So that's Luke chapter 11, it's on page 1042.
What are we reading? 1 to 13?
So Luke chapter 11, starting at verse 1.
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.
When he finished, one of his disciples said to him,
Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.
He said to them,
When you pray, say,
Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come,
give us each day our daily bread,
forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone who sins against us,
and lead us not into temptation.
Then he said to them,
Suppose one of you has a friend,
and he goes to him at midnight and says,
Friend, lend me three loaves of bread,
because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me,
and I have nothing to set before him.
Then the one inside answers,
Don't bother me, the door is already locked,
and my children are in bed with me.
I can't get up and give you anything.
I tell you,
Though he will not get up and give him the bread,
because he is his friend,
yet because of the man's boldness,
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 the door will be opened to you.
For everyone who asks, receives.
He who seeks, finds.
And to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
Which of you fathers,
if your son asks for a fish,
will give him a snake instead?
Or if he asks for an egg,
will give him a scorpion?
If you then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
Thanks very much, Alex.
Well, it is a text and teaching on prayer.
So, why don't we pray
and ask for God's help?
Amen.
Our Father God, thank you for your word to us.
And thank you that you, by your Spirit,
speak to us through your word.
And thank you that through your word,
you tell us and remind us
and invite us
to talk to you,
to come with our requests,
to ask, to seek, to knock.
And so we come to you, Father,
and ask that you will give us
the wonderful gift of your Holy Spirit.
Pour out your Spirit upon us
so that we may understand your word,
not just intellectually,
but that we may experience it in our hearts
and in our lives,
that it may teach us afresh
the relationship that you call us to have with you.
Thank you that even as we talk to you now,
your Son
is taking these prayers
and speaking them also
to the Father
on our behalf.
We ask for your help to us.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen.
Well, I wonder when was the last time
you had a time of prayer
on your own?
What was it like?
Perhaps it started very well.
But after a couple of sentences,
your mind began to wander
and you were thinking about work
or college next week
or a friend that you had to meet
and before you knew it,
you'd actually forgotten
what you were doing.
Maybe as you sat down to pray,
you never really got going at all
because all of a sudden
you became very conscious
of a whole lot of sin in your life
and you just felt far too guilty
and you just thought,
there's no way I can talk to God.
Or maybe you've just given up
on prayer altogether.
You're disappointed
that things that you had asked God for
just never materialised
and you are really just fed up
with the idea of prayer.
Or maybe you've actually tried
to bring a bit of structure to it
and you've planned things out
and you said,
right, at this particular time
on each day,
I'm going to pray.
But after a couple of days,
it all stopped
as the busyness of life
overtook.
That's my experience.
And the fact is,
we all struggle to pray,
including the disciples.
So look at chapter 11, verse 1.
One day,
Jesus was praying
in a certain place.
When he finished,
one of his disciples said to him,
Lord,
teach us to pray.
Teach us to pray.
Just as John taught his disciples.
You see,
we know we should pray.
We know it's good to pray.
But we all find it so hard to pray.
In fact,
in our determination
to be people
who are better prayers,
it seems the more we try,
the more we fail.
As soon as we begin to pray,
our mind wanders
or we just find
there's something more important
to be doing.
So rather than prayer
being a privilege to enjoy,
it just becomes a duty
to perform.
Well,
as Jesus teaches
his disciples
about prayer,
he's bringing us back
to some very central themes
that encourage us
and remind us
that we can all pray.
And over the next
few weeks together,
we're going to look
at these three things.
Who we pray to,
how we pray,
and what we pray for.
Who we're praying to,
how we should pray,
and what we should be praying for.
And this morning,
we're going to start
with who we are praying to.
So,
who are we praying to?
Look at verse 2.
Jesus responds
to their question.
He said to them,
when you pray,
say,
Father.
Now,
it might seem so obvious
to us,
but we must understand,
we must know
who we are talking to.
We are talking to God
as Father.
And in a sense,
as Jesus teaches us,
he is inviting us
to join him
in relationship
with his Father.
Father.
The disciples
had heard Jesus pray,
they had watched Jesus pray
on many occasions,
and now they're wanting
to be able to pray
as Jesus did.
Go back to chapter 10,
verse 21.
Here they are watching,
and here they are listening
to Jesus pray.
So,
chapter 10,
verse 21.
At that time,
Jesus,
full of joy,
through the Holy Spirit,
said,
I praise you,
Father,
Lord of heaven and earth.
Verse 22.
All things have been committed
to me
by my Father.
No one knows
who the Son is
except the Father,
and no one knows
who the Father is
except the Son,
and those to whom
the Son chooses
to reveal him.
You see,
in that prayer,
we see that there is
a deep relational intimacy
between the Father
and the Son.
Only the Father
knows the Son,
and only the Son
knows the Father.
They are one together.
They have existed
in relationship
before time began.
They loved each other
before all eternity,
and now Jesus
is saying to his disciples,
you can call me
Father too,
or you can call him
Father too.
Jesus is inviting us
to join him
in relationship
with his Father.
But how can we join in
with this relationship?
How does it actually happen?
Well, look back at verse 21 again
of Luke chapter 10.
At that time,
Jesus,
full of joy
through the Holy Spirit,
said,
I praise you,
Father,
Lord and heaven and earth,
because
you have hidden
these things.
Hidden what things?
Hidden
this idea
that you can have
a relationship
with the Father.
He has hidden
these things
from the wise
and learned,
those who think
they know it all,
and think that they can
just have it
any way they want.
But he has revealed it
to little children,
people who come
in dependence.
Yes,
Father,
for this was your
good pleasure.
You see,
it's the Father's desire
that we should be
in relationship
with him.
It tells us there
that he takes
pleasure
and delight
in making himself
known to us.
it pleases the Father
that we should
know him.
So how can we
know the Father?
Well,
look down at verse 22
again.
The last part,
it says,
no one knows
who the Father is
except the Son
and those to whom
the Son chooses
to reveal him.
Jesus is the only one
who makes the Father
known to us.
It is through Jesus
that we get to know
the Father personally,
and intimately.
And we know
that when Jesus
died on the cross,
he was coming
into this world
to join
with us.
Joining with us
to become
like us,
to take the blame
for all the wrong
things that we have
done,
so that
we could join
him
in relationship
with the Father.
He joined
with us
so that we could
join with him.
It is summarised
for us very well
in Ephesians
chapter 2
verse 18.
No need to look it up,
I can read it out
to you.
Ephesians chapter 2
and verse 18
says this,
for through him,
that is,
through Jesus,
we both have access
to the Father
by one spirit.
And in Ephesians 3
verse 12
it says,
in him,
in Jesus,
and through faith
in Jesus,
we may approach
God,
our Father,
with freedom
and confidence.
Jesus
is the only one
who makes
the Father
known to us.
So when we pray,
we are talking
to the same
Father
that Jesus
talked to.
The relationship
that he enjoyed
with the Father
now becomes
our relationship.
The intimacy
that Jesus
enjoyed with the
Father
becomes ours
to enjoy.
Again,
this father-child
relationship
is very well
illustrated for us
in Luke chapter 15.
The well-known
story of the
two lost
sons
in Luke chapter 15.
The first part
of the story
tells us about
a son
who had wished
that his father
was dead,
wished that he
had been buried
and that he could
now have his share
and inheritance
and basically
he takes it
and he leaves
home.
But after a life
of self-indulgence
and ruining
his life,
he now begins
to return home
broken
and ruined
and we pick it up
in Luke 15
verse 18.
I will set out
the son,
this is the son
speaking,
I will set out
and go back
to my father
and say to him,
Father,
I have sinned
against heaven
and against you.
I am no longer
worthy to be called
your son.
Make me like
one of your hired men.
Maybe he'll just
take me back
so I could just
work in the fields
or something.
So he got up
and he went
to his father
but while he was
still a long way up
his father saw him.
The idea there
that the father's
looking out for him
and he was filled
with compassion for him
and he ran
to his son
and he threw
his arms around him
and kissed him
and the son
said to him,
Father,
I have sinned
against heaven
and against you.
I am no longer
worthy to be called
your son
and before he could
give any other
words of explanation,
verse 22,
but the father
said to his servants,
Quick,
bring the best robe
and put it on him.
Put a ring
on his finger
and sandals
on his feet.
All signs
and symbols
of the fact
that he is now
part of the family.
Bring the fattened calf
and kill it.
Let's have a feast
and celebrate
for this son of mine
was dead
and is alive again.
He was lost
and is found.
So they began
to celebrate.
The point is so clear
that when we repent
and turn to God
the father,
he forgives us,
he welcomes us,
he accepts us
and he treats us
as his own son
so that we can be
in relationship
with him.
This is what it means
to talk to God
as father.
father.
There's a very famous
picture,
have it on the screen
there,
we've seen it before,
of President JFK
and here he is
sitting at his desk
in the Oval Office,
the Presidential Suite,
perhaps the most
guarded room
possible
and here he is,
the President,
the most protected
person,
but sitting underneath
his desk
is his little son,
JFK Jr.
The office is the centre
of all power
and authority.
Here is where
everybody who's important
gets to be invited.
National and international
decisions are made
in this office
and nobody is allowed
in there.
It's off limits.
Access is denied
and if you tried
to force your way
in there,
you would be arrested
or perhaps you'd
even be killed.
But yet,
because of this
unique relationship
between father
and son,
Junior has access
to his father.
Now,
through Jesus,
we have been given
access to
the father.
He alone
is the one
who reveals
the father to us.
The father who is
Lord of heaven
and earth.
the creator,
the sustainer,
the ruler of all things.
And just as Jesus
talked with his father
and had that intimate
relationship with him,
so we can talk to our father
without fear,
in freedom
and in confidence.
but what kind of father
are we talking to?
Well,
we are talking to a father
who listens
and answers.
A father who listens
and answers.
Go back to
Luke 11.
Let's pick it up
in verse 5.
Jesus tells
a story.
Verse 5,
he said to them,
suppose one of you
has a friend.
And he goes to him
at midnight
and says,
friend,
lend me three loaves
of bread
because a friend
of mine
on a journey
has come to me
and I have nothing
to set before him.
Now,
as we read this,
we've got to remember
that people then
lived in very basic
accommodation.
It wasn't all very
kind of separate rooms
as we have today.
The kitchen
was simply the living room
and the living room
became the bedroom.
So we can imagine
the scene here,
we've got this family
all snuggled up
in the one room,
all nice and warm
and then this neighbour
comes along
and starts knocking
on the door
at midnight.
Well,
maybe if I stay quiet
he'll go away.
But the knocking persists,
verse 7.
Then one inside,
then the one inside
answers,
don't bother me,
go away.
The door's already locked
and my children
are with me in bed.
I can't get up
and give you anything.
You see,
he knows if he gets up
to answer the door,
the whole family
are going to be woken up
and then the baby's
going to start crying
and will need fed
and then the kids
will need the loo.
Why don't you try
Brennan's next door?
Verse 8.
I tell you,
though he will not
get up and give him
the bread
because he is his friend,
yet because of the man's
boldness.
Now,
commentators,
when you read this
passage here,
will all say that
that's not a very helpful
translation,
boldness.
It should really be
something like
shamelessness.
Yet,
because of the man's
shamelessness,
he will get up
and give him
as much as he needs.
Now,
when it says here,
because of the man's
shamelessness,
it can refer,
and we need to follow
this through very carefully,
it can refer to either
the man
knocking on the door
or it can refer to
the man on the inside.
And I think here,
it's primarily about
the man who's on the inside,
who's asleep with his family.
So,
the reason
the neighbour
gets bread
is not because
he keeps on
knocking shamelessly
whatever time of the night
it is,
and he won't give up
knocking,
but because the man
on the inside
does not want to be
shamed
by his neighbour.
His reputation,
his integrity
is at stake.
You see,
if he doesn't get up
and answer the door,
if he doesn't get up
and help his neighbour,
then the whole village
is going to know
how stingy
and selfish he is,
and he's going to bring
shame on the whole community.
So,
verse 8,
yet because
of the man's
sense of shame,
he will get up
and give him
as much
as he needs.
You see,
the point of this
little story here
is not to make
comparisons,
but it's to draw
a contrast.
Jesus is not
saying
God is like
some reluctant neighbour
and you have to
keep on nagging
and knocking
and keep on
banging on the door
until eventually
he answers.
No,
it's saying the opposite,
that God is
always attentive,
he is always
listening to our
every cry,
and he will
answer
because
his integrity
is at stake.
To avoid
being shamed,
he will hear
and he will
answer.
In other words,
if a reluctant
neighbour
would listen
and would
answer,
how much
more
will your
Father in Heaven
listen
and answer?
Father in Heaven
So we must
never think
that God
is asleep
and that
he can't
be disturbed.
He's never
asleep.
We must
never think
that God
is so tied
up that
he mustn't
be inconvenienced.
He is
never put
out with
our coming
to him.
We must
never think
that God
is uninterested
in our affairs
or he wouldn't
be bothered
with us.
He is
deeply
concerned.
And so
the invitation
is to come
and talk
to our
Father
any time,
anywhere,
about anything
because he
is always
listening
and he
will always
answer.
That is the
character
of Father
God,
one who
listens and
answers.
And second,
the Father
that we pray
to is a
Father who
gives good
gift.
Look down
at verse 11.
Here he
tells another
story,
which is
again quite
humorous.
Which of
you fathers,
he says,
verse 11,
if your
son asks
for a
fish,
we'll give
him a
snake
instead.
Or if
he asks
for an
egg,
we'll give
him a
scorpion.
Now what
kind of
father would
treat his
child like
that?
Could you
imagine a
father who
goes and
buys a
poisonous
rattlesnake
for his
son's
birthday
instead of
giving him
a nice
little
tropical
fish?
Or could
you imagine
a father
who serves
up a
live scorpion
underneath
some lettuce
to his
daughter who
would ask
for egg
salad?
No father
would do
that to
their child.
Verse 13,
if you
know how
to give
good gifts
to your
children,
how much
more,
how much
more will
your father
in heaven
give the
Holy Spirit
to those
who ask
him?
Again,
the point
of the
story,
like the
other one,
is to
draw a
contrast,
not a
comparison,
a contrast.
If our
earthly
fathers,
even though
they are
evil,
in other
words,
even though
they mess
up and
get things
wrong and
they're not
perfect people,
even though
earthly fathers
would never
give such
a dangerous
and a
horrible
gift to
their
children,
how much
more will
your heavenly
father,
who is
perfect,
give good
gifts?
Sometimes we
may feel
that God
is out
to harm
us or
to trick
us,
telling us
one thing
but then
doing another.
Maybe we
see God
as some
kind of
practical
joker who
promises us
all kinds
of good
things but
then they
only turn
out to be
bad.
But nothing
could be
further from
the truth.
He is
always generous,
always good,
always kind.
Now of
course that
doesn't mean
that we
get everything
that we
ask for.
We'll look
at this in
detail next
week.
God doesn't
give in to
our spiritual
tantrums just
because we
nag and
shout and
whine and
whinge.
He's not
swayed by
our selfish,
sinful desires.
But he
always gives
us what is
right and
what is best
for us.
He is the
perfect father
who does
not withhold
what is
good for
us.
And if
it isn't
good for
us,
then he's
not going
to give
it to
us.
He will
withhold
something if
it's not
going to be
good for
you.
Again,
this is
summarised for
us so well
in Romans
8.
Let me
read those
verses.
Romans 8
verse 15.
It says
there, it's
talking about
the relationship
that we now
have with
God the
Father through
Jesus.
He says,
For you did
not receive a
spirit that
makes you a
slave again to
fear, but
you received
the spirit of
sonship.
And by him
we cry
Abba, which
means Father.
Verse 32,
He who did
not spare his
son, so the
Father.
who did
not spare
his son, but
gave him up
for us all,
how will he
not also,
along with
him, graciously
give us all
things?
You see, this
is the relationship
that we have.
He has given
us the greatest
gift possible,
the Lord Jesus
Christ.
So if he's
given us the
greatest gift,
how will he
not also,
along with
him, give
us everything
else that we
need?
Our Father
will not
withhold what
is right
and best
for us.
And so the
invitation is
to come and
talk to
our Father,
who gives
good gifts
to his
children.
So,
talk to
the Father.
Talk to
him.
One of the
reasons I think
we all find
prayer so hard
is because we
see it as
something that
we have to
do.
It's like a
duty that we
have to
perform.
A little box
that we have
to tick.
Somehow we
think we
must do
something to
better ourselves,
to kind of
dress ourselves
up before we
come to God,
or that we
have to
improve our
technique,
or maybe we
need a little
bit of soft
music, or a
few candles,
what do we
need to
somehow that
God would
hear me and
see me and
accept what
I'm saying.
But prayer
is not a
duty to
perform.
It is a
relationship
to enjoy.
Jesus is
inviting us to
join him in
relationship with
his Father,
the Lord of
heaven and
earth, who
is always
listening and
answering, and
he only gives
what is good
and right to
us.
And because
of our faith
in Jesus, the
relationship that
Jesus had with
his Father is
now our
relationship.
The intimacy
that he enjoyed
is now ours
to enjoy.
So it's not
about us trying
to better
ourselves.
It's not about
us trying to
improve our
technique in
prayer.
It's not
anything to
do about
what we
do.
It's all
about what
we now
have because
of Jesus.
we are
already in
the
relationship.
So when
the disciples
ask Jesus,
Lord, teach
us to
pray, he
simply starts
by saying,
when you
pray, say,
Father.
Say,
Father.
Prayer starts
when we
understand that
it is not a
duty to
perform, but
a relationship
with our
Father in
Heaven that
we can
enjoy.
Let's pray
to our
Father now.
Amen.
Father,
we're sorry
we confess
that we
complicate
prayer.
We're
sorry that
we make
excuses
about prayer.
And we're
sorry that
we treat
prayer in
the wrong
way.
Thank you
for showing
us through
your word
afresh of
the relationship
that we can
have with
you through
your Son
Jesus.
Thank you
that you
are the
ultimate
and perfect
Father.
Thank you
that you
are always
listening and
that you
always answer
our every
cry and
our every
call.
thank you
that you
are a
father who
only gives
good gifts
to us.
Teach us
to pray.
Teach us
to enjoy
our relationship
with you.
and may
this week
be a
week of
deep
intimacy
of talking
to God
as
father.
Please
help us.
In
Jesus name
we pray.
Amen.
we're going
to sing
for us.
Thank you
for us.