Luke
The Privilege of Prayer: Luke 11.1-13
Every communion service at Holy Trinity there is an opportunity for people to receive prayer – whether for healing, about some personal need, or about some other matter. We are privileged to have a team of people who are trained to listen and pray with those in need
That team have asked me especially in this sermon to
speak about the ministry of prayer and I want to do that by focussing the
privilege of prayer from Luke 11. I wish to encourage us to make full use of
the privilege of prayer whether it be private prayer, prayer in groups, or the
kind of prayer, we often call prayer-ministry, where one person prays for
another
I
have two main points to make from Luke 13.5-13
The
slightly Victor Meldrew like figure of Mr Smith is fast asleep in bed, when he
is awoken by an almighty banging and shouting outside. He dimly recognises the
dulcet tones of his beloved next door neighbour, calling through the letterbox.
Dear Mrs Brown wants to borrow a cup of sugar –she’s run right out once more
‘Go
away’ he shouts out the window ‘don’t you realise it’s the middle of the night,
you’ll wake the wife and kids. Clear off. Come back in the morning’
But
in the end, despite his protestations he gets out of bed, tramps grumpily
downstairs, opens to the kitchen cupboard, retrieves an unopened bag of sugar,
presents it to Mrs Brown and retires to bed . ‘The sheer cheek of the woman!’
he says to himself, as a he snuggles back down under the bedclothes.
Exactly
Jesus point. The sheer cheek of the man. Jesus in his parable about the
troublesome neighbour who seeks help in the middle of the night uses a word
hard to translate. It means literally:‘shameless boldness’.
The
man gets what he wants through his shameless boldness. He has got the cheek to
ask and so he gets what he wants. Its amazing you can get if you have the cheek
to ask.
But,
please do not think that Jesus is suggesting that God is like Victor Meldrew
Please
don’t think that God has to be coaxed and cajoled and nagged into action.
Rather too many prayers I fear do
proceed on this basis. That is not Jesus point at all. There is no suggestion
in the parable that God is to be compared with the man sleeping in his bed who
responds so reluctantly to requests for help.
The
point of the parable is rather different. It’s this: if it’s worth asking even an
awkward rather selfish individual like Smith for help, because in the end he
will respond, how much more worthwhile it is asking God, our loving
heavenly Father, who never sleeps, who is never off duty, and loves to answer
his children, and doesn’t need to be nagged, persuaded or shamed into action
The
parable is an encouragement to ask and not to fear to ask, but to come
boldly into God’s presence with our requests:
"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; he who seeks finds; and to him who
knocks, the door will be opened.
You
got a problem? – tell God. You need help? – go to God. Something is troubling
you – tell God about it.
SO: Because God is your
Father, don’t be afraid to ask
and
then, secondly,
"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!"
The
Bible often uses ‘how much more arguments.’ It says something that is true of
human beings, and then says if that is true for human beings how much more is
it true for God who is so much greater.
That’s
what Jesus does here: he uses a ‘how much more argument.’ Fathers, says Jesus,
know how to give good things to their children. Ordinary, fallible, sinful
human beings know how to give good things to their children and if even sinful, fallible human beings give good
things, how much more will God our heavenly Father give good things to us, his
children?
In
Luke’s version of these words he actually says ‘the Holy Spirit’ instead of the
words ‘good things’ that we read in Matthew’s version which emphasises all the
more the goodness of what gives in response to prayer
So,
don’t hesitate to ask God - and don’t fear that God will give you something bad
or harmful. God’s purposes for us are good and he is working his purposes out
for our good. So we mustn’t be afraid to ask and we mustn’t be afraid of the
answer
One
of the ways we can take advantage of the privilege of prayer is through our
prayer ministry team. Of course there is nothing to stop anyone at any time
praying to God about anything but sometimes it is helpful to have someone to
pray for you. Sometimes we need to share our needs with others. Sometimes we find
it hard to pray on our own. Sometimes we need the help and encouragement of the
prayers of our Christian family.
This
is where the prayer ministry team comes into its own. You can come up and ask
members of our team to pray with you and for you
As we
think about coming forward for prayer can we bear in mind the lessons of this
passage
1.
Because God is your Father, don’t be afraid to ask. Don’t be afraid, don’t be shy. Don’t think its a matter too
small to be brought to God in prayer, he cares for you, you are not to be
afraid to ask him. Don’t think it is a matter too big to be brought to God in
prayer – he is God, he can cope
One
person said this: I would say to anyone who is embarrassed about going to ask
for prayer: ‘Don’t be afraid. Just get up and do it. It really is an uplifting
and helpful experience.
2.
Because God is your Father, don’t be afraid of the answer
You
are safe in his hands, he is a good God. No harm can possibly come to you by
putting your needs into the hands of the loving heavenly who did not even spare
his own son for our sakes.
People who met Jesus: The Sinful Woman
Extravagant Forgiveness, Extravagant Praise: Luke
7.36-50
Religious enthusiasm is a rather unEnglish emotion. It’s OK
to a bit religious as long as you don’t take it too far, as long as you don’t
get carried away.
And if you really must go as far as actually going to
church, then make sure your stiff upper
lip remains firmly rigid at all times - and certainly don’t attempt to enjoy
this experience
But what if you’re happy, what if your heart is bursting with
praise to God? What if you love Jesus so much that you’ve got to do
something about it? What if you want to do something really extravagant like
buying a whole load of perfume and pouring it on Jesus feet? What if as you do
that, tears joy and thanksgiving pour from your eyes to such an extent, that
you have to wipe his feet dry with your hair?
But what would make you to want to behave in such an
extravagant way? Why would anyone want to act like that? Those were the
questions going through the Pharisees mind. To them the whole event was a total
mystery. It was beyond comprehension.
Why was this woman behaving in such an outlandish way? And
why did Jesus let it happen? Didn’t he realise the kind of woman she was?
They were the questions going through their minds and they
are good questions. What was the explanation for that behaviour? What
could move someone to behave like this?
There’s one word alone than can account for it: FORGIVENESS
She knew something that the Pharisees for all their religious
knowledge never knew. She knew the joy of forgiveness - and that’s why she was
so grateful. She had been forgiven a lot, and so she loved a lot.
Jesus explained it to the Pharisees with a simple story:
"Two men owed money to a
certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
42 Neither of them had the money to pay
him back, so he cancelled the debts of both.
and he then said ‘Now which of them will love him more?
It’s obvious really: the one who is forgiven the biggest debt
will be the one with the greatest amount of thankfulness. That’s why this woman
was so extravagant in her praise.
And the Pharisees? Tbe reason they loved Jesus so little was
that they had such little sense of forgiveness. They were sure of their own
goodness. They had never really faced up to their sin. They had never really received
God’s forgiveness.
But what about you? Do you have the sense of being forgiven?
Perhaps, in all honesty you would have to say ‘so far in my life, no.’ Perhaps
you have never really faced up to your sin. Perhaps you have never really come
to Jesus for forgiveness. Perhaps you have never really thought about these
things at all.
If that’s you, then I have some bad news and some good news
for you
The bad news is you are much more wicked than you realised. You have
broken God’s laws. Your sin has cut you off from God. You, like all mankind,
face judgment.
The Good News is that God loves you more than perhaps you have ever
realised. He came to this world in the person of his Son a died a bloody, painful,
death for you because he loved you so much. A child who heard this for the
first time said ‘Jesus loves me more than I realised’
Jesus went through the pain and degradation of the cross for
you so that you should be forgiven. He took your sin on his shoulders. He took
your punishment. He died in your place so that you could be forgiven.
The Really Good News is that you can come to Jesus now and receive that
forgiveness now
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To find out more about how to become a Christian go to How to find peace with God
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Or perhaps you are already a Christian but you find it
difficult to really believe that you are forgiven? In the film ‘Good Will
Hunting’ starring Matt Damon there
is a moving scene when Robin Williams, playing a counsellor, persuades the
young Damon that the abuse he suffered as a child was not his thought. Damon
accepts that but doesn’t really believe. Williams repeats over and over again
‘it’s not your fault’ till the young man breaks down finally believing, deep in
his being, the truth his counsellor has been trying to persuade him.
Many of us need to hear in the same way that we really are
forgiven. Perhaps you need to hear afresh the word of Jesus who said to that
woman ‘Your sins are forgiven’ (verse 48). You really are forgiven. Jesus says
so. The past is forgiven and forgotten. You’re clean. You’re free.
Let us all remember in Jesus that we have been forgiven a
lot, that we have been forgiven a lot at a great cost to Jesus, but not to us.
Let us offer our own extravagant praise and thanksgiving to Jesus - the kind of
extravagant act of praise that says to Jesus: ‘here’s my life, please take it’
Some words of Matt Redman make a fitting response to the
amazing forgiveness Jesus us gives us:
I WILL OFFER UP MY LIFE
In spirit and truth,
Pouring out the oil of
love
As my worship to You.
Jesus, what can I give, what can I bring
To so faithful a friend, to so loving a King?……
For the things You have done?
Oh, my words could not tell, not even in part,
Of the debt of love that is owed by this thankful heart.
People who met Jesus: The Centurion’s Servant
Just deserts: Luke 7.1-10
What do you deserve
in your life? What are our rights? What ought we to have by right ?
If
we are honest, most of us are very concerned, even passionately concerned about
these very matters. We all want to get our just deserts. We all want what is
rightfully ours.
We expect to get the wages that we have earned and we
deserve. We expect the Council and the Government to do its job
properly, that they will be polite and helpful when we ring them - it doesn’t
always happen like that but we expect it - quite right, too. We expect
to be treated well by the NHS, when we go to the doctors or the hospital. We
have a right to it, we deserve it, we tell ourselves
But, that’s all very well because employers have a duty to
pay us what is agreed, the council has a duty to serve us, the NHS has a duty
to offer us the best medical care possible. We deserve good treatment
from all these people, even if we don’t always get it. In a sense, it is our right
.
But, what do we deserve
from God ? Are there certain things
that we can claim from God as a right? Can we go to God and say ‘look here, I jolly well deserve X, y, z and
if I don’t get them I’m going to make an official complaint?’
Well, there were some very well meaning members of the Jewish
church who did think in this way. To be fair, they weren’t concerned
with their own rights, but for their friend, the Centurion. Given that he was a
actually a Roman soldier, a member of the occupying power, you might think they
would have no time for him at all, but they had a soft spot for him because of
all that he had done for the Jewish nation
So when the Centurion had some sickness
in his family they decided to put in a good word for him with Jesus. They meant
well, their motives were excellent, but even so they got everything the wrong
way round, because they were thinking about what we deserve, instead of what God gives
us out of the goodness of his heart.
Here’s what happened: one of the centurion’s servants was
ill. It happened to be a servant he was very fond of, a worker he valued very
highly so the centurion sent a message to Jesus to ask for his help. His
well-meaning Jewish friends decided to add their two-pennorth, and put in a few
good words for their friend, the kindly Centurion:
4 When they came to
Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have
you do this,5 because he loves our
nation and has built our synagogue." Luke 7.4-5
Do you see what they are saying? ‘Jesus, he deserves a bit of
help from you because he has done so much to help the church. He’s done us a
few favours, can’t you do one for him ! One good turn deserves another!’
Quite a lot of people see God in that way. They bargain with
God. ‘I’ve done this for you, so you do this for me’ is the way they think.
Some people see their work in the life of the church this way. You hear people
say ‘I’ve done so much for the church’ and by it they mean that God, the
Church, the Vicar or whoever should be jolly pleased and return their
generosity with certain blessings or privileges, and thus keep their side of
the bargain.
But, that was not how the
Centurion himself saw it. He took a completely different approach. He didn’t
say ‘Look here, Jesus, you know how much I’ve done for your people, its about
time you did a bit for me. I deserve a bit of help from him upstairs !’ What he
actually said was:
‘Lord, don’t trouble yourself,
for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof’ (Luke 7.6b)
‘I’ve got no claim on you. I don’t
deserve anything from you. There is
nothing that I could have done that obliges you to do anything. There’s no way you could be in my debt, Lord’
Isn’t the Centurion spot on, hasn’t he got it just right?
None of us can say we deserve
anything from God. In fact, if God gave us what we deserve we would really
start complaining because the Bible is quite blunt in saying that as people who
have broken God’s laws we all deserve
judgment.
But thanks be to God, he doesn’t give us what we deserve, but
what he has decided to give us, in his love, out of the goodness of his heart
By this time you might be starting to think this Roman
soldier knows more about the right way to approach God then his churchgoing
friends. I think you might be right - that’s certainly what Jesus thought. Look
at what the Centurion then goes on to say:
For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under
me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I
say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." Luke 7.8
Jesus, not only do I not deserve you to come to my house,
there’s no need
you only need to say the word -
that will be enough. I’m a soldier, if I tell my men to do something, they do it.
I know that if you say something, it will be done, it will happen, just say the
word, that will be enough - there’s no need for a home visit
What amazing faith !
It even amazed Jesus:
9 When Jesus heard
this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said,
"I tell you, I have not found such great faith even in Israel." Luke 7.9
The Centurion really understood
the power of Jesus. This was no ordinary man. This was a man who had power over
sickness and disease. The Centurion really understood the power of Jesus’ word.
Just as God created the world by his word, just by saying it, so Jesus could
heal, could forgive, could even calm a storm - by just saying the word
The centurion realised that. And what about you ?
You, like me, don’t deserve
anything but you, like me, like the Centurion, can come to Jesus in humble
faith. He is a great Lord, you can put yourself, you can put your deepest
problems, you can put your greatest fears,
in his hands. He can cope, he can deal with them
You can ask him for help. Not because you deserve it or can
earn it, or for what you have done for his church ! But because he is a Lord of
boundless love and mercy and because he is the Lord whose word is powerful and
effective. He needs only to say the word.
Prayer of Response
Lord, like the
centurion,
we don’t deserve to have
you come under our roof,
or even be in our lives.
But you are a kind and
gracious Lord,
always ready to hear and answer prayer.
We bring you our cares
and woes,
we bring you our sins,
we bring you our
families and we bring you ourselves
Lord, just say the word,
and that will be enough for us
What’s so good about Good Friday? Luke
23.32-43
What’s so good about Good Friday? Surely it’s the worst Friday. Surely it’s the bleakest, blackest day in the history of mankind. It’s the day when God’s own Son, - Jesus, the man whose only crime had been to bring forgiveness to the sinners, sight to the blind, healing to the sick - was arrested on a trumped-up charge, brutally beaten, nailed by his hands and feet to a block of wood, stripped naked, and left to die a slow agonising death in full view of a crowd of vicious hooligans who hurled abuse at him as he suffered.
What’s is so good about
Good Friday?
It was GOOD for one man.
He was a thief, he had been convicted of a crime. A death sentence had been
passed. He had a few minutes to live but Good Friday was really a good day for
him. In his dying moments Jesus turned to him and said ‘Today you will be with
me in paradise.’
Why? Not because he
deserved heaven. He had done nothing to deserve heaven, only judgment. Not
because he had lived a good life. He obviously hadn’t. He was a convicted
criminal. Nor was it because he had promised to try to be good and amend his
ways in the future. He didn’t have a future. It was because he turned to Jesus
for mercy.
There were two men who
were crucified either side of Jesus. One thought Jesus was a fraud and said:
Aren’t you the Christ?
Save yourself and us!
In other words he was
saying: ‘if you are who you say you are, you wouldn’t be nailed to that cross. If
you’re the great saviour of mankind how about doing a bit of saving now? You’re
a fake, Jesus. You can’t save anyone. Not even yourself.’
The other thief saw
things rather differently:
40 . "Don't you fear
God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting
what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
He knew the truth about
himself – he was a sinner. He knew the truth about Jesus – he was innocent. He
believed Jesus was the king, God’s kings. So whilst his friend hurled insults,
this man in his dying moments turned to Jesus and said
Jesus
remember me when you come into your kingdom
And it was to him, only
to him, that Jesus said ‘Today you will be with me in paradise’
The whole human race
lines up behind those two men. You’re either against Jesus or for him. You
either reject him or believe in him. Where do you stand?
Let us line up behind the penitent thief and say to Jesus today