Sermon on Luke 11:1-13
Preached by Prof. Steven Ehlke
St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church
September 13 & 16, 2001

Dear Fellow Believers in Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

I'd like to share with you something that normally hangs on my classroom wall at Luther Prep. It's entitled Time To Pray and it ties in with the Word of God that is serving as the text for today. It goes like this: 1. I got up early one morning, and rushed right into the day, I had so much to accomplish, I didn't have time to pray. 2. Problems just tumbled about me, heavier came each task. "Why doesn't God help me?" I wondered. He answered. "You didn't ask." 3. I wanted to see joy and beauty , but the day toiled on, gray and bleak. I wondered why God didn't show me. He said, "You didn't seek." 4. I tried to come into God's presence. I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, "My child, you didn't knock." 5. I woke up early this morning and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish, I had to take time to pray.

Sad to say, all too often the first four sections describe me and my prayer life. There are far too many times when I fail to pray because I'm too busy, or so I think-- or maybe I should probably say, "I'm not really thinking." I fail to ask and I fail to seek and I fail to knock. If I were to stop and think, I'd soon come to the conclusion that I need to take the time to pray so that I can make it through the day.

And maybe, just maybe, some of that which I just read might also apply to you. I'll let you be the judge of that.

Praying - an important activity in the life of a Christian, essential in the life of a person whose faith is in Jesus Christ as Savior. And yet, sad to say, we're often forced to admit that our prayer life isn't what it should be or what it could be. I'm not implying that we have to walk around all day with our hands folded in prayer. Not at all. But room for improvement???- probably. And that's why today we too want to come before our Lord and make the same request Jesus' disciples made - LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY. Lord, teach us to pray I. FOR THE PROPER THINGS, and Lord, teach us to pray II. IN THE PROPER MANNER. We find such guidance and encouragement in the words that we have before us this morning.

In the past few days, ever since the Attack on America, we have heard quite a bit about prayer. Throughout our country there have been special prayers offered. Our president has talked about prayers on behalf of those involved in those tragic occurrences.

I'm sure each of us has offered special prayers these past few days.

What is prayer? Simply put, it's communicating with God. It's talking with God, either verbally as we often do, be it at the dinner table or with our small children before they fall asleep or as we often do here in God's house. Praying is also talking with God by simply expressing our thoughts to God, such as in a silent prayer or when we take the time during the day or night to call upon God.

God wants us to talk to Him in prayer. In fact, He has commanded us to do so. But He doesn't just leave us to flounder when it comes to our prayer life. He provides some guidance and encouragement. In the words that we call the Lord's Prayer, Jesus provides us with some guidance in the area of what to pray for. He reveals to us what the proper things are for us to pray for. Sometimes we may wonder if we are praying for the right things, or are there some things for which we should not pray?

When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus answered them with the words of the Lord's Prayer. At first that might seem to be an unusual answer for Jesus to give. But what we need to remember is that when Jesus used those words which we call the Lord's Prayer - and by the way , Jesus never used that term for those words which He spoke- He intended to provide His disciples with a pattern for praying rather than with a set form for memorization and recitation. He wanted to show them what the proper things were for which they ought to pray. He wants us to learn from these words as well what the proper things are for which we ought to pray.

Without going into each petition in detail, let's look at these words as a whole and consider for a moment what Jesus wants us to learn from these words. I don't know of a more comprehensive prayer available to us today than the Lord's Prayer. In the matter of a few short lines Jesus teaches us what to pray for.

Of all the requests made in this prayer, only one deals with material blessings. The rest deal with spiritual blessings. There are requests for the spiritual blessings for all people, such as with the words "hallowed be your name" and "your kingdom come". There is the request for material blessings for all people, such as in the request for "daily bread". And there are also requests for spiritual blessings for the people of God, for Christians, in the words "forgive us our sins" and "lead us not into temptation".

But did you notice that none of the petitions ask anything just for me or for my own? We certainly are included in the words "our" and "us" in the petitions. It's very proper and necessary that we apply these words also to ourselves as individuals, for I know that it is God's will that His name be hallowed by me and that His kingdom come to me. I know that God wants me to look to Him as the source of all my earthly blessings. I know that God wants me to know that my sins are forgiven and that I want Him to help me resist temptations when they come my way. And you know those very same things, too. But Jesus first of all wants us to be mindful of spiritual blessings over against temporal blessings and mindful of others over against becoming selfish with our prayers. That's part of the pattern Jesus intends to teach us for our prayer life

You know, there isn't anything we can't ask for. Jesus isn't saying that we are not to bring our personal needs, wants, desires and requests before Him in prayer. As long as we are not asking for something sinful, we should feel free to talk to Him about anything. And going back to the pattern Jesus gave us in the Lord's prayer, our prayers should emphasize spiritual blessings over material blessings.

Do they? Do your prayers emphasize spiritual blessings over against material blessings? I wish I could say that I always follow the pattern of what to pray for as set forth by Jesus. But I know that I don't. And for that I ask for His forgiveness and I ask that He help me in my prayer life, so that I have the proper focus on what to pray for.

And what's also encouraging for me and for you, is the fact that when Jesus shows us the proper things to pray for, He helps us in doing just that. He doesn't just let us out there on our own, but He is with us, motivating us. He wouldn't give us this information without providing us with the desire to do those things He asks.

After this lesson in what to pray for, Jesus continues the lesson teaching His disciples how to pray. Jesus now makes the transition from the content of prayer to the attitude with which His disciples were to pray. And so we, too, now would ask that Jesus provide us with guidance from His Word as we say Lord , teach us to pray II. In The Proper Manner.

The "how" we are to pray is revealed by Jesus with two points in the remaining verses of our text. First of all Jesus urges us to pray with persistence because of our relationship to our heavenly Father. To illustrate this Jesus uses the parable of a man coming to his neighbor's house late at night asking for some food for a friend of his who happened to stop by on a journey. He doesn't stop bugging this neighbor until he gets what he wants.

This short parable helps us understand what it means to be able to call God "our Father". We can come to Him and speak to Him in the way a little child does to his loving father. A little child doesn't hesitate to trouble his father when he wants something. And he keeps it up until he gets what he wants. The parable teaches us to do the same with our heavenly Father. That's the point of the parable. Be persistent in prayer. Keep on asking God for what you want.

Persistence pays off with God. God does answer prayer. ""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." Keep on asking. Keep on knocking. Keep on seeking. That's what those words mean in the Greek language. Jesus wants us to pray regularly, persistently, and faithfully.

Every prayer a Christian prays always gets an answer. It isn't always the answer we are looking for, and it doesn't always come when we expect it. The answer God gives is always the answer of a wise and loving Father. He gives His answer, not when we see fit, but when He knows best. I encountered a man once who told me that he was not going to pray to God anymore because God wasn't answering his prayer. What he didn't realize was that God's answer to him was "no" at that time or maybe was "be patient and wait, keep on praying.

God encourages us to be persistent in our prayer life. Don't give up. God has promised to answer our prayers. And God's promise to answer prayer encourages confidence as well as persistence. That's another point Jesus makes in encouraging us to pray in the proper manner. He wants us to pray with confidence because of the promise he gives us.

We know that God will answer our prayers and we know that God will give us what is best for us. We are confident of this. Jesus, in our text, makes the comparison between an earthly father and our heavenly Father. An earthly father doesn't play tricks on his children when they come to him with a simple request. When they ask for something good and necessary - a fish or egg is mentioned here in our text - a father doesn't give them something harmful, such as a snake or scorpion.

If human fathers, even though they are weak and sinful, are willing to give good gift to their children, how much more willingly will the heavenly Father give the perfect gift to his children? The perfect gift is the Holy Spirit. It includes all the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

This gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to know and believe that our sins were paid for by the innocent shed blood of Jesus on the cross. We are confident of our eternal salvation because God gave His one and only Son over to death for us. We are confident because the grave was not able to hold Jesus, and He arose from the dead, assuring us of our resurrection. The Holy Spirit assures us of our justification.

Yes, we can pray with confidence because, as God's Word says, God gives the Holy Spirit freely "to those who ask him." God has promised this. Therefore we believe it. We are confident of this and will continue to communicate with Him in prayer.

What a tremendous blessing God has given to us. Amen.