Luke 11:5…

How often then, should we pray? Should we keep asking for our un-met needs?

That’s a good question. After informing His disciples how to pray, Jesus teaches them about what it means to have a prayer life.

A life filled with prayer is a life filled with needfulness realized, needfulness fulfilled, and needfulness empowered. (Our weakness, our lack, becomes our strength.)

There is a question that goes along with the information Jesus provides His disciples, and it is almost an absurd one: If you knew that all your needs - every single one - would be or could be met by God, why would you ever fail to ask Him to meet the need?

It then comes down to a question of faith doesn’t it?

This is how Jesus explains it, and why He explains it in an almost absurd fashion. When you are out of bread, and you need bread, what would you do? What do you do? What have you done?

Well, you go to your neighbor, because you know he has bread when you don’t. It’s too late to make bread yourself, you need ready-made bread.

But wait, how can you be certain your neighbor has bread? The truth is the only thing you know for sure is that you don’t have bread. You go to your neighbor on the possibility he does. And also, faith in even the possibility your neighbor will give you of what he has.

You are completely dependent upon the benevolence of your neighbor, but you do not hesitate to ask – even after bedtime – because the need you have is great, and you are willing to risk begging because your reputation for hospitality is on the line.

In this case, will you take “No” for an answer? Why not? What propels you to keep asking? Is it because you now know for certain the neighbor has the bread you need? (He did not deny that he does.) Is it because it is necessary to keep asking in order to rouse him from his bed to meet the need? How does God fit into this example?

-Pastor Bill

Luke 11:1…

“When you pray…”

The operative phrase in the beginning of Luke 11 is, “When.”

Not so much how or why you pray, but when. There is an expectation that you will.

We learn, (I think,) an interesting fact here in that John the Baptist also taught his disciples to pray. We have no recorded information telling us how or what John taught his disciples to pray, but it must have been in similar fashion as Jesus makes no correction of John’s teaching about prayer, and the listeners do not say, “Wow, that’s different than what John said.”

Something else…perhaps the reason Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray is because John taught his disciples to pray. While that may be the case, their prompting presently comes from the fact Jesus IS praying. Jesus set the example for us to pray by praying Himself.

Once Jesus has taught His disciples what pray the emphasis becomes continuing in it.

The words Jesus taught His disciples to pray are so infamous even unbelievers and atheists know them by heart. We do too. Was that the point? Was Jesus teaching His disciples to literally pray these words?

Well, we have the obvious answer, since the words here in Luke 10 are not the exact words contained in Matthew 6. One of those examples is a paraphrase of the other. The point is the exact words do not matter, but to focus on the substance contained in those words does.

WHO we are praying to becomes of primary importance, especially when we hear so many ‘teaching prayers’ where people in prayer meetings seem to be praying in to instruct other people about things rather than talking to God. Our EXAMPLE is to talk to Our Father, Who is in heaven, and then to keep talking to Him as often as we can.

Jesus teaches His disciples to keep praying, and to keep praying, and to keep praying. Never stop praying. Part of the lesson here is God is moved by our continuing prayer.

-Pastor Bill

Luke 10:25…

The great question of life is: What shall I do to inherit eternal life?

But the question itself is not all there is - is it?

How you ask the question, why you ask the question, what you mean by asking the question – these are all part and parcel to the answer you receive from the Word of God.

In this case, it is a ‘certain lawyer’ asking Jesus about what he should DO to inherit eternal life.

There are some good things about his question, chief among them he apparently believes in eternal life and admits it publicly, which is a good starting point. Secondly, he appears concerned about his own eternal condition, but here it breaks down a bit. (Luke informs us he asked this question as a “test” for Jesus.)

So we wonder if the lawyer was genuinely concerned for himself, or if his main interest was to somehow expose or embarrass Jesus publicly about the answer He may give. (We know enough about human nature to know giving a true answer about how we may inherit eternal life will divide any crowd.) This is his probable motive.

A ‘lawyer’ in this case would be a man employed to examine and uphold Jewish Law. He would be a defender of the Jewish faith. This does not dissuade or dismay Jesus, reminding us how difficult (see impossible) it is to surprise, dismay, or win an argument with God. It ain’t happening…

In response to the lawyer’s question, Jesus appeals to the lawyer’s own reading of the Jewish Law. Listening to the lawyer’s answer we learn he is theologically correct about God’s idea of perfection. But here he has come under the weight of personal conviction about his own ability to perfectly keep this Law he has been charged to keep.

Now, the inquisitor has snared himself, and we see his desperate attempt to wriggle off the hook. “And who is my neighbor?”

Jesus’ answer would surprise everyone…

-Pastor Bill

Luke 10:1…

If I was following Jesus along with His disciples as one of His disciples, I think one of the things I would be most interested in seeing is this: What makes Jesus rejoice? What puts a smile on His face? What makes Him resound with joy?

The reason I think I would think that way is because of the clue it may give us all about heaven, and what we can expect from eternal life. What is heaven really like? What do they rejoice about in heaven?

We read in Hebrews 1:9, (quoting from Psalm 45:7,) that Jesus has been anointed by God with the “oil of gladness” more than any man. This means more than anyone who ever lived - however joyful they may have been - Jesus was more.

When I first got saved I used to think about Jesus smiling all the time. There is something about joyful people that makes you want to be with them. The Bible teaches us in Isaiah 53 there was nothing ‘comely’ about Messiah. People would not be drawn to Him by His looks. No, it would be the force of His joy-filled and joy-full personality.

To me this has always put Jesus in a different light than any description of Jesus I had heard in my early days in the church, and also any artwork I had ever seen attempting to portray Jesus. Movies, the same. Jesus was always shown as a very solemn individual. (In one movie, ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ the actor Robert Powell playing the part of Jesus never blinks while on-screen in an effort to depict Jesus’ Divinity.)

But what makes Jesus joyful? When do we really see Him smile?

The answer is found right here in Luke 10. The disciples have been sent out two-by-two, (seventy of them in all,) to go before Jesus into all the towns and villages Jesus was about to visit on His way up to Jerusalem. Jesus has appointed and empowered them to heal the sick there and to tell them the kingdom of God is near to them.

When the seventy returned they reported to Jesus all the things they had done, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” (Surely THIS was worth rejoicing about!)

Jesus, on the other hand, informs them NOT to rejoice about their ministry “success” but in the simple fact their names are written in the kingdom of heaven. And then - Jesus REJOICED!

-Pastor Bill