Continue in Prayer
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;
for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
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’?
I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
“So I say to 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 he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
We looked last time at the Model Prayer, otherwise known as the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a list of one reason and five different requests that should be a regular part of your prayer life
Give a reason why - includes praise to God. Tell God who he is, including why he would listen to your request
Two requests for God
Pray that God’s name would be honored everywhere
Pray that Jesus’ Kingdom would come
Three requests for yourself
your needs
forgiveness for your sins
protection from temptation
The remainder of Jesus teaching on prayer is about persistence.
I. The Parable of the Importunate Friend
I. The Parable of the Importunate Friend
The parable clearly urges us to persist in prayer, but let’s understand exactly how.
The setting of the parable was rather common.
Hotels/inns did exist, but they were usually little stopping points for traders. Most towns didn’t have one, and instead normal travelers would rely on hospitality of friends. Thus, a friend dropping in unannounced wasn’t thought of as odd or rude, just a fact of life.
While people often traveled by day (See the story of the Samaritan Woman), it wasn’t unheard of to travel later when it was cool. So this was a little out of the ordinary, but not so strange that people would think it wierd.
Markets were run by individuals directly selling from the farm, thus they would close up shop at night. You could find individuals selling cooked food in the daytime, but not at night; and if the visitor dropped in unexpectedly at night, there was nowhere to go to get him something to eat. So you’d either have to be a bad host (a huge faux pas in the ANE), or borrow a little food from a neighbor. So this request was uncommon but not weird. Everyone would expect you to make it if this happened, and it was certainly something that might happen in normal life.
Most lower and middle class people slept on mats, with the whole family in one room. Getting up would disturb the children. If you’ve ever had a baby or young child, you know why you wouldn’t want to wake them. Technology has changed; babies haven’t.
Thus someone pounding on the door would be met with annoyance. Don’t bother me now, it’s late and I don’t want to wake the baby. Go away. But since it was an urgent request, anyone in that day would do it anyway, not because he was inconsiderate, but because it was absolutely vital to be a good host, and this was the only way to be a good host.
The Greek word here translated “persistence” is ἀναίδεια lack of sensitivity to what is proper, carelessness about the good opinion of others, shamelessness, impertinence, impudence, ignoring of convention.
It is used only here in the NT. The idea in this context is that your “shamelessness” is derived, not from being a jerk, but from your sudden need to be a good host, and due to the lateness of the hour, this is the only way to do that. That is, anyone would be a bother to his neighbor in this circumstance.
But the point is that your neighbor doesn’t actually want to help you. He wants you to go away. God is not like that. Like the neighbor, you might have to wait for the answer. Unlike the neighbor, God is eager to help, he just has his own reasons for making you wait. Luke 18:7-8
And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
II. Ask and receive
II. Ask and receive
Now the implication of the context is that this is a genuine need that you are asking for - that’s the point of the parable. And the whole idea that God will only answer according to his will is stated clearly in James 4:2-3
You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Clearly you could spend all the energy in the world and still not receive what you want, simply because you did not ask God for it. Of course, God knows what you need before you ask him. But if you didn’t pray, then one factor he can’t includes is that prayer you ought to have made. sometimes he might consider it better to withhold something until you ask, not because he’s reluctant to give, but because it’s better for you to receive it in answer to prayer than to have what you asked for without asking.
But sometime you might pray, but if you do not pray according to God’s will, you can pray until the cows come home and get nothing.
We must balance this with the other admonition of Jesus - by all means pray, but don’t repeat yourself as if you’ve got to wake God up. Matt 6:7-8
And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
“Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
In other words, it doesn’t really matter how often you pray for something. If it is near and dear to your heart, you’ll not need any encouragement to pray; as long as you remember to pray instead of worry. You’ll think of it a lot, no matter what, so what you need to do is train yourself to pray when you do think about it, which might be every other minute. If it is not something really urgent you might not think of it that often. But God only needs to hear you once.
Some Examples
Some Examples
Some people who had to pray persistently in Scripture to receive what they prayed for.
David - ran from Saul for 10 years, constantly in danger of his life. He was clearly a man of prayer, for instance Psalm 13
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and hear me, O Lord my God; Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death;
Lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed against him”; Lest those who trouble me rejoice when I am moved.
But I have trusted in Your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.
There’s no hint in the psalm when David prayed it, but it sounds like he was getting tired of being chased. God kept him safe for 10 years, but for deliverance, he had to wait a long time. Why? In this case, because God was training him to be the King he needed to be.
Another example is Daniel 10:1-2
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.
So why did Daniel have to fast for three weeks? Didn’t God hear him the first time? Daniel 10:12-13
Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
God had actually sent Gabriel to Daniel immediately, but Gabriel was himself delayed by the demon who controlled Persia, because Gabriel, unlike God, isn’t all-powerful.
God could have unblocked the way himself, if he wanted, but it pleased him to send someone who would take time to get there.
John sees martyrs under the altar, who pray for justice concerning their unjust death. They are told to wait, not for themselves, but because God’s plan just isn’t quite ready for that yet. Rev 6:9-11
When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed.
Here they are told to wait, and it can’t be for something they need to learn. They are in heaven, perfected and glorified. So their request is just and right, and they don’t need spiritual growth anymore.
Nor is the problem about some creature who will take time to answer the request.
Instead, God has a plan, and in that plan there are things that must happen first before it will be the right time to answer their request for justice.
III. The Father Gives the Holy Spirit
III. The Father Gives the Holy Spirit
Jesus’ final point is to reassure us about the goodness of God. If God is our father, then he will give us good things, just as an earthly father always does for his children.
If the child asks for fish, he wouldn’t give a similarly shaped poisonous snake (when coiled it’s a bit like a piece of fish, if you squint.)
Equally, if he asks for an egg, the father wouldn’t give him a coiled up scorpion - again, a bit like an egg if you really squint.
The assumption is that his disciples are “evil.”
This is an affirmation of the total depravity of man (not that every person is as bad as he/she could be, but that the whole person is tainted by sin.
It’s an affirmation given to Christians, not the unsaved; thus, this means that it assumes that Christians don’t lose their tendency to sin when they get saved. The Christians is given the power to overcome sin, but the presence of sin is a reality as long as we remain in this body.
The logic is inescapable - if flawed human fathers will give good gifts, then the Heavenly Father will, of course.
But that logic is even deeper. Matthew’s parallel only mentions “good gifts” Matthew 7:11
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
But Luke does a couple of things.
Here Jesus ups the ante - since earthly fathers give good gifts, Our Heavenly Father gives the best possible gift.
But what’s the best possible gift? Why God himself, of course. He’s the greatest being of all. So he will give himself - the Holy Spirit.
Luke wants to emphasize this saying of Jesus because it fits his purpose. He’s going to make a big point of the gift of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2. He has already been preparing us with the preaching of John the Baptist. Luke 3:16
John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
God gives many good gifts, of course, but the greatest of them is himself.
