Case Study 2 John the Baptist the Praying evangelist
Reading: Luke chapter 11 verses 1-13.
SERMON OUTLINE:
(1). The priority of Prayer (vs 1).
(2). The Pattern for Prayer (vs 2-4).
(3). The Persistence in Prayer (vs 5-8).
(4). The Promises for Prayer (vs 9-13).
SERMON BODY:
Ill:
• If you are a fan of Disney ad Pixar movies, then keep an eye out for “A113”.
• Because it is everywhere!
• e.g., It’s Andy’s mom’s license plate number in Toy Story.
• e.g., It’s a door number in Monsters University.
• e.g., It’s the courtroom number in Up.
• e.g., It’s the camera model number in Finding Nemo.
• e.g., It’s on a rat’s ear tag in Ratatouille.
• e.g., And it’s the train number in Cars … to name just a few.
Question: What does it mean?
Answer:
• “A113” was a classroom number at the California Institute of the Arts.
• So, when it appears in a movie, it is a kind of calling card,
• Telling you that a CalArts graduate was involved with the animation.
• And it’s not just in animated films.
• The trademark number even appears in live action films,
• e.g., like the Hunger Games and Mission Impossible.
• “A113” has been described as a digital calling card or a cinematic fingerprint,
• It’s a message to the public is simple, ‘a CalArts graduate was involved here!’
• TRANSITION:
• Christian what is your calling card?
• What is your fingerprint, your message to the public?
• When they look at you and your life, what do they see?
• In verse 1 the disciples of Jesus mention the disciples of John the Baptist.
• And they let us know his calling card,
• The feature that impressed them most about John the Baptist.,
• And it might surprise you what that was – prayer!
(1). The Priority of Prayer (vs 1).
“One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples”.
Note:
• This is our key verse this morning,
• So, we are going to spend more time on this one verse, this one point,
• Then the other verses, points in the passage.
The John mentioned in verse 1 is John the Baptist.
Question:
• When you hear the name John the Baptist,
• What do you think of?
• What comes to mind?
Answer:
• His habitat (surroundings not the shop)
• Raised in the solitude and loneliness of the desert.
• His clothes: He wore clothing made of camel’s hair,
• With a leather belt around his waist.
• This was not a fashion statement.
• But this was all that was available in the desert.
• His food: He ate locusts and wild honey.
• Once again this was not some sort of special health diet,
• He simply ate what he could find i.e. no fast-food restaurants etc.
• His message: he had a unique style (ill: fire & brimstone):
• Quote: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath!”
• That is not the way to impress people,
• And that message was not to the crowds but to the priests!
• His unusual practice: He is known throughout history as John the Baptist.
• Not because he founded a denomination,
• But because he baptised Jewish people
• i.e. Shock! He was telling the Jews to get what they already thought they had.
• His death: Was sad and sordid.
• He was beheaded at the whim of a young teenage girl aided on by her mother.
• His death was nasty & violent, the very opposite of the man himself.
Now John the baptiser is one of my favourite Bible characters:
• I have a folder at home full of sermons on John the baptiser.
• But I have not got one entitled; “The prayer life of John the baptiser!”
• In fact, you will strain your brain, to link JTB and prayer,
• Apart from this one verse here in Luke chapter 11.
• Now JTB obviously prayed,
• So much so that the disciples of Jesus took note of the fact,
• Amazingly the disciples do not say, “Teach us to pray like you Jesus!”
• That is the context (vs 1),
• “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished…”
• They were so impressed,
• With what they had heard or seen in the disciples of JTB,
• They felt they were missing out on something.
Ill:
• Don’t forget John was a "miracle baby,"
• We are told that he was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was born,
• (Luke chapter 1 verse 25).
• And yet……………………… he had to pray.
• He was privileged, his job was unique, he was the prophesised messenger,
• (Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 & Matthew chapter 3 verse 3).
• Chosen to publicly introduce Jesus the Messiah to Israel,
• And yet……………………… he had to pray.
• Jesus said that “John was the greatest of all the prophets”.
• (Luke chapter 7 verse 28),
• Now that is an impressive list to top (i.e. Moses, Elijah etc.)
• And yet……………………… he had to pray.
• If prayer was that vital to a man who had these many advantages,
• How much more important it ought to be to us,
• Who do not have these advantages!
Maybe this is one of the secrets to John’s powerful and effective evangelistic ministry:
• He was a man of prayer.
• And as a result, God worked in him and through him!
Ill:
• From the photo on the screen, does anyone one recognises this man?
• He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• (March 3, 1847–August 2, 1922)
• He would invent a talking machine,
• That would revolutionize how we communicate.
• “Watson, come here! I want to see you!”
• With these famous words,
• Alexander Graham Bell catapulted himself into historic notoriety,
• Bell was the inventor of the first practical telephone.
• And during an experiment on June 2nd, 1875,
• Working with his assistant, Thomas Watson,
• The telephone as we know it was born.
• An invention that has changed the world forever.
• And even in a changing world where we use texting, email, social media,
• And a host of other communication mediums,
• As new forms of “talking” to one another.
• The telephone is still probably number 1,
• And you probably all have a mobile phone with you this morning!
• TRANSITION: The telephone of course connects you to someone far away.
• Although not physically together you can speak to one another,
• As if they were by your side.
• And with modern technology you can make a video call,
• So, you can even see the person you are talking too as well!
• TRANSITION:
• Evangelism starts when we are connected to God.
Ill:
• Only a foolish sailor drifts on the open sea,
• Guided only by the wind and tide:
• A wise sailor marks out their course,
• Sets their sail and guides the rudder until they reach their destination.
• TRANSITION:
• As Christians we ought to be wise,
• Wisdom comes from God and wise is the person who starts evangelism with prayer.
• One reason our missions in Moldova are so successful,
• Is they are soaked in prayer.
• Three months they pray for three people (friends, relatives, neighbours).
• We are hoping to run ‘Hope Explored’ in March.
• It will only work if people are there,
• Start praying for that event.
• Start asking the Lord, who can you bring along!
• Evangelism starts with prayer.
Quote:
“Before you talk to someone about God,
Talk to God about that someone!”
BACK TYO VERSE 1:
• Adult Jewish men were expected to pray,
• They were to pray three times a day in the direction of Jerusalem.
• And also, before and after meals.
• Prayer was not a foreign concept to the disciples of Jesus.
• But those prayers were written down and lacked any spontaneity or life,
• The disciples looked at JTB’s disciples and saw something different.
• John had taught his disciples the value of personal prayer.
• And Jesus' disciples observed this,
• And they too wanted to learn how to pray better.
• Notice: They did not ask Jesus to teach them how to preach like John.
• They did not ask Jesus to teach them how to do great signs & miracles,
• They asked Him to teach them to pray.
• They realised that this was a priority for any disciple,
• Who wants to become a man or woman of God?
One the greatest arguments for the priority of prayer in the life of a Christian.
• Is the fact that Jesus himself was a Man of prayer.
• And his disciples noticed that.
Ill:
• Scan just through Luke’s gospel you will see that:
• Jesus prayed at His baptism (chapter 3 verse 21),
• Before he chose the Twelve (chapter 6 verse 12),
• Before he asked the Twelve for their confession of faith (chapter 9 verse 18),
• And at His Transfiguration (chapter 5 verse 29).
• The disciples knew that he often withdrew and prayed alone.
• (Luke chapter 5 verse 16),
• And they watched and took notice of this.
• And they too,
• Wanted to learn from him this secret of spiritual power and wisdom.
Quote: Chinese proverb,
“tell me; I’ll forget.
Show me; I may remember.
But involve me and I’ll understand.”
• The disciples of Jesus wanted more than they had,
• They wanted a deeper experience or reality of prayer,
• And so, they asked him to show them that they might learn!
Application:
• Prayer is a discipline,
• We can all do it, but it demands a cost that we are not all willing to pay!
• Because it takes time out of a busy day.
• It takes effort from a tired or lazy mind.
• There is a cost to be paid.
• But the rewards will more than make up for any personal inconvenience.
(2). The Pattern for Prayer (vs 2-4).
“He said to them, when you pray, say:
'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'”
Note:
• You may have noticed that this prayer is shorter,
• Then what we think of as the traditional version,
• That we find in Matthew’s gospel (chapter 7 verse 9-13)
This version of the prayer in Luke has five requests.
• The first two (vs 2) have to do with God.
• The last three (vs 3-4) have to do with the fulfilment of our needs.
• Each of those three is plural (“give us—forgive us—Bring us “),
• Emphasising the community of faith, the Church together.
• Rather than individual prayer and personal needs.
• Matthew’s version of this prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) includes seven petitions,
• And has the extra bits “your will be done” and “deliver us from the evil one.”
Question: What are they different?
Answer:
• The simple answer is that,
• Jesus like most preachers will preach a sermon more than once,
• And each time it will be slightly different.
Ill:
• I often adapt a talk to fit very different situations.
• i.e. A Talk form the weekend may be reshaped and repackaged to fit,
• A school assembly, a Retirement Home and even a Youth Group.
• The core theme is the same, but the points emphasized will differ.
• TRANSITION:
• You prepare something and then you use it in various settings,
• Adapting it to your audience and to the situation.
• Jesus did the same, he used his sermons or teaching more than once,
• And he adapted it to the audience, to the situation he found himself in.
Note:
• Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer may be shorter in length,
• But it is rhythmic, intimate, reverential, practical and thought-provoking.
• The prayer is given not so much to be repeated as a ceremonial prayer,
• But rather it is a ‘pattern prayer,’
• It is given as a guide,
• So that we can be encouraged and helped in our own praying.
Outine:
• (a). Adoration (worship of God): “Father, hallowed be your name.”
• (b). Consecration (rule of God): “your kingdom come.”
• (c). Supplication (our needs): “Give us…forgive us…lead us…”
(3). The Persistence in Prayer (vs 5-8).
“Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘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.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘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.’ 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.”
Notice:
• That in this parable,
• Jesus did not say that God is like this grouchy neighbour.
• In fact, He was saying just the opposite.
• If a tired and selfish neighbour finally meets the needs of a bothersome friend,
• How much more will a loving Heavenly Father meet the needs of His own dear children!
• Jesus is arguing from the lesser to the greater.
We have already seen that prayer is based on:
• Relationship/Sonship ("Our Father"),
• Not on friendship!
• But in this parable Jesus used friendship to illustrate persistence in prayer.
• Remember that God the Father is not like this neighbour,
• For God never sleeps, never gets impatient or irritable,
• God is always generous, and delights in meeting the needs of His children.
• In contrast the friend at the door.
• Had to keep on knocking in order to get what he needed,
• The point that Jesus is making is clear:
• If persistence finally paid off as a man beat on the door of a reluctant friend:
• How much more would persistence bring blessing.
• As we pray to a loving Heavenly Father!
Quote: In his book ‘God Came Near’, Max Lucado tells this story:
• Norman Geisler, as a child, went to a certain Church.
• Because he was invited by some neighbourhood children.
• He went back to the same church for Sunday School classes for 400 Sundays.
• Each week he was faithfully picked up by a bus driver.
• Week after week he attended church,
• But never made a commitment to Christ.
• Finally, during his senior year in High School,
• After being picked up for church over 400 times, he did commit his life to Christ.
• Max Lucado then makes the point:
• What if that bus driver had given up on Geisler at 395?
• What if the bus driver had said?
• “This kid is going nowhere spiritually, why waste any more time on him?”
• Well, I think we know the answer!
Quote: Jacob Riis, quoted in Reader’s Digest:
• “I look at a stone cutter hammering away at a rock.
• A hundred times without so much as a crack showing in it.
• Yet at the 101st blow it splits in two.
• I know it was not the one blow that did it, but all that had gone before.”
Quote:
“It is not the arithmetic of our prayers; how many they are.
nor the rhetoric of our prayers, how eloquent they are.
nor the geometry of our prayers, how long they be.
nor the music of our prayers, how sweet our voice may be.
nor the logic of our prayers, now argumentative they may be.
nor the method of our prayers, how orderly they may be—which God cares for.
But the perseverance of our prayers that which accomplishes much”.
We have a good and gracious God:
• Who at times calls us to patient perseverance?
• It may not be how we want to work, but it is best!
(4). The Promises for Prayer (vs 9-13).
“So, I say to you: 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.
“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!”
Notice:
• The tenses of the verbs are important here:
• "Keep on asking... keep on seeking . . . keep on knocking."
• These verses carry on the idea of patient perseverance.
• And those who ‘keep on, keeping on’ receive their due reward.
Quote:
Spurgeon: “By perseverance the snail reached the ark!”
• TRANSITION:
• So, Jesus asks his followers to:
• "Keep on asking... keep on seeking . . . keep on knocking."
• In other words, don't come to God only in the midnight emergencies,
• But keep in constant communion with your father.
• Jesus called this "abiding" (John chapter 15 verse 1),
• And what Paul urged (1 Thessalonians chapter 5 verse 17),
• "Pray without ceasing"
Ill:
• The story of a man who asked Alexander the Great.
• To give him a huge sum of money,
• In exchange for his daughter's hand in marriage.
• Alexander the Great consented,
• And told the Father of the girl,
• To go and request the money from of his treasurer.
• So, he went and asked for an enormous amount.
• The keeper to the funds was startled.
• And said he couldn't give him that much without a direct order.
• Going to Alexander, the treasurer argued that.
• Even a small fraction of the money requested,
• Would more than serve the purpose.
• "No," replied Alexander, "let him have it all. I like that fellow.
• He does me honour.
• He treats me like a king.
• And proves by what he asks that he believes me to be both rich and generous."
Quote: Hymn:
“Thou art coming to a king,
Large petitions bring.
For his grace and power are such,
None can ever ask too much”.
Notice: that the lesson closes with an emphasis on God as Father (vs 11-13).
• Because our heavenly father knows us and loves us,
• We never need to be afraid of the answers that He gives.
• Once again,
• Jesus is arguing from the lesser to the greater:
• If a flawed earthly father gives what is best to his children,
• Surely the perfect Father in heaven will do even more.
Verse 13 is a great encouragement when we feel weak and discouraged,
“How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
• Question: What is your biggest need in evangelism?
• Answer: I would say it is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Ill:
• In a car race it is better to….
• Be in a Reliant Robin with a tank full of petrol.
• Then in a Rolls Royce with an empty tank.
• In the race of life,
• Better to be filled with the Holy Spirit who will help us cope with life,
• Then have the trappings of a comfortable life.
Note:
• Verse 13 brings us back full circle,
• To where Jesus’ instruction on prayer began (vs 2),
• We come to a heavenly Father in our need,
• And our heavenly Father can meet that need.
• But…we may be asking for material things like bread and fish,
• Which are good, both fish and eggs help strengthen the physical body.
• Yet in his wisdom our Heavenly Father,
• May respond with spiritual blessing, the filling of the Holy Spirit.
• It is the Holy Spirit who strengthens us, who guides us, who comforts us,
• Who meets our deepest needs.
• I think the point here in verse 13 is not on the blessing, material or spiritual.
• But rather on the source of the blessing.
• A reminder of a good, caring and loving God.
And finally…
• Adapted from S. Briscoe, Getting Into God, pp. 92-2.
• Care - Dare - Share – Prayer.
• CARE:
• show a genuine concern for the person.
• DARE: it takes courage to witness.
• Courage if the person is a stranger to you,
• And even more if the person is a close friend or relative.
• SHARE:
• If you want to make a lasting impression, share yourself with the person.
• Share is spelt T.I.M.E.
• Some people we may just hand a tract to, others will take lots & lots of time.
• PRAYER:
• Don't discount the effectiveness of prayer,
• In the preparation of people's hearts for the Good News.
• Pray before, during and after!
SERMON AUDIO:
https://surf.pxwave.com/wl/?id=N3LWUpYMnPfrSzVQNLycB2YArQ151UQW
SERMON VIDEO:
https://youtu.be/42BTbnxyFHk?si=T8oxfccD6EskvzEY
