Jesus teaching on Prayer
Luke 11:1-13; 18:1-14
CHCC: March 4, 2012
INTRODUCTION:
It’s Faith in Action Sunday … and the most important action we can take is to PRAY. Prayer brings the power of God into our actions. And prayer is the topic Jesus preached about in the scriptures we’re looking at today.
What you see on the screen is called the Ring Nebula which is part of the constellation Lyra. If you look through strong binoculars, it looks like a colorful smoke ring. What it actually IS, is an exploding star. Light from the explosion first reached the earth a thousand years ago … it was a supernova then, and the light was so bright that you could see it in the daytime.
Now it’s not so bright, but it is still exploding. In fact, it expands by 70 million miles a day. But you can’t see any movement from here on earth. In fact, if you compared this picture to a picture taken 15 years ago, they would look just alike. Huge, explosive, powerful action is taking place … but from our earthly perspective, we can’t see anything happening.
That’s a picture of prayer. Sometimes we pray and pray and … from our perspective … it seems like nothing is happening. If we could see from heaven’s viewpoint, we would see God is moving, working in hearts, transforming lives. From an eternal perspective, we would see what amazing, powerful, explosive effect our prayers really have. (Preaching of Jesus, by Weese, Moore)
In Luke chapter 11, one of Jesus disciples asked him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” In response, Jesus preached an incredible sermon on prayer, and he started by praying a model prayer:
He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” Luke 11:2-4
The full text of what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” is found in Matthew chapter 6. These are famous words that Jesus probably used on multiple occasions. The first words are filled with meaning because they help us change from our EARTH-bound perspective to a HEAVENLY perspective.
1. Perspective
The Jews were used to thinking of God as the mighty Yahweh, creator of the world and founder of their nation. To address God as “FATHER” was altogether new! To think of Yahweh as our loving parent was amazing … and incredibly reassuring. If God is our Father, then that changes everything. That means we have an intimate relationship. It means God welcomes our prayers and wants to give us good things --- just as a loving Dad enjoys giving gifts to his children.
This Valentine’s Day, our son-in-law P.J. bought our grandson, Caleb, a battery-operated 4-wheeler (off Craigslist, of course … they’ve been to Financial Peace university!) This wasn’t just any 4-wheeler, it looked like a dinosaur, and when you hit a lever, it roared and its eyes lit up. Caleb was thrilled … but it looked to me like his Dad was even more excited. In fact, even though it was raining, PJ got on his jacket and went out to watch Caleb try it out in the driveway. That’s the way Dad’s are … they LOVE to give good things to their children.
Jesus elaborated on this a few verses later in Luke 11:11-13. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Not everyone has a loving father on earth … but praise God … all of us have a loving Father in Heaven. We can trust that our Father in Heaven will give us every good gift.
The next phrase in this model prayer is Hallowed be your name. Praise comes before Petition. Before we ask God for anything, we need to acknowledge God for who He is. This helps us shift from an earthly to a heavenly PERSPECTIVE.
This eternal PERSPECTIVE increases our faith and it affects what we pray about. The glory and perfection of our Heavenly Father helps to purify our prayers. It makes us less inclined to make petty or selfish requests.
Jesus went on to preach 2 Parables and a Poem about the importance of PERSISTENCE when we pray.
2. Persistence (2 Parables and a Poem)
The first parable is in Luke 11:5-8. It’s a story about a man who knocked on his neighbor’s door at midnight and called out, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’
The man inside answered, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’
Jesus concluded, I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.”
Jesus invites us to pray with PERSISTENCE that verges on SHAMELESS AUDACITY!
The second parable makes the same point. It’s found in Luke 18:1-8 and it’s about a persistent widow who desperately needed justice from a corrupt judge. The widow just wouldn’t give up and finally the corrupt Judge said, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
Jesus concluded, Will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Luke 11:7-8
When Jesus said, “will he find faith on the earth?” he was saying, “will anyone still be praying?” Lack of prayer is lack of faith. If we truly believe that God is our Father in Heaven, we will want to talk to him. We will trust that He is listening, that He cares, that He will answer our prayers!
We’ve looked at 2 parables --- now let’s look at the poem in Luke 11:9-10:
“Ask and it will be given to you;
Seek and you will find;
Knock and the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks receives;
The one who seeks finds;
And to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Billy Graham once said, “Heaven is full of answers to prayers for which no one ever bothered to ask.” Jesus told us in every way he could that we need to keep on praying. In fact you could say that Jesus persistently taught persistent prayer!
Some people might say, “Prayer doesn’t actually change the mind of God, but the heart of man.” After all, God is sovereign and unmovable. So even our prayers can’t change what He does. This is all well and good except for one small detail. It’s completely wrong!
It doesn’t match what Jesus taught about prayer. Prayer can move the heart of God. As amazing as it sounds, God has chosen to work in a genuine partnership with us. According to Jesus, our prayers actually make a difference. In other words, our prayers actually “work.” (Weese and Moore)
Will you keep on asking, seeking, and knocking … will you be PERSISTENT even when you can’t SEE the answers.
Remember the exploding star we saw earlier. If we could see from God’s perspective, we might know that powerful, explosive answers are already in the works. If you keep asking, seeking, knocking, Jesus has promised that you will receive, you will find, and the door will be opened for you.
The last story Jesus told about prayer is about how important it is to pray with Penitence.
3. Penitence
In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus described two men going into the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a Tax Collector. Jesus said, “The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”
Luke 18:11-13
Back in verse 9, we see that Jesus told this parable to a group of folks who were “confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else.” They were probably thinking … “Great, Jesus is going to shame that dirty rotten sinner for having the audacity to pray in the same temple with decent, moral, God-fearing people like us!”
They were in for a shock. Jesus said, “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” Luke 18:14
God isn’t impressed by along list of achievements or by religious sounding words. God is looking for sincere worshipers who come with genuine need and penitent hearts. This is the kind of prayer that moves God’s heart and transforms lives.
CONCLUSION:
The point is NOT that religious people are full of pride while sinners are humble. Many church leaders are among the most humble people I know. And not all sinners are penitent. In fact, one of the main reasons we end up with messed up lives is because we’re too proud to turn to God for help.
The point Jesus was making is that pride of any kind will hinder our prayers. No matter who we are, we need to beware of pride. Pride is an insidious sin. We can be proud of our achievements, our looks, our reputation, our income, our intellect, our education, our family … we can even be proud of how humble we are!
Don’t let pride keep you from asking, seeking, and knocking.
