Attitude Towards Prayer

Luke 11:1-13

There are couple of distinguishing characteristics of Jesus’ life here on earth. One is that Jesus was fully devoted to the Scriptures in his life. As we have seen in yesterday’s prayer meeting, Jesus, when he was on the cross, cried out “Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani?” which means, “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This cry of Jesus was not just out of pain and suffering on the cross, but he was quoting the Scriptures, the very first verse of Psalm 22. Whether he was tempted, was teaching, having a discourse, going through difficulties, Jesus always had the Word of God in his mind.

Second distinguishing mark of Jesus’ life is that he was a man of prayer. We see numerous examples of Jesus praying to the Father. Mark records that early in the morning, he went off alone and prayed. John records Jesus praying intensely before his arrest and crucifixion. And here in Luke, it says, “Jesus was praying in a certain place” (v. 1). And afterwards, one of his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray, just as John the Baptist taught his disciples. And Jesus would grant this request and taught disciples how to pray.

As Christians, I believe it is important for us to look at Jesus’ examples on how he lived in this world and follow them. Apostle Paul says, in Romans 8:29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son” (하나님이 미리 아신 자들로 또한 그 아들의 형상을 본받게 하기 위하여 미리 정하셨으니). We were chosen by God to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. That word conform means we will be changed and made like Jesus both inside and out. So as we live out our Christian lives, we need to follow Jesus’ examples. We need to be solidly grounded in the Word of God, and our lives must be marked with prayers. We need to meditate on God’s law day and night, and we also need to be praying without ceasing.

With regards to prayers then, let’s see what we can learn from Jesus’ teaching on prayer to his disciples. There are three things Jesus teaches his disciples, and us, about prayer: 1) the context of prayer; 2) the content of prayer; and 3) the condition of prayer.

First, the context of prayer.

When Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, they asked Jesus to teach them just as John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray. How would the disciples of Jesus know that John the Baptist taught his disciples how to pray? It is because the disciples of John the Baptist would recite the prayer together. They had this community prayer. It was a prayer prayed as a group.

Such community prayers were not unusual. The Jews had the Eighteen Benedictions (18 축사) and the Qumran community had numerous hymns and prayers.

So, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, they wanted this prayer to be the community prayer for themselves. They realized that Jesus was forming a new community, with a distinct expression of new hope. So they wanted to know how to pray to mark their distinctiveness.

Why is this important? Why is it important for the community to have this prayer? Because as disciples come before God with this prayer, they are affirming their unity and sharing a sense of family. The prayer Jesus taught begins, “our Father.” Before this, Jesus said “when you [all] pray, say…” What does this all mean? First, God is our Father. This means that we all belong to one family. God is the head. God is the reason why we exist. God is the one who is the head of this spiritual household.

But secondly, he is our Father. He is not just your father, or my father, but our father. This is little bit difficult for us to appreciate in a highly individualized society. But this is difficult to understand in a Korean term too. Woo-ri ah-buh-ji, our father. Even though it’s in plural, it is meant as singular. One example is woo-ri ah-neh, or our wife. Our (?!?!?) wife? This makes no sense, but it does in Korean. The point is, even though it is in plural in Korean, it is often taken as a singular. In this society where individuals matter more than the community, this is a difficult concept to grasp.

Look at our lives! How often do we care or pray for our spiritual brothers and sisters. We might care for those who are close to us, but do we really care for all the members of this family of God? God created us to exist in community, and God desires us to pray for and care for one another. There are time and place for individual prayers. But we also should not neglect our time to pray together, as the community of God, and for one another.

Secondly, the content of prayer.

We do not have time to go through every single petition here, one by one. We can probably have an entire sermon series just on these petitions. But this is one thing we should note from this short prayer: this prayer does not use an individualized checklist of specific wants and needs. When we often pray, what do we pray for? Even when we gather together as a small group and pray, what do we pray for? In student ministries, the most common prayer requests include tests and exams, papers, busy assignments, etc. Is it wrong to pray for these things? No. But there are things that ought to take priorities when we pray.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught people not to babble on with those lists, but to pray the prayer that is focused. What should our prayer focus on? The prayer needs to be focused on expressing a dependent approach to God, on the quality of the community’s life with him. It needs to express a desire for holiness, for God’s ruling presence, for a life of forgiveness, and it needs to recognizes that provision and spiritual protection comes from God. Prayer needs to ask God to work on the heart and seeks to be submissive to his will.

The prayer is not about me. It is about how to live for God in the manner that brings honor and glory to him. It is not about my own individual needs, but how I can live for God through the strength he gives to me. How does this compare with your prayer?

Lastly, the condition of prayer.

By this I mean the condition of our hearts when we pray. What kind of attitude and mindset we need to have when we pray? The condition is “shamelessly persistent” one.

Look at the parable Jesus told. A person goes to his friend’s house, at midnight, asking to borrow three loaves of bread. We all know that it’s not proper to go to someone’s house at midnight. But this person did. Why? Because he had a guest in his house. Providing meals for their guests was so important in that culture, he was willing to shamelessly go and ask to lend some bread. But at first, he was unwilling. Houses in those days had only one room in which everyone slept. So this person getting up to give bread meant he was waking his entire family up. But because of this shameless persistence, or in NIV boldness, he would finally give the bread. This is not because he is a friend, but because of the man’s boldness.

This sort of persistence is needed when we pray to God. Often times when we pray, whether for ourselves or for others, we just pray few times and give up. But when we go to God, we need to go to God with boldness and persistence.

Look at what comes immediately after. “Ask, seek, and knock.” These are all in present, imperative tense. The point is that these asking, seeking, and knocking must be on-going. When we do this, God will shower us with gifts from heaven. Earthly fathers or friends would give, even though they are not perfect. But our Father in heaven is willing and ready to give, and he will certainly give.

If God is so willing to give, why do we need to ask with shameless persistence? This boldness and persistence is not for God’s sake, but for our sake. How is this for our sake? Because, it helps us think about what’s really important and helps us recognize our need for God in our lives.

When are we persistent? When the thing we are seeking is truly important. We often get confused as to what is important in our lives. We make wrong things priorities in our lives. For some, it may be money. For others, it is power, honor, relationship, sex, etc. We seek after these things, because we believe those things are what matters in our lives and what gives satisfaction to our souls. But they never give satisfaction. You either want more of it, because you think more will truly satisfy you, or you just get despair, because it didn’t give you the satisfaction you thought it would give.

I love tech gadgets. I would often think that if I just get that one thing, then I would have all that I need. It may be a camera one day, or a new cell phone, etc. But when you get that, you are not satisfied. There is always that next thing you need to get.

But, if we are persistent in our prayers, God uses prayers to change our hearts and helps us recognize what’s truly needed and important in our lives. This is so important that it’s worth being persistent over. What is it? It is our relationship with God. It is our dependence on God. What are we supposed to ask, seek, and knock? Look at the context. What does Jesus say our Father in heaven will grant? He will grant us the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? It is God’s presence in our lives. Look at the content of the prayer Jesus taught. It is the coming of God’s Kingdom. It is God’s glory through living out the life that God wants. So we are supposed to ask for God, seek God, and knock for his grace. It is all about him.

But here is the secret. When we want him, when we desire him, when we seek his presence in our lives, then will we be truly satisfied. Our relationship with him is important. And when we are persistent in our prayers, that relationship will get deeper and deeper. Our God is more than willing and ready to have that deep relationship with us. The question is, are we? Let our lives, marked with steadfast, persistent prayer, seek after God for his glory sake.