The first time I flew on a commercial airplane was back in the early ‘70’s shortly after I graduated from high school. I flew from DC to Alabama to visit my grandmother. My parents took me to National Airport, which was much smaller back then. They helped me check my luggage and saw me to my gate—in those pre-terrorism days when you could actually do that. Then I boarded the plane—and once I found my assigned seat I immediately buckled the seat belt, carefully studied the card that showed a diagram of the aircraft and then as we prepared to take off, I paid close attention to the pre-flight safety briefing. I took note of where the emergency exits were located. I listened attentively as the stewardess explained how to exit the plane if an emergency were to arise and how my seat could be a floatation device.
And then I paid very SPECIAL attention when she explained how to use the oxygen mask if there were to be a sudden drop in cabin air pressure. At this point I hung on her every word. I remember looking up to see exactly where my oxygen mask was stowed. And whenever we hit turbulence I looked up again—expecting it to drop down—ready to grab it and put it on.
Now, in the past forty years I’ve flown dozens of times—all over the world—and I must confess—I don’t listen to those pre-flight safety briefings anymore. I don’t even look at the video as they talk about that all-important oxygen mask. No—instead, once I find my seat and store my carry-on luggage, I get my books ready to study or I look out the window or I write a last minute text or e-mail—or I grab a quick nap.
And people who are experienced in flying tend to be like that. They know the information being shared about that oxygen mask is TRUE but statistically it’s pretty much unnecessary and if it ever DOES become important—well they just count on either some last minute instruction from the flight crew or remembering what they learned when they first heard the briefing. Let me put it this way: to them that oxygen mask is just for emergencies—emergencies that probably never come.
I share this because many of us view PRAYER in the same way—as a “spiritual oxygen mask” —important in times of emergency or special need—but otherwise it’s something we just ignore.
This is sad because Jesus taught His first followers that prayer is vitally important. The example He set showed that prayer is more like oxygen ITSELF than an oxygen MASK in that it is absolutely essential to our spiritual health. And growing Christians have learned this vital truth—the truth that, as Martin Luther put it, “To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing. Just as the business of the tailor is making clothes and the business of the cobbler is making shoes, so the business of the Christian is praying.” The fact is, prayer is more than an “emergency only” kind of thing; it’s more than a wonderful privilege—it is a NECESSITY—an indispensable part of our walk with God.
This morning in our study of the life of Christ we come to a time when Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them about this vital discipline. Take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 11. We’ll be looking at verses 1-13.
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.”
2 – 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.’”
5 – 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.
6 – A friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’
7 – 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.’
8 – 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.
9 – 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.
10 – For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 – Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?
12 – Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?
13 – 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!”
Tradition says that Jesus gave this lesson on prayer on the Mt. of Olives—which is directly across the Kidron Valley opposite the Eastern Wall of Jerusalem. It was called the Mt. of OLIVES because in Jesus’ day that entire hillside was covered with olive trees and there were numerous olive presses there as well—all working to supply the temple with its huge demand for olive oil.
When we were there last fall our first stop in our visit to Jerusalem was at a church that is built over a cave on the upper slope of the Mt. of Olives. Tradition says that it was in this cave that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. By the way, this is the only record in Scripture of them ASKING Jesus to TEACH them anything. Note that they specifically asked Him to teach them to pray as John had taught his disciples. I point this out because usually we think of John the Baptist as a prophet and martyr—and yet our Lord’s disciples remembered him as a man of prayer. This underscores the fact that prayer is indeed essential if we are to do anything for God. I mean, all the heroes of the faith—all the people we admire as doing great things for God—were people of prayer.
I also want you to note that the form of the Greek verb that we translate, “teach us” implies URGENCY, so it would more accurately be translated: “Teach us NOW!” —which suggests that it was more than John’s example that prompted their request. I think the disciples had noticed that Jesus’ prayers differed greatly from their own. Something about His words, His motivation, His attitude, or His expectations—it all made them dissatisfied with the way they prayed. It made them hunger to learn a different way—a BETTER way—of communicating with God.
But this request was more than that. The disciples recognized the absolute PRIORITY of prayer in our Lord’s life. They must have sensed that prayer was, in some way, the secret of His life and that He was strong at a place where they were weak—because of the way He prayed. So there was indeed an urgency in their request—a request that many believe Peter himself verbalized.
Hank Hanegraaff writes, “Peter’s words were both eager and expectant. Over and over again he had watched the Master withdraw to secluded places to pray. And he had seen the serenity Jesus exuded in the aftermath. He may have been UNCERTAIN of what made Christ’s face seem as though it glowed, but of one thing he WAS certain: whatever it was, he wanted it and wanted it NOW!”
You probably noticed that the prayer that Jesus gives here in Luke is similar to the one in Matthew’s Gospel—but not identical. To be precise, the prayer in Luke is missing two of the petitions that are included in Matthew’s version. “Your kingdom come” is not followed by “Your will be done,” and the final petition “lead us not into temptation” is not followed by “but deliver us from the evil one.” But—the lines from Matthew are IMPLIED in Luke’s shorter version. I mean when we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we are implicitly praying, “Your will be done,” and likewise, “lead us not into temptation” implies a desire for deliverance from it.
If this duplication confuses you then remember Jesus would have taught His disciples to pray multiple times. This was too important of a lesson to give only once. Plus Jesus would have had more disciples when He taught in that cave on the Mt. of Olives—which would have been later in His earthly ministry. He would have had more followers then than when He taught His followers about prayer on that hillside on the shore of the Sea of Galilee—which would have been early in His ministry—-ANOTHER reason for a repeated lesson.
But the main thing we should take from this “less-than-perfect-duplication” is that both of these prayers are examples Jesus gives of a PATTERN for prayer. I mean, they are not the same because Jesus wasn’t saying whenever we pray we have to always use these EXACT words. Do you remember, when Peter tried to walk on water and then failed? When he began to sink his prayer was three words: “Lord, save me!” And Jesus heard that prayer and came to his rescue.
If Peter had begun with “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name Your kingdom come…” he would have been blowing bubbles before the got to say, “Jesus save me!” So Jesus wasn’t saying we need to use these exact words every time we talk to God. Remember, in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus warned His disciples against using repetitious phrases. No—this was never intended to be a prayer to recite. Plus, that was not the disciples’ request. Remember they didn’t say, “Jesus, teach us a prayer” but rather, “Jesus, teach us to pray.” And Jesus didn’t say, “Here’s WHAT to pray.” He said, “Here’s HOW to pray.”
These words that Jesus gave both in Luke and Matthew were intended as “prayer templates” so to speak. They were intended to be a model—a guide. So, while it is not WRONG to recite this prayer that we refer to as “The Lord’s Prayer”—it is more important to understand its PRINCIPLES. The better we FOLLOW these principles the more meaningful our prayer life becomes—and the more positively prayer impacts every moment of our day-to-day LIVES—as well as the lives of those who know us. Max Lucado puts it this way: “In these verses Christ has provided more than a model for PRAYER—He has provided a model for LIVING. These words do more than tell us what to SAY to God; They tell us how to EXIST WITH God.” And I would agree. I like how one unknown author emphasized this thinking in his own summary of the Lord’s Prayer. He said,
“I cannot say ‘our’ if I only live for myself.
I cannot say ‘Father’ if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child.
I cannot say ‘Hallowed be Your name’ if I am playing around with sin.
I cannot say ‘Your kingdom come’ if I want my way all the time.
I cannot say ‘Give us our daily bread’ if I am trusting in myself instead of in God’s provision.
I cannot say ‘Forgive us our debts’ if I am nursing a grudge or withholding forgiveness from someone else.
I cannot say ‘lead us not into temptation’ if I deliberately put myself in its path.”
With all this in mind—let’s review the principles of prayer that Jesus has given us in our text for this morning
(1) First, He taught that we are to pray BOLDLY.
Jesus illustrated this prayer principle by telling a parable about a man who had a guest arrive late at night and went to a neighbor to ask for bread to feed his late-arriving friend. Now—in order for us to understand this parable we need to understand a few things about that culture. First of all, food was not as readily available as it is today. There were no 24 hour 7-11’s on each corner. There were no Harris Teeters or MacDonalds that were open all night. No—in that day in each home bread was baked each day for the needs of that particular day—and then consumed that day by the family.
Second, hospitality was held in high regard and was seen almost as a duty so a visitor was welcomed and cared for, regardless of the hour of his arrival. And that could be late at times because in order to avoid the intense midday heat, people often traveled in the evening which means a traveler arriving near midnight was not unheard of.
So, here is the dilemma. An unprepared host had a late arriving guest who was hungry after a long and exhausting journey and it was his duty as host to provide a meal, but he had no bread. That day’s bread had been eaten and the oven is cold. Well, not to provide for his guest’s needs would not only bring shame upon himself and his family but to the village as a whole—so what was he to do? Then he remembered a neighbor—a friend—who was known to always bake a few extra loaves in case HE had late arriving company. So regardless of the lateness of the hour he went to his neighbor’s house and asked for his help.
Jesus was asking each of his listeners, “Which of you would have the nerve to wake up his friend (and possible his family as well) in the middle of the night to ask for bread?” With this implied Jesus continued in verse seven, “And he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’”
Now—even in our day and age it is easy to understand this man’s reluctance to provide for his friend’s need. Anyone who has ever wrestled to get children into bed, understands this man’s unwillingness to do anything to arouse his little ones. And that is what would happen because in that culture the whole family slept in the same room, and even the smaller livestock was brought into the house (chicken, goats etc). So for the man to get up and get bread for this neighbor’s needs meant considerable inconvenience. It meant waking everyone up. This is why the man inside the house initially refused the request. Friendship alone was not a sufficient reason to upset the whole household. But in His parable Jesus said that ultimately, the reluctant friend got up and gave his neighbor the bread, for one reason only, the PERSISTENCE of the man making the request.
Now—understand—Jesus is not COMPARING God to a sleepy, selfish and angry neighbor. No—He is CONTRASTING the two. Jesus is telling the disciples that if a neighbor can—on the basis of friendship and social etiquette—be persuaded through persistence to meet the needs of a FRIEND, how much more will your Father in Heaven meet the needs of His CHILDREN.
And be sure to get something else. Jesus is not saying to be effective in our prayers we need to keep beating on God’s “door” until we overcome God’s unwillingness to act. No—of course not! Let me explain why I say that by pointing out the word we translate as “persistence.” In fact, circle this word in your Bible because this is the only time this word appears in the entire New Testament. The word carries the idea of “shamelessness.” The man who came making the request was shameless in his persistence, continuing his pleading until his friend responded. And Jesus was saying we can be just a shamelessly persistent in our prayers to God. We can be as BOLD. As the writer of Hebrews put it, we can “…come boldly before God’s throne and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16).
Now what gives us the right to do this—to come BOLDLY before Almighty God to ask for His help? The answer is found in the way Jesus says we are to ADDRESS God in our prayers. He said we are call Him “Father.” As you probably know the transliteration of the word in Aramaic is “Abba” and it meant “Dearest Father” or “Daddy.” It was a term of intimacy—and it’s a reminder that when we talk to God we talk as children to their dad—and children know they can ask their dads for anything. They know they can come BOLDLY to us with their requests.
When our three kids went off into life we told them and have continued to tell them, “If you need anything—whatever it is—WHENEVER it is…please ask us.” Here’s a couple recent examples. The other night Becca called. It was about 9:30PM and Sue and I were settling in for the night.
But even though it was kind of late Becca called—because she knows that no matter what the hour we will always answer. She told us that her car had broken down on the way home from her Bible study and she needed help. I shared my limited understanding of the internal combustion engine and told her to call AAA and we called back several times to make sure she was safe. We suggested she call a friend to sit with her and stayed on the phone until he arrived. We waited up until AAA came, she got a ride home, and was safe in bed for the night. We talked to her again the next day to make sure it had been repaired. We transferred money from her savings to cover the cost. We talked to her again a couple times over the next week making sure the car was running well and there were no more problems. We did this because she is our CHILD and making sure her needs are met is important to us. We WANT Becca to come to us BOLDLY for help. And she does. In fact, just a few days later at about 11:30PM Becca called again and as usual we answered on the first ring. This time she needed help filling out her FAFSA and asked about her taxes for 2013, etc. And again we stayed on the phone until we got her questions answered. I’m saying that my youngest child knows she can call on me at any time day or night. She knows this because she knows I’m her dad and I love her. Our other two know this as well.
And—that’s the principle Jesus is getting at here. We can pray BOLDLY because we are God’s children. He is our ABBA and He loves us. Now—please understand—to address God in this way was REVOLUTIONARY in Jesus’ day. In fact, in the entire Old Testament God was only referred to as “Father” fourteen times and then it is impersonally—like calling Him the Father of the Jewish nation. But when Jesus came on the scene, He addressed God ONLY as “Father.” And in this prayer lesson God’s Son says we should talk to Him in the same way—as our Dad—our ABBA.
Well, as I said, no one had ever prayed like this—no one. To the traditional Jew, Jesus’ prayer principle was shocking. I’m sure the disciples were amazed at this. They knew that Jewish prayers always began formally like this: “Lord God of Abraham, God of Isaac, God of Jacob, God most high, Creator of Heaven and earth, our shield and the shield of our fathers!” So the contrast in this parable was a shocking one indeed—meant to help us see that God the Father is not like this neighbor, for He never sleeps, never gets impatient or irritable, is always generous, and delights in meeting the needs of His children.
He is not a sleepy friend but a loving Father Who ALWAYS answers on the first “ring!” You know, most of our problems with prayer are due to our misconceptions about God. If we understood Him better, we would both pray more and enjoy it more. We would pray more boldly. Listen. Effective life-changing prayer is not the heaping up of elaborate and ornate language. No—Christian prayer is the language of intimacy. It’s the loving conversation of a Father and His child. We can come BOLDLY to God with our needs and always find a welcoming ear. Isn’t that wonderful!!!?
In April 2011, the staff of The International Justice Mission (or IJM), a Christian organization that works to rescue victims of slavery and sexual exploitation, heard some incredible news. In a village near Chennai, India, a local official identified as Kandaswamy, summoned the courage to rescue the captives in his own community. He organized a raid against a brick kiln where 143 families, a total of 522 people, had been kept as slaves. Under his direction police freed the laborers, commandeered a local high school to provide them with health care, and arrested the owner of the brick kiln. On that day hundreds of men, women, and children who had been robbed of their God-given dignity had been set free. Now—where did Mr. Kandaswamy get the courage to initiate the raid? Here’s where: Just a few weeks before the raid and the bold actions of this local official, one thousand staff and friends of IJM gathered in a Washington, D.C., hotel ballroom for a weekend of prayer for IJM’s most urgent needs. They spent an agonizing, energizing night praying specifically for the end of bonded labor in the countries where it persists—countries like India. It seemed like an audacious and impossible thing to pray for—and it was, because to pray for the end of bonded labor is to pray for nothing less than an institutional revolution. And yet everyone in the room that night dared to ask God that bonded labor might be eradicated. The Spirit came with extraordinary power, pouring out on that group of believers the willingness to ask something none of them could possibly bring about with their own resources or power. Is it only a coincidence that four weeks later, this local official, who had not acted with courage before, took up the image-bearing power granted him by his position and dared to set free 522 slaves? I don’t think so. I believe it was our Heavenly Father’s response to their bold requests.
I wonder—how would YOUR life—and the lives of those around you—change if you prayed more shamelessly—more persistently—more boldly—prayed as a child talking to an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving Father?
This leads to a second prayer principle Jesus gave that day.
(2) He taught that we are to pray CONTINUALLY.
Look at verses 9 and 10 where He says, – “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.” Now each of these three verbs: “Ask, seek, and knock” are imperatives and are in the present tense. They are arranged to indicate an ascending intensity. I mean, “ask” implies requesting assistance for a need. “Seek” denotes asking but adds action. “Knock” includes asking plus acting plus persevering—like someone who keeps pounding on a closed door.
The text actually reads “Keep on asking and it will be given to you, keep on seeking and you will find, keep on knocking and the door will be opened to you.” Jesus is saying that there are some situations that require more than merely asking for something. He was saying that prayer is meant to be a process, a SERIES of acts. This knocking is not a single rap, it is a SERIES of raps.
You see, by a CONTINUED PRACTICE of asking, seeking and knocking we break the habit where prayer is just an option, or is for emergency use only. In other words, we are not to come to God with just your midnight emergencies. We are to keep an open line of communication with your father.
And to refer back to Becca—she does that. She calls Sue or me at least once a day—every day. In these continual conversations she tells us about her day—what she’s studying—about her friends. She asks our advice about the little Bible Study she’s started. She keeps in constant communication with us.
Jesus called this prayer principle—this continual prayer; “abiding” (John 15:1ff). It’s what Paul was talking about when he said, “Pray without ceasing.” (1st Thess. 5:17). Effective prayer is always staying tuned to hear God’s still small voice. It’s talking with Him constantly as we go through our days. It is a wonderful aspect of the blessing of prayer because it enables us to walk with God through life—just as Adam and Eve walked with Him through the garden.
So—Jesus said we are to pray boldly—pray continually—and finally He said,
(3) We are to pray TRUSTINGLY.
Look at verses 11-13 again. Jesus says, “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!” From His parable we learn that God DOES answer prayer, and from this SECOND prayer analogy we learn that His answers are always beneficial. We can trust Him for that. Since God is our loving heavenly father, He can be expected not only to answer our prayers, but to answer them in such a way that it is for our highest good. Jesus says that if an imperfect earthly father can be counted on to do this—God can CERTAINLY be counted on to do the same—to an even greater extent. In short, Jesus’ prayer lesson closes with an EMPHASIS on God as Father. Because our Heavenly Father knows us and loves us, we never need to be afraid of the answers that He gives. We can trust that whatever His reply, it will be for our good. Jesus says, God will even give His Holy Spirit to us.
Now—this is not a proof text for what many call the “second blessing of the Holy Spirit.” The Bible teaches every person gets the gift of the Holy Spirit the moment he or she professes their faith in Jesus, asking Him to come into their hearts and lives. No—what God is saying here is that THROUGH PRAYER we can count on Him to be especially close to us—to bless us with Himself—to be an ever-present help in time of need, through the power of His Spirit that dwells within us.
Pro baseball player R.A. Dickey was the 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner, the highest honor for a pitcher. But Dickey’s career almost ended before it started. In 1996, the Texas Rangers made him their #1 draft pick and offered him an $810,000 contract. All he had to do was pass a routine team physical. But unknown to Dickey, the physical revealed that his right elbow was missing its ulnar collateral ligament. As Dickey, a committed follower of Christ, entered training camp he uttered a prayer of gratitude: “Thank you, Lord, for all Your blessings and for helping me get this far.” But shortly after that prayer, his agent pulled him into a meeting with Doug Melvin, the Rangers general manager. Melvin flatly said, “We are going to retract our offer. We think there’s something wrong with your elbow.” Dickey writes: “I try to take in those words for a second or two: ‘We are going to retract our offer.’ I don’t feel devastation, or even anger. I feel rage. Complete rage. It feels as if it starts in my toes and blasts upward through my body like a tsunami, into my guts and right up through the top of my head.
[I want to tell Melvin] about how this is the one thing that I can do right and that makes me somebody. I want to make sure he knows [that] he’s matter-of-factly dropped this atomic bomb on my baseball career. On my life. [But] it’s as if there’s a strong hand on my shoulder holding me back, giving me pause. In that instant I have a self-control that wasn’t there a moment earlier. I hear a voice: ‘Relax, I’ve got you. Relax, R.A. It’s okay. I’ve got you.’ The voice is the Holy Spirit. I was just talking to God in prayer and now He is talking back, giving me a composure that could not have come from anywhere else. The tsunami passes. I am crushed by Doug Melvin’s words but I am not going to do anything stupid because God is here and He says, ‘I’ve got you.’”
Let me ask—how do you look at prayer—as an oxygen mask—something to rely on just in emergency situations? Or do you see it as oxygen? You know, many of us are spiritual asthmatics, wheezing our way through life, gasping for air because our spiritual lives have been constricted by prayerlessness. If that applies to you then today I challenge you to commit to change that. Decide to learn to pray as Jesus says here: boldly, continually, trustingly. In fact, let’s do that right now. Would you pray with me?