Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

The story is told of a man who got a permit to open the first tavern in a small town.

The members of a local church were strongly opposed to the bar, so they began to pray that God would intervene.

A few days before the tavern was scheduled to open, lightning hit the structure and it burned to the ground.

The people of the church were surprised but pleased – until they received notice that the would-be tavern owner was suing them.

He contended that their prayers were responsible for the burning of the building.

They denied the charge.

At the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, the judge wryly remarked, “At this point I don’t know what my decision will be, but it seems that the tavern owner believes in the power of prayer and these church people don’t.”

As you know I’ve been addressing topics that you all requested to know more about through the questionnaire that you filled out earlier this summer.

This month we will be using the parables of Jesus to address some of the top requested topics you requested so this morning we will be discussing prayer, and I hope you can join us tonight as we look at the influence that the church is called to have on the world around us.

In Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus a question that we would do well to answer this morning before we begin our series over the parables of Jesus.

The disciples approached Jesus and asked him point blank, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

Them of course being the massive crowds that would gather to hear him speak, which would of course include the scribes and pharisees, those genuinely interested in learning from Jesus and those only interested in hoping to hear him say something they could condemn.

And this would have been a great question, especially since in the synoptic Gospels, Matthew - Mark - and Luke , a third of the teachings of Jesus are done through the use of parables.

In response to this question Jesus says

He speaks plainly to the disciples the secrets of the kingdom of heaven

but he speaks to the multitudes in parables because though they see, they do not see, though they hear, they do not hear or understand.

This tells us two things about regarding the parables

They reveal secrets of the kingdom of heaven

They require a desire on the part of the hearers to do more than hear a story, but to understand the spiritual implications with more than their minds, but with their hearts.

And so before we begin this study it will prove helpful to calibrate our hearts and minds toward interpreting parables before we begin our month long study on what the parables reveal to us about the secrets of the kingdom of heaven.

Interpreting the Parables

What is a Parable?

Much debated, but I think a sufficient answer is “An earthly story with a heavenly meaning for those who do not have their hearts so hardened to understand them.”

Jesus would take everyday accounts, everyday events and things that the people would understand, and allow spiritual truths to be revealed to them as the story unfolded.

Major themes would have been well understood by everyone in the culture

Servant - Master dynamic

Hospitality

Money

Agriculture

Food

His parables would take advantage of conventional wisdom and understanding of the nature of mankind and the physical world to shed light on deeper and more important spiritual matters.

Often times he would do this by way of comparing and contrasting.

By saying that something is like something, or by saying it is not like something.

Therefore, there are some things that we ought to keep at the forefront of our minds as we read and discuss the parables this month.

Read the parables as though you are sitting at the feet of Jesus hearing them for the first time

We often stress the importance of placing scripture into it’s historical and literary context, but it is especially easy with the parables to try to see them through modern lenses instead of looking at the primary meaning for a first century Jewish hearer.

I’m not saying that we can’t make application of the parables for us today, but the best application must first have the proper understanding for what it meant for the original audiences.

So as we read the parables, try to clear your mind of your preconceptions.

See yourself sitting at the feet of this amazing man Jesus who has just healed you or your friend from some terrible ailment, and is now speaking to you with authority from the scriptures

Take into account what he has just said before, what he will say after, where he is and who he is speaking to.

Take note of how the parable conforms to the teachings of Jesus elsewhere in scripture.

This is important because it keeps us from drawing conclusions from the parables that contradict the other teachings of Christ.

The parables are sometimes an illustration, yet sometimes are the sermon.

Look for the big takeaway.

What does the parable reveal about God, about Jesus, about his kingdom, about what he expects from us and what we can expect from him.

So with that brief introduction to the parables, we continue to our focus this morning, what the parables have to tell us about prayer.

Context

Our scripture reading this morning came from

And so before we begin to look at the parable this morning we need to become familiar with the context in which this parable sits.

In Luke chapter 9 we are told that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and that he’s stopping to teach from village to village as he goes.

He’s sent out the 72 to preach ahead of him and they have returned amazed by the fact that even the demons were subjected to them through the authority Jesus had given them.

and in Chapter 11 we find Jesus himself praying as we often read of him doing.

Jesus’ prayers affected the disciples.

So much so that they humbly seek out instruction from Jesus on how to pray.

Where we get what is often called the “lord’s prayer” but this isn’t a prayer that Jesus is praying so much as it’s a model prayer that Jesus provides.

Similar recorded statement in in the sermon on the Mount.

Keys from the Model Prayer

“Father, hollowed be your name.”

the world hollowed means “honored as holy”.

Have you ever wondered why Jesus put this phrase into his model prayer for his disciples?

I mean, this isn’t so much a request as it is a true statement that we can’t control.

God’s name is holy, it always has been, and it always will be.

Well I think Jesus wants us to realize first and foremost that when we pray, we are kneeling before the throne of almighty God.

That this isn’t just something that we should do half distracted while looking at our phones, but that we give the attention that we ought to give our Holy God.

and he moves from this to say

“Your kingdom come.”

Again, this is something that is guaranteed to happen, yet we are reminded to pray for it here I think for a few reasons.

1.

We as followers of Christ ought to be longing for his return and the Joy and Peace that he will bring with it.