Truth That Changes Lives

JP Jones: There are certain spiritual truths, certain spiritual principles that are so important, you repeat them. You don't just say them once, you say them on many occasions.

Guest (Male): Not to us, but to your name be the glory. Yes.

Announcer: Thank you for joining us on Truth That Changes Lives. Pastor JP Jones is the senior pastor of Crossline Community Church in Laguna Hills, California, and a professor of biblical studies at Biola University.

Today on Truth That Changes Lives, Pastor JP will be giving us a message from a series entitled Read the Red. Please listen as JP gives us part one of Luke 11:1-13.

JP Jones: In Luke chapter 11, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn there. We're going to see Jesus teach us about prayer. In fact, it's a very straightforward passage where Jesus is asked a question and he gives an answer.

I think that many of us would like to be in that kind of situation where we could just look Jesus in the eye and ask him a question and have him give us a very direct answer. That's what's taken place in this passage. Luke 11:1-13.

One day Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples." And he said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.'" And 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 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before him.'

Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked. My children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 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. 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, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks the door will be opened. Which of you fathers, if your son asked for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asked for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 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 here Jesus is asked about prayer and he gives a prayer answer. Before we begin to dissect this passage, let me give you a little bit of the background, and maybe remove what might be a question for some of you because this sounds familiar, this language. In fact, much of what is said here is found in the Sermon on the Mount, which is recorded in Matthew's gospel. Matthew chapter 6 and chapter 7 has some of this teaching on prayer, but not the exact verbage. It's a little different.

And because it's different, some skeptical scholars have sought to explain the differences and try to account for the fact of why it sounds one way in one version and another way in another version. And they've come up with all types of elaborate answers, which, in my opinion, is much ado about nothing. Because I am a preacher and I understand exactly what Jesus is doing.

There are certain spiritual truths, certain spiritual principles that are so important, you repeat them. You don't just say them once, you say them on many occasions and in different situations. You say them over and over again. And because you say them over and over again, you don't always say them exactly the same way. You get the same point across, but you don't always use the same words. And to prove what I'm talking about, we've been in existence as a church for a little over seven years. So I know that there are people here for at least seven years and some less and maybe some of you for the first time.

But if you've heard me speak more than once, by a show of hands, how many of you have ever heard me say an illustration more than one time or teach a certain truth more than one time? Have you ever heard me repeat something? Yeah, look around. I do it all the time, every pastor does, every storyteller does, Jesus did. So what we have here is Jesus teaching on the same topic on a different occasion. This is not the Sermon on the Mount, but he's saying many of the same things that are recorded in the Sermon on the Mount.

This particular passage is in response to a very specific question and he's giving a very specific answer. And really the first point that I want to bring out of this passage and it is illustrated by the setup, the disciples see Jesus praying.

And this is the first time that they've seen him pray. They've seen him model every day getting up early to pray, praying about his day, praying about his life, praying over people's needs, praying for miracles, praying just to commune with the Father. And just by the repetition of the action, they come to Jesus and say, "Will you teach us to pray?"

Every one of us has a need to pray and Jesus wants to show us how to pray. That's my first observation. We all have a need to pray and Jesus wants to show us how to pray. It does not matter where you are in your spiritual journey, you have a need to pray.

We have some folks here. I'm sure many of us who have been followers of Jesus Christ all our lives. We can't remember a time that we didn't believe in God, we didn't go to church, we didn't pray, we didn't understand salvation, we didn't love God, we didn't want to be a follower of God. That's just been our whole life identity.

Then there are some others of us who can point to a very specific place in time at some point in our life where we actually cross the line from unbelief into being a believer in Jesus and we ask Jesus to come into our lives and be our Lord and Savior. We can remember a point in time when that actually happened for us. And then there may be some of us here where some, we're on some type of journey, we're seeking. We have questions. Someone invited us to church, so we came to church. This may be the first time we've been to church in a long time, maybe the first time ever. But we in our own mission wouldn't say that we're followers or disciples. We're, we're investigators. We're, we're, we're full of questions. We're seekers.

Wherever you are in your spiritual journey, you need to pray. And I think you know you need to pray. We all have this intuitive sense that we would love to connect with God and have him help us and know that he cares about us and hears us and is mindful of what's going on. I can remember a time. I was not raised in a Christian home or religious home. We didn't pray, talk about God, read the Bible, anything like that stuff.

But I remember a time when I was in middle school. I was coming back from a friend's house late at night, and I was riding my bike, and I had to ride across this park, and it was dark, it wasn't lit. And as I came across the park, there was like this gang in the middle of the park, and I became, you know, the latest object of prey. So they started chasing me. So these, you know, older teenagers are running after me and I'm in my little bike, pedaling as fast as I can, and I became a firm believer in prayer. "God, if you'll just get me across this park, get me home, God, I'll go to church, I'll believe in you, I'll read the Bible, whatever. God, help me."

You know, it was one of those desperation prayers. And let me tell you, I have discovered as a pastor all these years an interesting observation about people whether they're kids, teenagers, or old folks. When crisis hits, and the bottom drops out, people quickly become believers in prayer. People start praying. People turn to God. They ask for, why? There is an intuitive sense within us. It transcends all the apologetic arguments. It's just a reality. We know in our hearts, there's a God. We were, we know we were created to be in some kind of a relationship with him and we know we need to pray.

And the good news is, Jesus wants to show us how. Because they ask Jesus to teach them to pray, and he does. Every one of us, wherever we are in our spiritual journey, can learn from this passage how to take a step toward God, how to experience God in our life, how to talk to him, how to talk to him in a way that we know he's hearing us and answering us. Jesus is teaching us how to pray. That's my first observation.

Here's my second observation from this passage. There is a language and a liturgy to prayer. Because before we get into the actual specifics, the disciples ask Jesus, teach us to pray, and Jesus's first response, it says here is, "He said to them, 'When you pray, say,'" stop there. "When you pray, say." Jesus is about to tell us the words of prayer. There is a language to prayer. There are words we are to communicate with because words, you see, represents, uh, they represent ideas and concepts. And there are biblical ideas and concepts that we are to articulate to God, that we're to speak to God, that we're to talk to God about, that we're going to, we're going to open ourselves up to God. We're going to listen to what he has to say, we're going to share with him what's on our heart, but there are actual words that we're to say.

There is a language and there is a liturgy to prayer. Now, some of you may think, "Well, but wait a minute. What about when I don't know what to say or how to say it? What about when I'm so confused, or my back's so up against the wall, or I'm so stressed out, I, I'm not even sure what I'm supposed to pray about?" Well, there's a great promise when that's the occasion. It's found in Romans chapter 8. And it says this, "In the same way, the spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the spirit, because the spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

So this verse promises that even when we don't know how to pray or what to pray for, God knows our hearts. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us and takes what we can't even articulate and expresses it to God. So when we find ourselves in those situations where we're just so confused that we don't even know what the words ought to be, God understands that and God helps us in that situation.

But what Jesus is talking about in Luke 11 is not about those necessarily crisis moments where we can't articulate what it is that we want, but the moments that make up most of our lives, when we know the kind of marriage we ought to have, and we know the kind of lives we ought to be living, and we know the things that are facing us in a given day. How are we supposed to pray about that? How are we supposed to surrender our lives to God in those situations? How are we supposed to ask God for help in that situation? And Jesus teaches us the words of prayer. There's a language about it.

And so he gives us these words that are mentioned in Luke 11 and he tells us the things that we're actually to pray about. There is a language and a liturgy to prayer. But don't think that that means this is some kind of rote prayer. Jesus never intended this prayer in Luke 11 or the full Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 to be some type of religious mantra.

You know, if you just said this prayer over and over again that somehow you're going to be guaranteed to get what you want, or if you just said it the right way, you're going to get what you want. Several years ago when Donna and I were first married before we had our kids, we were on a mission trip. We went to Hong Kong into China and we stayed at the outskirts of Hong Kong and I was teaching a bunch of missionaries Bible education by extension and uh, we had to either take a a bus to a subway station, a subway station into town and then a taxi to where I was teaching, or we could just take a taxi straight in. And it seemed a lot easier to take a taxi straight in. So we take the taxi and we stayed at a particular location that it sounded to me like Su La Kune. And I had it written out in Chinese on a card. Su La Kune.

But Chinese has uh, the intonation of the words. So if any of you can speak, you know, Asiatic languages, you understand that it's not just like English, the actual syllabic sound. It's the intonation of how you say it. So I'd get in the taxi and I, after I'd finished teaching, we're going back to Su La Kune, and I'd say, "Su La Kune." And the taxi driver would look at me like, "What'd you just say?" And I said, "Su La Kune." And he'd just look at me. I'd hand him the card, it's written out and he'd go, "Oh, Su La Kune!" Boom! And he'd drive right to it. And I think, what is going on here? So it became my mission to figure out how to say this in a way that a Chinese person could understand what I was talking about. So every day, I'd finish teaching, I'd get in the taxi, I'd go, "Su La Kune." "Su La Kune." Nothing. He'd read it and go, "Oh, Su La Kune!" Boom, drive straight to it.

I was getting frustrated saying, "Okay, what is it?" I, I can't figure out. One day, it was like raining really hard. I mean, raining and it was like sheets coming down straight down sideways. So when the taxi came up, I dove into the taxi. And as I'm diving in the taxi and went, "Su La Kune!" And the guy goes, "Oh, Su La Kune!" And he drives me right to the place.

Now, see, some of us think prayer is like learning how to say Su La Kune the exact right way. If I just say the Lord's Prayer the right way, then God will give me all my requests. Then God will listen. That's not what Jesus is teaching. He's not saying, "Say these words and if you say them enough or if you say them in the right way, then I will hear and then I will answer." That's not the teaching of Jesus.

What he's saying is there is a liturgy of prayer. Now, the word liturgy is from a Greek word, Laiteo, which means to serve as a worshipper or serve as a priest. And from Laiteo, we get the English liturgical and the word liturgy. In a church, a liturgy is the form or the flow, the program. It's, it's the program. And every church has a liturgy. Some churches are very highly liturgical. I mean, the program is the same every week and everybody knows it and it's even printed out and there's certain prayers and there's certain things that you say, that you repeat back and you lean to the left, you lean to the right, you stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight. It's very liturgical.

How many of you, you know, have attended a church like that or grew up in a church like that, very, okay. Jesus is saying here, this is how you pray. And the liturgy is first you start with talking to God as your Father and you give praise and honor and glory to your Father.

And then, now that you've got a God-centered focus, you tell him your needs, the most pressing, the daily need. I, you know, for people that Jesus is speaking to, they had to be able to eat. I need food today. I mean, you can't get any more basic than that. And then your spiritual needs, forgive my sins. And then your spiritual needs toward others. Help me forgive others who've sinned against me.

And then your spiritual protection and guidance, lead me not into temptation. See, there is a liturgy, start with God at the center, a focus of praise and worship, and then express your need, and then talk about the spiritual needs that you have. This is what Jesus is teaching here. There is a language and a liturgy to the way we are to pray.

Here's a third observation that's in this passage. There is an intimacy and dependence in prayer. An intimacy and dependence because Jesus said, "Pray this way, say this, 'Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us and lead us not into temptation.'" We are to address our prayers to our Father.

This was radical to the audience that Jesus is speaking to, because a Jew at the time that Jesus is speaking this had such a high view of God. God was the creator, the sovereign Lord, the king. They couldn't even say his name, his covenant personal name. They couldn't even say it, because it was revered in such awesomeness. And Jesus said, "When you pray, say, 'Father.'"

Intimacy, openness, a loving connection, a child in the arms of their loving father. In fact, Paul says in Romans chapter 8, "We haven't received the spirit of the world which leads to fear, but the spirit of sonship by which we cry out, 'Abba, Father,' 'Daddy'." We have an intimate relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Every person who has a relationship with Jesus Christ is a child of God.

Today, maybe the prayer that you need to pray more than anything else is, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart and make me a child of God." If you've prayed that prayer, if you have come into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, you can address God as your Father in the most loving sense, the most intimate sense, the most gracious and compassionate sense that that word can possibly mean. Because there's an intimacy and a dependence in prayer.

And then talking to our Father who loves us and cares for us and created us and knows everything about us, we're to depend on our Father for our daily bread, we're to depend on our Father for the forgiveness of our sins, we're to depend on our Father for the grace to forgive others, we're to depend on our Father for guidance and spiritual protection. You see, there is a humility that is to characterize our prayer life. We're to humble ourselves before God, we're to surrender our lives to God, we're to ask for God's help.

We're to acknowledge, I can't do it on my own, God, I need you. Help me. Help me just with what I need for my daily provision today in body, soul, and spirit. Help me forgive my sins. Help me enable me to forgive others. Help me spiritually protect me, guard me, guide me. There is a, um, tremendous intimacy and dependence that's to characterize our prayers.

I'm reading through the book of Deuteronomy right now in my quiet time. And I just read Deuteronomy chapter 3. Deuteronomy is the second giving of the law. So it's the story of after the children of Israel, they've left Egypt, they've wandered for 40 years. Now they've, they've come underneath Israel and come around it and they're kind of in what would be modern-day Jordan and then they're going to cross the Jordan River and go into the Promised Land. But because of Moses's frustration, he disobeyed God and he did it in a public way. He doesn't get to lead the children of Israel into the Promised Land. And in Deuteronomy 3, there's a recording of a conversation, a prayer between Moses and God. And Moses asks one more time, "Can I take him into the Promised Land?" And God says, "No." In fact, the language, when you read that in Deuteronomy 3, it's, it's so intimate, that God actually says, "No, and don't bother me about this again." Because I've already told you no.

Announcer: What a great message for all of us today. Pastor JP provides us with great insight. That is why we would like to make it available to you on CD. Just get in touch and mention today's date. We'll send it your way for just $5. Or if you'd like to support this ministry, you can write us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or give us a call at 949-916-0250. That's 949-916-0250. For your gift of $25 or more, we will send you a signed copy of JP's new book, Facing Goliath.

Please join us every Sunday at 9:00 or 11:00 AM at Crossline Church in Laguna Hills. The address is 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or check us out on the web at crosslinechurch.com. We're going to get to the address and phone number again in a moment. But before we do that, Pastor JP, do you have any insight from today's message?

JP Jones: Thanks, Craig. We're in a series called Read the Red. It's really a study in the gospels on the teaching discourses of Jesus, the powerful teachings of the greatest teacher who ever lived. And right now we're talking about Jesus's teaching on prayer in Luke chapter 11. You know, the disciples came to Jesus and asked Jesus, "Lord, will you teach us to pray?" And the reason they came to Jesus and asked him that question is they had been with Jesus for some time and they consistently saw how Jesus got alone to pray. And they saw how God the Father answered the prayers of Jesus. And so by the modeling of Jesus, they were so impacted that they asked Jesus, "Lord, teach us to pray in the same way that you pray." And Jesus responds with the teaching of Luke chapter 11:1-13.

Jesus in answering the question, gives them what we call the Lord's Prayer or the Our Father or the Disciple's Prayer. And then he goes on and gives us some instructions about prayer. You say, a prayer is talking with God. It's not the position of the body, it's the attitude of the heart. It's seeking God and trusting in God and bringing every area of our lives before the throne of God and in the intimacy of the relationship that we have with our Father, asking God to work in our life. You know, there's nothing unspiritual about asking God to do things in your life. In fact, as our heavenly Father, he invites us to pray and to ask him. And he asks us to ask in faith. And he asks us oftentimes to be the very answers to the prayers that we are asking in faith.

There is a lot of mystery about prayer, there's no doubt. But God gives us so many promises and the track record of church history, and I would say very personally, the track record of my own life reveals that God hears and answers prayer. We need to talk to God often. We need to talk to God regularly. We need to talk to God with, with passion. And we need to ask him to do what only he can do in our lives. We need to pour out our requests to him. We need to seek his face. We need to ask him to do miracles. We need to talk about the big stuff and we need to talk about the little stuff. We need to ask God to show himself in our lives, to show himself as the one who keeps his promises, to show himself as the one who cares about the very hairs of our head. We need to ask God to do what only he can do in our lives. Prayer changes things and Jesus teaches that in Luke chapter 11. And I am sure without any strong personal inventory, there are many things in your life even right now that you know you need to pray about. So why don't you just do it? Why don't you even right now, wherever you are, talk to God and ask him to do what only he can do in your life.

Jesus, thank you that you hear and you answer our prayers, and we can come to you with the eagerness and expectation of faith that you will hear and answer. And so we thank you for that in Jesus name. Amen.

Announcer: We want to help you in your relationship with Christ. Please get in touch with us at Truth That Changes Lives, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills, California 92653. Or call us at 949-916-0250. On the internet, you will find us at crosslinechurch.com. We hope to see you at one of our services every Sunday at our new campus in Laguna Hills. For more information and directions, please go to crosslinechurch.com. Please join us next time on Truth That Changes Lives. Cross me for the world behind. No turning back, raise the banner high. It's not for me, it's all for you.