Here are the notes from last night's LightHouse with questions:
1. A friend asks you ‘What is prayer?’ What would you say?
2. a. What stops you praying? b. What helps you pray?
We have number of problems with prayer which are not biblical problems but which we imbibe from society around us which make praying hard:
1. Cynicism – Our society is cynical, you only have to think about news items this week. We are trained to be cynical about motives, means and intentions. When we bring that cynicism into our thoughts about prayer it makes us loathe to trust God, or to think of him as good, or our welcoming of answered prayer as anything more than just circumstantial, which inhibits our praying.
2. Independence – Is in many ways our societies greatest goal, we are taught that dependence is a sign of weaknesses or neediness whereas independence is a sign of strength and intelligence. We want to be in control, to be independent. But that flies in the face of the very nature of prayer which remind us that we are neither in control nor independent.
3. Materialism – We are surrounded by a society which tells us things matter, that value and significance is weighed in terms of amount of stuff, or quality of stuff. I wonder as we read if materialism has already affected the way you thought of this prayer? (7-8)It leads us to assume these verses are about blank cheque theology and prayer is about making life more comfortable or ourselves more prosperous. But materialism also isolates us from the need to pray because we think we have everything we need.
4. Fatherhood – Is viewed negatively in our society, just think of all the films or programmes with strong single mums, or weak, abusive, distant or incompetent fathers. Our problem with the notion of fatherhood makes approaching God our father difficult, because we don’t think highly of fathers.
As we turn to Jesus teaching on prayer we need to recognise that to some degree we have been influenced by society in these areas and that our thinking unchecked will cause us problems with this teaching and with prayer. We need to recognise those influences on us and try to remove the filters they impose on our thinking about prayer so that we can really hear what Jesus is saying about it. Because Jesus is not giving his disciples a ‘to do’ here, he’s not giving them a chore to get through, rather he wants prayer to be a joy, to be as natural as breathing, to be part of our everyday relationship with God the Father through God the Son given life by God the Spirit.
Context is key as we come to these verses on prayer; it is vital that we don’t lift them out of the Sermon on the Mount and treat them on their own, inventing our own context for them. Jesus has described the humble, seeking, pure, heart of the disciple (5:3-14)in all its longing for righteousness, its mourning of sin, and its satisfaction in him. And as Jesus has then explored the disciples living as a citizen of the kingdom we find ourselves convicted of our inability to live like this and at an end of ourselves. Maybe over our anger, or our lustful thoughts, or our materialism, or our anxiety, or our idolatry of family, or our desire for religious recognition and reputation, or our desire to be in control, or our self righteous judgementalism. We find ourselves thinking I love Jesus, I’ve trusted him, I try to live with him as Lord but I just keep screwing up.
Having explored the heart and actions of the citizens of the kingdom Jesus now unveils the resources of the citizens of his kingdom as he invites them to pray.
You can’t do it yourself, so ask your Father who longs to give(7-8)
(7)What does Jesus tell his disciples to do? “ask...knock...seek” that means keep on asking, keep on seeking and keep on knocking. Be continual and persistent in your prayers, and what does he promise will happen if we keep on?
(8)”For everyone who asks receives; those who seek find; and to those who knock the door will be opened.” That is a phenomenal promise, God will answer those persistent prayers. But it poses a big question doesn’t it, what are we asking, seeking and knocking in search of?
This isn’t a blank cheque promise, it isn’t you want a Mercedes ask God and if you ask rightly or with enough faith he will give it to you, or you want a husband, or a big home, or a million pounds ask God and if you ask enough times with enough faith you will get it. Remember the context, this is a prayer of citizens of the kingdom, this is a prayer of someone with the heart of a disciples. Someone who is marked by a desire for righteousness, a pure heart, who is not materialistic but lives with God’s kingdom and his righteousness first and foremost as their priority and trusts God for everything else.
What Jesus says we are to ask God for is the grace to see the kingdom of God come in our hearts and lives. We know that we can’t do it on our own and because of that Jesus says come and ask God for it. Keep on asking God to help you fight sin, keep seeking God’s help as you battle against hypocrisy and judgementalism, as you seek discernment in sharing the gospel. Don’t rely on yourself rely on God.
In James 4:2-10 James challenges the church that the reason they do not have is that they do not ask, and again he is not talking about material things. (3:13-18)The thing they lack is wisdom in how to live, wisdom which will produce in them attributes similar to those in the beatitudes.
We can’t do it yourself, so we must ask our Father who longs to give to us.
Come confident in the character of your heavenly Father(9-11)
Jesus here uses a how much greater argument. If earthly fathers who are evil – morally imperfect and prone to selfishness – give good gifts to their children when they ask, how much more will God who is the perfect heavenly Father.
I just want to address the issue of Fatherhood. We are not meant to judge the character of God as Father by our earthly fathers. In fact the bible turns such thinking on its head and says God is the perfect father to whom all earthly fathers ought to aspire. God as Father is; creator, he is loving and provides for his children, he protects them with his mighty hand, he is gracious and compassionate to them when they fall or fail, he rescues them from trouble when they call, he lovingly and wisely warns them and disciplines them for their good, and ultimately he has in mind as his purpose for them their growing into relationship with him as children after his own image with the family values. God is the supremely ‘good’ father who gives of himself and lovingly and sacrificially shares of himself with his children.
That matters so much because our prayer life is intrinsically linked to how we think of God. Jesus says the motivation for prayer is our understanding of our need and inability but also our understanding of the welcome and goodness of the God we turn to. Disciples know God as their creator, provider, sustainer, saviour and father and thus they naturally and willingly come to him.
It also means that we come to him and trust him as we ask, seek and knock. Because God is the good Father he will not give us something which will harm us even if we ask wrongly, but notice he only gives good gifts. He won’t give us a stone instead of bread, or a snake instead of a fish. Doesn’t that give us confidence in prayer? We come to God our Father who we know loves us and wants us to be in relationship with him because he sent his son to die in our place to bring us back and then sent his Spirit to dwell in us to enable to relate to him as his children. And so because we know him to be supremely good and loving and because we know his very character is that of a Father who is for us then we can come to him dependently, humbly and entrusting ourselves to the God who longs to give good gifts to his children who ask, seek, knock.
Our prayer life is directly connected to our understanding of the character of God. And Jesus says know God as your heavenly Father and be liberated to ask of him who will only give you his good gifts.
Liberated to love like Father like Son
Notice that this verse is connected to Jesus teaching on prayer, it is not a separate verse, it is not the start of a new paragraph, though it functions as a summary of the relationships of the kingdom.
Notice as well what it doesn’t say. It is not negative; Don’t do to others what you would rather they didn’t do to you. Neither does it say do until others what you would have them do to you and they will. There is no expectation of reciprocity here, just as it is not just a way of limiting evil or unkind actions.
Rather this is a call to live a life of active love for others and is the only right response to the loving character of God your Father. Love others actively as you have been loved actively. It doesn’t simply limit bad actions; don’t say nasty things to others because you wouldn’t like it. Rather it calls for active love, it calls for citizens of the kingdom to actively do good, to love others as they would love to be loved without any expectation of getting the same treatment. This is a call for active, pursuing, giving, generous love.
And what does Jesus say such living does? It “sums up the law and the prophets.” Loving the Lord your God is seen in loving your neighbour as yourself which is seen in actively serving and generously giving of yourself to them. Love like God loves you, that is what it means to be like God, to bear the family image.
I guess our instant thought is I can’t do that! And we are right, we can’t in and of ourselves, but Jesus says ask, seek, knock and your heavenly Father who loves you like that will enable you to live in his image and love as he loves.
1. How can we encourage each other in praying?
2. “At the centre of self will is me, carving a world in my image. At the centre of prayer is God, carving me in his Son’s image.” Do you agree or disagree and why?
3. How practically can we love others like this? What does it mean for our interactions with :
a. the homeless,
b. our neighbours,
c. with family members,
d. with our church family?
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