SERMON OUTLINE

Parable of the Friend at Midnight  – Luke 11.1-13

Introduction

-A parable on prayer

-Connection of prayer and the Holy Spirit in Luke/Acts

-Jesus at prayer in Luke – eight times – at his baptism (3.21); after cleansing the leper and before he confronts the Jewish leaders (5.16); before choosing the twelve apostles (6.12); before Peter’s confession and telling the disciples of his coming death (9.18); at the transfiguration (9.28); before introducing the Lord’s prayer (11.1); in the garden of Gethsemane (22.41); and on the cross (23.34).

Outline

Verses 1 to 4 – A Pattern for prayer

Verses 5 to 8 – A Parable on God’s willingness to answer prayer

Verses 9-13 – An Plea to come to God in prayer

The Parable Verses 5-8

-The parable follows the pattern: Which of you? …We all would. …How much more does God. What man would do in his greatest goodness, God does all the more

-Why does the man woken up at midnight give bread? Not because a friend is asking but because of the friend’s bold, shameless audacity to come at midnight and expect to receive bread. How can such confidence and expectation be refused?

-How much more will God not refuse those who come boldly and shamelessly to ask.

The Plea to Come to God in Prayer Verses 9-13

-Repeated assurance of answered prayer

-Example of earthly fathers satisfying the request of their children

-How much more our heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to those who ask.

Conclusions

Come boldly to God in prayer for He is willing to answer prayer and especially if we ask Him to give us the Holy Spirit.

SERMON NOTES

The Parable of the Friend at Midnight                   Luke 11.1-13

This will be our last study of the parables of Jesus. Next week we will gather around the Lord’s Table and will have another look into Hebrews 12.

Luke leads us into this parable on prayer by first telling us that “Jesus was praying in a certain place”. Let me give you some background on the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. One of the main themes in Luke’s writings, in both his Gospel and the book of Acts, is God’s work through the Holy Spirit. Luke introduces his Gospel with a strong emphasis on the Holy Spirit. Luke is the only Gospel writer who uses the full name of the Holy Spirit at the baptism of Jesus. After his baptism Luke points out that Jesus is full of the Holy Spirit and it is the Spirit who leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. In the first public appearance of Jesus, Luke has Jesus read from the scroll of Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”

In the book of Acts Jesus tells the disciples to wait for the baptism of the Holy Spirit to be empowered for ministry and we see the formation of the Church in Acts 2 by the coming of the Holy Spirit. Then in the rest of the book we are told of the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit through the people of God.

So Luke has a strong emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit through Jesus and later through the apostles.

Coupled with Luke’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit is his emphasis on prayer in both his Gospel and the book of Acts. Luke shows Jesus in prayer more than the other Gospel writers and prayer is evident throughout the book of Acts. In Acts 1 Luke points out that those gathered in the upper room after the ascension of Jesus “were devoting themselves to prayer”.

In Luke, Jesus is shown in prayer eight times – at his baptism (3.21); after cleansing the leper and before he confronts the Jewish leaders (5.16); before choosing the twelve apostles (6.12); before Peter’s confession and telling the disciples of his coming death (9.18); at the transfiguration (9.28); before introducing the Lord’s prayer (11.1); in the garden of Gethsemane (22.41); and on the cross (23.34).

I see a close connection between prayer and the work of the Holy Spirit, both in Jesus and in the Christian. In the verses that we are studying today Luke connects prayer with the gift of the Holy Spirit in verse 13. He also teaches in these verses that God is more than willing to answer prayer and to give us the Holy Spirit when we ask Him.

In verses 1 to 4, Jesus teaches his disciples a pattern for prayer. Then in verses 5 to 8 Jesus illustrates with a parable how willing God is to answer prayer. Then in verses 9 to 13, Jesus invites his disciples to ask God in prayer for their needs, and especially for the gift of the Holy Spirit.

The parable begins with a question, “Which of you…?” This is a common parable pattern. In the parables of Jesus where this question pattern is used the obvious answer is “we all would”. We saw this pattern in the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine and go out after the one he has lost, until he finds it?” We all would. “What woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?” We all would. It is impossible to say “I would not” to the question Jesus asks in his parables. A positive response is assumed.

Jesus then follows up the assumed affirmative response to his question with a “how much more would God” statement. Which of you would not go out to seek a lost sheep until he finds it? We all would. How much more will God seek for lost sinners. Which of you would not seek for a precious lost silver coin? We all would. How much more will God seek for lost sinners. And in this parable, Which of you would not go to a needy friend at midnight for bread and expect to receive bread? We all would? How much more does God answer the prayers of His people and especially a request for the Holy Spirit. This parable is teaching that God is more than willing to answer prayer and especially a prayer for the Holy Spirit.

The question that Jesus asks is found in verses 5 to 7. Some translations make this into a statement rather than a question but a question more fully expresses the intended contrast between the willingness of God to answer prayer and the goodness of a friend to give bread. The question is, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and 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?”

The importance of hospitality in that culture would require the host to provide bread for his friend who has arrived at his house late after a long journey. Having no bread he wakes up his neighbor to ask for bread. Even though his neighbor is inconvenienced he gives him the requested bread. We know that the requested bread is given from verse 8. Let’s [Read] v8 again.

Notice that in the parable Jesus says that the man does not get up and give the bread because he is his friend but because of something else. It is on this something else that the contrast in the parable between the man woken up at midnight and God builds on.

The Greek word used here to show why the man who was woken up at midnight responded to the request for bread is mostly translated as “persistence”. I think the translation of “persistence” leads us to a wrong understanding of this parable. The NIV translates the Greek word as “boldness” which is better. You will find in most translations a footnote with the alternate translation “shamelessness” which is more in line with the meaning of the Greek word. The 2011 revised NIV translates this word as “shameless audacity” which I think is an even better translation that communicates the meaning of this word.

To make this parable focus on persistence does not bring out the contrast that Jesus intends between the man woken up at midnight and God’s willingness to answer prayer. We do not have in the parable any indication that the friend making a request for bread was refused and needed to be persistent before his request was finally answered. We may read persistence into the parable if we are not careful in our reading. We may read persistence into the parable if we compare it with the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18. But persistence is not what this parable is about. This Greek word found in other Greek writings has the negative meaning of shamelessness not the positive meaning of persistence.

This is how I read the parable: Jesus says “which one of you if he needed bread, in a situation where he had to feed a visiting friend who dropped in late at night, would not go and ask another friend for bread, who even though his door was closed and his children were in bed with him, would get up and give him all the bread he needed, not so much because he was a friend of his but because of his boldness and shameless audacity to come at midnight and wake him up and ask for bread.” The man with the bread is responding positively to the sheer shameless boldness of his friend’s inquiry. To be woken at midnight is rude and even shameful but the shameless audacity of this friend’s intrusion also shows a confidence that the need will be supplied. If this friend has enough nerve, enough shamelessness, to come at midnight and wake him up and make his request with the expectation of the request being answered then a positive response is certainly in order. The man with the bread does not have to be persuaded to give bread but is responding willingly to the bold request for bread even in this unusual situation.

Jesus then goes on to say in verses 9 to 13, how much more will your Father in heaven respond to your bold and shameless coming to him to meet your need. Jesus is not teaching us in this parable that we need to pester God until he finally gives us what we are asking for, but that we are to come boldly and shamelessly before God with an expectation that our need will be met.

Verses 9 to 13 are full of assurance that God willingly answers prayer – ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you; everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; to the one who knocks it will be opened. Will a father give a serpent to a son who asks for a fish? Certainly not! Will a father give a scorpion to a son who asks for an egg? Certainly not! If we as evil fathers know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him.

The teaching of God our Father’s willingness to answer prayer is expressed in Hebrews 4.16 like this, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

We are encouraged in this parable and in many other parts of the NT to come to God our Father with our needs and to expect Him to willingly meet those needs. We also see in the teaching which surrounds this parable the strong connection between prayer and the Holy Spirit. A Christian who wants to remain strong and full of the Holy Spirit is a Christian who often comes to God the Father in prayer and asks for the filling of the Holy Spirit. The filling of the Holy Spirit requires continued confession of sin and yielding to the will of God. We need to walk in the Spirit if we want to overcome the flesh and see the fruit of God working in and through us. So come to God in prayer often, knowing that God our Father is willing to answer prayer and especially to fill you with the Holy Spirit.