Community Church Sermons
July 29, 2007
Pentecost
9
Luke 11:1-13
Rev. Dr. R. Tim Meadows
Listen to This Sermon!
Remember Love American Style? That quirky, eccentric, off – beat seventies situation comedy, which suggested that if you truly wanted to know something about love, you had to watch Americans. Well, as odd as it may seem that is what I thought about first, after reading today’s passage in preparation for writing a sermon. Love – American Style; quirky, eccentric, and truly unique. Exactly why this memory of old came flooding back, I am not sure, but it must be related to how truly unique Jesus’ patterns of prayer were to his disciples. Granted, like Love – American Style, Prayer – Jesus Style, was on the surface, not that unique. It involved communication with God, it followed a distinct Jewish pattern, and it expressed human need, but something about the way Jesus prayed, gripped his disciples, and they wanted to know more about the particulars.
I must confess to you today that I feel a bit inadequate leading a discussion on prayer. I am not very good at the practice. I find my prayer life is interrupted by the need for sleep, by daily distractions, by a wandering mind that will not focus. More often than not, my prayers tend toward the selfish, I ask God for things that will make my world better for me. I grow impatient with God when my prayers are not answered as quickly or in the way I think they should be. So, I confess to you today, that I am an imperfect prayer. The thing that keeps me drawn to the practice of prayer however is my belief that it is where I can meet God, speak to God, and hear from God. I agree with Philip Yancey who says that the two great questions of the Christian life are; Why God does not act as I want, and Why I do not act, as God wants. Prayer, says Yancey, is the precise point where those two themes converge. We can never know all of the things about Jesus’ prayer routine that impressed his disciples, but Luke’s account of their story reveals at least the following details:
I. The Consistency Of Jesus’ Prayer Routine Impressed The Disciples: Though Jesus may simply have been keeping the expected Jewish routine of faithful prayer to God; something about his consistency impressed his disciples. What is the value of consistency in prayer? Why do we need to keep coming into conversation with the creator and sustainer of the universe? In part it seems that consistency is a reminder of whose we are and where we must look for the things we need on the journey of life. The consistency of routine prayer is not essential to God’s knowledge of who we are, it is essential to our knowledge. Jesus prayed routinely to be reminded of his vital connection to God, so also should we.
II. The Content Of Jesus’ Model Prayer Impressed The Disciples: We may never know what the disciples expected when they asked Jesus for a lesson in prayer, but we do know what they received. Jesus suggested that prayer to God should be simple, direct, and focused. Jesus’ model for prayer is focused on the greatness of God, the goodness of God, and the reality of human needs that only God can meet. If we evaluate our own routines of prayer by these standards, where will we find ourselves? As I confessed at the beginning, it is so easy for prayer to become a laundry list of needs for God to meet, actions for God to take, things that will make the world a better place for me to live in. While this is often the result of God’s actions in the world, it is not the main focus of Jesus’ model prayer. The main focus of Jesus’ content was the desire of God to give that, which will bless all of creation. My fundamental struggle with the content of prayer is placing my conversation in this larger context, for when this happens I must confront how small, selfish, or even petty the content of my prayer often is. Jesus always prayed from this larger perspective, so also should we.
III. The Change Sought In Jesus’ Model Prayer Impressed The Disciples: Luke’s account of Jesus’ model prayer ends with two curious parables on persistence. On the surface it could seem that Jesus was telling the disciples to “keep pestering” God until they received what they desired. While this may be a consistent childhood strategy that is somewhat successful with reluctant but easily adjusted parents/grandparents, it seems that Jesus’ hope for change was not in the direction of our divine parent, God, but rather in our direction. Jesus seems to agree with that great theologian Lee Iacocca, who concluded that the main reason he continued to pray was because prayer changed him. Jesus exemplifies this in his own Gethsemane experience where he prays to be relieved of the fate of death, but concludes that he will move nevertheless toward the cross. Does your practice of prayer ever move you to a different position than the one you began with? Are you willing to offer yourself to God, even when the nevertheless may result in a conclusion you may not prefer? Jesus prayed to God in this way, so also should we.
Prayer – Jesus Style, I must still confess that I am not very good at this, and you may not be either. Nevertheless, this style of prayer is the ultimate model of what God desires from us, and what Jesus promises God will always hear from us. May God give us the grace to follow the prayer model of Jesus until we become all God would have us to be!