Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
Rev Mark Duer
Luke 11:1-13
July 27, 2025
Luke 11:9-10 “And 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.”
In today’s gospel the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, so they could learn and pray in a way that would be pleasing to God the father.
In Luke 9 and 10 the disciples were called by the Lord to proclaim the kingdom and to heal. The disciples wanted to be better prayer warriors— to learn to use the proper technique, the correct words, even use the correct poster. So, they asked Jesus to teach them how to pray.
When you pray, say: Luke 11:2-4 “Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. 3Give us each day our daily bread, 4and forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation.’”
Jesus responds with the words we have come to know as the Lord’s Prayer. He responds by teaching them and all faithful Christians how to pray. He teaches us holy living.
The life of the Christian is a life of prayer. In the Psalms the psalmist says he meditates on God’s Word day and night. In 1 Thessalonians Paul exhorts us to pray constantly.
How can we pray without ceasing? How is this possible? God Himself in His Word teaches us that it is impossible of ourselves. He teaches us as that nothing is impossible with Him.
That’s why our Lord teaches us with the Ten Commandments and the Creed. That’s why he teaches us to pray the Lord’s Prayer several times a day. Our Lord teaches us to pray and teaches us holy living as faithful disciples through a lifetime of praying the Lord’s Prayer.
The one who teaches us to pray also makes it possible for us to pray. The one who teaches us to pray is the one who set His face to go to Jerusalem in order to tear down the wall of sin that makes us enemies of God.
He tore down that wall by offering Himself up as a sacrifice to make the payment that our sin requires.
For all of our sins in thought, word, and deed, Jesus allowed His enemies to nail Him to a cross so that He could offer those same enemies a place in His family. With His suffering and death, our sins are forgiven.
Jesus didn’t remain in the grave after He died, but He rose from the dead and has ascended to the right hand of the Father.
He makes us children of our heavenly Father. We are clothed with the robe of Christ’s righteousness.
In his explanation to the introduction of this prayer, Martin Luther gives us some of the most beautiful words in the Small Catechism: “Our Father who art in heaven.”
What does this mean? With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask him as dear children ask their dear father.
We can pour our hearts out to Him about anything. We poor sinners can approach God boldly for the sake of Jesus Christ. We can be persistent in our prayers.
Jesus Himself teaches us to pray that way in today's Gospel. The closing verses teach us that God always answers our prayers in the way that is best for us. God is the giver of all good gifts. He will not give us a serpent if we ask for a fish. He will not give us a scorpion if we ask for an egg.
It is God's will for His redeemed children to pray boldly. It is His will to answer our prayers boldly. There will be times for our own good, God will answer our prayers in unexpected ways.
We can see that in today's Old Testament reading. Abraham only asked God to spare Sodom if there were just ten righteous people in the city. Abraham's prayer said nothing about rescuing Lot if God did not find ten righteous in Sodom.
God answered Abraham's prayer with boldness. He went beyond Abraham's prayer and also rescued Lot.
God always answers our prayers with what is best for us. Sometimes, the things that are best for us are things we won’t understand on this side of glory. Such things may stretch our faith and cause it to grow. Such things may involve pain and sorrow.
The Lord’s Prayer provides a framework through which we can understand prayer in the context of our relationship with God, our Father.
In teaching them to pray, Jesus challenged the disciples to rethink the very nature of prayer. Christian prayer is not like the prayers of the people of this world.
They view prayer as a negotiation process with a superpower. They appeal to God’s ego with flowery speech and generous portions of praise.
They appeal to God’s greed with their promises and pledges. They appeal to his sense of justice by offering many prayers in the hope that God will act upon them according to their wishes.
How faithful are you in your prayer life, do take time to pray several times each day? or do you put off praying until another time, because something else is more important?
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
We have to be absolutely certain that we do not allow ourselves to be distracted from genuine prayer. The devil is not lazy! He will never stop attacking us.”
Prayer springs from our relationship with our heavenly Father. While we readily acknowledge the omnipotent and benevolent nature of God, we begin our prayer with an acknowledgement that God is our Father and we are his children.
Luther writes that “one should pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18) just as one should ceaselessly guard himself against sin and wrongdoing. Yet this can not happen if one does not fear God and does not have His command before his eyes, as Psalm 1:2 says: “Blessed be the one who day and night meditates on God’s command,” etc.…”
Our adoption as sons and daughters into God’s kingdom is a gift from God granted to us through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The fact that God is our Father changes everything when we pray. Now, we are bold in our petitions to our Father. Verses five through eight in the gospel contain a teaching offered in parabolic form about prayer.
In this story, the friend yields to the persistence of the knocking neighbor, primarily because the knocking neighbor is bold. However, we cannot lose sight of the fact that the friend gets up and opens the door, and gives him whatever he needs.
In other words, Jesus celebrates the boldness because the neighbor is confident in the relationship he has with his friend. God desires us to be confident in our relationship with our heavenly Father; so confident that we persist in asking, seeking, and knocking.
The ultimate expression of confidence in our heavenly Father is our trust in God to give us good gifts as he determines best for us.
Luke 11:9-10 “And 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.”
We can be at peace knowing that every good gift comes from God our heavenly Father. He gives us everything we need to support our body and soul Amen.