Parable of The Friend at Midnight

Luke 11:5–13 KJV

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?

The breakdown:

I. The Friend.

a. Jesus begins by asking a question “Which of you shall have a friend.” or “suppose one of you has a friend.” First mark to identify is that Jesus likeness the Heavenly Father as a friend. We need to know that Jesus is a friend of ours....God is not only our father, God is also our friend. What does that mean that God is our friend?

b. The second marker in the scripture we see that if this person is a good friend, number 1 you can go to him at any time. Now, Jesus uses an extreme situation to convey a message that not only can you go to God any time, we can go to God even in the most inopportune situations. Must be an emergency if you show up at my house knocking on the door, it must be an urgent matter. The key here that I want to lay out before you is that you have a person, seeking a friend, the person is in dire straights, walks in the dark, comes to his friend, knocks on the door.

c. The person who has a friend asks the friend “Friend, lend me three loaves.” The person acknowledge the other person. Let me stop there, we need to understand that in prayer that prayer is not just asking God for something. You have to acknowledge God first.

Before you ask anything, who is God to you, how do you acknowledge God? (Think for a moment). The acknowledgement of God should always precede any prayer or petition we lay before God. Believe it or not, it is kind of a way of us amplifying our faith.

We say things like “Father, Lord God, Abba, Creator, Redeemer, Healer, Holy One, Lord of Hosts, El Shaddai, Jehovah-Shalom, Jehovah-Rapha, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Jireh, we think back on all the times God has provided for us.

Evidently, the reason why this individual comes to his friend during a time of need, during a time of desperation, during a time of darkness is because this person recollected that he has asked this same friend for help before, he believes that if I go to my friend, that my friend will help me.

Let me stop there to say that there is a theme here. The theme is that this parable encourages believers to approach God with persistence and faith. This is what Jesus is trying to teach.

II. The Situation.

a. Why does this person go at midnight to ask for three loaves of bread? Ans: Because verse 6 says “for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’.

b. Why is this so important? First because if they came for a long journey, they are probably tired and hungry. He wants to take care of his friend. He wants to see about the need of another of himself. Secondly, he wanted to show hospitality, back then, for a visitor to come to your house and you not show hospitality by taking care of your guest was considered to be an insult. Thirdly, he needed three full loaves, to give a half of loaf was considered disrespectful.

III. The Application of the Situation.

a. Sometimes we have to understand that it is not about us. Sometimes when we are disciples, people will come to us to ask of us things that we can’t provide to them, we don’t have it. Sometimes we don’t have the answer, sometimes we don’t have the words, sometimes we don’t have the substance.

b. But there is a friend that we can go to that will supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory. And when you don’t have, you can go to your friend, you can go to God and ask God, and it doesn’t matter how bad the situation is, it doesn’t matter how silly it may seem, God is our friend and He wants us to come to him in faith and persistence.

IV. The Rejection.

a. What do you do when your friend says no the first time? Usually, when it comes to our natural friends, we ask one time and then we won’t ask no more. But this friend isn’t a natural friend, God is our heavenly friend, He is our Heavenly Father, He is Abba Father.

b. Jesus says of the friend that the friend tells the person....who is his friend ‘Don’t bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.

So there is the rejection. God may not grant you your petition on the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth try.

This friend says the door is shut and barred, me and my children are in bed, we are busy sleeping, if I open the door it will wake my children.

Notice the friend did not say “I don’t have it to give.” He says I cannot get up and give you anything indicating he has it. Just tell someone “God has it!”

V. Persistence produces Abundance.

a. Jesus then says in verse 8 “I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him (his initial response) because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity (persistency) he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

b. In other-words disciples of Jesus Christ, WHEN YOU HAVE A NEED, WHEN YOU ARE DESPERATE, WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE AND YOU NEED TO PROVIDE FOR SOMEONE ELSE SOMETHING THAT YOU YOURSELF DON’T ASK. 1. SEEK OUT YOUR FRIEND, SEEK OUT THE LORD, KNOCK ON THE DOOR (PRAYER) AND KEEP KNOCKING AND ASKING.....DON’T STOP. BECAUSE JESUS SAID THAT IF THIS FRIEND KEEPS KNOCKING LONG ENOUGH, HE WILL GET UP AND GIVE YOU WHATEVER YOU NEED BECAUSE OF YOUR SHAMELESS PERSISTENCE......BECAUSE OF YOUR RELENTLESS PURSUIT OF WHAT YOU NEED!