Sermons

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Lord, Teach Us To Pray
April 14, 2002
First in a sermon series on prayer
Pastor Dan Baumgartner
Luke 11:1-13

Preaching is always a dangerous thing. Inevitably, whatever I preach about on Sunday, God will deal with me on during the week preceding! This morning we are talking about “prayer.” At Tuesday night’s elder’s meeting, we ended up with less business that we have had since I came to Bethany. We spent much of our meeting praying, in different ways, and for our community here and ministries. Then several times this week as I thought about what profound thing I might share with you, it seemed like God kept bringing me back to: “Hey, I have an idea…why don’t you just pray?!”

Probably 90 percent of the Christians that I talk to about their spiritual life tell me the same thing: “I don’t pray enough.” There often is a sense of guilt underlying their statement. The reasons people don’t pray vary quite a bit, actually. Sometimes a lack of prioritizing time to pray. Sometimes doubt that it does any good. Sometimes a sense of inadequacy. Sometimes uncertainty over what’s really okay to pray. But I actually think there is something more behind why so many of us feel this way so much of the time. I think we underestimate the importance of praying.

We’re going to spend the next four weeks talking about prayer…which, of course, is nowhere near enough time…but it’s a start. Today we’re going to look at the foundations of prayer, and then the next three weeks we’ll talk about specific types of prayer: confession, listening and asking.

The best place to start thinking about prayer, like a lot of other things…is to start with Jesus. So turn with me to the gospel of Luke, 11:1-13.

You don’t HAVE to pray, you know. Prayer is a totally free act. In fact, sometimes I’m amazed at the unhindered freedom God grants to people. Even though God created people for the purpose of being in relationship with Him, even though He intended from the beginning that people know Him…He has taken this great risk of allowing people to utterly choose whether they will have that communication, that relationship. A bit like a parent, perhaps, who says to their children: “Well, even though we’ve coughed up the money for music lessons for 11 years, you’re old enough now to choose for yourself whether you’ll keep pursuing music… ” or “whether you’ll go to Youth Group, whether you stay up with sports” or whatever it is. Now, the parent cares like CRAZY about the outcome…but at some point, the child has to own it. And the only way for them to own it is to choose it.

Prayer is like that, too. You don’t have to pray. But if you want to be in a relationship with God…you DO pray. Because prayer IS a relationship with God.

And if we would think about prayer in more holistic terms, about prayer as ALL of our communication with God, all of our talking and listening and complaining and crying out…rather than just the quiet time in church, or just a few minutes in the morning, or the quick prayer during a crisis…we’ll be better off. And we’ll be more like Jesus.

Look at Jesus, the Son of God. Maybe it’s a struggle to think that Jesus needed to pray, him being God in the flesh and all. But remember, one of the mysteries of the faith is that Jesus was BOTH fully human…and fully God. There’s lot’s we don’t know about his life on earth…but one thing we DO know…is that Jesus prayed. A lot. I was really struck this week by this, reading through Luke. Jesus PRAYED…and things happened when he did.

• Jesus prayed at his own baptism…and as he did, the Holy Spirit came upon him, and God’s voice said, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

• Jesus prayed all night on a mountain before calling/choosing his disciples the next day.

• Jesus was praying when he decided to ask his disciples who they thought he was, and Peter finally said, “God’s Messiah.”

• Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain to PRAY…then the Transfiguration occurred, and they saw him in His heavenly glory.

• Jesus prayed before sending his followers out to minister, two by two. He was praying here, in chapter 11, when his disciples asked him to teach THEM how.

• Jesus told stories, parables, about prayer. When he cleaned out the temple and overturned the moneychangers, he was insisting that the temple be God’s “house of prayer.”

As his life neared its end, he counseled his disciples to pray for strength at the end. Just before his arrest, Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed earnestly, and in great anguish. And then of course, on the cross, Luke tells us his last words were a prayer of relinquishment, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Jesus prayed. Formally and informally, on retreats and in the city, before major decisions and in the midst of life…Jesus nurtured the connection with God which was life itself for Him. Jesus prayed.

This story raises a very interesting question. It says that Jesus’ disciples approached him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray…” Why did they wait so long? At this point they had been with Jesus for a long time, many months or even years…and they’re just now getting around to asking about praying. For whatever reason (we don’t know), they hadn’t asked before…and apparently Jesus hadn’t sat them down and jammed it down their throats. Instead…he just lived it out in front of them. He prayed. He prayed in front of them, around them, and for them. He prayed, and he prayed…and eventually one day they said, “Something goes on when You pray…Lord, teach US to pray.” Now they are ready. They WANT to learn. Their hearts are calling them to ask, to learn, to prioritize. I had to ask myself this week…and now I’ll ask you: Are WE ready? Are YOU ready to pray? We can be guilted into prayer, we can walk around feeling like, “Oh, I SHOULD probably pray,” but that won’t go very far. It’s a task. But when your HEART says, “I want to be closer to you, Lord,” we’re ready, not for a task but for God. One leader says, “I used to write in my daily calendar “7-7:30 am -- Prayer.” But many times I passed that up…Now I write “7-7:30 am -- God.” Somehow that’s a little harder to neglect.”

So Jesus answers his disciples, and finally teaches his disciples about prayer, here in the 11th chapter of Luke. There are three things I’d like you to think about in these verses:

It’s not very complicated. It just isn’t. I don’t know what the disciples were expecting, but I think I would’ve had my notepad out, ready to write on reams of paper the intricacies and complexities of communication with God…but Jesus instead says, “Just say this: (from The Message)"

“Father, Reveal who you are. Set the world right. Keep us alive with three square meals. Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others. Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.”

Richard Foster calls it “Simple Prayer.” It’s the kind that’s all over the Bible, actually. Very ordinary, very imperfect people telling God what He already knows, asking Him for things they probably shouldn’t, trying to hide from God what their real motives might be. Jesus’ instructions don’t try to sort everything out, don’t ignore needs, don’t use lofty words. It’s like he says, “Just be honest. Pour out your heart to God. Just pray.”

After all, prayer is nothing more nor less than our RELATIONSHIP with God. And any relationship that doesn’t have honesty, any couple that hasn’t seen the ugly side of each other, that hasn’t loved “in spite of” things …isn’t much of a relationship. The prayers of the Bible contain anger, regrets, doubts, questions, disappointments…honest communication. These prayers don’t try to convince people, OR God…that we are anything other than what we are. C.S. Lewis advises us to “lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us.”

And so when we feel hatred of others…we start by telling THAT to God. Prayer changes us. When our hearts are hardened…we pray…Prayer softens us. When we feel like we’re so far away we can’t even pray…we tell THAT to God…which IS praying.

Prayer is nothing more…and nothing less…than our relationship with God. Stay in the relationship. Communicate honestly. The few negatives that Jesus says about any prayer are things like: don’t pray the long-winded prayers, don’t pray the self-righteous prayers, don’t pray the prayers that make you look good to others…Just pray. From the heart.

The second thing Jesus says is “Pray persistently.” This little parable here, about the guy that goes WAY too late at night and knocks on the door of a friend to borrow -- what would be the modern day equivalent? -- coffee, because he just had a guest show up and doesn’t have any. And the one who is awakened won’t even come answer the door, just yells, “Forget it!” Not even friendship goes that far. BUT, Jesus says, “if he keeps knocking…he’ll eventually wind up getting what he needs.” Be persistent. (Jesus tells similar story in Luke 18 about a judge who is indifferent to right and wrong, but finally caves in to a woman seeking justice...not because he is transformed and becomes a moral person, but because she is so persistent).

Now, if we take this parable (and remember, a parable usually has ONE main point, and we’re not to get bogged down with all the details, trying to build analogies that won’t work) too far, it might seem that God is reluctant to answer prayer, that he’s like the guy who won’t get out of bed. But Jesus will deal with that error in the next paragraph. All he is saying here is “Keep praying.” Even if we don’t understand everything about it, even if at some point we think it doesn’t work. Barbara Brown Taylor, answering the question, “Does prayer work?” says “Of course it does. Prayer keeps our hearts chasing after God’s heart. It’s how we BOTHER God…and how God bothers us back.”

I’m a person who likes pictures. Frederick Buechner has a great visual picture of prayer. He says that he thinks of prayer as a kind of channel that God’s healing comes to us through. That channel undoubtedly gets plugged up sometimes, with junk or from disuse…but little by little, if we persist in prayer…God’s healing, God’s power begin to trickle through anyway.

It’s easy to get discouraged when we pray, I think. Especially when you pray for something over a long period of time. I have a couple people close to me that I have asked God to grab ahold of since I was in college. One of them is my Dad. I’ve prayed for my dad to come to know the Lord for over 20 years now. I’ve tried all different kinds of prayer. Sometimes I’ve had to ask other people to pray when I felt like I couldn’t anymore. Sometimes I’ve felt all prayed out. Even now, I’m always eager to hear stories of people meeting God in their 40s or 50s or 60s or 70s, because I’m eager for my dad to meet Jesus…even now, especially now after all these years. What would Jesus say to me? He’d say, “Keep praying. Keep asking, keep searching, keep knocking on the door.” Maybe you have prayed for someone or something for a long time as well. Or maybe you’ve given up. Jesus would say the same thing to you: Keep praying. Bother God, pester Him, knock on the door. Be persistent.

The last thing perhaps could have been the first. Jesus reminds us that when we pray…we need to keep remembering what God is like. Remember who you are talking to. God is NOT like a sleepy guy who doesn’t want to get out of bed to help. And he’s NOT like a crooked judge who cares nothing for justice. And he’s NOT like a bad parent who would give their child a snake instead of a fish, or a scorpion instead of an egg. And he’s only a LITTLE like you and me who might love our kids and really want and try to give them good gifts. No, God is something even MORE. He delights in giving the best, the most amazing things to his children as they knock on the door, and keep asking over and over. God WANTS to answer us, he WANTS to bless us, he WANTS to shower us with grace. And so… (and Luke sort of just throws this in at the end) he will. In fact, he’ll give us the BEST thing…which is His presence. “How much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” If we ask, God holds out this amazing gift…his ongoing, continual, constant presence in the Holy Spirit. And how will we be in touch with His presence in our lives? We simply pray. Often, honestly, genuinely, persistently.

These things are all summed up well in a very short prayer by Thomas Merton:

“My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end…
Therefore will I trust you always,
though I may seem to be lost…
I will not fear,
for you are ever with me,
and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.”

I’d like to invite you to pray now the Lord’s Prayer with me, and then we will continue on in a time of prayer:

“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory for ever and ever. Amen.”