“Kingdom Prayer” (Luke 11:1-13)

Luke 11:1-13

Listen to Sermon

Pastor Tom Johnson, July 28, 2019

"The Lord's Prayer" James Tissot (1836-1902)

Jesus is a great model of prayer. His disciples are watching him. In previous chapters, Jesus hikes up a mountain to pray. Sometimes he goes to a body of water. Other times he goes somewhere desolate. Today he prays in a certain place. He sets aside time and space to pray. When he is done the disciples ask him to teach them to pray. He has already been teaching them by his powerful example. And being the brilliant Teacher that he is, he tells them what to pray and then how to pray. He teaches them what we call “The Lord’s Prayer” or what some call “The Our Father” or “The Disciples’ Prayer.”

The prayer begins with approaching God as our heavenly Father. It is a Kingdom-centered prayer where we ask that the whole world and ourselves glorify God by how we approach him and speak of him. We pray that his Kingdom would reach us in our daily lives here and now. We pray that God forgive us our sins and that we would see the connection between the forgiveness we receive from God and the forgiveness we offer others. And we conclude by asking God to direct our paths away from the things that distract us, harm us, or ensnare us. Jesus models prayer by his example. He gives us a scripted prayer that is genius—a prayer that will stretch us and build us up. And then he anticipates the obstacles that may keep us from prayer.

Sometimes we learn to take the healthy path when we see how unhealthy the other paths are. Sometimes we need to know what not to do in order to more confidently and more joyfully to know what to do. Remember that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. So Jesus gives them a powerful prayer to pray. And then he gives them two examples of what prayer is not. He knows that a devoted life of prayer will be a struggle for each of us. I believe that if do not get Jesus’ sense of humor in this passage, we will not understand the power of his message.

“Imagine,” Jesus says, “that prayer is like waking your friend in the middle of the night and pestering them to help you with unexpected guests. Even your annoyed friend will cave in and help you if you are persistent enough. Because they know that in order to get rid of you and get back to sleep, they must send you on your way with what you want.” So, Jesus says, “Ask, search, and knock.” Prayer is asking. Prayer is finding our way through the darkness. Prayer is making noise and clamoring for the attention of God our Creator and heavenly Father.

“Imagine,” Jesus says, “that prayer is like your children who are hungry and ask for a simple, nutritious meal—eggs and fish. Are you twisted and sadistic enough to give them snakes and scorpions for breakfast?” If a young child asked for a bowl of cereal, would you give them a bowl of crunchy insects instead? Jesus says, if we as parents who are sinful still are able to give our children good things despite our propensity toward evil—how much will God answer our prayers who is without sin and evil—how much will he whose goodness overflows prevail toward us because of his perfect and holy love.

Jesus says what we all need to hear. God is not irritated by our knocking on his door in the middle of the night. He is our divine Friend who does not sleep nor slumber. He does not want us to go away and stop pestering him. Our heavenly Father does not toy with us or treat us like pawns in a sick game. “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Rom 8:37). So Jesus gives us his example to set aside time and to go to our sacred places to devote ourselves to prayer. He gives us a prayer to pray and a model of a God-glorifying prayer and a human-edifying prayer. And then he gives us two ridiculous examples of what prayer is not like—a crabby friend and a terrible parent.

Our motive to pray now is the joy and confidence we have that God want us to come to him. He is not bothered but delights to hear our prayers. He wants us to approach him as a loving and devoted child would approach a loving and devoted parent. We do not pray to get his attention or earn his favor. We pray because we already have his attention and favor. Everyone one of us should presume that God smiles, his arms spread wide to welcome us, and he wants to give us the best gifts—his Holy Spirit to guide us and to empower us in him. He has already given us the gift of himself when surrendered his life on the Cross and rose victoriously from his three-day slumber in the grave. He has made his move toward us, taught us to pray, and now he loves to welcome his beloved children into sweet prayerful devotion and communion with him.

Oh, what peace we often forfeit;
Oh, what needless pain we bear—
All because we do not carry Ev’rything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a Friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our ev'ry weakness—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.

In His arms He'll take and shield thee:
Thou wilt find a solace there.”                     (LSB 770 “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”)