Luke 11:3 “Give us each day our daily bread.” 
 
WHEN a disciple desired to be more as Jesus, he inquired of the Savior, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1) Jesus responded with 1) Address God worshipfully with “Father”. 2) Pray for God’s name to be made holy and reverent in your heart and throughout the world. 3) Pray for the God’s kingdom to come completely to earth. Now 4) Pray for your daily food.
   Some of you reading this know how important a pray plea this is. You see people and children who have too little to eat. You have personally – and perhaps today – wondered, “When will my family eat again?” You, my friends in Africa, sometimes write, “We need food now.”
   In contrast, most of us have been blessed to know we have as much available to us as we desire. How do very different groups of people – some wondering, “Will food be on the table?”  – others expecting food before them as a natural way of life – together pray, “Give us each day our daily bread.” with reverence and supplication to God? 
   Jesus’ teaching here points us to the source of our daily food. Regardless of our circumstances, you are to pray in this manner to confess to God, “You are my Provider. Food comes to me by your hand. I pray your hand will be open today, so I will eat.”
   In this fourth petition, Jesus also reminds the Jews it was God’s hand that kept their ancestors alive in the exodus desert. Exodus 16:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.”  You could say Jesus was still testing his people. As God the Father wanted to see Israel’s faith to go and get the manna each day (but the Sabbath), the Son of God still called on Israel to faithfully trust God for their daily provision of food.
   If you are challenged with too little food, faithfully stay with God. Seek him. Seek his hand to feed you. Pray for God’s provision. Be open to the ways he provides for you. If you have plenty to eat, be aware of who has brought it to your table. All things come from God. Be thankful. Be humble.   
   Also, be content. Notice Jesu didn’t teach us to pray, “Give us all we want.” He taught us to pray for our basic needs. “Give us this day our daily bread.” is a prayer to say, “I have all I need from you, Lord, as food is before me each day.” Keep your mind on the essentials and be pleased in the Lord.
   1 Timothy 6:8-9 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. 
  
Prayer: Father in Heaven, give to me the daily bread to nourish my family and for children who have too little. I pray for physical strength, good health and a strong mind that I may be effective for you. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.

Luke 11:2b “your kingdom come.”
 
DO you really want to pray this? As one of Jesus’ disciples has asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Jesus has responded with 1) Address God relationally with “Father”. 2) Pray for God’s name to be made holy in your heart and throughout the world. Then Jesus taught 3) Pray for the kingdom to come. What does “kingdom come” mean?  
   “Kingdom” is the rule of a king, isn’t it? We know that Jesus came to inaugurate the Kingdom of God on earth with the gospel message. The kingdom became evident through Jesus’ Father-directed and Spirit-powered ministry. God in three Persons was unified in his kingly work. Jesus was the Trinity’s physical form to personally reveal God’s plan to re-establish his full reign over all the earth one day.
   Yes, God is a planner. He knows what his sole earthly rule with look like. And he has graciously given us a view. Many Old Testament scriptures, for example, reveal this fulfilled age. For example: Zechariah 14:9 The Lord will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one Lord, and his name the only name. This is the plan. Jesus teaches us to pray for the plan to be fulfilled.
   Now, you may ask, “As God will complete his plan, why pray for it?” In response, I would encourage you to remember the Lord’s Prayer is to be your prayer. As he answers his disciple’s prayer question, Jesus is instructing all of us to keep our minds thinking forward into God’s ultimate reign on earth. The Lord wants to hear our trusting hearts call on him to come. He desires you speak your faith. Speaking “your kingdom come”, you are telling the Lord, “I long for your reign to be complete throughout the earth again. Eagerly I anticipate the day you will free us from sin, to give our lives unrestrained peace and joy. I give my life you, Lord. I love you and desire to live now into the glorious new Heaven and earth you promise.”
    Yes, “your kingdom come” is an expression of expectant love to the hallowed Father. You are eager to see him face-to-face. You can’t wait to live in the King’s eternal home prepared for you. John 14:2-4 “In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” Great is the love and joy the King offers to all who are saved from sin.
   Now I again ask, “Do you really want to pray this? Will the holy God welcome you with, “Come, my child, into my mansion”? If you do not have such assurance, if you are not ready for the kingdom to come, then it’s time for you to pray to the Father:
 
Prayer: Father in Heaven, you are holy. I confess I am a sinner unworthy to be in your holy presence. Forgive my sins, Lord. Cleanse my heart with Jesus’ blood. I welcome Jesus as Lord of my life. Send your Spirit to dwell within me. I repent of my past. I turn to eagerly meet you face-to-face. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.  

Luke 11:2a Jesus said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name.’”
 
IN response to a disciple asking Jesus, “Lord teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1) our Lord begins to teach what we call “The Lord’s Prayer”. Luke does not record the prayer lesson as in Matthew 6:9-13 “This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.' (and as added in the King James Version “For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.) Some consider these are two different teachings. Matthew’s account is when Jesus taught the crowd at the Sermon on the Mount. Luke’s report is when a disciple privately asked Jesus. Note Jesus didn’t say it the same in the two teachings.
   That brings me to this point on the “Lord’s Prayer”: “Do you pray the Lord’s prayer, or do you pray your prayer?” God wants the latter. Jesus didn’t teach the disciple to pray, so the student would say exactly what the Teacher said. Remember, Jesus is teaching on prayer to reveal God’s character. Praying is not to be a rote rendition but holy conversation. Thus, Jesus gave us words to pray as a model to effectively converse with the Father in Heaven. This prayer is a form for a child of the Living God to use to know the Father in Heaven.
   Praying, then, must begin with addressing the Father. As Jesus teaches us to say, “Father in Heaven” we confess our relationship with him. We worship his reign over our souls and prepare to submit to what he reveals to us. Confessing God as “Father” opens your heart, mind and soul to know his comfort, forgiveness, patience and love. You are praising him for his personal role in your life. You believe he directly affects your life. What’s more, the Father is in Heaven. He is sovereign over all things.  
   From God’s character as Father, Jesus moves us to remember God is holy. “Hallow” means “holy”. “Hallowed” is an action verb that means “to be made or to keep holy”. With “hallowed be your name” you are praying to God he will make and keep his name holy on your lips and throughout all creation. Such prayers tell God you desire to reverently speak, “God”, “Jesus”, “Spirit” and all other names associated with God.  Thus, another way to pray this is: “Holy God, you are my Father in Heaven and the Father of all creation. I pray you make your name always holy on my lips and your name is spoken with reverence throughout the world.”
   Be very careful your prayers are not memorized words, empty of meaning. In such a way, you would be as the expert in the law in Luke 10:25. You would know the words but not know the Lord. Jesus wasn’t teaching what words you should say each time you pray. He was teaching you how to convey your love, worship and as we’ll see, submission to the Father.
 
Prayer: Father in Heaven, keep your name holy in my household. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Luke 10:38-42 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
 
IN our past two lessons, we looked at the Good Samaritan story to see how Jesus teaches us to “do” our love for God and for our neighbors. Now we come to a story that points us also to “not doing”. How do we know when to “do” and when to “not do”?
   Martha’s distracted dilemma is very common in our lives and certainly in Jesus’ church, isn’t it? For example, our culture has made “busy-ness” an idol to worship. Also, churches I have joined, pastored and attended seem to have a religious “be busy” mentality. Many different groups are formed to care for the building, to study the Bible, to tend to the sick, to reach out and to administer the church’s functions. These are all good and necessary ministry things to do. But too often these activities become the church. “We have a good church because we do all these things.” But what happens? Too few people doing too many “Martha jobs” get too busy, too upset and too tired to sit down and be with Jesus. We meet to feed the poor, but we do not feed our “poor spirits” with a gathering of prayer and teaching. We set a worship time, then assign church members to a multitude of tasks while the preacher is preaching. The Lord has come to sit down and be with us. But we only conversation with him is to tell him what is wrong, to blame and to accuse.
   This is the outcome of our relationship with God deteriorating into religion. “But,” you say, “religion is good. I want to be a religious person.” Do you? To be religious is essentially defined as self-centered activities. Anyone can be religious – about reading the Bible, about serving in the church, about following a certain diet, about watching a TV show, about exercising regularly, about worshiping false idols, and about anything you feel you want to do.
   Martha religiously attended to her house. The expert in the law from the Good Samaritan parable religiously memorized Scripture. The Romans were religious about defending Caesar’s absolute authority. The disciples religiously wondered, “Who will be the greatest in the Kingdom of God?” Our culture religiously says, “Do it all at all costs.”
   Jesus came to the world to reform the world out of idolatrous religion back to the love relationship established in Eden. As we saw in the Good Samaritan and we see in this passage, Jesus urged his people to focus on God. He wanted Mr. Expert to learn with a love for God and his neighbors. He wanted Martha to serve loving God and loving her sister. He wants his church to love him above all things – even organizing more ministries. God, who is love, wants you to live in his image.
    Teacher and theologian Dr. R.C. Sproul says it this way: “First we must come to a sound understanding of God. Our lives will never be Christ-like until we have a clear understanding of Christ, the original form, the ideal, the true humanity that is found in Christ.”
    Are you too religious to love God and to love your neighbors as yourself?
 
Prayer: Guide me, Holy Spirit, to sit at Jesus’ feet. I set my love on God and on my neighbors. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

Luke 10:30-37 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ 36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” 37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
 
THIS is Jesus’ answer to an “expert in the law” who asked him two questions. 1) “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” (Luke 10:25) 2) “And who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29) As the Bible says he asked these questions to test Jesus and to “justify himself”, Mr. Expert (as I’ll call him here and tomorrow) was seeking to define God’s commands to his own purposes. He wanted to feel that it was okay, that he was justified to live in God’s law in his own way.
   To lift Mr. Expert out of himself and into the Father, Jesus told a story of a Samaritan. He is a man the Jews would view as culturally unacceptable; yet, it is this unloved  man who acts into God’s love laws. This is one of Jesus’ teaching techniques. He often used people whom the culture viewed as “ungodly” or as “sinners” to awaken Israel to God’s grace. Often it requires radical perspective to open our eyes to the truth.
   And so, Jesus describes how the Samaritan’s actions were an outpouring of, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Luke 10:27)
   Do you wonder, “Does God know I love him? Do my neighbors know I care for them?” May you are uncomfortable or embarrassed to say to God in prayer, “I love you, Lord.” Perhaps you are unsure how to love him more or even at all.
   Listen closely, then, to Jesus’ words here. Sit down with your Bible to examine the Samaritan’s love. Observe how he stops his agenda to enter into God’s purpose. See the Samaritan tenderly offer his money and time to care for a stranger. Model his attitude to sacrifice his possessions for the injured man’s good. See the Samaritan’s “mercy upon him”.
   Mr. Expert began his conversation to affirm his own view of God’s law. Jesus ended the lesson with a new love view for the man to consider:  “Go and do likewise.” is a direct command to Mr. Expert to love God and to love others as he love himself – which, apparently was very much. It is a direct command to you, too.
   More on how you do God’s love: 1 Corinthians 13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 
   Don’t you just love the Lord’s “love laws” for your life?
 
Prayer: Thank you, Father, for your patient, kind, love for me. I pray I do your love as you have done for me. Amen.
 

Luke 10:25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
 
REMEMBER that two days ago we learned our Lord reveals knowledge of himself to whom he chooses. Our years of education, course of study, role in the church or societal position does not teach us to truly know God. Note Paul’s echo of Isaiah’s humble expression of our mind in relationship to God: Romans 11:33-35 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” (Isaiah 40:13)
   Second, please note this, too: Jesus’ questioner here is an “expert in the law”. He knew God’s words, but he did not know a personal relationship with the living “Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (John 1:1b&4). The Word is about to teach an eternal life lesson designed to quicken our hearts to God.
     To do so, Jesus will tell one of his best-known parables – the Good Samaritan. Jesus’ lesson will underscore that it’s time to put down the man-made words defining cultural and religious rules. He will instruct the man – and all of us – to see and do God’s law with a loving heart.
   But here is a third note: there is a barrier around the man’s heart. As the law expert addresses Jesus as “Teacher”, he acts as if he is saying, “I want to learn from you.” He also seems to convey humility with, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” But we know he is testing Jesus.
   Is it not incredulous for mankind to test God? As Paul and Isaiah wrote, no one has been God’s counselor. No one knows the depths of Gods mind. The expert is ready to form Jesus’ answers into his own view. He is seeking ways to skillfully say, “No.” to the Word made flesh. He puts more trust in his own mind and surely seems unprepared to do the Teacher’s answer.
   How about you? Are you prepared to listen?
 
Prayer: Lord God, as I call you “Lord” I pray you remove all barriers from heart that separate me from you. Amen.  

Luke 10:23-24 Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. 24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
 
HAVE you ever stopped to bless someone? I’m sure you have. Perhaps at the market, you’ve stopped a mom you saw speak kind words to her child and said to her, “You are a good mom.” Maybe you’ve led a work crew at church. You stopped near the end of the work to say, “I’m really glad we could do this together.” Or you might have taken a few seconds at a family meal to say, “I am very blessed to have such a family as you.”
   As we have been studying Luke, we have seen God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit activate the Kingdom of God on earth. This kingdom inauguration was accomplished through many activities: John’s birth, Jesus’ birth, Jesus’ baptism, Jesus’ temptation, Jesus’ mission statement, Jesus’ preaching, Jesus’ choosing the disciples, Jesus’ healings, Jesus’ resurrections and Jesus’ sending out the 72. You could say God is very busy! Much needed to be done, and he did it.
   But now Jesus briefly pauses the kingdom busyness to offer a King’s blessing to the Twelve. He reminds them of their extraordinary privilege to be with him, to hear him and to see his work! We would be prideful if we said, “You are blessed to be with me.” because we are fallen people who become good only in God’s power.
   But Jesus is not prideful. He is the Holy God, who tells his disciples, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.”  Again, he is elevating his identity to the disciples to prepare them for their ministry. These men must very personally know Jesus is Lord of Lords, the Promised One. They will have to defend Jesus to the Jews with such preaching as, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call.” (Acts 2:38-39) The disciples’ full faith would overcome great opposition.
   What do you do? Do you stop to hear Jesus speak to you through the Holy Bible? Do you put your life on pause to consider how privileged you are as “many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it (the Kingdom of God) and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” You have been granted an eternal privilege in the history of time. As you consider the Holy Trinity, your sin and, “I am saved.” live in God’s joyous blessing upon you.
 
Prayer: Father in Heaven, you have blessed me with eternal life. I pray for a true, personal understanding of this incomparable blessing. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Luke 10:22 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
 
HAVE you ever watched a secular network television program that examined Jesus’ life? Such programs always have words from “scholars”. Such people should have a good knowledge of Jesus’ historic life and his identity, right?
   No. that’s not right, according to Jesus’ teaching in this Scripture. See here the intimate, layered relationships from the Father to the Son, from the Son to the Father, and from the Son to his own disciples. Remember that Jesus had chosen 12 ordinary and unscholarly men to be his closest disciples. And we have just examined how the Lord anointed 72 “common” people into a special short-term mission. These particular 84 disciples are the first of countless men and women from all walks of life to whom God intimately and powerfully revealed himself since Jesus walked the earth.
   No one, not even a “scholar” has a true understanding of the Lord until “the Son chooses to reveal him” the Lord’s true knowledge. The culture of Jesus’ day – and perhaps it has become our culture – is to believe that only the “learned”, such as Pharisees and priests knew God. Jesus radically changed that understanding by effectively saying, “I choose who knows me and ministers the gospel.”
   Does this comfort you? It should. You may not be a scholar, a minister, a theologian, a Doctor of Divinity or claim any such formal title. But if the Lord has pointed you to his Word, if you have grown in your understanding of the Lord, and if you truly believe in the identity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then give thanks to God! He has chosen to open your mind to know him. This is eternal knowledge. You don’t get to Heaven saying, “I’m a scholar.”
   I quote these words from a source called the Pulpit Commentary. “Jesus, with infinite compassion, offers to the great army of sufferers that rest which he alone can give.” Oh yes, this is great comfort! “What a friend you have in Jesus, all your sins and griefs to bear.” He has revealed the Triune God to you. Give thanks. Life in faith. Worship the Lord God with an unending joy that you know so much of him.
 
Prayer: Thank you, Jesus, for revealing your identity to me. In your name I pray, amen.