A Friend At Midnight

This morning we come to the second in our series of studies in Luke's Gospel on Jesus and Prayer. Luke of all the Gospel writers seems to have been concerned to record Jesus' teaching on prayer. He, as Jesus did, knew that prayer was at the heart of the Christian life. True prayer is one of the things that marks off a believer from an unbeliever. In Acts, Luke records how Paul was converted on the Road to Damascus and Ananias was to help him in his first steps in the Christian life. Do you remember how the Lord identified Paul (or Saul as he was then called) for Ananias? Acts 9.11:

The Lord told him, "Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

But we need to be taught how to pray. One of the disciples of Jesus, after Jesus had just finished praying himself, said this to him:

Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples" (Luke 11.1).

Now the week before last, Simon Price, preached on the Lord's prayer. For this was how Jesus began his response to that request for teaching. Look at Luke 11 verse 2:blockquote>He said to them, "When you pray, say: 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come ... '"

... and so on. And what is crystal clear about Jesus' teaching on prayer is that our prayers should not only be prayers of praise but also of petition. In fact the Lord's prayer here in Luke is pretty well all "petitionary". It is all asking for things. There is a super-spirituality that says prayer is not about asking God to change the world. Rather it is about getting us ourselves to think differently.

But that is not what you learn from the teaching of Jesus. Particularly in Luke's Gospel Jesus shows that prayer is not about being reconciled to things as they are, but changing things. Of course, as we come to prayer, we first must focus on our heavenly Father. But then we need to ask him for things under the headings we have in the Lord's Prayer. Remember those words of James - chapter 4 verses 2-3:

You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

You are to be asking. There is to be, so to speak, a spiritual shopping list. But nothing is automatic. In fact, there can be wrong motives and attitudes, as James says. And Jesus is teaching us here in Luke 11 that there must be a spiritual shopping list of the shape of the Lord's Prayer. But by itself if you have wrong attitudes and wrong motives that won't change the world.

It is not only a question of what you are to pray for, but how you are to pray that is important. So in the first part of Luke 11 - verses 1-4 - and his teaching of the Lord's Prayer Jesus had been teaching about the "what" of praying. Now in verses 5-13 he teaches us about the "how" of praying. And to summarize what we will be learning (I trust) this morning, Jesus is teaching us that in praying we need to have above all a sense of urgency. And that is a consistent message throughout the New Testament in its teaching on prayer.

Mark 14.38: "Watch and pray." Col 4.2: "Devote yourselves to prayer." 1 Thess 5.17: "Pray continually," and so on.

Why is there all this urging? Answer: because prayer is so vital that the devil tempts all of us not to pray and to think that we can get by on our own. But we can't get by on our own even though we think we can.

So now let's look at verses 5-13 of Luke 11. I want to look at these verses under the following headings, first, THE PARABLE; secondly, THE PROMISE; and thirdly, THE PROVIDER.


First, THE PARABLE

Let me read it again - vv 5-8:

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, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.' 7 "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 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 he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

The picture is as clear as clear. The friend who has a visitor is in a fix. So he goes round to his friend, and knocks on the door of his friend's house. It is a one roomed house, where he is in bed with his wife and his children probably at the other end of the bed and the dogs, chickens, sheep and goats are quietly asleep somewhere on the floor inside the room as well. And wonder of wonders, the baby has at last settled down. Some of you can identify with what happens next - those of you with younger children.

Well here is this man banging away at his friend's door. And his friend's first reaction is: "don't bother me. the door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything." But then he realises that discretion is the better part of valour and he will have less bother if he gets up and sorts his friend out. 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 he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

Now we aren't necessarily at liberty to identify the friend in bed with God - a God who is a bit fractious. No! The Parable is teaching us how to pray - so the main lesson is about the friend who is knocking on the door requesting help. And what does it teach us about how we should pray?

Well, first, we are to pray from a sense of need. Look at what the man says: - verse 6:

I have nothing to set before him [ my visitor].

That is where all our praying must begin - with an awareness that ...

unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain" (Ps 127.1).

That is the number one lesson in prayer. As Jesus said - whatever may seem to be the case ...

apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15.5).

Secondly, we are to pray selflessly - his goal was to help his visitor.

Thirdly, we are to pray for what is necessary - his requirement was for bread not caviar. Now, there may be some special occasions where caviar is necessary - that is another matter. But the point is clear.

Fourthly - and this is so important - he wouldn't take "No!" for an answer. He didn't give up. He continued knocking until his friend opened up and he got his bread.

Is that how you pray with that sense of need and urgency? The temptation - I know it only too well - is to think it all depends on us. At this church, for example, there is the temptation to think that if you prepare, say, a sermon or a lesson or a bible study or music well - or prepare of 40 Days of Purpose well - that is it. Nonsense! Yes, you must prepare well. There need to be builders labouring on the spiritual building site that is our work, but the Lord needs to be involved at every point. That is why you need to pray for the Holy Spirit to use what you offer. And it is hard work - it requires effort to pray. That is not necessarily the effort of extreme exhaustion, but more often than not the effort of disciplined regularity - the regularity of praying on your own and of praying with others. The state of the Church in England and of England, let alone the state of the world, is dire at the start of the 21st century. How much is that due to the fact that God's people do not pray as they used to?

Prayer, of course, is not like magic. There is no mechanical connection between the length of your prayers and results as Jesus taught elsewhere. But when you pray hardly at all, something is wrong. Many churches no longer have prayer meetings or small groups where there is prayer; and fewer go to the prayer meetings where they are held. But James, remember, says, "you do not have because you do not ask." Nor can people say they are too busy - they can, but it is all a question of priorities.

Years ago, as a student I was responsible for the mid-week Christian Union bible study and prayer meeting that took place in my College every Wednesday evening. I used to say to members you must come - for your spiritual good - to study God's word and to pray. When they said, "Oh! we have an essay crisis for a tutorial first thing in the morning"; or "I will only just have got back from rowing or rugby or whatever", I replied, "well, that is difficult. But life is like that. It is a question of priorities. And it is not going to be any easier or different when you leave the University - there will always be the equivalent of an essay crisis until you retire - in fact until your dying day. So you might as well get into a routine now of regularity."

Of course, people sometimes then had (and now have) good reasons for absence. But when absence from every prayer group is the rule, questions need to be asked. Let's move on.


Secondly, THE PROMISE

Verses 9-10:

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. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Jesus does not only teach by a Parable. To make things doubly clear he spells things out in black and white. And nothing could be more black and white than this.

Ask and it will be given to you.

We are to pray in faith. Jesus said:

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours (Mark 11.24).

The devil will try, therefore, not only to stop us putting discipline and effort into praying but also to destroy our faith. All we have to do is ask in faith! It is so simple. You don't need techniques or rituals or mystical experiences. Nor do you have to work yourself up into a frenzy. Faith has little to do with the emotions and much to do with the mind.

You just "ask and it will be given you." God won't necessarily answer your request just when you want. That is why there is this teaching on persisting in prayer. But in his time and in his way he will answer and you will receive either exactly what your asked for or the equivalent. Paul prayed for relief from what he called "a thorn" in his "flesh". He received the equivalent, the "grace" of Christ which was "sufficient" for his situation (2 Cor 12.7-9).

And you don't only ask, you also "seek" - you take action yourself regarding what you are praying about. You need a job - so you pray and then go and look for a job. And you "knock" - you persevere. You carry on, praying and seeking. And notice, this is a promise for "everyone" - that if you ask you will receive. This is not just for the mature believers with a strong faith, Verse 10: "everyone who asks receives".

But you say, if God knows our needs before we pray, why do we have to pray? Answer - this is the way God works. God, of course, gives us everything freely - we earn nothing. Our prayers aren't a lever on God. But listen to these words of the Reformer, John Calvin: "though he gives all things freely to us, yet, in order to exercise our faith, he commands us to pray."

This is the way we co-operate with God in seeing his will worked out in the world. And the logic is that if you and I don't pray, certain things won't happen. That is the seriousness of it.


Thirdly, THE PROVIDER

Jesus is teaching that we need to believe, first, that God does hear and answer our prayers. but, secondly, that we need to believe that God is good - verses 11-13:

11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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!

You see, the devil makes us doubt God's goodness. Jesus is not teaching here that if you pray for something bad, he will overrule it and give you something good. That no doubt happens. But he is saying here that if you pray for what is good, don't ever fear that you will get something bad.

Human fathers do not give their children something bad when they have asked for something good. Your Father in heaven, then, certainly won't. Indeed, he will give you his Holy Spirit - that great gift he can give you now. Maybe someone here this morning is tempted to doubt whether they have the Holy Spirit.

You once prayed to accept Christ as your Saviour and Lord - you prayed that he would grant you forgiveness for your sins and that you would receive his Holy Spirit for new life. But you are tempted to doubt whether you are really and truly Christ's. You say,

"Am I saved? Am I one of the elect? Am I born again? Have I been forgiven? Have I received the Holy Spirit? Am I baptized in the Spirit [or whatever expression the devil is using to tempt you]?"

You say,

"I prayed a prayer, in faith, but I now have doubts - perhaps, I need something else, some new experience, or another ritual of some sort."

What does Jesus say?

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!

So don't listen to the devil. Listen to Jesus.

And Jesus' words also teach that you don't only need to pray for the Holy Spirit to become a Christian. You then need to pray regularly for the filling of the Holy Spirit, the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the empowering of the Holy Spirit. It is through us, with the Holy Spirit, that Christ now works in the world achieving the Fathers will. And as you pray for the Holy Spirit, you will only get what is good.

In the history of the church there have been fanatics who claim that what they do is the work of the Holy Spirit. And so other Christians cease to pray for the Holy Spirit because they are worried about barking like dogs or mooing like cows or getting into some of the weird things some people get into. But you need never fear to pray for the Holy Spirit. Your heavenly Father will only give you what is good and the gift of the Holy Spirit is his supreme good gift for his people now.

I wonder if there is anyone here this morning who has never prayed to be forgiven through Christ's death on the Cross and to receive the Holy Spirit to make Jesus real to you today. Well, remember Jesus promise:

how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!