It used to be common in my part of church-world to refer to young men in Bible college as "preacher boys." I can remember some sweet blue-haired ladies referring to me that way. It was a good thing. If they referred to you as "My preacher boy," you could figure some homemade cookies were on the way. I was privileged to spend about five hours with a group of preacher boys, lecturing on the art of preaching, and some basic survival skills for pastors. If any of you preacher boys are reading this please don't be insulted. I was really impressed with how much they don't know. That's why I was invited to share with them. If you pay even a moderate amount of attention to something that you do all your life you learn something about it.
Yesterday I was privileged to preach from Luke 11, The Lord's Prayer. (You can watch a video or download an mp3 here.) As I worked through this thirty-seven word prayer I was impressed with how much I don't know. I don't mean about my attempt to preach this message, though that is abundantly true. The ignorance I am talking about is at the core of the overall teaching of the Bible on prayer. This sample prayer from our Lord is in the mainstream of that doctrine. It is abundantly clear that prayer is not about me getting what I want, but God getting what He deserves. That makes sense, even on a self-serving level, because I'm too ignorant to know what I need.
The prayer opens with the word "Father." While we may begin our prayers in a similar way, if we are honest, we'll admit our initial thought is not about God, Who He is, and what His plans are for this world, rather we begin with thoughts of ME, what I want, and my plans to mold this world into a place that will give me the most fun. If we think of God at all, it is along the lines C. S. Lewis expressed, We want Him to be not a Heavenly Father, but a Heavenly Grandfather--somebody less interested in making us endure something that is good for us, and more willing to indulge us by allowing us to get what we declare as good--as in FUN. Fathers make us eat vegetables. Grandfathers take us out for ice cream. Several times I told my young preacher friends that they needed to know they don't know. They would be wise to listen to someone who knows more than them--at this point I was referring to their real teacher and the author of a book they were assigned to read. One of the problems with being ignorant is we are ignorant of our ignorance. As my late father-in-law told me about a master cabinet maker he was privileged to work for, the old craftsman said, "You forget what you know, and let me teach you."
The Lord's prayer in Luke 11 begins with two requests that have to do with God.
"Father, may your name be honored;
may your kingdom come.” (Luke 11:2, NET)
"But," I hear myself saying, "there is all this stuff I want, even things that I need. People treat me badly. I brought my list." As I preached yesterday I heard a voice. It sounded a lot like what I told the preacher boys, or the counsel the old master shared with my Father-in-law, "Child, trust me, you don't know how to do this. This is how you start." Seeing my impatience my Father looks at me with loving eyes. "Trust me. This is really what is most important."
I won't preach the message again. I'll just leave you with this.
Do you really think that you know better than the God of the Universe what ought to be happen in this world?
It's STTA.
You can read the Lord's lesson on prayer here. The Lord's Prayer as recorded in Matthew is found here. |
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