On a very basic level prayer is communication: Communication
with God. So over the next three weeks I want to look at Jesus teaching on
prayer through the lens of a basic way of analysing communication: Looking at
the receiver the transmitter and the message. If we were talking about this sermon as a piece of communication, the
transmitter would be the one speaking, the one listening the receiver and the medium would be preaching and the
message would be opening up the
scriptures to us. In the case of prayer we would talk of the one we pray to,
the people doing the praying, and the prayer being offered. Today we are going to start with the receiver the
one being prayed to… because the hope for prayer is the very character of God.
Jesus teaching comes in response to his disciples asking him
‘Lord, teach us to pray’ they had seen Jesus prayer life and they wanted that
in their own lives. Jesus had a close relationship with God and they wanted it
too. Jesus teaching on prayer in Luke can
be split into three parts…
Firstly Jesus provides them with a pattern for prayer. This
pattern shows us the priority of our prayer life. First that it is to see God’s
name glorified, that we desire to see God’s justice and Kingdom established on
earth, that we are dependent on God for our basic needs: Both physical (our
daily bread) and Spiritually (forgiveness and reconciliation and protection and
guidance). We will pick up this in a
couple of weeks as we look at prayer as communication.
Secondly, Jesus gave a parable about perseverance in prayer:
Picking up a picture of going to a neighbour when you are in need as a way of
showing us that God hears and listens to prayer and can be trusted to respond.
lastly with a principle about prayer, that, God is good and
will respond to our prayer and knows how to give good things to his children:
In Particular the Holy Spirit, the means by which we can know God’s abiding
presence in our lives and be enabled and guided to be disciples of Jesus.
But as I said before today I want to focus on the person we
are praying to, on God and how God’s character is the basis for hope when we
pray. The basis that we are heard, that we are cared for and we are answered…It’s
about who we pray to … that makes the difference. In fact you could say that
Jesus teaching on prayer revolves around encouragement to pray because of who
God is.
Jesus does that by
presenting us with two pictures of who God is. The first is that we are to
address our prayer ‘to our Father’… That we are called into a relationship with
God where he is our heavenly father and we are his children. It is an invitation to come with a childlike
faith and to trust God. In the exodus story in the Old Testament of God bring
the people out of Egypt we see that God tells pharaoh to let my people go
because Israel was his first born. It is a relationship of father to his
children. He has come to give them liberty and freedom. In the prologue to
John’s gospel we have Jesus incarnation presented in big picture terms and we see that in Jesus coming and his ministry
and his death and resurrection we are given power to become sons and daughters of the most high. Jesus
invites us to share his relationship with God as father. AS children depend on
their parents for food and protection and guidance and shelter so it is we can
depend on God for those things. In the Ancient near east being part of
a family meant that you upheld the honour and the values of that family,
that was attached to the name of the father of the family and in Jesus prayer
we see that reflected in wanting our fathers name glorified and our fathers
values and justice and kingdom to come.
I remember listening to a man who worked in prisons one day
who talked of a prisoner saying ‘if God is a father then I don’t want anything
to with God’. His experience of his father was so bad… Perhaps in our
increasingly fatherless society and in a society where there are large numbers
who have been abused and abandoned or hurt by their fathers then this image of
God as Father is hard to identify with. Some have wanted to find other ways of
addressing God. Feminism has meant that many women want to look for other ways
of addressing God. But Jesus does not leave it simply as a title in the last section of his teaching on prayer
he picks up the idea of a good father who will look after his children, will
give them food when they ask not abuse them. Not give them harmful things and
says if we who are human and broken and yeah sinful can give good gifts to our
children how much more your heavenly father will give the Holy Spirit to those
who ask him.” We see that instead of projecting our broken images of fatherhood
on God, we are to see that God is a good Father, Approachable not distant or
absent, caring and forgiving not abusive and violent, affirming and loving, not
full of criticism and put downs, even when he corrects us it because he loves
us. In fact knowing God as Father praying to God as father can be liberating
and healing, it can be inspiring for those of us who are fathers and parents to
aspire to be better because we experience the love of our heavenly Father.
The image of God as Father is complimented in Jesus teaching
with the picture of God as a good neighbour or friend. Jesus tells the parable
of someone who has unexpected guests show up in the middle of the night when
there is no food left in the house, and well there was not the 24/7 shopping we
take for granted. Hospitality in the Ancient
Middle East was of paramount importance to people and it was shameful if you
didn’t have enough to care for your guest. So the picture here is going to the
neighbour and pounding on their door to get some bread. In most Ancient Near
Eastern Houses everyone slept on the ground floor. Usually on a raised platform
all the children would be sleeping there as well as the adults. Also animals
were kept in the ground floor as well. So it was quite a task getting up and
opening the door in the middle of the night. Everyone and everything would end
up awake. The neighbour would be well within his rights to say go away. But if
you keep on persisting even they will get up and give you what you need. The
picture of God here is that he will be a good friend and neighbour and answer
your prayer. God cares and will answer
our prayer and help us in time of crisis.
We have a God who will open the door when we knock, who isn’t going to
hide away and be distant but who will be found if we seek him, who will respond
when we ask.
Not only does Jesus teach us about the very character of God
in his ministry we see it as well. We see it Jesus revolution of grace. In that
good news for the poor recovery of sight for the blind, freedom and release for
the prisoner and oppressed, that Jesus demonstrated in loving and welcoming
back and touching and healing, this is what God the Father is like. We hear it
in his teaching love ‘ Be merciful as your father is merciful’. It is demonstrated in the cross, ‘father
forgive them’ today you will be with me in paradise, That while we were yet
sinner God died for us, it’s power is seen in the resurrection. Its truth is
seen in the sending of the Holy Spirit on God’s people…. How much more will God
give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
I think in the Christian church we can forget that love of
God, the amazing reality of having God as our Father. This week I’ve seen some
videos of Muslim’s who have converted to Christianity. It was refreshing to
hear afresh from these testimonies the uniqueness and wonder of knowing that
God is a loving and caring Father. Mario Joseph was a Muslim cleric, who began
looking at what the Koran said about Jesus. In fact I was interessted to hear Mario Joseph say that as he studied the Koran he
saw it has more to say about Jesus than Mohammad. The Koran says Jesus is the word
of God, that Jesus died and rose again and that Jesus will come again. He went on a retreat to study the gospel and
was amazed at the passage from John’s gospel we mentioned before and Jesus
teaching on Prayer. He said ‘In the Koran Allah is always seen as master and
people were his slaves, but what liberty in knowing that we could be children of
God, that we are loved by and cared for by our Father in heaven. Another women
talked of being amazed that God was Love, she said she had always prayed and
said her prayers at the right time, and one night after a year of bible study
she decided she would pray like Christians did and found real joy and life in
being able to pour her heart out to God and know he heard and cared. She became
a Christian that very night. Another woman talked of Allah always feeling
distant and angry but through a miracle of a Christian TV evangelist praying
for her mother and her mother being healed of Multiple sycosis she knew that
this Jesus and his father cared for her.
Let’s not forget it, the awesome truth of prayer is that the creator and
sustained of the universe invites us to be his children and to boldly approach
him to know him in prayer. We can come
to Our Father…
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