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The season of Lent is the time in the Church Year set aside to prepare for the celebration of Easter. It is a period that focuses on repentance and somber reflection on the fact that when Jesus died, He was doing so to pay for our sins.

For many, Lent is a time to “give something up.” That was the origin of the Mardi Gras celebration that culminates on “Fat Tuesday” or “Shrove Tuesday.” Originally, people would eat one last meal of special, rich foods before beginning the fast, or period of self-denial, that begins on the first day of Lent, also known as Ash Wednesday. As time went on, Shrove Tuesday became the day to get in one last party before giving up things during the season of Lent. In modern thinking, Mardi Gras has become an excuse to engage in every kind of hedonism and debauchery, as though you have some sort of free pass to do those things. Just one more example of how the world corrupts something originally developed by the church to help disciples of Jesus in their spiritual walk of faith.

For many Christians, Lent begins with the imposition of ashes on Ash Wednesday. As a smudge is made on the forehead, usually in the shape of a cross, you hear: “remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is a solemn reminder that sin has death as its consequence (Romans 6:23).

Lent is still a time of giving things up for many Christians, and with good reason. What we give up is to remind us of how much our Lord Jesus gave up in order to accomplish our forgiveness. One explanation I’ve heard for why Christians were told to give up meat on Fridays during Lent was that it was on a Friday – Good Friday—that Jesus gave up His “meat” – His flesh, His very life, for us. The thought process was that every time you had a meatless meal on Friday, you would think of everything Jesus did for you and offer Him your thanks.

None of what we do or don’t do during Lent as believers improves our standing before God. Jesus already took care of that, and we can add nothing to what He has done. Rather, our acts of denial are ways that we show our gratitude to God for what He has given us through the death and resurrection of Jesus: acceptance, forgiveness, and the certainty of everlasting life.

The following Lenten hymn is a worthwhile meditation for the beginning of this Lenten season, especially the words in the third stanza: “It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish.”

O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken
That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken?
Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession –
What dark transgression?

They crown Thy head with thorns, they smite, they scourge Thee;
With cruel mockings to the cross they urge Thee;
They give Thee gall to drink, they still decry Thee;
They crucify Thee.

Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish?
It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish;
Yea, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit,
This I do merit.

What punishment so strange is suffered yonder!
The shepherd dies for sheep that loved to wander;
The Master pays the debt His servants owe Him,
Who would not know Him.

The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted –
God is committed.

There was no spot in me by sin untainted;
Sick with sin’s poison, all my heart had fainted;
My heavy guilt to hell had well nigh brought me,
Such woe is wrought me.
The Lutheran Hymnal #143

What do you hope for? Hope is a good thing. Scripture speaks of it quite a bit.

Hebrews 11 is known as “the faith chapter” of the Bible because it gives example after example of how people lived by the faith they have in God and His promises. Look at how that faith chapter begins:

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

When God talks about the hope we have in Jesus, it is a sure thing. It is not wishful longing. Our hope in Christ is a certainty, a done deal. It is certain because Jesus already earned our forgiveness and life and salvation by His sacrifice, by taking our punishment.

Galatians 5 speaks of the “now not yet” aspect of our faith. We know what Jesus earned for us. We know that it is ours. But we won’t experience it in all its fullness until we enter the presence of our Lord after this life is over.

5 … by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope.

At the Last Day, when we stand before Jesus as our judge, we have every reason in the world to be afraid. We know our sins. We know we are guilty. We know we deserve to be condemned for all eternity. But because the Spirit of God has led us to believe in Jesus, we can rest easy. When we stand before Christ as our judge on the Last Day, we have the certainty that our faith will lead Jesus to declare us “not guilty” and usher us into the eternal joy of heaven.

We cannot expect the world to understand what we have.  Paul was God’s chosen messenger in the early church to take the message of Jesus to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Paul knew the world would have a hard time understanding our hope as believers. At one of his trials, when he was on his way to Rome he was appealing to a King who understood Jewish teachings and this is what he said.

Acts 26:6-7 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me.

Those who have not been led by the Holy Spirit to know and believe in Jesus will not understand the hope that we have in Him. But that does not negate our hope. It is real because Jesus earned it for us.

Peter knew what it meant to have hope in Christ. He got out of the boat and walked on water. He felt the hand of Jesus pulling him to safety when he doubted. And after he denied knowing Jesus, he was forgiven and restored and assured of his place in God’s kingdom. He knew all about hope. And God would lead him to write these words in his first letter that has been passed down to us today:

1 Peter 3:15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

You and I have this hope because of Jesus. We know that He came into the world to take our place in punishment. He lived in obedience to all the law of God and then offered His perfect life as the payment for the sins of the world. He promised that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. That is our confidence. That is our certainty. That is our hope.

1 Corinthians 15 is known as “the resurrection chapter of the Bible” and it tells us that our certain hope is not only for what we will have here on earth, but what is ours for eternity:

1 Corinthians 15:19-20 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

However, hope for this life is important. The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city’s hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child’s name and room number and talked briefly with the child’s regular class teacher. “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now,” the regular teacher said, “and I’d be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn’t fall too far behind.”

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Seeing him upset the teacher, although she tried to hide it. She stumbled over her words as she told him, “I’ve been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs.” She tried to teach the lesson, but when she left she felt she hadn’t accomplished much.

The next day, a nurse asked her, “What did you do to that boy?” The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. “No, no,” said the nurse. “You don’t know what I mean. We’ve been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back, responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.”

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?” He had hope because that teacher came to him.

Hope for this life is important. As followers of Jesus, we have that. But our hope is for more than that. It goes beyond the grave. Because of the victory over sin and death and the grave that Jesus accomplished in our place, our eternity is secure. Because He lives, we will live also. That is our hope!

Let’s continue our thoughts on the Lord’s Prayer

And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

Let me start by saying what this is not. It is not a bargain we are striking with God, that He will forgive us because we forgive others, or when we forgive others, or as much as we forgive others. We are asking God’s forgiveness for our sins, confident that because of our trust in the death of Jesus as payment for all our sin, we are indeed forgiven. The phrase as we forgive those who trespass against us is not the reason we are forgiven, but rather a promise on our part to be forgiving towards our brothers and sisters just as God has been forgiving toward us.  We forgive because He first forgave us.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

And lead us not into temptation.

The first words of Luther’s explanation to this petition are revealing: God indeed tempts no one.  We recognize that God is not a source of evil for us, but only good. He is not the one who leads us to sin. What we are asking here, then, is that He would guard and protect us so that we do not give in to the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. Temptations will and do come to us daily. Each time you are tempted, you must make a choice either to give in to sin or to resist and follow God’s desire for your life. Our prayer is that we would draw upon the strength God offers to us to resist the temptations that do come to us. That this strength is available to us is without question.

God is faithful.  He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.  But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it (1 Corinthians 10:13).

No matter what the temptation may be that comes to you, there is a way out with God’s help. You do not have to give in.

But deliver us from evil.

The Lord ’s Prayer is recorded for us in Matthew 6 and in Luke 11. This last petition does not appear in Luke’s Gospel. It is a kind of summary of the last two petitions. All of the parts of the prayer we are looking at today are asking for a deliverance from evil of some sort. We have already asked that our sins be forgiven and that we would draw upon God’s strength to resist further temptations to sin. In addition to these greatest evils, we are now asking that God would deliver us from every other evil that might come to us.

When you look at the Lord’s prayer in Matthew (and the footnote in Luke), many of the modern translations have “deliver us from the evil one.” Matthew’s Gospel has a footnote that says “or from evil.” The oldest copies of the bible in the original languages, what we call the “biblical manuscripts” are divided–some have “evil” and some have “the evil one”. it really does not make a lot of difference whether we speak of evil in general or of the “evil one” in particular. We know there are forces working against us in our lives that invite us to sin. Luther spoke of evil as a trio: The devil, the world, and our sinful flesh. This petition covers all of them. This prayer is that we may be protected from all evil.

The fact that we ask for this does not necessarily mean that these things will not come to us. Many times they will. As long as you are in this world, you will have to endure many evils which are the consequences of sin. But part of God’s deliverance from evil is the final deliverance that He gives to those who have recognized their sin, repented, and believed in the one and only Son of God as their Savior. This final deliverance is the forgiveness of all sins and eternal life with God. This final deliverance from evil is given to all who trust in Jesus Christ.

God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. …  God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:19, 21)

You will be delivered from evil, you will be taken from this vale of tears to the joy of heaven, where you will live in peace forevermore with your Savior. That should be part of what you are thinking when you pray this petition, “But deliver us from evil.”

We’ll finish our look at this prayer tomorrow.

There were these two boys who lived with their Grandma. As they were about to go to bed, they knelt down first to say their prayers. The older prayed about the day he had and about everything he had done. When he finished, the younger boy began his prayer, but he prayed much louder than his brother. He was almost shouting as he prayed for bikes and toys and candy and everything he could think of. When he finished the older brother asked him “Why are you praying so loud? God is not deaf.” The younger boy responded and said ” Yeah, I know, but Grandma is!”

The fourth petition of the Lord’s Prayer is the only one that has to do with physical blessings, material, earthly needs: Give us this day our daily bread. “Daily bread” means everything that we need to support this body and life. And God is concerned about that. He wants us to come to Him about everything. He made you as physical beings, so He knows your needs, and He promises to provide. He hears you.

When I pray these words – Give us this day our daily bread – I am reminded of the abundant and bountiful provision of God, how incredibly blessed I am, and the need for me to share those blessings with others.

One problem many have here is they seem to think that God should also provide for all of their desires, which is another thing altogether. We look around and see what others have and wonder why we don’t have as much. Instead of rejoicing when we see our neighbor prosper, we become jealous. That is why this petition is so important for us to pray sincerely:  give us this day our daily bread. These words remind us that God provides for us and cares for us. He has already given us the most important thing we need: forgiveness of sins and eternal life! He did that by sending Jesus to do what we could not – live a perfect life and then offer that life as the payment for the sins of everyone. On top of that most wonderful and necessary blessing of all, He gives us our daily bread whether we ask for it or not! The point of this part of the Lord’s Prayer is that we recognize God as our Provider and receive His gifts with gratitude.

Proverbs 30:8-9 ‘Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.  Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, ‘Who is the LORD?’ Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.”

Something else is significant in this request. Jesus did not teach us to pray: “Give me my daily bread.” He taught us to pray: “Give us this day our daily bread.”  When offering this petition we have the needs of others, as well as our own needs, in mind.  An unknown poet reminds us that our concern in praying for daily bread should be for more than just ourselves:

You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say “I.”
You cannot pray the Lord’s Prayer and even once say “My.”
Nor can you pray the Lord’s Prayer and not pray for one another.
And when you ask for daily bread, you must include your brother.
For others are included … in each and every plea,
From the beginning to the end of it, it doesn’t once say “Me.”

One more observation: It is not wrong for us to ask for more than what we need for our daily needs. We can ask Him for anything and everything. We commit our needs to Him. And that should be done in the spirit of understanding that if He decides to give us daily bread and nothing more, we should be content. We ought to strive for the attitude described by St. Paul:

Phil 4:11-13  I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

When asked to teach His disciples how to pray, Jesus gave them an example. It is a wonderful prayer that Christians still use today. To truly pray the Lord’s Prayer is more than knowing the words and repeating them along with everyone else. One of the things Luther laments in his writings is that the Lord’s Prayer is “prattled and prated all to pieces in all the world without any devout attention.” Let’s not do that. Instead, let’s ponder the rich meaning of this simple prayer.

Our Father who art in heaven

Jesus begins with an affirmation of faith in God as our Father. Christians know that we are God’s loved children through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior from sin and death. Through Baptism, God claims us as His own, and He is a loving Father, one who wants to help us in all things. This introduction sets the tone for the whole prayer.  We are not approaching God afraid that He will reject us and our requests. We are not begging Him for things. Instead, we approach Him with faith, knowing that for Jesus’ sake He will listen, He will hear us. We come to Him in a faith relationship, as dear children go to their loving Father.

Hallowed by Thy Name

This first “asking” is a request for God’s name be holy. Luther reminds us that God’s name is holy without our prayer, but we are praying here that we may keep it holy among us. How? By using it correctly and not misusing it. There is a connection to the second commandment. We do not ever want to misuse God’s name, using it thoughtlessly or in an improper way. Instead, we resolve, with God’s help, to live our lives in a way that will bring honor and glory to God. We strive to keep God’s name holy by being His obedient children.

 Thy Kingdom Come

God is the ruler of all, the Preserver and Protector of the world. As such, He graciously offers forgiveness of sins as a gift which you receive through faith in Jesus Christ. God’s kingdom includes the glory of heaven that the faithful eagerly await as the reward we receive through the merits of Christ. Our prayer does not bring God’s Kingdom into existence any more that our prayer causes His name to be holy. What we are asking when we pray “Thy kingdom come” is that His kingdom would come to us, that we are a part of it, that we remain in His grace as we eagerly anticipate our entrance into the eternal glory of heaven. We want to be part of God’s Kingdom, now and forever.

Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We are asking that our lives be ever more conformed to God’s Word. “God, help us do what your desire.” In the Bible, we find what the will of our God is: that we believe in Jesus Christ, and believing, have life in his name (John 20:31).  God wants you to be saved by believing that Jesus is your Savior. Once you have been brought to faith, God wants you to faithfully live as His Child.

In His Word, God tells us that His will is done among His faithful when they do one thing: LOVE.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind … love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37,39).

“Love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10). 

We are praying here that our lives may be lives of Christian love that comply with God’s will. There’s a thought for Valentine’s Day.

More on prayer tomorrow.