Latest / HBCWestminster / 12.6.20 Luke 11:1-13 Pastor Sam Porges

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12.6.20 Luke 11:1-13 Pastor Sam Porges · HBCWestminster

• 0:00
  We are going to jump in to the Gospel of Luke again today, into Luke chapter 11. So, turn there. As Danny mentioned last week, we've entered into a section of Luke, a pretty large section, that is primarily teaching. I believe there are only a few accounts of healing in the next several chapters. And last week, we were reminded of the value of sitting at Jesus' feet and listening to his voice like Mary.
• 0:30
  And how fitting it is that Luke would immediately follow that passage with one of Jesus' most extensive teachings on prayer. Because what better way to sit at the Lord's feet and to spend time with him than in prayer? And so why don't you stand with me as we read God's word. Luke 11 verse 1 says, Now Jesus was praying in a certain place.
• 1:00
  And when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples. And he said to them, when you pray, say, Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. For we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. And he said to them, which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight?
• 1:30
  and say to him friend lend me three loaves for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey and i have nothing to set before him and he will answer from within do not bother me the door is now shut and my children are with me in bed i cannot get up and give you anything i tell you though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs and i tell you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find
• 1:59
  Knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks it will be opened. What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
• 2:27
  Pray with me before we begin. Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us and lead us not into temptation. Amen. Amen. If someone asked you to pray, asked you how to pray, what would you say?
• 3:06
  Let's say there was one of your kids or a student from the youth group or a new believer who has just come to know the Lord and who hasn't really prayed much in their life, and they come to you for advice, asking you how to pray. What would you say? Would you tell them to begin with certain words like, Dear God? Would you tell them to follow a certain pattern? One that I remember from when I was a kid is ACTS, A-C-T-S, Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. Would you tell them to follow a pattern?
• 3:37
  Would you tell them to end their prayer with certain words like, in Jesus' name, amen? Would you say that there are certain elements of a prayer that should regularly be included? Years ago, I heard a story by Ravi Zacharias, who passed away about six months ago. And I love this story, but there was a little boy who wanted a bicycle, and so he decided to pray for it.
• 4:03
  But he didn't really know how to pray. And so he decided that he would turn on the TV and begin watching Christian channels to learn how to pray. So the first channel he turns to is this very high church channel with their sophisticated language. So after watching that channel, he runs up to his room and he gets on his knees and he begins praying, Almighty and eternal God.
• 4:29
  If it is in your vast and infinite plan that I get myself a bicycle, may it be according to your perfect will. World without end. Amen. In the morning, he ran downstairs and out to the porch, but was disappointed to find no bicycle. He was very confused why that prayer didn't work, and so he thought he would go back to the TV and try a different channel. And after watching this one, he ran up to his room, got on his knees, and said, God, I declare my need for a bicycle.
• 4:58
  And I declare that it would be blue and silver. And I declare that it be here at 530 a.m. tomorrow morning. Because you love your kids and you want them to have every good thing. And the next morning he got up and ran to the porch and still there was no bicycle. And so very confused, he began to pace in his living room, wondering why it's not working.
• 5:22
  And as his mom was watching him, she saw him run to her bedroom, grab a statue of Mary, and then run out into the backyard. And she's wondering what he's doing. And a few minutes later, he comes back in with no statue. He runs up the stairs, goes into his room, and as his mom pressed her ear against the door, she heard him praying, Lord Jesus, if you ever want to see your mother again. I love that story.
• 5:54
  You know, prayer is one of those areas of our lives where I think most of us are willing to acknowledge our shortcomings. We may do very well with Bible reading and with resisting big temptations, but find ourselves neglecting time in prayer. The more I interact with believers, I find that many believers' prayer lives are found wanting, not because they don't desire to pray, but oftentimes because people just don't really know what to say.
• 6:24
  Some feel uncomfortable when they pray, or they feel inferior when they consider what are their feeble prayers, and they compare them to the eloquent prayers of others. And today, if you examine your prayer life honestly, and you find it deficient in any way, Luke 11, 1-13 is for you. The disciples, no doubt.
• 6:54
  desired to have a prayer life like Jesus. They had observed his fervency in prayer for two and a half years and undoubtedly heard him praying in verse one which says, now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him, Lord teach us to pray. The disciples were very wise in asking this question because it has blessed every
• 7:20
  subsequent generation of believers since the days of the apostles. And when you think about it, who better to teach them how to pray than Jesus? Who perfectly knows how to talk to the Father but the Son? Jesus responds to their request with a prayer, often called the Lord's Prayer or the Disciples' Prayer, because it was for the disciples, right? But this prayer is, as J.C. Ryle has described it, a mine of spiritual treasure.
• 7:50
  Let's read it again, beginning in verse 2. This prayer has been prayed by Christians across continents, countries, and cultural lines for centuries.
• 8:22
  Although all Christians are welcome to pray these exact words, Jesus does not intend that we would pray them robotically or exclusively, as if it was the only valid prayer allowed by Jesus. The Lord's Prayer is not a chant, nor is it a formula.
• 8:38
  In fact, it was common for rabbis in Jesus' day to compose special prayers. And the New Testament records Jesus and the disciples praying different words than these on multiple occasions. In John 11, John 17, in Acts 1, 2, 5, 10, multiple occasions. You know, church, as God's children, we enjoy freedom of expression in prayer. And nowhere else is this more clearly displayed than in the Psalms.
• 9:08
  Theologians have categorized all 150 psalms into categories and some of them are lament psalms. Psalms where the psalmist cries out to God because of trials and hardship. There are praise psalms where everything is going right and the psalmist praises God for the things that he's done in the past or for things that he's done recently in the psalmist's own life. There are also imprecatory psalms.
• 9:39
  where the psalmist is angry and prays for God's judgment against enemies. All of these reflect the heart of the psalmist and the situation that the psalmist was in when he wrote it. Scripture teaches us that prayer is less like a formula and is more like water. Water takes the shape of whatever container you pour it into. And so when you pour water into a bowl, it becomes the bowl.
• 10:06
  When you pour water into a glass, it becomes the glass. Or when you suck water through one of those curly straws, which were my favorite as a kid, it becomes the curly straw, right? Just like water, our prayers take the shape of the season that we're in. Whether it's a season of joy and blessing where everything is going right, or a season of loss and grief, or a season of uncertainty and confusion.
• 10:35
  I love what one pastor has said. He said, just pray what you got. Pray what you got. If you're in a great season, let your prayer reflect that. If you're in a hard season, let your prayer reflect that. You don't need to sound like anyone else in your prayer. And you don't need fancy language to communicate with God. You just need to be honest. So prayer is not a formula. We enjoy expression in prayer. So if this passage then is not a formula,
• 11:06
  How are we supposed to read it? I think it would be wise for us to observe its main elements and treat them like possible common denominators of our prayers. We can let Jesus' words in these verses guide our prayers while still enjoying that freedom of expression. Kind of like riverbanks on the side of the river that give it direction, and yet between those, where the river is playing.
• 11:35
  The main elements of this prayer as we're going to see are veneration, supplication, vindication, and preservation. So let's look at that first one, veneration. Jesus begins this prayer with worship of the Father. He says, Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. My wife showed me a really funny video just a few weeks ago of
• 12:01
  someone filming their younger sister or their daughter in the back of a car. And they just ask, honey, what is God's name? And the kid kind of looks at them and says, Howard. She says, Howard? How do you know it's Howard? She says, well, you know. And she says, no, why is it Howard? And the kid says, our father, who art in heaven, Howard be thy name. I thought that was the funniest thing. Oh, man.
• 12:29
  These words, these beginning words of Jesus, teach the attitude with which we are to approach God. Not only with fear and reverence, but also with faith and love. God is not only our creator, the eternal transcendent God, who has all power and glory and honor and dominion, but he's also our loving father, who beckons us to take shelter in his loving arms.
• 13:00
  The disciples would have been shocked to hear that they should refer to God as their Father. Jews in this day most often referred to God in prayer as Lord God of Israel, not as Father. So this would have been very abnormal for the disciples. And when you think about it, church, what a privilege it is that we have as New Testament believers to call God Father.
• 13:29
  That that is the primary way in which we relate to Almighty God, not just as our maker, but as our Father. For Jesus, this personal and paradoxical relationship with the Father was all the more reason to worship him, not to treat him casually. He tells us to glorify God's name and entreats his kingdom to come. The kingdom of God is God's rule, his royal sovereignty.
• 14:02
  This prayer in Matthew chapter 6 includes a little bit more wording than Luke does. He says, Heaven is the only place where God's will is done. As one man said, And so to ask God's kingdom to come,
• 14:29
  here is to say, God, I want your will and your way to be carried out perfectly in my life, in my kids' lives, in my neighbor's lives, in our government, and in the world. This kind of prayer has one desire, to see God given the glory that he is due. When I was in college, I went to a conference that was organized by
• 14:57
  the church that I was attending in San Diego, California. And the speaker at this conference was Francis Chan. And he spoke on Isaiah 6, where Isaiah sees the vision of the Lord sitting on his throne, you know. And he encouraged all of us congregants to, when we pray, stop and think just for a minute about who you're talking to. Just hold on a minute.
• 15:35
  and think about what is really happening when we pray. And I have not forgotten his words since then. I don't want to be someone who kicks down the throne room doors of God and immediately begins asking for stuff. I want to hallow his name. I want to honor his name. I want to remember how amazing
• 16:11
  of a privilege it is that I get to pray. When we begin our prayers with worship, what will inevitably happen is that the rest of our prayer becomes oriented toward God's will, toward God's glory. So Jesus begins this prayer with veneration of God's name, but then moves on to the second element of this prayer, supplication.
• 16:43
  He says, give us each day our daily bread. The prayer of faith not only orbits around worship of God, but confidently makes requests of him. It recognizes that God is good, and it trusts that he actually cares about our needs in this life. Bread here in this passage represents the total sum of one's needs for earthly existence. And church, just like the disciples,
• 17:11
  We all desperately need God's sustaining grace for life and breath and everything. God is eager to meet the needs of his children, whether it be financial provision, marital unity, grace for parenting, or direction for future decisions. Look at verse 11 of Luke 11. He says,
• 17:41
  If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? You know, Luke in his gospel emphasizes more than the others the Holy Spirit's role and value. And he uses the Holy Spirit in verse 13 as the quintessential good gift that God could give. It's like he's saying, if God is willing to give you,
• 18:11
  the very spirit of God, will he not also give you other good things? It's reminiscent of Romans 8, right? Where Paul writes, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? You know, toward the end of his life, King David reflected on the provision of God for those who trust in him. Psalm 37, 25 says,
• 18:43
  I have been young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. David's trying to remember a time when God forsook someone who trusted in him and put them to shame. And he says, I can't do it. I can't remember. Those who trust in God are willing to ask him for things, knowing that he cares for their needs, right? Cast all your cares upon him, knowing that he cares for you.
• 19:14
  So that's second, supplication. Third, Jesus moves on toward vindication. He says, I love how J.C. Ryle describes this request. He says,
• 19:46
  We simply ask for the free, full, gracious mercy of our Father in Christ Jesus. 1 John 1, verses 8 and 9 says, If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
• 20:12
  Faithful and just to forgive. He's faithful because he's our loving father and he's just because Jesus Christ is the one who took the punishment for our sin. He lived perfectly. He didn't need forgiveness. Yet for our sake, he was willing to go to the cross and take the punishment that we deserved in order that we could be counted righteous before the father. We not only need daily bread, we also need daily mercy.
• 20:44
  The person who says in their heart, certainly, I don't need to ask for God's forgiveness every day. I mean, I don't do that many bad things. That person is surely unaware of God's holiness and their own sinfulness. This prayer for forgiveness does not arise out of any insufficiency of the cross, but rather out of a desire to mend the relational rift between us and God that sin causes.
• 21:12
  Forgiveness is so integral to the life of the believer that Matthew concludes his account of the Lord's Prayer this way in Matthew 6, verses 14 and 15. I had one college professor who used to tell us, no one has offended you more than you've offended God.
• 21:43
  Our willingness to forgive is directly proportional to our understanding of how much God has forgiven us. Therefore, if we spend our lives refusing to forgive others, we have no understanding of the forgiveness of God in our own lives and should therefore probably question whether or not we actually know the Lord. However, when we do extend forgiveness to others,
• 22:09
  We can be confident that we are walking in God's will and that he will give us the daily mercy that we need. So third is vindication, forgiveness. And then fourth, preservation. He concludes with this sentence, and lead us not into temptation. I love what one man has said. He who sincerely seeks and entreats forgiveness of sins longs to be able to sin no.
• 22:39
  Isn't that true? This final request is that God would keep us from falling into temptation. God is not the author of evil, nor does he tempt anyone, as James 1.13 tells us. But as we all know, we are prone to wander from God into spiritual indifference and sin. Just as we depend on God to meet our earthly needs, so too must we depend on him to meet our spiritual needs.
• 23:06
  He will preserve our souls to the end. He will complete the salvation that he has begun in us. He will preserve our souls. And so the core elements, if you want to think about them that way, the common denominator, the principles from Jesus' prayer are veneration, supplication, vindication, and preservation. Jesus...
• 23:36
  concludes this teaching section with a parable. Look at verse 5. He says to him,
• 24:04
  he will rise and give him whatever he needs and i tell you ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be opened to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be opened what father among you if his son asks for a fish will instead of a fish give him a serpent or if he asks for an egg will give him a scorpion if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will the heavenly father give the holy spirit to those
• 24:34
  who ask him jesus has spoken elsewhere about persistence in prayer at the beginning of luke 18 but here he speaks of not only persistence but persistent impudence or persistent boldness the greek word for impudence literally means with without regard to time place or person the friend in this parable
• 25:00
  was granted his request because of his persistence despite the time of night, right? It's at midnight. In church, when we pray, we should pray with that kind of determination and faith. God is ever listening to the prayers of his people, and he invites us to pray wherever, whenever, about whatever, and with boldness. He dares us to pray bigger than what we think is possible, to take a step of faith and just ask, to step forward and just knock.
• 25:31
  on the door of heaven and to see what he will do. We must leave the manner in which our prayers are answered to God, both in its timing and in how he chooses to answer, but big prayers show that we have a big God. I'm sure that many of you have heard the story of George Mueller who, a couple hundred years ago, opened and ran an orphanage in Bristol, England. Listen to this story.
• 26:01
  One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, when Mueller said, Children, you know we must be in time for school. Then, lifting up his hands, he prayed, Dear Father, we thank thee for what thou art going to give us to eat. There was a knock at the door. The baker stood there and said, Mr. Mueller, I couldn't sleep last night.
• 26:30
  Somehow I felt you didn't have bread for breakfast and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2am and baked some fresh bread and have brought it. Mr. Mueller thanked the baker and no sooner had he left, there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it. That's an awesome story.
• 27:00
  George Mueller was renowned for his boldness in prayer and for God's amazing and miraculous provision for his requests. I just like how Jesus in this passage lays it all out there. He just says, if you who are evil, like he's not shying away from anything, you know, if you who are evil know how to give your kids toys and vacations and trips to Disneyland, Christmas gifts.
• 27:31
  Won't your heavenly Father, who is perfect, also give you good things because he cares for you? Trust him. We can ask things of God with boldness. And so today, if your prayers could use some direction or vitality, take what Jesus says about prayer into account. Veneration, supplication, vindication, and preservation. Worship the Father. Remember who you're talking to. And just take a minute.
• 28:03
  to honor him for the things that he's done, not only in the past, but in your own life. Ask boldly for what you need, whether it's finances or strengthen your family or health. Ask him. Be honest about your sins. Ask for God's forgiveness and then extend that forgiveness to others. Ask God to guide and preserve you, not just in this life with material things, but also with your soul.
• 28:34
  Ask him for guidance so that you may walk in spiritual strength all of your life. And do all of that with faith and with boldness, believing that God will answer in his time and in his way. Express your heartfelt cries to God and be guided by God's, Jesus's words. And if you're sitting there thinking, man, I still don't know exactly what to pray.
• 29:01
  I still really don't know exactly what to say. I've got a couple of encouragements for you. Number one, pray this prayer. We shouldn't be robotic, but we can pray it. And then secondly, just pray what you got. You don't need to be like anyone else. Lord, teach us to pray. Let's pray now together to close. God, we are dependent upon your grace. And we are so grateful that you are more than willing to give it.
• 29:37
  You know what we need before we ask. You reign with complete sovereignty from heaven. You are not a weak God, but a strong God, able to provide. You are not a small God, but a big God, able to answer the prayers of your people, even if they're big prayers. So we pray in faith, God, and ask that for those who are sick among us, that you would heal them. Show us your healing hand.
• 30:16
  For those who are afraid, fill them with courage. Let them trust in you and not in this world. Lead us, God, to be the kinds of people who truly believe that there's a heaven and who truly believe that Jesus has forgiven us of our sins through his cross. I pray for any who are listening to this that maybe don't know how to pray. I pray that they'd be encouraged today. And we'll just take a small step and just talk with you.
• 30:54
  Thank you for Luke 11. God, we're humbled by it and we praise you for it. In Jesus' name, amen.