From my sermon on Luke 11:5-13 5And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Now I think this is one incentive to pray: we have nothing or we don’t have what we need. That is to say, we are in a desperate, desperate situation. We are like this person in this story – we have nothing – and nothing means need. And what do you do when you have nothing but you have needs? You ask. You ask for help. You open your mouth and cry, like a baby crying for milk, or a sick person crying for medicine, or a wounded soldier crying for a medic, or a lover crying for his beloved. Brothers and sisters, desperation and trouble and need have always been the mother of prayer. That’s why God says to us:
Psalm 50:15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me …
Trouble is meant to lead you to call upon God. And I think Jesus is showing us something all through this little sermon on prayer and it’s something that is just a fact of life: the greater your need, the more bold you are in asking for it; (e.g. Esther)
Now, Jesus points this out in v8: I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.
Look at that weird word right there in v8: impudence. The term “impudence” does not really mean persistence (as some translate it) but rather means “lack of sensitivity to what is proper”; and so this guy has to do something that could potentially be considered not so neighborly or nice, or rude or socially unacceptable … he knocks on the door at midnight – in the common language, “that’s a party foul – that’s not cool.” Remember, the houses in that day were usually one room and everyone slept in the same room. If he goes and gets bread and opens the door and so on, he’s going to wake up his children. See, the point seems to be that this takes some gumption and boldness and shamelessness. You don’t care. That’s what you do if you are desperate.
So the question for us is, “Are you desperate? Are you in trouble? Are you in need?” And here is the answer for every person here: Yes you are. Everyone one of you. Your needs may be different but all of us are in trouble. In fact, if you don’t think you are in trouble, that’s your trouble.
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