Pray Like This

Intro/Background

Luke was the author writing to Theophilus whom we still to this day have no specific record of who he was but the broader audience was the gentile believers who “had been taught” these things.

The beginning of Acts actually paints the picture of the purpose of this book saying Acts 1:1-2

Acts 1:1–2 ESV

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen.

He wanted to remind the gentile believers of what they had already heard, this was not news but reminders of the teaching of Jesus and the emphasis of christian traditions they had been taught so that by believing in Jesus Christ they would receive the promised Holy Spirit.

Our text comes in right after a lawyer tests Jesus asking him what it takes to inherit eternal life and the famous answer “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

We also see Martha and Mary where Mary is focused on the teaching of Jesus and being near to him while Martha is anxious about all the wrong things.

Then we come to our text today where one of the greatest things we can learn which is how do we pray? and so in our Text Jesus models the way.

There is much to get from this text but I want to zoom and and focus on a couple of Specific things

Proposition:

There are 3 truths about God that you MUST accept in order to Pray Like This:

1. God is our Father

2. Our Father Answers us

3. He gives the best gifts

Starting in Verse 1: Lk11:1

Luke 11:1 ESV

Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

The disciples see Jesus modeling the way by praying and they are interested in how to do it the way he does. This they see that John the baptist and his disciples do it so they want to know as well.

Verse 2: Lk11:2-4

Luke 11:2–4 ESV

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.”

The first truth we need to accept is that God is our Father… God is our Father…

Point 1: God is our Father

Jesus starts out the prayer with Father. Father here is a very personal name, it can be used by children referring to their earthly father but sometimes even by disciples to their master. The main thing to know about this term is that it is familial, this is someone whom you personally know not a distant God like the pagan Gods of the time that you may not even be able to bend the ear of even if you were able to say the right things.

When w call out to God in prayer there doesn’t have to be a long plea or an explanation as to why you are praying or anything, just calling out father to begin suffices.

Hallowed be your name is not us making God to be holy. God is holy already and is within himself without any human action or result he is by nature within himself Holy. When we pray we are acknowledging our closeness to God as father but recognizing his holiness and his greatness over all with a response of reverence of a proper fear of the Lord.

This here is a model of prayer, what Jesus is saying is not to repeat these words in verbatim every time you pray but to pray in this kind of way, Pray Like This.

We start with addressing our father and his greatness but then we go to your kingdom come. We transition to acknowledging a present and future reality that we desire to see. The reality, the kingdom is both here and the kingdom is coming Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

this is a hop of what is yet to come but is a reminder as we pray that the Lord is victorious over all. Even in our darkest moments even when it feels like the world is against us, God, your kingdom come, your kingdom is upon us and you Lord WILL defeat evil you have already won.

“Give us each day our daily bread” We acknowledge him as father and his holiness and then there is the ask, we ask for our daily need. This points back to the days in the wilderness where mana fell from the sky and it was a daily trust that God would provide all that we need each day from now until the end.

We are human, we have needs. God is a father and one that cares for us and one that provides all that we could ever need which we will talk more about here soon.

Luke 11:4 ESV

and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.”

next we have confession, the acknowledgement that we are sinners in need of grace. Not that we WERE sinners before and now are not, no that we ARE sinners that STILL need grace.

There is a crucial connection in this first sentence though. There is a comma after forgive us our sins leading into FOR we ourselves forgive. What is being said? The expectation is that we are forgiven by the blood of the lamb by the sacrifice of Christ but our response should not simply be thanksgiving to God for salvation, but to forgive those who owe us, those who have wronged us.

Don’t hear me wrong I am not saying our eternal forgiveness is given BECAUSE of our forgiveness of others but simply that the model Christ wants the disciples and subsequently us to follow is to live a life that shows our forgiveness as we forgive others.

Forgiving others is the outstretched hand by which we receive forgiveness from God, a closed hand can not receive anything. Not that the basis of God forgiving us is us forgiving others but the way in which we receive forgiveness.

Matthew 6:14–15 ESV

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

and of course God lead us from temptation, God help us to not only NOT SIN but to not even be tempted to sin, to be as far from it as possible that we may Glorify you as much as possible and look more like Christ who knew no sin.

Our God is a God of Love, of Forgiveness, of Provision. He is holy and perfect and we must worship him as the almighty God that his is without forgetting that through Christ sacrifice we have been made sons of God and he is our Father who dearly loves us.

So now we have the model of what our prayers should look like. But Jesus has more for us today. He continues on to teach us the truth that Our Father Answers Us… Our Father Answers Us…

Point 2: Our Father Answers Us

Lets continue starting in verse 5:

Luke 11:5–8 ESV

And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight 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.

We have a parable before us of a man who has an unexpected friend that has come to visit in the night. This one is hard to grasp the reality of in our western 21 century climate but in oriental customs of those times it was customary that if a visitor came through the village (no matter what time) you would welcome them in and you would give them something to eat. Not just some left overs you had but a good solid food source.

if there was a visitor for one person in the village it was a visitor for the whole village, this is how we understand sayings like “village mentality” or “village Mindset”. Everyone helped out when there was a visitor. So if you were out of something to feed them it was not crazy for them to go to their neighbor who they probably knew had some loaves to spare from the day to make sure this visitor was taken care of.

This is the craziness of the response from the friend in the house because this is such a highly regarded custom that these excuses of my door is shut and my children are in bed is kind of like are you serious dude? We see this ending part in verse 8 though saying Luke 11:8 “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.”

Impudence would mean shamelessness or lack of shame which depending on how you read it it may come across as the one asking being without shame or being rude or inconsiderate or even just overly persistent but like we just said, he might have been forward but it was not out of place for him to ask for the loaves given customs of the time and I wouln’t call asking one time very persistent. BUT if we read the he in this sentence as the neighbor we see a different story. That although he would rather give excuses and not get up to help a friend. He will though keep HIMSELF from being shamed among those around him. He knows that if he doesn’t help in this time of need he would absolutely be the talk of the village! “did you see so an so how they wouldn’t open their door even for his friend!”.

The next verse helps us to understand the point here it says in verse 9-10:

Luke 11:9–10 ESV

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.

Jesus is pointing out in this story that even a man who does not have much regard for his friend and would rather stay in bed and help that even for selfish reasons even HE would help out in this story so how much more will the father in heaven who loves and wants to provide for his children and give good gifts answer the ask for us.

there is another side which is the side of persistence I spoke of earlier, there are other texts that deal with the reality of never giving up when we pray but to be persistent, you can read a parable about that in Luke 18, BUT the teaching here is that when you ask of God he WILL answer you.

The idea is not that persistence is necessary to bend the ear of God but that when we ask God WILL answer us out of his love and graciousness. Boldness in prayer is encouraged but not specifically taught here in this text, yes we should be bold even the petitioner was bold in his request to the friend so we should confidently and humbly approach the throne of God with our requests but that confidence is rooted in knowing that God gives good gifts to his children, provides for their needs, and answers their requests within his will.

When we seek God when we ask things of him, he answers us, but understand that he will not just answer anything and everything you ask. An extreme example would be praying that someone you do not like being hurt. God does not answer prayers because you ask them simply but he answers within his will.

James 4:2–3 ESV

You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

If we expect to receive anything if we have needs if we want to see something happen in our city, if we want to know what God has next for us or if the way we are feeling like we should go is the right one, then we must seek him and ask him. This is always how God has opperated you see it even in the old testament in passages like Jeremiah 29:12 “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.” or Isaiah 55:6 ““Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;”

When we ask of God and don’t receive an answer we must examine but also understand that God will hear us and will answer even if it is not what we expected. Like Paul praying and asking repeatedly for the thorn to be removed from his side and God did answer but his answer was “my grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness”

So we know God answers our prayers but not only that he gives us gifts and blessings, but more specifically as our last point states, He Gives the Best Gifts… He Gives the Best Gifts…

Point 3: He Gives the Best Gifts

Lets finish out our text today back in verse 11:

Luke 11:11–13 ESV

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!”

Jesus gives another parable showing a father who instead of giving the thing his son asks for giving him not only something else but something dangerous!

Now snakes my not all be venomous and some kids may really love to get snakes but the correlation of snake and scorpion is specific here. This Serpent and Scorpion is the same language used in the last chapter in Luke 10:19 “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you.”

The idea here is that the father in the parable is not only ignoring the ask but seeking to give evil to his son. What Jesus is pointing to again here is the ridiculousness of the premise, of course a father would not do this, of course most fathers would not do this.

If you “talking to the disciples” who are evil. The evil here is not to say they are any extra evil than other men but in comparison with God the father in the fact that we still have sin and still live in the world.

If a father who is not holy but just a human father is able to give good gifts to his children, how much more will the heavenly father give good gifts?

It is not simply that God gives good gifts. He does give many blessings and all good things come from above as we read elsewhere but the BEST gift he could give? The Holy Spirit.

the true and best gift the father can give is the holy spirit, the holy spirit is the channel of God’s grace and blessing to us. Only through the spirit are we able to endure the suffering in life, only through the spirit are we able to do what the Lord Jesus has said to do. The holy spirit is the foundation that keeps the house from collapsing under the flood stream instead of a foundation that is weak and gives way.

The father has promised the spirit and the son has brought the spirit and the spirit is given as our helper, as the one that connects us to the father and the son, the one who regenerates our hearts and gives us new life. The holy spirit is the very breath of God the life giving breath that sustains us to the end. This is the best gift anyone could give and the father gives it to those who ask him.

by putting our faith in Christ and his sacrifice, we were given the best gift from the father. This gift also empowers us to do what Christ has called us to, to spread the gospel to all nations. He gives us the power to love our neighbor as ourselves. He is gives us the assurance of pardon that no one can snatch us out of the hands of God.

Jesus has given us access to the father through his sacrifice. That by that father sending the son we now are sons and fellow heirs that when we ask of the father he will answer us. His sacrifice and service to us and the redemption of our souls are what allow us to boldly stand before the father to ask and receive his good gifts and for us to receive the greatest gift the father could give

How should we live in light of this then? Live a life modeled by prayer. Confidently approaching the thrown of God asking our father for what his has already promised. Worship him for his holiness, be hopeful for his kingdom that is coming and the eternal reality that is yet to come but is our future. Remember and pray for provision, your father is the only one who can give true provision and knows your needs and knows your wants and loves his children so pray like you know that. Confess your sins and forgive those who have sinned against you. This wont be easy, praying like this expects us to have a reliance on the Holy spirit to help us forgive our neighbors and to lead us away from temptation.

You have a father in heaven that loves you so much he sent his son to die for you. Pray to him, be confident be humble but ask your needs before the father. Ask him to guide you ask him to give you the desires of his heart ask him to lead you into righteousness ask him to help you navigate what he is calling you to do in this season.

Lets pray

Father, you are holy you are sovereign you are good you are almighty and without you nothing that exists could exist. God we are thankful that we have a part in your kingdom, that although we live in a world that is evil that sin surrounds us that suffering is eminent… you oh God have a plan for the future, a new heaven and new earth where rust doesn’t destroy and sin has no place. Lord would you bring forth your kingdom and use us to spread the gospel to those around us to bring about a glimpse of your kingdom here. Lord would you provide for our daily needs God. That we would have everything we need, that bills would be able to be paid, that we can feed our families and lead them to you. God please forgive us where we have done wrong, forgive us for the sins we committed this week even this morning Lord, and Lord help us to forgive those around us. It is hard to forgive sometimes Lord but if you can forgive us for such trespasses that we have committed then I pray that you would help us to extend the same forgiveness to those that have wronged us no matter how long it has been. And Father, give us the strength to not only not sin but to stay away from temptation entirely that we may glorify you with our actions and become more like christ day by day. We love you Lord in Jesus name AMEN.