Getting an A+ in Jesus’ School of Prayer “ASKING” #2 Reinbeck UMC 8/9/15

Getting an A+ in Jesus’ School of Prayer “ASKING” #2

Reinbeck UMC

8/9/15

•           A mother prays for her son. He was raised in the church, he went to Sunday school, he knows the Bible-but when he left home, he left it all behind. For many years, his mother has prayed for him, but to this day, he remains a prodigal son.

•           A husband prays for his wife, who has terminal cancer. She has six, maybe seven months to live. None of the treatments stops the raging tumors. He prays and prays, but she dies five months later.

•           A young man prays fervently for deliverance from an overpowering addiction, but the struggle never seems to end. The more he prays, the worse the temptation becomes.

•           We pray for peace, and the world just continues on its trajectory toward hatred and violence.

And so we cry out with the psalmist, “Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trou¬ble?”

 One of the most troubling questions of the Christian faith is the mystery of unanswered prayer. It is the elephant on the altar around which God’s praying people kneel. And no one wants to talk about it. I suppose there are some who fear that if we admit that our prayers are not always answered, it will make us look like fools, or will cause some to lose their faith. As a matter of fact, that does happen. But that is exactly why we need to talk about it.

Unanswered prayer is not a new problem. I think of Abraham and Sara praying for a child… how many years did their prayers go unanswered? I think of David praying for the life of the child born to Bathsheba … and then the child died. I think of Job praying for death   and not dying. I think of Mary and Martha praying for their brother Lazarus, and yet he did die.  I think of Paul begging three times for relief from the thorn in his flesh, and God’s answer was “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Unanswered prayer is not new, but that doesn’t make it any less troubling. It happens to the best of Christians and it is humanly unexplainable.

In this 5th sermon in the series “Getting an A+ in Jesus’ school of prayer,” we are thinking about how Jesus teaches us to ASK, even though sometimes God may answer:

•           “you aren’t asking for the right reasons,” or

•           “not in that way you expect,” or

•           “not now” or just

•           “NO.”

But then Jesus goes on with a very funny story about a man who wakes his neighbor up at midnight to ask for some bread for an unexpected guest. Now I occasionally get calls in the middle of the night…that’s part of being a pastor. I’m always ready to serve when I am needed. HOWEVER, let me tell you, if ANY of you EVER call me after I am in bed to ask for a LOAF OF BREAD, you’re not likely to get a very polite answer. Most likely you’ll get something like, “Are you nuts?” Truncks will be open in 5 hours.

That’s the kind of answer the man in the story got. Are you crazy? Everyone is in bed. By that point in the story, Jesus’ listeners were probably all laughing at the silliness of the situation. You have to picture the most annoying neighbor you can imagine, hollering through the closed door, checking the windows, and just being a pest. The man gets up in his typical one room house. He’s tripping over the kids, knocking in to the furniture, and stepping on a goat all in order to make the annoying neighbor go away. It is a three stooge’s moment until Jesus finishes saying, “not because of his friendship, but because of his “persistence” he will give him the bread.”

The Aramaic word actually means “shamelessness.” I would be ashamed to call any of you and ask for bread in the middle of the night. I HOPE YOU WOULD RETURN THE FAVOR, but we should never be ashamed to call upon God for anything at any time. That is the lesson of the story. Jesus is not saying that God is like a grouchy neighbor, he is saying that we should be as shameless as the pestering neighbor in asking God for what we need.

 I think Jesus is saying sometimes prayers aren’t answered because we are too timid to pray them. Perhaps we don’t believe God will hear, perhaps we don’t have faith that God will answer, but I think the most common reason for unanswered prayer is because they were never prayed. We were too timid to pray them.

Even when we do pray, we often pray without great expectation.

•           We pray for comfort, instead of healing.

•           We pray for God to help the homeless, instead of praying that God will give us the opportunity to change someone’s life.

•           We pray for God to help us pay the bills, instead of praying that we will become generous stewards.

•           We pray that God will keep the doors of the church open, instead of praying that God will break the doors down and show us how to change the world.

Do you see what I mean? We receive little because we ask for little. Or maybe we receive nothing because we ask for nothing.

Jesus promises, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” 

 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Just do it. Pray boldly and God will answer. Maybe one of the reasons we don’t see much of an answer to our prayer is because we don’t expect much.

 A second problem with our praying is illustrated in this same story. Maybe our prayers aren’t answered because we are too impatient in prayer. The man at the window could have gone away after the first denial, but he didn’t. He kept asking and asking until the man inside decided he wasn’t going to go away unless he got up to give him some bread.

Sometimes we pray like mischievous children who ring the doorbell and run away. We don’t stick around long enough to find out if God is home, let alone if He is going to open the door and answer our prayer.

•           Jesus said payer can move mountains, but mountains don’t move overnight.

•           Abraham and Sara prayed for a child for decades before Isaac was born.

•           Israel prayed for a messiah for centuries before Jesus was born.

•           But we can’t wait 15 minutes for God to answer our prayers?

We live an instant oatmeal, jiffy lube, speedy Gonzales kind of life, but God doesn’t always go by our schedule.

Perhaps our prayers are not answered because we give up and move on to quickly. Be patient in prayer.

 Third, maybe prayer is not answered because we don’t trust in God’s goodness. Jesus says, “You don’t think God is good? Even you who are evil give good things to your children. None of you would give your child a snake when they asked for a fish diner! None of you would sneak poisonous insects into our child’s breakfast. If you who are evil want to do good things for your children, how much more does God want to do good things for you?”

God created the world in his own image and stood back to take a look and said… what? “It is good. It is very good.” God is good and God loves you. “Love is not envious or boastful or arrogant, or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in what is good.” 

Prayer is not persuading God to do good. It is opening our lives and our world to receive the goodness that God is pouring upon us. Maybe some prayer is not answered because we don’t trust in that goodness.

 Fourth, maybe our prayers are not answered because we pray selfishly. Notice the pronouns in the Lord’s Prayer: Our, us, and we. I said last time I was with you that prayer is not about ME, ME, ME. But about us, our and we.

Prayer is not selfish. Prayer is not about getting what we want in life, but being the person God wants us to be.

A little boy came home from school and ran up to his room. His mother went to check on him and he was kneeling beside his bed praying “Tokyo, Tokyo, Tokyo.” His mother asked what he was doing. The boy explained, “We had a test in school today, and I am worried about one of my answers. So I am praying that God will make Tokyo the capital of France.”

God is no more likely to make me into a star athlete, or you into a supermodel, or give you the winning lottery numbers than he is to make Tokyo the capital of France.

Get over yourself and realize that this is God’s world, not yours. It operates on God’s rules, not yours. And it is headed toward God’s kingdom not yours.

In the most important prayer of his life, Jesus prayed, “Not my will but thine be done.”

Maybe one of the reasons our prayers are not answered is because we pray, “Not thy will but mine be done.”

I started out saying that unanswered prayer is one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith. Maybe our prayer isn’t answered because we never really pray it, or because we are too impatient, or because we don’t trust in God’s goodness, or because we pray selfishly. I don’t know.

 Perhaps the most important sentence in this sermon is “(unanswered prayer) happens to the best of Christians and it is humanly unexplainable.” It is beyond our pay grade to understand the “whys” of God’s will. We are simply told to pray. Pray audaciously, pray patiently, pray trusting in God’s goodness, pray unselfishly and then trust. Trust God to move the mountains. Trust God to calm the seas. Trust God to heal the broken. Trust God to change hearts. Trust God to do God’s will. And sometimes we won’t get what we ask for, or we won’t get it right away or even in our lifetime, or we are looking for the wrong answer, or we hear a divine NO. But the bottom line is that prayer is not just a means of getting what we want. It is the way the creature connects to the divine. It is the way God shapes us into his image. It is the way we live our lives with God.

 Finally, Consider these words attributed to a Civil War soldier who died in battle.

 I asked God for strength, that I might achieve;

I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey.

 I asked for health, that I might do greater things;

I was given infirmity, that I might do better things.

 I asked for riches, that I might be happy;

I was given poverty, that I might be wise.

 I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men;

I was given weakness, that I might feel the need of God.

 I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life;

I was given life, that I might enjoy all things.

 I got nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.

Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am, among men, most richly blessed.

 Even when we have to say, “I got nothing I asked for, but everything I had hoped for.” We know that God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good. AMEN