WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:15.939 An atheist, I've told you this story before, some of you anyway, an atheist was on a hike in the Alaskan wilderness when to his horror a huge grizzly bear came charging towards him on the track. 00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:32.179 In just a matter of moments, he is pinned to the ground by the bear. Its paw is raised, ready to strike him. And without any thought, this atheist screams out at the top of his voice, please God, help me. 00:00:32.179 --> 00:00:47.299 Okay, the bear is momentarily disorientated and the atheist in that moment realises the inconsistency of saying that God doesn't exist and then calling out to God in that moment of need. 00:00:48.079 --> 00:00:57.260 And so he decides instead to throw a challenge out to God. If you exist, make the bear a Christian. 00:00:57.259 --> 00:01:09.959 After all, he thinks if the bear is a Christian, he'd have to turn the other cheek, he wouldn't be able to commit murder and he would go on living as he did and the bear would go on its merry way. 00:01:11.620 --> 00:01:26.939 And would you believe it? In that moment, the bear pulled back its paw, knelt down beside him, collapsed its hands together, bowed its head and closed its eyes. 00:01:27.260 --> 00:01:37.500 And prayed. Lord, for what I'm about to receive, may you make me truly thankful. 00:01:40.060 --> 00:01:47.560 Now, I don't know whether that's a true story or not. I don't think bears pray. 00:01:47.560 --> 00:01:55.859 But most humans on the planet pray at least sometime in their lives. 00:01:57.359 --> 00:02:08.340 And while prayer is virtually a global activity, what prayer means is vastly different from individual to individual. 00:02:08.340 --> 00:02:22.460 And the difference in prayer life, even from religion to religion, the difference in prayer life comes down to what you think the deity is or who that deity is, what he's like that you're praying to. 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:28.840 What you think your relationship to God is. 00:02:28.840 --> 00:02:38.640 Now, it's possible right now that you're thinking, you know, well, this isn't for me, this message. 00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:44.980 I don't identify as religious and I'm not a prayer. 00:02:45.819 --> 00:02:48.620 Let me say that's okay if you think this is not for you. 00:02:48.620 --> 00:02:58.599 On any given Sunday, when we gather together like this, there is a great deal of diversity amongst us here at St. Paul's and tuning in online from different parts of the world. 00:02:58.740 --> 00:03:01.700 Great deal of diversity on the spectrum of faith. 00:03:01.699 --> 00:03:11.239 Some here gathered really know what they believe and some here really don't know what it is that they believe. 00:03:11.780 --> 00:03:18.079 And some are even dubious about some aspects of the Christian faith or every aspect of the Christian faith. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.219 You just happen to be dragged along here on this day. 00:03:21.299 --> 00:03:25.259 That's one of the great things about St. Paul's, that diversity. 00:03:25.259 --> 00:03:34.000 I would encourage you to stay tuned in though for the next 20 minutes or until I get to the end really. 00:03:36.079 --> 00:03:41.280 Because prayer is a clue to your heart. 00:03:43.019 --> 00:03:47.680 Prayer is almost an involuntary reflex of the heart. 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:51.319 It's a reflex of the human soul. 00:03:51.319 --> 00:04:01.099 No matter what you believe or how unbelieving you are, you have most likely prayed and even been unaware of it. 00:04:02.799 --> 00:04:12.299 The American writer, humorist and enthusiastic unbeliever Mark Twain admitted that when his wife was dying, he took, quote, 00:04:13.199 --> 00:04:16.779 I prayed and prayed and prayed like a dog. 00:04:16.779 --> 00:04:27.779 A former prime minister of Australia, an avowed atheist, used to regularly say to the media when addressing a disaster or tragedy, 00:04:28.159 --> 00:04:31.719 my thoughts and prayers are with them. 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:38.760 When our defenses are down and when we're at our most natural. 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:43.440 It's when we're at our most natural when our defenses are down. 00:04:44.300 --> 00:04:46.700 When we are not thinking but we're reacting. 00:04:47.840 --> 00:04:55.060 When terrible things have happened and we are desperate, it tells us what we are really like and who we really are. 00:04:55.060 --> 00:05:03.560 At least one in four atheists turn to daily prayer in times of need. 00:05:04.560 --> 00:05:13.340 And given that atheists are a vast, vast minority in our world, that tells me the vast majority actually pray. 00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:15.699 We are all religious. 00:05:17.139 --> 00:05:18.600 It's what makes us human. 00:05:18.600 --> 00:05:26.160 And when we experience deep vulnerability and our limitations as a human being, we pray. 00:05:27.820 --> 00:05:31.800 In fact, to not pray dehumanizes us. 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:43.400 So, hopefully that's enough for you to stay tuned for the next little while as we explore the uniqueness of Christian prayer. 00:05:44.220 --> 00:05:44.900 Three points. 00:05:45.020 --> 00:05:45.980 It's got the St. Paul's app. 00:05:45.980 --> 00:05:50.140 If you've got that in front of you, that would be great to follow along where we're heading today. 00:05:50.580 --> 00:05:52.960 And the Bible passages, Luke 11 and Luke 18. 00:05:53.100 --> 00:05:54.600 First of all, shameless access. 00:05:55.340 --> 00:05:57.720 Jesus is praying at the beginning of Luke 18. 00:05:57.900 --> 00:05:58.960 It was just read out to us. 00:05:59.060 --> 00:06:02.819 And he's asked by his disciples, hey, Jesus, teach us to pray. 00:06:03.660 --> 00:06:04.740 And he tells them a story. 00:06:04.840 --> 00:06:06.720 There's a man in bed at midnight. 00:06:07.439 --> 00:06:09.720 Now, this is, you know, first century Palestine. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:11.740 Midnight is midnight. 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:12.939 There's no electricity. 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:14.800 It really is midnight. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:17.420 He would have been completely sound asleep. 00:06:17.579 --> 00:06:19.280 He's not up gaming or something like that. 00:06:19.480 --> 00:06:22.160 He's completely sound asleep with his family. 00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:23.439 The cat's out. 00:06:23.540 --> 00:06:24.400 The door's locked. 00:06:24.780 --> 00:06:26.439 It's the dead of night. 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:34.100 And he's most likely in the one room house of those times with his entire family in bed with him. 00:06:35.459 --> 00:06:40.259 The person knocking on the door is not coming to him with an emergency. 00:06:40.459 --> 00:06:41.560 That's the other thing here. 00:06:42.659 --> 00:06:44.839 He's not needing assistance for his wife. 00:06:44.959 --> 00:06:45.839 You know, give me your donkey. 00:06:45.959 --> 00:06:47.040 She needs to get to hospital. 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:47.939 She's in labor. 00:06:47.939 --> 00:06:51.680 You know, my kid's sick. 00:06:51.899 --> 00:06:53.300 It's not an emergency. 00:06:53.899 --> 00:06:54.860 Knocks on the door. 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:56.959 In the middle of the night, I need some bread. 00:06:56.959 --> 00:07:00.639 I need some bread. 00:07:00.639 --> 00:07:06.159 Eventually, the man who's knocking gets what he's asked for. 00:07:06.719 --> 00:07:07.120 Why? 00:07:08.839 --> 00:07:11.979 Not because he is his friend. 00:07:12.419 --> 00:07:17.939 It's because we are told in verse 8, his shameless audacity. 00:07:19.219 --> 00:07:20.620 Shameless audacity. 00:07:20.620 --> 00:07:29.420 Now, Jesus is putting up here an approach to prayer that is opposite to other religions and even common sense. 00:07:31.019 --> 00:07:41.079 The word shameless can be translated as rudeness, discourtesy, impotence, impertinence. 00:07:44.160 --> 00:07:47.160 That is the model for Christian prayer. 00:07:48.959 --> 00:07:50.079 According to Jesus. 00:07:50.620 --> 00:07:55.560 He says, rudely bother God. 00:07:58.120 --> 00:07:58.899 Bother him. 00:07:59.019 --> 00:08:00.959 In fact, that's the word that's even used in the text. 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:06.620 He continued to bother and he got his bread. 00:08:07.280 --> 00:08:08.800 Jesus says, pray like that. 00:08:10.840 --> 00:08:11.740 That's how you pray. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:16.680 He says it again in Luke 18. 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:18.300 Tells a similar story. 00:08:18.300 --> 00:08:20.540 There's an indifferent and an unjust judge. 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:22.420 And a widow seeking justice. 00:08:22.620 --> 00:08:25.100 And the judge doesn't want to give it to her. 00:08:25.220 --> 00:08:26.639 But finally, he caves in. 00:08:27.079 --> 00:08:28.139 And it says in verse 5. 00:08:28.220 --> 00:08:29.019 This is Luke 18. 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:33.179 Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice. 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:35.299 And then in verse 7, Jesus says, 00:08:35.299 --> 00:08:42.379 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? 00:08:42.579 --> 00:08:45.240 Cry out to him day and night. 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:48.059 Will he keep putting them off? 00:08:48.459 --> 00:08:51.000 I tell you, he will see that they get justice and quickly. 00:08:52.439 --> 00:08:53.779 Day and night. 00:08:53.779 --> 00:08:54.339 God. 00:08:54.339 --> 00:08:54.779 God. 00:08:54.779 --> 00:08:54.819 God. 00:08:54.819 --> 00:08:55.379 God. 00:08:55.379 --> 00:08:55.779 God. 00:08:55.779 --> 00:08:56.459 God. 00:08:56.459 --> 00:08:57.459 God. 00:08:57.459 --> 00:08:57.579 God. 00:08:57.579 --> 00:08:58.299 God. 00:09:01.299 --> 00:09:08.799 Now, on the surface, you listen to that and you go, well, that doesn't seem like a very attractive image of Christian prayer. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:12.299 And so it's important to dig a little bit deeper here. 00:09:13.120 --> 00:09:14.979 Jesus is telling a parable. 00:09:16.039 --> 00:09:17.639 This is not an allegory. 00:09:17.919 --> 00:09:18.699 It's a parable. 00:09:19.399 --> 00:09:25.859 In an allegory, every part of the story corresponds to a spiritual truth. 00:09:25.860 --> 00:09:28.940 In a parable, there's one point. 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:36.779 Jesus was not asked by his disciples how God receives our prayers. 00:09:37.460 --> 00:09:41.159 He was asked how to present our prayers. 00:09:43.300 --> 00:09:50.240 Jesus is not teaching that God answers prayers like the friend asleep in the house or like the unjust judge. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:56.519 The question is how we go to God with our prayer. 00:09:57.039 --> 00:10:08.019 And Jesus says relentlessly, shamelessly, rudely, constantly, with familiarity. 00:10:12.580 --> 00:10:19.340 So how's it possible that we can pray like this when no other religion suggests it? 00:10:20.240 --> 00:10:22.779 And it doesn't even fit with common sense. 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:26.419 And Jesus gives the answer to us. 00:10:26.779 --> 00:10:28.960 And it's very, very important. 00:10:29.799 --> 00:10:32.820 It's all about his generous access to us. 00:10:33.240 --> 00:10:34.700 Generous access that we have. 00:10:34.700 --> 00:10:42.139 The key to all of this Christian teaching on prayer is the Christian teaching of adoption. 00:10:42.139 --> 00:10:52.559 In verses 11 to 13, the metaphor for prayer changes to a father-child relationship. 00:10:54.620 --> 00:11:00.139 Jesus did not say to his disciples in verse 1 of chapter 11, 00:11:00.139 --> 00:11:09.840 When you pray, say, our friend or our judge or our boss in heaven. 00:11:11.699 --> 00:11:16.720 What Jesus says about prayer only makes sense on family terms. 00:11:18.199 --> 00:11:18.879 Our father. 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:19.879 Our father. 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:20.879 Our father. 00:11:20.879 --> 00:11:24.860 To trust and relentlessly bug God. 00:11:26.600 --> 00:11:32.720 Our father is really something that only a child can do to their father. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:40.460 Only as we see ourselves as his children. 00:11:42.519 --> 00:11:44.639 Does prayer make any sense? 00:11:45.299 --> 00:11:47.080 Does Christian prayer make any sense at all? 00:11:47.080 --> 00:11:54.600 Think of the great rulers and powerful people of the world. 00:11:55.259 --> 00:12:02.800 The only people that can approach them and take such liberties is their little children. 00:12:04.680 --> 00:12:07.020 One of the great images, I haven't got it for you this morning, 00:12:07.080 --> 00:12:14.160 one of the great images is of John Kennedy in the Oval Office. 00:12:14.159 --> 00:12:20.059 And little John, three-year-old, playing under the president's desk. 00:12:21.679 --> 00:12:23.219 I can't do that. 00:12:23.419 --> 00:12:25.639 I couldn't walk in there right now and say, 00:12:25.719 --> 00:12:29.100 Hey, Joe, just going to eat my lunch under your desk. 00:12:30.139 --> 00:12:32.159 I can't even get into the White House, for goodness sake. 00:12:32.159 --> 00:12:38.620 Only little John can have that sort of access. 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:48.100 Even their spouses can't do it in the same way. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.899 The little kid reminding you of what you've promised, what you've said, 00:12:54.419 --> 00:12:56.500 tugging at your shirt rudely. 00:12:56.500 --> 00:13:08.200 The child also, a little child makes no distinction between the big petition and the little ones. 00:13:10.779 --> 00:13:14.179 One of my kids sent me a thing recently. 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:17.379 Can we buy this island? 00:13:17.379 --> 00:13:17.440 Can we buy this island? 00:13:17.440 --> 00:13:28.160 They are shameless in what they ask for. 00:13:30.640 --> 00:13:39.460 What is rude and shameless in terms of me relating to Nat or to my neighbours or even to you, 00:13:40.000 --> 00:13:43.920 is not so when it comes to the Heavenly Father. 00:13:43.919 --> 00:13:51.559 There is absolutely no way to understand what Jesus says here about prayer 00:13:51.559 --> 00:13:55.959 unless we see ourselves in relationship with God 00:13:55.959 --> 00:14:00.139 is radically, completely changed when you become a Christian. 00:14:01.659 --> 00:14:03.779 There's no other way of understanding it. 00:14:04.639 --> 00:14:07.839 Christian prayer only ever works on family terms. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:13.120 Only as we see ourselves as little, little children. 00:14:13.919 --> 00:14:18.019 John 1 verse 12 says, 00:14:18.120 --> 00:14:22.379 To all who did receive him, to those who believe in his name, 00:14:22.439 --> 00:14:25.919 he gave the right to become children of God. 00:14:28.719 --> 00:14:34.339 Way too many people in our culture think that a Christian is someone who tries to work hard to do their best, 00:14:34.699 --> 00:14:38.519 pull their socks up and to do their best and God will find them approved. 00:14:38.519 --> 00:14:45.500 Too many people relate to God as if God is their boss. 00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:51.740 You see, if you sign an employment contract, you expect certain benefits from that. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:57.579 You know, I expect that if I work my hours, I will get paid. 00:14:57.720 --> 00:14:58.779 It's an expectation. 00:14:58.779 --> 00:15:05.379 And there are times in that relationship where you will go to the boss's office 00:15:05.379 --> 00:15:07.699 and you will ask for some extra benefits. 00:15:08.299 --> 00:15:12.579 You know, a pay rise or a promotion or some holidays or whatever it might be. 00:15:12.819 --> 00:15:16.679 But you don't go in there the way a child does. 00:15:16.679 --> 00:15:29.099 If God is like your boss, then you go to him formally with a sense that you've earned it. 00:15:30.439 --> 00:15:31.799 He owes you something. 00:15:33.419 --> 00:15:34.659 But that's religion. 00:15:36.219 --> 00:15:37.059 That's religion. 00:15:37.059 --> 00:15:40.119 And that's not what it means to be a Christian. 00:15:41.359 --> 00:15:47.279 A Christian is not one who works for God, but one who has been adopted into his family. 00:15:48.079 --> 00:15:49.019 You are his child. 00:15:50.399 --> 00:15:52.539 Adoption is not a change of nature. 00:15:53.219 --> 00:15:55.279 It's not even a change of behavior. 00:15:56.079 --> 00:15:58.319 Adoption is a change of status. 00:15:59.439 --> 00:15:59.899 Status. 00:15:59.899 --> 00:16:10.039 And it's a change of status by the act of a parent, not the child. 00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:20.480 This generous access is possible because Jesus Christ is not merely an example for us to follow in life, 00:16:20.799 --> 00:16:23.980 but he is a representative of our substitution. 00:16:25.419 --> 00:16:29.559 Jesus, the Son of God, came from God the Father. 00:16:30.259 --> 00:16:34.939 Lived the perfect life, died in our place for our imperfect life, 00:16:35.059 --> 00:16:39.500 so that we could be adopted as sons and daughters of God. 00:16:41.559 --> 00:16:43.259 That's the Christian faith in a nutshell. 00:16:45.259 --> 00:16:49.500 Jesus has made it possible for us to be adopted into God's family, 00:16:49.500 --> 00:16:53.620 and Jesus has made it possible for us to go to the creator of the universe, 00:16:53.939 --> 00:16:57.240 the one who sustains all things by the power of his word, 00:16:57.600 --> 00:16:59.360 and say, Father. 00:16:59.899 --> 00:17:04.559 Abba, Father, which translated is Daddy. 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:06.680 Daddy. 00:17:11.059 --> 00:17:18.339 Jesus has generously opened the way for us to have shameless access to God. 00:17:18.339 --> 00:17:20.599 Shameless access. 00:17:25.000 --> 00:17:28.000 All these leads Jesus is saying in verse 9 of chapter 11, 00:17:28.500 --> 00:17:30.240 Ask, and it will be given to you. 00:17:30.500 --> 00:17:32.019 Seek, and you will find. 00:17:32.539 --> 00:17:34.480 Knock, and the door will be opened to you. 00:17:35.679 --> 00:17:36.559 It's progression. 00:17:37.279 --> 00:17:38.079 Keep at it. 00:17:38.079 --> 00:17:40.519 You know, someone comes to my door and goes, 00:17:40.740 --> 00:17:45.139 what am I going to do? 00:17:47.500 --> 00:17:49.059 Nah, something fell off the wall. 00:17:51.379 --> 00:17:52.939 You're not going to get my attention. 00:17:54.579 --> 00:17:55.339 At all. 00:17:55.339 --> 00:18:03.000 But in reality here, there's still something that just feels like it's inconsistent. 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:12.559 The instruction of Jesus here to bother God in prayer feels inconsistent with the teaching for us to feel secure in the Father's love. 00:18:12.559 --> 00:18:16.659 It just doesn't kind of work there. 00:18:16.660 --> 00:18:24.019 And that's where, in Luke 11, the text takes a sudden turn in verse 11, 00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:31.300 with the shift from the image of the grumpy friend in the middle of the night to the image of the caring father. 00:18:31.299 --> 00:18:41.419 And Jesus is saying that the God who you shamelessly have access to is not like the grumpy friend in the house. 00:18:42.180 --> 00:18:44.859 God is the caring, loving, approachable father. 00:18:45.039 --> 00:18:45.659 So let's have a look. 00:18:45.740 --> 00:18:46.220 Verse 11. 00:18:47.559 --> 00:18:51.859 This is about the insecurity implied in the word father in verse 1. 00:18:51.859 --> 00:18:57.339 Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 00:18:57.419 --> 00:19:00.240 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:05.059 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:09.799 how much more will your father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? 00:19:10.680 --> 00:19:18.079 What is essential in those verses is the words, how much more. 00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:20.680 They are utterly important for us. 00:19:21.039 --> 00:19:23.019 How much more. 00:19:23.400 --> 00:19:27.400 They mean that God is much more inclined. 00:19:27.400 --> 00:19:28.160 Much more inclined. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:40.220 Much more inclined to hear me and to help me when I pray than I am willing to hear and help my daughters when they ask me for it. 00:19:41.380 --> 00:19:44.120 And frankly, that astonishes me. 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:52.959 Jesus wants us to feel utterly secure in the father's love when we come to him in prayer. 00:19:53.639 --> 00:20:05.639 He does not want us to feel precarious or unsure of our acceptance or even fearful that we will find him out of sorts or unconcerned with us at all. 00:20:05.640 --> 00:20:15.060 This is the sense here of the security is utterly crucial for a life of consistent prayer. 00:20:15.820 --> 00:20:23.780 You cannot sustain a life of prayer if you believe that God is your boss. 00:20:23.779 --> 00:20:35.759 You cannot do it if you think that he's stonewalling you in some way or he's angry with you or he's neutral towards you in some way. 00:20:36.200 --> 00:20:40.759 Let me just quote very briefly from Dane Ortland's book Gentle and Lowly. 00:20:40.759 --> 00:20:46.400 As you consider the father's heart towards you, remember that he is the father of mercies. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:49.940 He is not cautious in his tenderness towards you. 00:20:50.559 --> 00:20:56.379 He multiplies mercies matched to your every need and there is nothing he would rather do. 00:20:56.879 --> 00:21:01.359 This God in whose hand are all creatures is your father. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:11.979 And he's much more tender towards you than you are or that you could ever be towards yourself. 00:21:13.319 --> 00:21:20.139 Your greatest treatment of yourself is less gentle than the way your heavenly father handles you. 00:21:21.500 --> 00:21:27.039 Grab the book, read the entire thing and have your heart exploded for God's love for you. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:41.579 Prayer is sustained by the confidence that God is our father and that he is concerned and that his disposition towards us is just what Jesus says it is. 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:50.759 So why does it take so long? 00:21:52.559 --> 00:21:54.259 Sometime for him to answer prayer. 00:21:54.259 --> 00:22:04.500 God sometimes gives us what we need only after a very long season of prevailing and persisting in prayer. 00:22:05.220 --> 00:22:11.940 But it's not because he is uncaring or insensitive or unable. 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:21.299 In this text, Jesus does not tell us directly, doesn't directly give us the answer to that question that we often have. 00:22:21.299 --> 00:22:24.980 Why are the answers to our prayers postponed? 00:22:26.740 --> 00:22:30.819 He says in verse 11, there's an indirect answer though. 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:40.460 In verse 11, it says that a good father will not give his son a snake if he asks for a fish. 00:22:40.460 --> 00:22:48.059 By implication, he's also not going to give them a snake if they ask for a snake. 00:22:50.700 --> 00:22:56.500 A good father will only give their children what is good for them. 00:22:57.420 --> 00:23:02.960 And that's the only answer that Jesus gives to that question that we have in this text. 00:23:02.960 --> 00:23:15.640 When the father in heaven gives us a slow answer, when he wills that we persevere for a season in prayer without an appropriate answer, 00:23:16.079 --> 00:23:19.100 it is because he's giving us a fish and not a snake. 00:23:20.259 --> 00:23:21.740 That's the only answer we have. 00:23:21.740 --> 00:23:39.579 Our heavenly father gives us what we would ask for if we knew everything that he knows. 00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:41.359 That's what he gives us. 00:23:42.440 --> 00:23:44.400 Let me just say that again because I've picked that up the first time. 00:23:44.460 --> 00:23:45.279 I think it's worth saying it. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:52.500 Our heavenly father gives us what we would have asked for if we knew everything that he knows. 00:23:57.579 --> 00:24:02.160 Sometimes we get angry at God because he doesn't give us what we pray for. 00:24:03.079 --> 00:24:05.759 Even sometimes what we relentlessly pray for. 00:24:06.500 --> 00:24:12.579 We get angry because we are treating God and we're treating prayer like Aladdin's lamp. 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:14.539 Give it a rub. 00:24:15.159 --> 00:24:16.099 Genie pops out. 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:18.099 I get three wishes. 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:19.980 You get whatever you want. 00:24:21.859 --> 00:24:25.439 But remember, we are little children. 00:24:28.419 --> 00:24:34.159 Reality is if Aladdin's lamp actually existed, you wouldn't hand it over to your four-year-old. 00:24:36.019 --> 00:24:36.720 Would you? 00:24:38.799 --> 00:24:39.960 Three wishes, kid. 00:24:40.019 --> 00:24:41.000 You can have whatever you want. 00:24:41.000 --> 00:24:42.599 You know what you need to do in that moment? 00:24:43.059 --> 00:24:45.440 Get on a space shuttle and get out of here. 00:24:46.779 --> 00:24:48.819 Chaos is going to ensue for sure. 00:24:49.539 --> 00:24:50.660 Whatever that is. 00:24:52.279 --> 00:24:53.619 Disaster would be the result. 00:24:54.119 --> 00:24:58.680 The power of prayer never means that God stops being God. 00:25:00.279 --> 00:25:04.160 We do not have the wisdom nor the grace to run the universe. 00:25:05.220 --> 00:25:06.119 God is God. 00:25:06.119 --> 00:25:12.039 He will continue to decide how to run the universe in the ultimate way for our ultimate good. 00:25:12.039 --> 00:25:17.659 So let me just land in two ways here. 00:25:17.659 --> 00:25:18.740 First of all, for the Christian. 00:25:20.299 --> 00:25:24.899 If you're a Christian tuning in right now, I want to challenge you to something. 00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:29.600 Some of us have had excellent fathers and families. 00:25:31.280 --> 00:25:34.660 Some of us have had mediocre fathers and families. 00:25:35.060 --> 00:25:39.080 And some of us have had, frankly, terrible fathers and families. 00:25:39.079 --> 00:25:50.699 If you watch little children, you will notice that with shameless audacity, they bug their parents trustingly. 00:25:52.099 --> 00:25:52.619 Trustingly. 00:25:52.619 --> 00:25:57.359 They expect their parents to care for them. 00:25:57.579 --> 00:25:59.579 They expect their parents to love them. 00:25:59.839 --> 00:26:03.319 They expect their parents to be generous and kind to them and provide for them. 00:26:03.659 --> 00:26:04.500 They expect it. 00:26:06.539 --> 00:26:15.519 Some of us have grown up in families where we learn relatively quickly that it doesn't work that way. 00:26:16.959 --> 00:26:19.839 And so we have lost the instinct to trust. 00:26:21.259 --> 00:26:22.479 We've lost that instinct. 00:26:22.619 --> 00:26:36.899 In fact, as I said, I think a couple of weeks ago, if you grew up with an authoritarian, abusive parents, 00:26:37.919 --> 00:26:43.799 one of the things that happens in the rest of your life is you distrust every authority figure. 00:26:52.619 --> 00:26:58.819 And as you grow up in life, you tend to lose trust as you grow up anyway. 00:27:00.619 --> 00:27:03.759 We lose the sense that we are completely accepted. 00:27:03.979 --> 00:27:08.019 Even if you don't grow up in a relationship with abusive parents, 00:27:08.419 --> 00:27:13.079 as you grow up in life, you start to lose the instinct to trust. 00:27:13.079 --> 00:27:19.019 Because you realize in society, I'm not completely accepted for who I am. 00:27:21.539 --> 00:27:26.039 To grow as a Christian, speaking to the Christians in the room now, 00:27:26.419 --> 00:27:32.119 to grow as a Christian, you must get those trust responses back. 00:27:32.119 --> 00:27:38.799 You cannot grow as a Christian without getting the trust responses back. 00:27:41.439 --> 00:27:42.899 Some of us are indifferent. 00:27:44.279 --> 00:27:51.399 Some of us are even bitter because God hasn't done the things that we've asked him to in the way that we've asked him to. 00:27:51.400 --> 00:28:00.960 We are anxious, we're bitter and we're apathetic because we are not practicing the fatherhood of God in our life day by day. 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:08.440 Some of us are insecure and uncertain and holding back in prayer because we feel unworthy. 00:28:09.500 --> 00:28:11.660 We are mindful of our sin. 00:28:12.160 --> 00:28:14.700 We're mindful of our flaws and our failures. 00:28:16.000 --> 00:28:17.420 Maybe it's past failures. 00:28:18.300 --> 00:28:20.580 Maybe because fathers have failed us in the past. 00:28:20.579 --> 00:28:27.720 Either way, we are treating God like a boss rather than as the father of mercies. 00:28:30.659 --> 00:28:33.339 See what Jesus says in verse 13? 00:28:34.579 --> 00:28:38.019 If you then, though you are evil... 00:28:38.019 --> 00:28:40.059 He's talking to his disciples, right? 00:28:40.639 --> 00:28:42.359 He's talking to his disciples. 00:28:44.059 --> 00:28:49.439 Not saying, you who struggle with sin and have a few rough edges, you've got some flaws. 00:28:49.440 --> 00:28:52.299 He says, you who are evil. 00:28:54.799 --> 00:28:57.740 Yet they are still God's children. 00:28:59.620 --> 00:29:01.120 Still God's children. 00:29:01.259 --> 00:29:02.460 And he is their father. 00:29:03.799 --> 00:29:05.420 He's the father of mercies. 00:29:05.600 --> 00:29:08.120 And so knock, knock, knock. 00:29:08.960 --> 00:29:10.340 Keep going to him. 00:29:10.339 --> 00:29:27.500 All of the Christians' ill discipline, all of their guilt, all of their unworthiness, all of their anxiety, all of their anger, all of their indifference in prayer is because they have forgotten that God is the father. 00:29:27.500 --> 00:29:33.700 And theologically, you may completely agree with that. 00:29:33.700 --> 00:29:40.519 But if you're not on your knees, knock, knock, knock, knocking. 00:29:42.160 --> 00:29:47.700 If you're not going to him in prayer, shamelessly, rudely. 00:29:47.700 --> 00:29:51.980 That's your actual theology. 00:29:53.559 --> 00:29:56.580 That's your actual belief system in God. 00:29:57.799 --> 00:29:58.920 That's the Christian. 00:30:00.080 --> 00:30:06.819 Now, a closing word for those of us who may potentially now realise that they aren't one. 00:30:07.059 --> 00:30:10.680 They're not a Christian because they don't view God as their father. 00:30:10.680 --> 00:30:13.720 You may be moral. 00:30:14.620 --> 00:30:15.640 You may be decent. 00:30:16.140 --> 00:30:17.039 You may be religious. 00:30:17.640 --> 00:30:20.060 But you don't know God as a father. 00:30:22.759 --> 00:30:25.019 Your relationship with him is one of formality. 00:30:29.900 --> 00:30:37.140 This kind of childlike, intimate, shameless audacity in prayer is not something that you know. 00:30:37.140 --> 00:30:41.759 Maybe you only pray when you are desperate. 00:30:44.100 --> 00:30:46.400 That shows that you are a human being. 00:30:47.259 --> 00:30:49.480 Let me just say that shows you a human being. 00:30:50.560 --> 00:30:53.400 But that does not show you that you are his child. 00:30:55.320 --> 00:31:05.560 And so my challenge for you on this Father's Day is make the father of all mercies your father today. 00:31:05.559 --> 00:31:10.279 And come to him humbly, humbly as his child. 00:31:10.279 --> 00:31:10.399 Thank you.