutcast, the lost coin, the lost boy, the lost sheep, and the lostGentile. It's full of compassion and sympathy and forgiveness.When we read the second section of the lord's Prayer about"forgive us our sins," that makes us think about luke.

Marks victory and Matthews kingdomAnd "lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil"makes us think of Mark. Mark is more dynamic as a Gospelthan any of the others. It contains more of the miracles Christperformed when he was fighting the evil of the devil.

Mark is the great Gospel of victory over the adversary.When the lord's Prayer says, "Deliver us from evil," that's asummary of Mark, when mighty miracles take place and Christskingdom of grace is conquering the kingdom of darkness.

Matthew contains the word "kingdom" 56 times. Thelord's Prayer ends with the theme of Matthew: "Thine is thekingdom of heaven."

Our lord's Prayer is a summary of John, luke, Mark, andMatthew-in that order. ,g"o

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