Perhaps you’ve heard the story of the pastor who one day parked his car on a rather steep slope located alongside his church. Being his day off, he intended to stop for only a few moments, so he decided to leave his little terrier dog lying on the front seat. And being that it was such a small dog, it wasn’t visible to anyone outside the car, without first coming closer to take a look.

            Well, as he got out of the car and closed the door, he offered his usual parting words to the dog, telling him that he’d be OK, and then commanding him to “Stay.” And a second time, he said in a rather strong voice (to an apparently empty car – at least to anyone watching), He said, “Stay!”

            Well, as it turned out, there was another man watching, and with increasing curiosity. Obviously not realizing there was dog inside the car, (not aware of what was happening) he finally suggested to the preacher, “Why not just try using the parking brake?”

            Our lesson today is on prayer. It comes at a time in Jesus’ ministry when He had just finished praying, and it comes in response to a request by one of His disciples for Jesus to teach them how to pray.

            Now, to the mind of an unbeliever, (to a person watching from a distance), prayer might appear to be the same as someone telling their car to “Stay,” fully expecting it to obey. To the unbelieving person, prayer is perhaps nothing more than an exercise in futility. But to the one whose trust is in Jesus (and that’s what we’re talking about today), to the person who in faith turns to and trusts in God, prayer is the most powerful and most reliable force in the world.

            “A Prayer, A Parable, and A Promise.” Let’s talk first about the prayer. It’s a familiar one in today’s story. It’s one most (if not all) of us here today have committed to memory. It’s the Lord’s Prayer. It’s a prayer given and taught to us by Jesus. And it’s a prayer that, rightly so, we include in our worship nearly every time we come together.

            But when Jesus first taught it, it wasn’t a prayer intended primarily for worship, or for that matter, for repetition, but to serve as an example, as a model for the prayers and the prayer-life of Jesus’ followers. “Lord, teach us to pray.” That’s what the disciples asked. And the answer that was a given was a prayer that has been named after our Lord.

            Now, the version of that prayer found in Luke’s gospel contains five of the petitions we’ve come to know. Matthew’s gospel adds the other two. And it’s interesting (when it comes to the pattern for prayer Jesus gave us) that of the seven petitions that are included in our Lord’s Prayer, that the first three deal with God and what He wants for the world, the next four deal with what’s needed and best for us corporately as a people, and that none of the petitions have to do directly with our own individual desires or concerns. (Now, we’ll talk about that more in a few moments.)

            But think with me for a moment about what Jesus taught. How does the prayer begin? It begins by saying, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” And it begins that way, because that’s who He is. That’s the relationship we have with God in Jesus.

            The beginning of that prayer makes a theological statement. It’s what we teach and believe about God. But it also makes a relational statement. It’s a statement of the relationship with have with God. And so we begin our prayers with an acknowledgment of that relationship, and it’s from there that we move into the petitions.

            Now, we’re not going to walk through each of the petitions here this morning, about the detail found in each, but, again, think about what Jesus taught. He said, “Our Father, who art in heaven,” and then He said (and here’s the first three), He said, “hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

            And so what’s Jesus teaching us? What’s the pattern He wants us to follow? (Just think about it.) Seven petitions, the first three dealing with the will and desires of God. What’s the lesson? That the primary purpose of our prayers, the first and most important reason we’re to come to God is not to bring God’s mind into alignment with ours, but to bring our minds and our desires and our wills into alignment with His.

            Too many Christians have a dissatisfying prayer life because they start out with the wrong objective. Rather than praying for a deeper understanding of God and what He desires for our world, too many prayers begin by sharing with God what we think is best for Him to do. And then off they go with one petition after another, listing the desires and wills and ideas we have for Him. But Jesus’ prayer was exactly the opposite. He prayed, “Hallowed be thy name…thy kingdom come…thy will be done.”

            Now, do you think Jesus had ideas for this world? (Sure He did.) Do you think Jesus had ideas for His own life? (Probably better ones than we have for our own.) But the pattern He used in His own life, (the model He gave to us), sought first and foremost to know the will and the desires of God.

            Billy Graham says that “The main purpose of prayer is not to put God into a position where He can be used by us, but to put us into a position where we can be used by Him.”

            The first three petitions dealing with the will and desires of God. The last four dealing with what’s needed and best for us. (You know the prayer.) “Give us this day our daily bread…and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us…and lead us not into temptation…but deliver us from evil…”

            Now, two things about these last four petitions. One is (and we’ve already pointed this out) that it’s a corporate prayer. It’s a prayer that even though including our own individual needs, looks far beyond our own individual desires. And two, it’s a prayer in which there is a movement from our physical needs to our spiritual needs, from the things we need to live in this world to the things we need to live in relationship with God.

            Now, I don’t want to spend too much time with either of these points, but in our world today, they come as important correctives. On the one hand, in what is increasingly becoming a “me-centered” approach to life, (“What’s best for me? What’s in it for me?”), Jesus teaches us to pray for us.

            And on the other, in a world in which there’s a tendency to focus our prayers on what’s material (on the physical and temporal and immediate needs of our lives), Jesus teaches us also to pray for the spiritual and the eternal and the much farther-reaching needs we have.

            In the passage today, Jesus is teaching His disciples to pray. He’s teaching us how to pray. And He gives us an example, a model to follow. Three petitions seeking to bring into alignment our will with God’s, and four seeking what’s needed and best for us. And all to our Father who loves and cares more than we know.

            “A Prayer, A Parable, and A Promise.” In the second part of our lesson, Jesus tells a parable. And it’s a parable designed to encourage the disciples in their prayers to God. It’s a story told to encourage us as we pray.

            Remember the story? It’s the story of a man going to his friend at midnight and waking him up and asking him for some bread, because another friend has shown up at his house and is waiting back home for something to eat. Jesus says that even though the man refuses to get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, he will get up and give him what he desires because of the “boldness” or the “persistence” of his request.

            Now, perhaps that story seems a bit strange to us living in the 21^st century. And perhaps it is. (In fact, I’ll be honest with you, but if you come to my house at midnight and ask for a piece of bread, I’ll probably think you’re a bit strange. In fact, what I’d most likely do is send you over to Pastor Jim & Judy’s house and let them deal with you!)

            In the 21^st century, it might seem a bit strange. But in the 1^st century, it wasn’t strange at all. In fact, in Jesus’ day, it was an accepted practice, that if someone came to your house unexpected, it was expected that you offer them something to eat. And if you didn’t have anything (like the man in the story), then it was acceptable to ask your neighbor. And how come? Because hospitality was a community responsibility. It was the responsibility of the community to provide something to eat for the stranger in their midst. And so when Jesus told the story, it was a story that wasn’t strange at all.

            And so, if it’s not strange, then what’s the point? The point is that if the persistence of the man in the story (who didn’t have any bread) would cause the man in the story (who had some) to get up and give him what he needed, how much more will our persistence cause God to give us what we need.

            And that’s why Jesus follows it with those familiar words. He says, “Ask and it will be given.” He says, “Seek and you will find.” And He says, “Knock and the door will be opened to you.”

            I still remember a question I asked my advisor in seminary during my first year. (And I still remember his answer.) I asked, “Apart from some of the more obvious things like good theology, and the preaching and teaching and people-skills I’m going to need, what’s the single most important quality I need to develop in my Christian life?” (Do you know what he said?) He said, “Be persistent.” He said, “Don’t give up.” He said, “No matter what, don’t ever quit.”

            Now, the disciples didn’t ask that question. They only asked, “Lord, teach us to pray.” But the response Jesus gives was the same. He taught them to pray. He teaches us how pray. And then He says, “Be persistent.” He says, “Don’t give up.” He says, “No matter what, don’t ever quit.”

            “Ask, and seek, and knock.” That’s what Jesus tells us. We’re to ask. We’re to make our requests and desires and needs know to God, and not because God needs to be filled in, because He doesn’t. God already knows what you need, even before you ask. But we ask because He can help. We ask because He can give us what we need.

            James says, “You do not have because you do not ask.” Jesus says the same thing. He says to let your requests be made known to God.

            And then He tells us to seek. Now, maybe this is obvious, but the words Jesus uses to encourage us to never give up are all verbs. He says we’re to ask, and seek, and knock. We’re not just to pray and then sit around and wait for the answer to come. (Now, sometimes it will, and it’ll be obvious. But many times it won’t. At least not until we seek.)

            How many times have I prayed a prayer that appears to go unanswered, and then after searching for an answer, the answer becomes clear? My friends, keep on asking. No matter how many times you’ve asked. If an answer hasn’t come, then continue asking. But don’t just sit around and wait. Seek to find out. Search until it becomes clear. And then knock, Jesus says, and be persistent, and don’t ever give up, and the answers God chooses to give will come.

            “A Prayer, A Parable, and A Promise.” There’s a prayer we still use in church from time to time that was written many years ago that says, “The Lord is always more ready to hear than we are to pray, and to give us more than we desire or deserve.”

            Now, I don’t know who originally wrote that prayer, or when it was written. But whoever wrote it and whenever it was written, that person must have had in mind what Jesus is teaching us today.

            Jesus says, “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake? And if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?” (“That’s ridiculous,” Jesus says. “It doesn’t make any sense.”) And then He says (and just think about the contrast), “If you who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask!”

            I still remember when I was in the 4^th Grade. I remember asking my dad for a motor scooter and he said “No.” He said, “You’re not old enough.” I couldn’t figure out why, because Johnny Sunvold had one.

            I remember going over to Johnny’s house and riding his scooter. He showed me how to turn it on, but forgot to tell me how to turn it off. I remember riding around the block five times, more afraid every time around, before I finally slid it into a pile of dirt not far from his house. And I remember walking home that night (limping home that night), thinking maybe my father was right. I really don’t need one of those things.

            Garth Brooks sings an old country song that says “Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers.” Jesus says that you might not get what you want, but God’s answers will always be good. And God knows what you need, Jesus says, and He promises to hear and respond to your prayers.

            And that’s why Jesus taught His disciples to pray. And that’s why He gave to them and to us an example to follow. And that’s why He tells us to be persistent and to never give up. And that’s why He tells us not to worry about the answers that come, but to trust that God knows what we need.

            And that’s also why He not only taught it in His life, but He modeled it in His death. (Remember Jesus’ prayer?) “If there be another way,” Jesus prayed, “then take this cup from me. But not my will, but thine be done.” And so it was that Jesus went to the cross. And so it is that you and I will always have what we need.

            One final thought before we close. A while back there was a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon in which Calvin was getting undressed for bed, and he says to Hobbes, “Any time you don’t finish the day with grass stains on your knees, you ought to seriously re-examine your priorities.”

            My friends, so it is for us. So it is for the follower of Jesus. We don’t pray to bring God’s will into alignment with ours, but to bring our will into alignment with His. And we don’t pray just for our own needs, and not just for physical things, but for our spiritual needs and to bring about the greater good.

            “A Prayer, A Parable, and A Promise.” All given to us by Jesus. All answered for us in Christ. Amen.