Happy Mother's Day
Notes
Transcript
Luke 11.1-13
Luke 11.1-13
Happy Mother’s Day, ladies! I pray you feel deeply blessed and honored by your families today.
After service, we have a carnation for each of you as a small recognition of the many unseen sacrifices you’ve made through the years.
It’s interesting: Before Eve received her name, she was simply called woman, but after the fall, Adam named her Eve—the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20). Since then, the word mother has carried various meanings: mother goddesses, Mother Church, motherlode, mothership, even the motherboard in our computers.
Yet Paul reminds us that the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother! (Galatians 4:26).
So we can say “Happy Mother’s Day” not only to all you moms among us, but also to our spiritual mother home—the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem.
But where does the Father fit into this picture?
And it happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.”
When the disciples watched Jesus pray, they eventually asked, “Teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1). Luke gives a condensed version of what Yeshua taught in Matthew 6:9–13, but the heart of the prayer remains the same:
And He said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. [Matt 6.10] Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
‘Give us each day our daily bread. ‘And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’” [Matt 6:13 adds ‘but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’
Keep in mind, for the Jews, they had to go to the temple to pray.
When you arrived the people were segregated into outer courts to pray at the same time the sacrifice was being offered, even though they weren't offering anything themselves.
So this teaching from Yeshua was radical because He made no mention of going to the temple.
Yeshua then uses an illustration and a rhetorical argument to amplify the meaning of prayer in this way. First, the illustration of three friends
Then He said to them, “Which of you has a friend and will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot rise up and give you anything.’ “I tell you, even though he will not arise and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much 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.
Now a rhetorical argument
“But what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? “Or, if his son asks for an egg, will give 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?”
So going back what was Jesus teaching about prayer?
Vs 1-4
We can come to God as a loving father and acknowledge our future citizenship in His kingdom on earth one day!
Revelation 21 describes this future event when His city new Jerusalem [our spiritual mother] comes down out of heaven measuring 1380 miles in perimeter and built with beautiful translucent stones with 12 gates,
each gate is made out of a single pearl reflecting 12 foundations made of 12 kinds of precious stones bearing the names of the Apostles, the city streets will be are translucent gold. We will walk on the world’s greatest commodity!
no sanctuary will be there because God Almighty and the Lamb will be its sanctuary - No need for sun or moon light because His glory will illuminate it!
Keep in mind, this will happen after the millennial kingdom takes place.
But until that day, God entrusts us with gifts, grace, resources, and relationships for the good of others. Prayer shapes us to use specific ones as well.
Also Note: the pronoun “us” in this prayer instead of praying for ourself. This kind of focus reflects our identity as a community. Let me run through it.
Give us each day our daily bread’. Provision.
Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Pardon.
Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. Protection.
Does God actually lead us into temptation? No!
In the Greek language the phrase: “To lead us not” refers to entering a situation unknowingly without creating it.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
God gives all of us free will and allows us to endure a compromising situation we put ourselves in. But He will always provide an escape for us! Our choice!
Then the prayer finishes with acknowledging His kingdom, glory and power forever!
So why does Jesus go into these illustrations? Vs 5-10
Because these guys probably only witnessed powerless religious prayer by the priests and rabbis! Jesus said they prayed to themselves!
Religion tends to turn the privilege of prayer into a burdensome performance. To pray at God for an audience rather than praying to loving God alone!
You recall before the Fall, how did Adam fellowship with God?
He was in the garden in the cool of the day...everything about that says “ahhhh!”
There was no temple, no Torah, no sacrifice needed, no need for robes.
Jesus was saying effective prayer is getting back to the father’s desire!
This is why He illustrates prayer with the story of three friends. Read vs 5-8
In the ancient world, hospitality was sacred, so a friend caught unprepared to host a visitor at midnight is forced to go to a friend to feed his visiting friend. Confused yet?
And we see even though his friend was reluctant, his friend at the door couldn’t take “no” for an answer so he kept asking & knocking on the door. He had to have this bread for his guest.
His friend wasn’t going to sleep so he got up and gave him anything he wanted to get his friend out of his hair!
Thus all that persistence moved this aggravated and bothered friend to respond.
What was Jesus trying to say?
I’ve noticed some believers don’t pray because they feel unworthy or they feel like they are “bothering” God and He feels aggravated when we ask Him. [Bruce Almighty - where he becomes God and on his first day he’s trying to answer all prayers coming to him around the world but he gets overwhelmed and just types ‘yes’ with every prayer and it led to chaos, some believers are taught they have to have it altogether spiritually before they start to pray so they never pray! They always feel too guilty because Gods not pleased with them -. Just like Santa Claus - They’ve been taught that God is making a list, He’s checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice” . So these people just don’t ever feel comfortable praying because God is probably disappointed or angry with them.
Yet Jesus says plainly in vs 9-10
“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.
The Amplified states it this way: For everyone who asks and keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.
Now note, there has to be some action on our part. We keep asking, seeking, and knocking for His will in what want but in the meantime we are developing and deepening our relationship with God. As we wait for an answer, we can trust His word and rest in His wisdom, not our demands. But sometimes “The waiting is the hardest part, Every day you see one more card, You take it on faith, you take it to the heart...
Why do so many feel they are bothering God with their requests. Too many books and wrong ideas can confuse us. True, there are good books on prayer but the bible seems clear enough how we should approach it with confidence!
Did you know since 1900 there are over 4500 books on prayer and yet believers still struggle to find the joy in it - somehow they’ve been told we must do something to get God’s attention or that God needs to be persuaded or flattered by sacrifices, fasting, or declaring His promises.
I think we’ve been conditioned that prayer is like a vending machine!
It’s true there many verses that sure sound that way but when you read the context prayer is only answered according to His character and will.
This is why we have to develop this relationship with God. Once we get comfortable, we start talking to Him like a friend, parent or companion! He also knows if what we’re praying for, would be good for us or not! So He’s actually protecting us!
A child may ask for candy at every meal and be furious when they get a steaming plate of real food instead. That's not Dad being mean or reluctant but being a good Father.
Even Jesus didn’t get all His prayers answered!
And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
God didn’t remove that cup of suffering and Jesus obeyed and followed through!
Now he offers a rhetorical challenge of a good father. vs 11-13
“But what father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? “Or, if his son asks for an egg, will give 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?”
Notice the greatest gift is not money, healing, pleasure or success. But God Himself. -
God the Holy Spirit! It’s by the Holy Spirit that we will pray according to His word, not command Him to serve our desires or shout at the devil.
Galatians 5 tells us about the HS to see how this gift from God is so effective - The Holy Spirit has nine attributes that are more valuable than material possessions!
- love that cares about others, joy not happiness because happiness comes and goes but joy can exists even when circumstances are hard, peace within our trials and struggles, longsuffering in adversity and troubles, gentleness to avoid reacting harshly, goodness to do what’s right, meekness to avoid being arrogant, self-control to keep us from losing control and faith to trust His will! His will for us is to have thankful hearts, he invites us to ask for wisdom [knowledge rightly applied], to experience his forgiveness when we blow it, to seek deliverance from evil when we are in danger, to have a warm heart for the lost, the lonely or downcast and keep us from a hardened heart. All those things matter so much more than our temporary needs.
We have been meeting for SHOP for a couple of years now and it’s still not popular. Many have had some awkward experiences because some prayer meetings were presented as being super spiritual or everyone goes to their corner to speak in tongues. So I understand these things but..We have a book filled with scripture, we each read it out loud and then pray in the context. Some might find it boring...but the question is Does it work? Yes, over time...
But honestly for me, it’s like going to the gym or doing yardwork. Prayer is a discipline but it offers dividends. What do I mean?
What if we pray like we exercise? When were young we can eat all we want, run all we want and play hard but if we don’t exercise our body, it slowly gets bigger over time and becomes like jelly, our arms become rubber, and as we age, the little muscle we had starts to shrink, our skin loses it’s color, body fat takes over and suddenly our pants get tighter, our back gets weaker, our tendons pull easier, and tying our shoes has become a chore. That can happen to us in our prayer life.
BUT if you choose to exercise moderately, your body won’t develop overnight but if you stay consistent, eventually your body will reveal muscle definition, greater flexibility, refined dexterity and mental agility into your old age! Now sometimes I don’t feel like do it and I could find an excuse - but it is a discipline. And that’s prayer! Staying consistent, developing your relationship - soon you are in top shape ready to pray at a moment’s notice!
The same with the privilege of prayer. If we see our heart as a garden bed the results are colorful and beautiful. But if we neglect prayer the same way we neglect our yard, clover will spread quickly, the weeds and crabgrass will take over, and dandelions will cover the yard! But if you take care of our yard and flower bed and stay consistent we can bring beauty and color to your home! But it is a discipline. We need to see prayer that way.
“The purpose of prayer is not to get our will done in heaven but the purpose of prayer is to see God’s will done on earth!
