The God Who Listens (Part 3)

The earth’s ocean covers over 70% of the planet’s surface, and makes up 97 percent of the earth’s water. And is the home of numerous different kinds of animals. In fact, scientists estimate that when it comes to fish, the ocean has 3 TRILLION fish living it - both great and small. And when it comes to the largest Fish in the ocean, do you know which one it is?

Say it with me: “not the whale...” Whales aren’t fish - they’re mammals And so on behalf of your biology teacher, shame on you for not remembering that. And for those wondering, the largest fish is, get this: The whale shark. Which doesn’t really make sense, cuz it’s not a whale at all - it’s just really big fish.

Anyways, I’m not here to talk to you this morning about fish or whale sharks, I’m here to talk to you about whales. For instance, the Blue Whale - which is the largest of whales, eats up to 6 tons of KRILL a day. It’s basically an all-shrimp diet, which sounds delicious. They live in all of the oceans except the arctic, and live to around 80 to 90 years old.

Now, I said before that Blue Whales are mammals, which means, unlike fish, they don’t have gills to breathe underwater. And so instead, they have to swim up to the surface and inhale fresh air into their lungs just like we do, except unlike us who can only handle a minute or so underwater, these guys can hold their breath for up to 90 minutes before needing to resurface for air! Which allows them to dive up to 1600 feet below the surface, in order to munch on those yummy shrimp.

But, this means that whales can drown. Well technically they suffocate. But the point is - even though they have been created to swim in the depths of the ocean Even though and find it to be their natural habitat The truth is, whales are completely dependent upon breathing oxygen in order to survive. And without that oxygen, they perish.

Church, do you realize that oxygen is to whales as prayer is to Christians? Sure, you might be able to go a bit without it, but make no mistake, if you don’t resurface to re-fuel yourself, you’re in for some serious trouble. I don’t care how good you are at holding your spiritual breath, you’re not going to make it on your own.

The past several weeks we have been looking at prayer, and last week we looked at the purpose of prayer, And say the answer here if you know it - but what is the primary purpose or prayer? It start with a W and ends with ship. Worship. The essence of Christian prayer is worship. And as we saw last week We Worship God in prayer by approaching Him as our:

1. Father (The prayer begins how? “OUR FATHER” - not King, judge, or genie - but Father
2. Majesty (“Our Father who art where? In heaven: “He’s not just our Father, but our HEAVENLY father - which points us to His majesty and infinite worth - which is why we HALLOW His name in our words and actions).
3. Lord - “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done” - He’s not our guide our counselor, but our Lord, which means that our request and desires are ALWAYS subject to His.

Now, once and only once we have all of THAT established do we pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.” And so as we discussed last week, the Lord’s prayer is not just a formula of what to pray, but WHAT ORDER to even pray in. And so only when our prayer is properly fueled by worship of our Father, Majesty, and Lord, do we then get on to our prayer requests.

And so the Lord’s prayer teaches us that prayer is two things:

Protection

Now since ya’ll don’t go for me preaching a few hours every Sunday, we had to split these up between last week and this week: And so if you have your Bible’s, turn with me to the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6 where we will see the 3 ways that prayer is dependence: Let’s look at that first one:

Prayer is dependence:

Provision

Verse 11 says: “Give us this day our daily bread”

When Jesus says to pray for our daily bread, He doesn’t have Olive Garden’s delicious bread sticks in mind, so what’s He speaking of? He’s speaking of our needs. He’s saying we ought to pray: “Give us this day what is necessary for us.” Which includes all of our material and physical needs.

Now why are we to pray for these things? It is because proper prayer changes our circumstances. And if you don’t believe that, I would like to remind you of what we looked at a few weeks ago when we studied Hezekiah’s prayer in Isaiah 37, where God specifically says: “Because you prayed, I acted.” And bare in mind, our prayer changes our circumstances because we aren’t praying to Mary or dead saints, we are praying the all-power, all-knowing God of the universe! This is the God who speaks and things happen exactly as He says.

Never forget how amazing this is church. The God of the universe, who is its Creator and Sustainer hears little ole me’s prayers! The God who will one day soon bring in His eternal kingdom and destroy all the nations who rage against Him as we recently saw from Psalm 2. It’s this God who not only hears our prayers, but, as we’ll see in Matthew 7 delights in giving His children good things.

Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Matthew 7:9-11 ESV

As a parent, I really enjoy giving my kids what they want, and I’m a very imperfect parent. But our heavenly Father is a perfect parent, who takes satisfaction is blessing His children to an infinitely greater degree!

I don’t remember where I came across this next point, but do you realize that God has never refused to give something to you that you prayed for that was good for you? We pray not to a reluctant God, but our heavenly Father who always perfectly gives us exactly what we need! He never holds back out of punishment or retribution. He gives liberally and freely, and it’s His great delight to do so.

In James chapter 4, he says we have not because we ask not. How many times in our life are we facing hardship or difficulty, and the last thing we think of doing is turning to the Lord in prayer? You have not because you ask not - James says. How many times do we face financial struggles, or relationship struggles, or health struggles, and the last person we bring it to is the one person in the universe who has complete and total power to do something about it?

This one is very convicting for me - and especially as a pastor. When there’s an issue to deal with in the church, like you, I can easily spend all of my time and energy running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to resolve that issue. When the truth is, if I would just pause and bring to my Heavenly Father in prayer, He often resolves it without me having to do a thing! I’m telling you, it happens - and it can and will happen for you too. And why? Because we are bringing our requests not to a counselor or a therapist, but to a KING And so as the great hymn writer John Newton wrote: “Thou art coming to a King Large petitions with thee bring! For his grace and power are such None can ever ask too much!”

In verse 8 it says that our Father knows what we need even before we ask Him, and so why do we ask Him then? If He’s a good Father and delights in giving me what I need, then why does He want me to ask? And if I ask once for all time, is that good enough? Can I just pray: “Father, give me this life my daily bread” - and then that will cover it? No - Jesus says we are to pray for our “Daily” bread. Not weekly, not monthly, and not yearly. Our daily bread. And so their’s something much deeper going on here. God wants us to come to Him for our daily physical needs as a means of helping us recognize our ultimate spiritual needs. Yes, we need our daily bread, but as Jesus said: Matthew 4:4 (ESV) "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”

And so when we go to God daily in prayer we are looking to our heavenly Father for our need that is so much greater than a mere grumbly tummy. We are looking to Him to satisfy the grumbling of our soul!

Now, in our culture we don’t really have too big of a problem getting our next meal. In fact, our problem tends to be figuring out ways to properly motivate ourselves to skip our next meal. But even so, make no mistake, our daily bread is 100% dependent upon our sovereign God! God is the maker AND sustainer of our universe! He sends the rains He holds the atoms together How? By the word of His power as the book of Hebrews says.

We are completely physically and spiritually dependent upon God, and so like a whale must return to the surface for oxygen, we too must daily return to God for our nourishment. For God is our greatest need. And when we don’t, it leads to hardship. Which leads us to our 2nd point.

Prayer is Dependence.

Pardon

12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

OK, so what’s going on here…? Are these verses saying that if I don’t forgive others then God’s gonna disown me? No. There’s no question here, that’s absolutely not what these verses are telling us. And I’ll tell you why.

Is this prayer for everyone or God’s children? It’s for God’s children. We are praying, “Our Father.” And as we saw last week, the only way you get to pray that is by GRACE! Not by doing a bunch of forgiving first. For that’s a work - and no one is saved by works.

And so yes, we are completely and entirely saved, justified, and adopted by God by grace, However, as we just said, our greatest need is to live in relationship with God, and when we sin and do not rely upon God it causes a rift in our relationship.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

Ephesians 4:30 ESV

If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.

Proverbs 28:9 ESV

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

1 Peter 3:12 ESV

And if that’s not powerful enough of examples for you:

Likewise, husbands, live with your wives in an understanding way, showing honor to the woman as the weaker vessel, since they are heirs with you of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.

1 Peter 3:7 ESV

Do you see that? If I treat my wife harshly, Peter says God won’t hear my prayers. And why? Because their is a rift in our relationship because of my un-confessed sin. And so we must confess our sins to our Heavenly Father.

In writing to believers, John says:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 ESV

Now, there are some out there who says believers should not need to confess their sins because believers don’t sin… That’s called sinless perfectionism, and it’s heresy Why do I call it heresy? Because John calls it heresy in the verse right before the one we just read.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8 ESV

Look church, we all sin, regularly and more often than we even think. And the remarkable thing is here we have our loving Heavenly Father who doesn’t punish us for it, but lovingly disciplines us out of love, and when we prodigal sons and daughters do confess our sins, He delights to forgive and show us mercy and grace. He throws a party as the parable of the prodigal Son says.

Now here’s the thing though. As we’ve seen with Jesus’s teaching throughout the sermon on the mount, He’s largely blasting the hypocrisy of the Scribes and the Pharisees right? And so tell me this. How hypocritical is it to go to God and ask for forgiveness while refusing to forgive others yourself? The answer is, Blue Whale sized hypocritical! Look, I get it - it’s not EASY! In fact, without the supernatural grace of God changing your heart it’s impossible! However, and this is where verses 14 and 15 come into play, it’s not that God will refuse to forgive us if we haven’t inserted enough forgiveness coins into the machine. No, it’s that a heart that readily forgives reveals a forgiven heart!

Did everybody catch that, cuz it’s important - so I’m gonna say it again. A heart that readily forgives reveals a forgiven heart! This text isn’t saying a heart that readily forgives CREATES a forgiven heart No - that’s impossible! The only thing that creates a forgiven heart is the grace of God who adopts sinners and saves them by His wonderful saving work! And so once we have come to taste that forgiveness, we can’t help but extend that same forgiveness we have received towards others.

Our heavenly Father is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and restore us in relationship to Him when we confess them. And when that cleansing restorative act is complete - what then are we to start praying? “God help keep me from wandering from you!” “lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil!” Which leads us to our 3rd point.

Prayer is Dependence.

Protection

Once our fellowship with God is restored, my other need is to continue in that fellowship without anything coming between me and my heavenly father and interrupting our relationship. Now if you notice some translations translate the text: “Deliver us from the evil one” while others translate it “deliver us from evil.” But it doesn’t really matter - either way, it’s the same idea. Deliver us from Evil.

Now, we are going a bit backwards here - but as far as the first part, we are praying to ask God to keep us out of temptation or, to keep us from sin’s traps. However, we also know that God uses testing to refine us.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

James 1:2-4 ESV

So here’s a paraphrase of what verse 13 is saying: “Lead us not into the hardship of temptation, however, not my will but thy will be done, and so if your will be that I face this testing, may I not be overcome by evil.”

Do you see how different that is from simply praying for the American Dream? Yes, certainly pray that God would keep you from testing and hardship, but do so realizing that testing and hardship are often God’s greatest tools for refining you into the image of Christ!? And just as steel needs to be heated before it can be bent, so too do we often need to pass through the fires of this life in order to be pliable in God’s sovereign hands.

When the fires of life come, do you pray as Jesus did, “Not my will, but thy will be done.” Do you pray verse 10, “Your kingdom come, YOUR will be done on earth as it is in heaven”? Or, do you stubbornly insist that you know better? That you, not God, has the best vantage point upon your needs?

Have you ever heard the phrase, “The cure is worse than the disease?” One example of this is when a species that isn’t a part of the ecosystem is introduced because the thinking is that it will solve an issue, BUT it only creates a bigger one. Can you say Japanese beetles? I was told these were introduced to our ecosystem in order to help with some other problem, and then they ended up spreading faster than anyone suspected because their natural predator isn’t here. So now we get these annoying smelly insects all over the place all because someone thought they knew better.

Now with this in mind, think about our prayers to God. Can you think of a time in your life where you prayed for something that if God had given you would have been your Japanese beetles? I can. The other day me and my dad were talking about how every 10 years or so, you look back at who you were and were like, “Yikes - boy was I an idiot!” And so why on earth would I want 15 year old or even 25 year old Zach’s prayer requests granted in ENTIRETY!? That’s a TERRIBLE idea!

In C. S. Lewis’ ‘Letters to Malcolm: chiefly on prayer, he writes: “If God had granted all the silly prayers I’ve made in my life, where should I be now?” And the answer is, in BIG TROUBLE! And so thankfully we pray to a God who doesn’t give us simply what we WANT, but what we NEED And often, what we need doesn’t feel so good!

And so every time a testing pops up in our life, as we discussed last week, there’s 2 wrong ways to respond to this. The first, is to think “HOW DARE YOU GOD!” It’s to say, “BUT GOD, I did what you asked! Why didn’t you uphold your end of the bargain!?”

The second is to feel depressed and guilty. You start to think that God’s unanswered prayers are punishment that you deserve because you haven’t been a good enough person.

But here’s the thing: Our God doesn’t give us what we WANT - but what we NEED - and it’s all by grace!

Keller has a really good point here on this (shocker there), but while making it he points out something pretty remarkable from Hebrews 5:7.

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.

Hebrews 5:7 ESV

Do you see that? Jesus offered up loud cries and tears even to His heavenly Father to save Him from death, and HE WAS HEARD!

Wait a minute though… how was He heard? He went to the cross and suffered and died! So why does the author of Hebrews say: “He was heard.” How? Jesus said: “Father, take this cup from me!” In which the Father said: “No.” “For instead I will hear your prayer and give you something even greater!” I will give you something beyond what your small view of things can allow you to see! i will give you resurrection and life, not just for you, but through you all those I will save in you!”

Here’s the remarkable thing. God not only hears our prayers, but He gives us the value of our prayer in response, just not the currency! This was huge for me, so stick with me here.

See, sometimes, we are like the Apostle Paul and we pray to God saying: “Lord, take this suffering from me so I can better serve you!” But the point is, like with Paul, the suffering is EXACTLY what we needed to better serve God! Sometimes, like with Paul, the suffering we are in is God’s means of KEEPING US FROM EVIL. And so while we should pray, “Lord, lead us not into temptation - lead us not into testing, we also pray, not my will be done, but thy will be done!” And we do so because we know and trust that God will always answer our prayers by heaping more value and worth upon us than we can possibly imagine - He just might not do in the currency we asked So don’t get all bent out of shape if God answers your prayer requests with diamonds not dollar bills! Because He gives us exactly what we NEED, not what we WANT! And praise God for it!

I don’t think we ever go a Sunday without mentioning Romans 8:28, but it says “all things work together for good for those who love God.” And so when it comes to praying for that good, we must recognize that if we knew what God knew, we would have prayed for what He gave me all along! For our desire ought to be God’s desire, to be delivered from evil, not testing.

Testing refines us It reveals areas of weakness, or un-Christ-likeness that we didn’t know were even there. For instance, I learned this past week that I’m more impatient than I realized. And how did I learn that? By taking my family to the North Shore in Duluth and trying to get 4 kids to all sit still and look at the camera at the same time. I don’t believe in purgatory, but if I did, that would be it for me. I am not cut out to be a child photographer, because I’m not yet patient enough! And I never would have realized the extent of my impatience without that irritating little test.

And that applies to everything in our life, does it not? Hardship REVEALS what’s in us faster and clearer than almost anything else! When a stressful situation comes up, and we respond in fear, dread, anxiety, or panic, why is that? “because my circumstances are so difficult!” “If this testing was just over, I’d be ok!” Wrong. For the testing isn’t creating the problem, it’s REVEALING IT! And the problem is a heart that doesn’t trust their heavenly Father A heart that is still trying to find satisfaction in the world, instead of God! A heart that doesn’t obey Philippians 4:6, which says:

do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Philippians 4:6 ESV

And when testing in life come and reveals the evil that still lurks with in us, it means we then need to get on our knees before God and practice verse 12 and ask for forgiveness, which leads to deeper healing. But for that deeper healing to occur, we must live in prayerful dependence upon God for His:

Prayer is Dependence.

Is your life a life of prayerful dependence? Are you looking to God for His gracious provision, pardon, and protection from evil? Or are you trying to stand in your own power? If so, hears the words of 1 Corinthians 10:12:

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

1 Corinthians 10:12 ESV

Here’s a closing question for you to take and reflect on. What area in your life do you HAVE to go to God DAILY and ask for aid? What area do you know that if you don’t, you’ll fall into sin’s trap? If you don’t have one, then can you really say you’re relating to God as Father? I don’t know about you, but we have to feed our kids every day. We can’t take a couple of weeks off here or there, because if we do, they will starve. And so, are you prayerfully depending upon God for your nourishment? Are you coming to Him daily as Father, knowing that He delights to shower us with blessing?

As Hebrews 10:22 says:

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Hebrews 10:22 ESV

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.