Shameless Audacity

We are continuing in the Book of Luke in the Bible this morning, and we’ve come to another one of Jesus’ teachings on prayer. (Page 843) (Renovation App) Prayer is your communication line with God, so it’s not unexpected that Jesus teaches on it often. And today, he’s going to teach us on how to keep coming to Him in prayer…even if He’s not answering your prayers in the way you’re asking. (Luke 11:1 4) – NIV One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” He said to them, “When you pray, say: “‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. 3 Give us each day our daily bread. 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” The passage starts with Jesus praying. The fact that Jesus Himself had to pray while he was on earth should be proof enough…that we need to pray The disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. And he gives them an example. You’ll notice that it sounds like the Lord’s prayer…that many of you grew up praying in Catholic or Lutheran Churches Although it’s missing parts. Matthew’s version has more of the Lord’s prayer you might know, but even Jesus’ prayer in Matthew doesn’t have all of the Lord’s prayer (as parts were added later by the church) Really here, Jesus is giving an example of the types of things we should pray about It’s definitely not the worst thing if you prayed the Lord’s Prayer by memory…but I think the greater point is that these are the TYPES of things we should pray about. That God is great…and we have sins…and we need help. SHAMELESS IN YOUR BOLDNESS But after Jesus gives us ideas for the content we can use when we pray, he tells a story that teaches the manner in which we should pray (Luke 11:5 13) NIV 5 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; 6 a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ 7 And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. 9 “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. 10 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 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 Jesus is saying…we should pray like that man talked to his neighbor. At midnight, he asked for 3 loaves of bread… And we’re told that the man inside the house got up, basically woke up his whole family (because they were living in a one room house)…and gave the man the bread…why? What does it say? Not because of their friendship…but because of his neighbor’s shameless audacity! Audacity is when someone is so bold and confident that they go forward with something without even thinking about the personal consequences of it If that sounds to you like an intense way to approach prayer…the last few verses after the story help make more sense out of it. If you have it in front of you, I’m talking about verses 11 13…where Jesus says, “If your kid asks for a fish, are you going to give him a snake?” Of course not…and if you know how to give good gifts, then doesn’t your heavenly father know how to give them to you when you ask? This is helpful, because I think the story about the asking for bread at midnight…makes much more sense in light of kids approaching their fathers. Because, think about this…who do you know that has a ton of shameless audacity in asking for things? Children!! Children…asking their Fathers…just like Jesus said. In fact, I want to show you today, from this passage, 3 ways to pray with shameless audacity (like Jesus said)… Which you’ll see, are also 3 ways that children will also ask adults for things. 3 WAYS TO PRAY WITH SHAMELESS AUDACITY 1. Be shameless in your boldness Young kids are ridiculous when they ask for things. They don’t share our tentativeness or reservations when it comes to asking for things. For example, imagine something difficult was going on in your life…and you decided that you needed to drop by the church office and ask one of our staff members for help. It would probably take you a lot just to get up the courage and come and ask for help. You’d get there, our nice admin/office manager Bekah would greet you at the door, and you’d say, “Is it possible to meet with David, or Josh, or Rachel?” or whomever you wanted to see… And you’d wait while she went back to see if we were available… You’d probably come with some tentativeness But my own children…when they come and visit their father at the office…they just sprint right past Bekah… Run right into my office…and say things like, “Do you have any candy?” Can I go play air hockey in the basement? Last week, my 3 year old son Lincoln just came running in my office with his shirt off.” And I said, “What are you doing?!” And he said, “It was raining, so my shirt got wet…so I took it off.” Duh. ☺ When they come to ask me for things, they come boldly. With shameless audacity. Because I’m their dad. They know I love them…and want what’s best for them. That’s why Jesus is telling you to come…come at midnight…and ask boldly. Because, God’s your Father. He loves you! But some of us, we don’t approach God that way at all We don’t come boldly. In fact, we won’t come at all unless we feel like we’ve earned it…like we’ve done enough good lately…or read our Bible enough lately… And even then, when we ask… “We say, umm, God, I know I haven’t been…” And God is saying, “No, you’re my child. Come! Come often and come boldly!” “I’m not going to give you a snake…or a scorpion. “I’m your Father!” SHAMELESS IN YOUR REQUESTS There’s another part of the man’s action in our parable that we could attribute to shameless audacity It’s not just that he was shameless in his boldness to go over to his neighbors at midnight It’s that his WORDS also had a shameless audacity to them , “Hey…I know you’re whole family is sleeping right now, but I’m going to need you to lend me three loaves of bread.” “You mean, like, tomorrow for lunch?” “Nope, I mean right now.” He’s not just shameless in his boldness, but in his actual requests: 3 WAYS TO PRAY WITH SHAMELESS AUDACITY 1. Be shameless in your boldness 2. Be shameless in your requests You know who else is completely shameless in their requests? Children! In part, because they don’t understand everything involved. The other day we were talking about Disney World in my house… My 6 year old twins were asking questions about it…as some of their friends had traveled to Disney World. When I was explaining some things about it, my 3 year old son, Lincoln, said, “Can we go to Disney World today?” That’s a shameless request. In part, because He doesn’t understand all of the difficulties in getting to Disney World TODAY! But, Jesus is saying, “I want you to pray like that” Because what if the man in the parable would have had some shame in his request…that is…he wanted to save face…or his reputation? He would have said to himself, “No, it will be too inconvenient for my neighbor to comply with this request… so how could I make such a request of Him? I had better not” But he feels that it’s so important to get bread for his guest…that he let’s go of the shame…and asks anyway. But I feel like a lot of us approach prayer like that hypothetical I just gave. We think about praying for the things we need…maybe it’s a family member’s salvation who is far from God, or a healing, or for God to change your spouse’s heart… And we think, “Nah, that would be sooo much to ask for…God would have to do soo much.” So we don’t even ask. And God is saying, “Come to me like a child who would say, “Can we go to Disney World today?” “Come to me with shameless audacity in your requests” “Because for me, nothing is impossible” SHAMELESS IN YOUR PERSISTENCE There’s even one more way that we can pray with shameless audacity…as children of God. 3 WAYS TO PRAY WITH SHAMELESS AUDACITY 1. Be shameless in your boldness 2. Be shameless in your requests 3. Be shameless in your persistence The man asks for the bread… And the person inside says, “Don’t bother me. The door is locked, my kids are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything. It’s not going to happen.” And does the other person walk away? Nope. It’s his persistence, his shameless audacity to not give up, to KEEP KNOCKING…that causes the man to get up and give him the bread. And part of shameless audacity is persistence. And who is more persistent than children? “Mom, can we go to the park?” No. “Can we go to the park?” “Can we go to the park?” “can we go to the park?” Ugh, fine. We are to pray with a similar persistence and shameless audacity “God I need this to happen in my life. I know you can do it!” “Hey God, me again…yep, I know we already talked about this this morning, but we need you to move” You can only really do that if you come to him like a child. (Prayer meeting slide) One way to do that is to come to our prayer meetings before the services. If you haven’t been to one yet, I want to challenge you to try one sometime in the next month When I think of persistence, “I’m reminded of George Mueller, whom from you can learn more about prayer than just about any other person in history. Mueller felt led to pray for the conversion of 5 specific individuals…so he did so…every SINGLE day…without a single day off. The first came to Christ 18 months later, the 2nd 5 years after that, and 3rd, 6 years after that That was after 4,500 days of praying for that 3rd person! 40 years later, Mueller was about to die…but he still believed God for these 2 people. And wouldn’t you know, within just 1 year AFTER Mueller’s death…the final 2 came to Christ. God’s not bothered by the fact that you keep asking. He’s honored by your persistence. Come to Him, and tell him of his goodness and his faithfulness. My daughter loves fairness and consistency. And one of the things I teach my children often is that they have to be “people of their word. If they say something, they need to do it.” So sometimes, she’ll put that back on me, and she’ll say in a sweet voice, “Dad, will you play legos with me?” And I’ll say, “Well, maybe later because right now, I’m…” And she’ll say, “But dad, you said that after dinner we would play legos, and remember, you always keep your word!” It always makes me smile. And I think it makes God smile too when we come to him with persistence…reminding Him of his promises & power HOW PARENTS KNOW BETTER WHAT TO GIVE Jesus tells us, in verses 9 and 10, “For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds. Ask and it will be given to you.” And immediately most of us think of the exceptions to the rule. “I asked for this…I begged God for this…and He didn’t answer.” Why? When we come to God, and we ask Him for something, like a good father, He sees our requests and can say: “I love that you asked me for this…that you believe that I love you and can do this for you…” “But, if you could see what I can see…and know what I know…then you would know that this isn’t what you need” That He can say, “I know you want this relationship to keep up so you can get married, but if you married this person, it would go poorly…I can see that, but you can’t” And so we must turn our frustration into trust. Or maybe you’re struggling with infertility…and you’re going, “God, if I’m asking, and you’re good, then why aren’t you answering?” Because perhaps He’s saying, “Not yet.” Perhaps he’s saying, “I want you to raise a child that will be born 2 years from now…because I will need them in 2041, to be in college at a certain place, to do a certain thing.” We don’t what He knows. I’ve heard it said that “God always gives a person what they would have asked for if they knew everything He knew.” So please, still come to Him with shameless audacity…as a child would to their father. Just remember that when He answers your prayers, it won’t always be by giving you what you asked for. And sometimes…His answers look like anything but answers. You can pray for a promotion and then lose your job instead. Why would God do such a thing? Remember when Jesus said, “Everyone who asks will receive?” What was Jesus picturing when He says you’re going to receive something? Well, it says so in verse 13…look at it: (Luke 11:13) – NIV 13 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!” At the end of the day, my Christian friend, God wants to give you something better than circumstances that will make your life easier. And sometimes, the only way to have you begin to depend on the Spirit…to grow in faith…and character…and perseverance… is to NOT give you what you asked for…but even to give you something you would never ask for. But He is ultimately giving you what you need. What you would have asked for if you could see what He sees. If my 6 year old has made a bad choice…and I’ve put them in time out… Or you’ve grounded your teenager… And right away, right as it begins, they plead with you, “Get me out of here! Don’t you love me…don’t you care? I’m asking!” You know what they don’t know…right? That they need character, and strengthening, to learn to walk the right path…. You gave them a good thing…they just can’t see that it’s good. And here’s the junction where the pieces of Him knowing more than us…and the fact that we still need to come with shameless audacity come together When you keep coming to Him in persistence, often what happens is, you begin to see what He sees…you begin to see His will. No one’s quite sure who said it anymore, but there’s an old quote that says: “The purpose of prayer is not to get man’s will done in heaven, but to get God’s will done on earth.” And the more you go to God, every day, with persistence, and shameless audacity, the more able He is to inform you of His actual will. If you’re going to God every day…and knocking on His door… “God, it’s me again…47th day in a row! I need this! Why hasn’t this happened? What are you doing, God?” Do you know what often happens? Because you’re coming so persistently, He’s able to talk to you! You’re there…in His presence…listening! And it’s often in those moments, that you realize… “Oh, that’s actually not quite what I should have even been praying for. God, I see it now…this is what you’re doing.” “God, I pray for this to happen” But that doesn’t happen if you’re not coming to Him. So I want you to picture yourself coming to Him as a child this week. Like a 3 or 4 year old who believes that He can do anything, and that no matter what He does, it is right and it is good…because He is your father! Let me pray. Copyright: David Sorn Renovation Church in Blaine, MN You may use this material all you like! We only ask that you do not charge a fee and that you quote the source and not say it is your own.