The other day I was reading in the book of Luke when God showed me something that has great relevance to our Christian walk, our attitude, our focus, the way we pray. Actually, God showed it to me a number of years ago, and I had made a marginal note in my Bible and then promptly forgot it. But as I was reading the other day, I saw the note and it brought it all back. I believe God would have me share it with you.
It's in the 11th chapter of Luke ... the part where Jesus is speaking about prayer and asking and seeking and knocking. Now I know you're sitting there right now and saying, "I know where the pastor's going with this."
No, you don't.
So please don't tune out over a story that you know so well and go read something else. Because I'm going to pull something else out of this passage that you may not have ever heard or considered. And it just may change the way you think and act as a Christian.
Even though you likely know this passage by heart, let's read it together.
Now, it's true that the passage in question winds up with Jesus saying that we should ask and seek and knock. And that of course is extremely important. Equally important is to notice that, in the original language, those verbs --ask, seek, and knock-- are in the Greek present tense, which speaks of continuous action. Therefore we're not just to ask and leave it there, or seek or knock and leave it there. We are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. If we do, as Jesus says in this passage, we will receive what we need. But while that is an important scriptural truth, it's not what I'm going to share with you.
I'll be honest, I have a tendency to gloss over passages with which I am extremely familiar. I think that's a tendency most of us have. This is one such passage. I think you and I know that when it comes to prayer, we should keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking until we receive what we are asking for. We don't need to keep reading this passage to know we should be doing that. But there are a couple of aspects to the parable that are worth taking a second look at, for there's something in there that I think will invigorate you. At least it will certainly make you think ... as it has me.
The first aspect --but not the main one I'm about to share in a couple of minutes-- can be found in verse 5: "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves...'." Jesus is very specific in this parable. He doesn't just say that the man went to his neighbor to ask for some bread: He says that the man went to his neighbor and asked for three loaves of bread. Why three loaves? I've never come across a satisfactory answer ... at least not one that satisfies me. The most common explanation is that one loaf was for himself, one loaf was for his visitor, and one was just in case the other two weren't enough. That sounds a little strained of an interpretation to me. But since the purpose of my message here is not to engage in a line by line exegesis of the parable, let's just accept that the man felt he needed exactly three loaves.
Many years ago a pastor, whose name I can no longer remember, asked the question, "What are your three loaves?"
Now, remember that the man in need represents us, and the neighbor from whom he seeks something represents God. And the three loaves represent our needs. So, if we were to ask God for three things that we desperately need --so desperately that we are willing to wake Him up in the middle of the night-- what would they be? I remember when that preacher said that, it grabbed my attention. I sat down and thought to myself, "If I could ask God for three things, what would they be?" And since, of course, I can ask God for anything, what are those three things? I can tell you that I thought that through very carefully and then I asked God for my three "loaves" . God has been good and over the years He has given me what I asked for. So let me ask you that same question: what are your three loaves? It's a good exercise; I encourage you to do it.
But that's not the purpose of this message. The purpose in my writing this is to reveal something that most of us just don't see in the parable, something that will affect the way we think as Christians, and how we pray for others.
The part of the parable I want to share is found in the sixth verse: "A friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him." And this is the part that we usually slip past. We focus on the fact that the man is persistently knocking on his next door neighbor's door, not taking no for an answer, because he needs something. But did you notice the reason he needs it? He needs it for someone else! He's not asking for himself: He needs the loaves for the person who came to his home. That person is hungry from his journey and needs food; but the man has none. That is the reason he has gone to his neighbor's door in the middle of the night and is knocking, knocking, knocking. He does not need the loaves for himself: he needs them for someone else. We tend to look at this parable and focus on the message that when we need something we should just be persistent in prayer and God will answer. And that's a good scriptural teaching. But we ignore the motive that Jesus ascribes to the man in need-- namely that his motive was to seek for someone else's benefit, not his own.
When God brought this back to my attention recently, it had an immediate effect on my attitude and, consequently, it's affecting my walk. The Holy Spirit used it to reinforce a fundamental attitude that God had placed in my heart when He equipped me for ministry: an attitude of service. But an attitude of service, while indispensable for a pastor, should also be a fundamental attitude of a Christian.
Be honest. We all want to pray for others for their needs to be met. But we tend to do it in a second-hand kind of way. Most Christians --not all, but most-- do remember to pray for the needs of others; but they do not do it with the same passion and intensity with which they pray for their own needs and those of their spouses, children and close family members. But Jesus in this parable teaches us --along with the message of praying persistently-- that it is not prayer for our own needs that should lead us to our most passionate petitioning, but prayer for the needs of others.
Do you see the beauty of this teaching? The power of this understanding? Yes, in all things we should pray persistently: continuously asking, continuously seeking, and continually knocking. But the example Christ gave us in this parable is not of someone doing it for themselves, but doing it for someone else in need.
Can you see how getting a firm hold on this idea will radically change how you think, how you walk, how you pray? Take a look at the lost around you. They have a need greater than anything else in the world: they need salvation. When you see that need, how passionately do you pray for God to give you what you need to feed them spiritually? How passionately do you ask God to draw them to Him? How persistently do you seek for opportunities to share God's love with them? How heartily do you knock for the door of their hearts to be opened to the One who created them and loved them so much that He died for them?
As I preach this to you, I am preaching it to myself. I am no more perfect than any of you. My own needs, those of my wife, and those of my children are very important to me. Consequently, they tend to be the center of my focus. And therefore my prayers focus on myself and them. Of course I pray for everybody whom God has put into my life. Every one of His sheep whom He leads into my sphere, I care for. And here on CCF I pray for every one of you as you express your needs or as God reveals them to me. But how easily I can be distracted with Andrea's needs, my children's needs, my own needs. How more passionately and intensely can I sometimes find myself praying for those needs than the needs of others. Everybody here on CCF is a friend. Indeed they are a brother or a sister. And when a friend comes and needs something that we don't have, are we willing to go to the One who does have what is needed and plead with Him on behalf of the one who has come to us?
I would hope that every single member of this forum would visit the prayer forum everyday and take note of those in need and pray for them as passionately and as persistently as they do for their own needs. Outside of this forum, and outside of your families, when God places somebody in your life or your path, are you willing to ask, seek, and knock on their behalf as faithfully and as sincerely and as persistently as if it we're your own need?
The point of this --indeed the point of following Jesus-- is to live a life of service to others. We need to continually refocus ourselves from the many issues of our life in this world and intentionally seek the good and the benefit of others. It's part of what the Bible calls dying to self. It's not easy. And it's not something we can do through our own willpower. Willpower is involved. But it's His will and His power. We need simply (oh! how easy that sounds) to set our will to follow His will and then ask Him to supply the power we need to actually follow His will. If we do, He will do that. He WILL do that. And as we live our lives more and more focused on the needs of others --which is called walking in the Spirit, for it is the chief characteristic of a life focused on and surrendered to God --we'll find our lives becoming richer, more fulfilled, more purposeful.
I pray this helps somebody.
It's in the 11th chapter of Luke ... the part where Jesus is speaking about prayer and asking and seeking and knocking. Now I know you're sitting there right now and saying, "I know where the pastor's going with this."
No, you don't.
So please don't tune out over a story that you know so well and go read something else. Because I'm going to pull something else out of this passage that you may not have ever heard or considered. And it just may change the way you think and act as a Christian.
Even though you likely know this passage by heart, let's read it together.
Luke 11:5 And Jesus said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? 8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. 9 So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened."
Now, it's true that the passage in question winds up with Jesus saying that we should ask and seek and knock. And that of course is extremely important. Equally important is to notice that, in the original language, those verbs --ask, seek, and knock-- are in the Greek present tense, which speaks of continuous action. Therefore we're not just to ask and leave it there, or seek or knock and leave it there. We are to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. If we do, as Jesus says in this passage, we will receive what we need. But while that is an important scriptural truth, it's not what I'm going to share with you.
I'll be honest, I have a tendency to gloss over passages with which I am extremely familiar. I think that's a tendency most of us have. This is one such passage. I think you and I know that when it comes to prayer, we should keep on asking and keep on seeking and keep on knocking until we receive what we are asking for. We don't need to keep reading this passage to know we should be doing that. But there are a couple of aspects to the parable that are worth taking a second look at, for there's something in there that I think will invigorate you. At least it will certainly make you think ... as it has me.
The first aspect --but not the main one I'm about to share in a couple of minutes-- can be found in verse 5: "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves...'." Jesus is very specific in this parable. He doesn't just say that the man went to his neighbor to ask for some bread: He says that the man went to his neighbor and asked for three loaves of bread. Why three loaves? I've never come across a satisfactory answer ... at least not one that satisfies me. The most common explanation is that one loaf was for himself, one loaf was for his visitor, and one was just in case the other two weren't enough. That sounds a little strained of an interpretation to me. But since the purpose of my message here is not to engage in a line by line exegesis of the parable, let's just accept that the man felt he needed exactly three loaves.
Many years ago a pastor, whose name I can no longer remember, asked the question, "What are your three loaves?"
Now, remember that the man in need represents us, and the neighbor from whom he seeks something represents God. And the three loaves represent our needs. So, if we were to ask God for three things that we desperately need --so desperately that we are willing to wake Him up in the middle of the night-- what would they be? I remember when that preacher said that, it grabbed my attention. I sat down and thought to myself, "If I could ask God for three things, what would they be?" And since, of course, I can ask God for anything, what are those three things? I can tell you that I thought that through very carefully and then I asked God for my three "loaves" . God has been good and over the years He has given me what I asked for. So let me ask you that same question: what are your three loaves? It's a good exercise; I encourage you to do it.
But that's not the purpose of this message. The purpose in my writing this is to reveal something that most of us just don't see in the parable, something that will affect the way we think as Christians, and how we pray for others.
The part of the parable I want to share is found in the sixth verse: "A friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him." And this is the part that we usually slip past. We focus on the fact that the man is persistently knocking on his next door neighbor's door, not taking no for an answer, because he needs something. But did you notice the reason he needs it? He needs it for someone else! He's not asking for himself: He needs the loaves for the person who came to his home. That person is hungry from his journey and needs food; but the man has none. That is the reason he has gone to his neighbor's door in the middle of the night and is knocking, knocking, knocking. He does not need the loaves for himself: he needs them for someone else. We tend to look at this parable and focus on the message that when we need something we should just be persistent in prayer and God will answer. And that's a good scriptural teaching. But we ignore the motive that Jesus ascribes to the man in need-- namely that his motive was to seek for someone else's benefit, not his own.
When God brought this back to my attention recently, it had an immediate effect on my attitude and, consequently, it's affecting my walk. The Holy Spirit used it to reinforce a fundamental attitude that God had placed in my heart when He equipped me for ministry: an attitude of service. But an attitude of service, while indispensable for a pastor, should also be a fundamental attitude of a Christian.
Be honest. We all want to pray for others for their needs to be met. But we tend to do it in a second-hand kind of way. Most Christians --not all, but most-- do remember to pray for the needs of others; but they do not do it with the same passion and intensity with which they pray for their own needs and those of their spouses, children and close family members. But Jesus in this parable teaches us --along with the message of praying persistently-- that it is not prayer for our own needs that should lead us to our most passionate petitioning, but prayer for the needs of others.
Do you see the beauty of this teaching? The power of this understanding? Yes, in all things we should pray persistently: continuously asking, continuously seeking, and continually knocking. But the example Christ gave us in this parable is not of someone doing it for themselves, but doing it for someone else in need.
Can you see how getting a firm hold on this idea will radically change how you think, how you walk, how you pray? Take a look at the lost around you. They have a need greater than anything else in the world: they need salvation. When you see that need, how passionately do you pray for God to give you what you need to feed them spiritually? How passionately do you ask God to draw them to Him? How persistently do you seek for opportunities to share God's love with them? How heartily do you knock for the door of their hearts to be opened to the One who created them and loved them so much that He died for them?
As I preach this to you, I am preaching it to myself. I am no more perfect than any of you. My own needs, those of my wife, and those of my children are very important to me. Consequently, they tend to be the center of my focus. And therefore my prayers focus on myself and them. Of course I pray for everybody whom God has put into my life. Every one of His sheep whom He leads into my sphere, I care for. And here on CCF I pray for every one of you as you express your needs or as God reveals them to me. But how easily I can be distracted with Andrea's needs, my children's needs, my own needs. How more passionately and intensely can I sometimes find myself praying for those needs than the needs of others. Everybody here on CCF is a friend. Indeed they are a brother or a sister. And when a friend comes and needs something that we don't have, are we willing to go to the One who does have what is needed and plead with Him on behalf of the one who has come to us?
I would hope that every single member of this forum would visit the prayer forum everyday and take note of those in need and pray for them as passionately and as persistently as they do for their own needs. Outside of this forum, and outside of your families, when God places somebody in your life or your path, are you willing to ask, seek, and knock on their behalf as faithfully and as sincerely and as persistently as if it we're your own need?
The point of this --indeed the point of following Jesus-- is to live a life of service to others. We need to continually refocus ourselves from the many issues of our life in this world and intentionally seek the good and the benefit of others. It's part of what the Bible calls dying to self. It's not easy. And it's not something we can do through our own willpower. Willpower is involved. But it's His will and His power. We need simply (oh! how easy that sounds) to set our will to follow His will and then ask Him to supply the power we need to actually follow His will. If we do, He will do that. He WILL do that. And as we live our lives more and more focused on the needs of others --which is called walking in the Spirit, for it is the chief characteristic of a life focused on and surrendered to God --we'll find our lives becoming richer, more fulfilled, more purposeful.
I pray this helps somebody.
