Luke 11:5–13 — Praying to the Father

This sermon is part two of a short series on prayer out of Luke chapter 11.

Luke 11 · chapter mention

It is entitled Praying to the Father and was delivered to Ecclesia Churches on Sunday, April 26,

2026.

Last week, we began a short trip into Luke's gospel to get some instruction from Jesus on

how to pray.

And I mentioned how all throughout every book of the Bible that we've studied, there is

pattern of prayer. We see Jesus doing it. We see the disciples doing it. We see the early church

spending significant time in prayer. So as disciples of Jesus, we cannot afford to make

prayer an afterthought because it is foundational to the life of the believer. People who are

securely walking with Jesus recognize their daily dependence on him. And it's really an

odd kind of thing that feels at times so counterintuitive that the more I recognize my

weakness and the more I depend on Jesus, the stronger I am. And recognizing your weakness

is hard. It's uncomfortable, right? But in the same way that the path to recovery from addiction

begins with this recognition that you have a problem in the first place, the road to following

Jesus begins with recognizing all that we lack and coming to Jesus for all that we need. And this is

where prayer comes in, because as we established last week, prayer is a God-centered activity.

It has more to do with changing the heart and the will of the believer to be centered on God

and his kingdom instead of on ourselves. And the way that Jesus teaches us to pray gives us this

structure. It's what we call the Lord's Prayer, but it's really like a framework that we learn to pray.

And it's to do these things in this order, to first recognize that God is holy and he is powerful

and he is good. Second, it's to declare that we desire his will and his kingdom more than anything.

Then we ask for what we need, but we ask for what we need to do his will in this day.

Then we ask for forgiveness of our sins and for help forgiving others.

And finally, we ask for endurance in resisting temptation and following Christ.

So after instructing his disciples on how to pray, Jesus continues in verses 5 through 13,

which is where we're going today to teach them about what God is like.

He tells these two kind of parables back to back that help his disciples to understand who this God is that they are to call Father.

And what we're going to see is that God, this God to whom we pray, is better than a friend.

He is better than an earthly father.

And ultimately, he is waiting to give us the most precious gift, which is the gift of himself.

So let's begin by reading these verses.

This is Luke chapter 11, verses 5 through 13.

Luke 11:5–13

And 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, 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.

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.

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.

For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks,

it will be opened.

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

If 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?

The first thing that I want us to recognize in this whole passage as a whole

is the way Jesus talks about prayer and how relational it is. Both of these examples that

were given are for comparison. Jesus is not saying that God is like either the grumpy friend in the

first part or like the good earthly father in the second part. He's saying that our heavenly father

is better. But Jesus chooses to frame prayer in both of these as a relational encounter with a

person. So let's consider for just a moment a few of the things that prayer is not represented as

here. Number one, prayer is not talking to yourself. When you pray, you are addressing God.

Both of these examples are someone addressing another person. There is a relationship that's

involved. Neither the man nor the child here is represented as crying to themselves or simply

thinking out loud, you are speaking with a person, in this case, God the Father.

One of my daughters asked a good question the other night. She said,

are we supposed to talk to God the Father or Jesus when we pray? And it's a great question,

and the answer is either. We have direct access to God because Jesus has made the way for that.

We can pray, Father, our Father in heaven.

We may also address Jesus as our great high priest, our advocate, who is even now speaking

to the Father on our behalf for the things that we don't even know to ask for.

And we can know that both the Father and the Son are fully and equally God.

So I'm going to leave that right there for now, lest we get too far into teaching on the

Trinity.

But the answer is that we can address God the Father as our Father, and we can pray to Jesus,

and we can invite the Holy Spirit to work in and through us. All three are equally God and are

equally accessible to us because of what Jesus has done. But one thing is certain, right? We are

indeed addressing a very real God who loves us and loves when we come to him. The second thing

prayer is not, is it's not just good thoughts or simple goodwill towards someone else. When we pray

for someone, we are not wishing them well. We are not sending them good vibes or good thoughts.

When I see someone ask for good vibes and prayers, I want to ask, well, which one do you want?

Because good vibes or good thoughts are utterly worthless in this situation. But Scripture does

say that the prayer of a righteous man has great power while it is working. That's James 5.16.

So which is it? Do you want me to petition the God of the universe who I know personally, or

do you want me to reply wishes and hopes with a heart emoji? I'm kind of joking, but that really

is the difference between asking for those two things. We can probably think of others, but the

last thing on my list is that prayer is not an empty action that you get some kind of credit,

spiritual credit, for doing. I kind of mentioned this last week, but our sins are totally and

completely paid for by Jesus. Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,

and he washed it white as snow. That's what the song says, and it's absolutely true. There is no

remaining penance or reparation due to God on our behalf, that is indeed a Catholic teaching,

but it is not a Christian teaching. And the act of reciting a prayer once or 10 times or 100 times

does not somehow get you credit, extra or otherwise, from God. We don't pray before a meal because it

does something to the food. We pray with gratitude because it does something to our hearts.

The bottom line before we move on to these examples that Jesus gives is that prayer is not an empty religious ritual for the disciple of Jesus.

For us, it is a powerful relational activity with God himself.

And that alone should change our attitudes toward it.

Let's look at these stories that Jesus tells, starting with the man who goes to a friend.

So a friend showing up at your house late at night asking you for bread might feel like

a bit of a nightmare.

In first century Palestine, though, that would not have been all that strange.

The heat of the day in the desert meant that the best time to travel was actually in the

cool of the day in the evening.

So it would be normal when visiting someone from out of town to show up at midnight, having

left at 6 p.m. and walked for, you know, four to six hours, remember you couldn't call ahead or

text when you were leaving. And as we established last week, bread was baked daily, usually only

enough for that day. So the man in this story isn't in a great situation, but he also isn't in an

uncommon situation. Somebody has come to his house and wants bread and it's late at night and he has

none. And so he does the most natural thing he possibly could. He goes to a friend's house.

And it doesn't say whether he knocks on the door or goes to the window. Ultimately,

it doesn't matter because the house was probably one single room. Most houses were. And maybe this

man that's his friend is a baker. Maybe he was just known for having some extra bread on hand.

We don't know. What we do know is that this man is able to go to his friend with the expectation

that he's going to have some loaves of bread left.

And that this man is unhappy about being disturbed.

The man doesn't even wanna come to the door.

He's like, quiet, you're gonna wake up the kids.

That's a legitimate concern for those of us

with young kids who are finally asleep.

It says they're already in bed with me,

meaning this is a one-room house.

The kids are already in bed.

They're right here.

Please don't wake up the kids.

Now, why does the dad yelling from the bed

not to wake them up, not wake them up. I don't know. But I can at least somewhat identify with

the guy because there's been at least one time in the last month that I've been awakened by a cat

and I've yelled, knock it off in the middle of the night and awakened my sleeping wife for sure.

Hopefully not my kids. But eventually this guy does come to the door and he gives him bread.

But Jesus clarifies the man doesn't do this because he's being a good friend. He's doing it

because of his impudence. In other words, he's worried about his reputation, his pride. He doesn't

want to be known as the guy who turned someone away asking for bread at a desperate hour. He's

worried about his own perception, the perception of himself. And the purpose of this parable is

actually to show us that God is better than this man in every way. We can come to God in prayer

without fear of the hour or how desperate our situation is or how long we've drug our feet

before actually coming to the Lord, he isn't bothered by us. And unlike the man who gives

out of guilt and trying to save his own pride, God gives because he is gracious and loving.

He doesn't hold back what we need from us and is not slow to respond, though it sometimes

feels that way from our limited perspective. He has shown us that he will hold nothing back

from us that is good, including his one and only son. Jesus instructs us, therefore, to ask and

seek and knock because God is glad to respond when we do. So remember that we can come to God

with anything, at any time, for anything, because Jesus invites us to do that.

Let's move on to this second story.

Jesus says,

What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?

Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

If 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?

So this second little mini parable that Jesus gives us here is the example of an earthly

father.

And this method of comparison is pretty standard to the parable as a way of teaching.

Remember, lots of teachers like Jesus would use parables, and they would often use comparisons

as a way of teaching a topic.

So, for example, you would say, if this is true of a lesser thing, then how much more

is it true of this greater thing?

Here he's saying, if an earthly father has a heart that desires to give good things to

his children and has the wisdom to do so, then how much more does God have a heart that

is for us and the wisdom to know what to give us?

If a child asks for a fish, of course we're not going to give him something that will

likely bite and harm him.

And if he asks for an egg to eat, we're not going to give him a scorpion that will sting

him.

The problem, though, with earthly parents is that we lack both perfect wisdom and perfect goodness.

Let's think about this for a second.

Sometimes we give our kids things that seem good to us but aren't actually the best thing for their soul in the long run.

As an example, my parents gave me a lot of freedom when I was in my teen years,

and I didn't have the wisdom or experience to handle that,

and I actually got into a lot of things that I shouldn't have because of that.

Sometimes we give our kids things not out of the goodness of our hearts, but because it's what's best for us, right?

So in our house, we're pretty careful about what screen time looks like for our kids, in part because we've seen and heard enough to know that the internet and even broadcast TV aren't safe places for them.

But that being said, are there days when I give my kids screen time watching cartoons and playing games like Minecraft because it's easier than taking them outside?

Yes, because sometimes what I give my kids is colored by my own selfishness.

Let's go beyond parents for a second.

And a little back on track with the heart of this parable is that children don't always know what's good for them.

We learned from the structure of Jesus' prayer that we need a massive reorientation or we

need a change of view to begin to ask for the right things.

We're really bad at that.

That was basically the point of the structure of prayer that Jesus taught his disciples.

And here's the next thing Jesus is trying to show his disciples, that we can persistently

come to God with our needs and trust that he does know what is good for us.

In fact, he knows what is best for us.

Because God isn't like human parents.

He is perfectly good and perfectly wise.

And he is going to give us what is good out of that wisdom and goodness that he is.

His motives are perfect and his wisdom is perfect.

And we don't have to doubt him, even when the answer isn't what we wanted it to be.

So when we ask for things that are not aligned with God's good and perfect will for us,

he's going to say no.

Thank you, God, for saying no to our requests sometimes.

A funny thing happens when you get old enough to look back and see the narrowly avoided disasters

in things like career choices and relationship choices and life choices,

The things that seemed so good at the time, but weren't actually good, and God graciously said no?

Or what about the things that we ask for and don't have our lives in order to even handle what we're asking for?

The, I want it and I want it now request.

And if God were to give us those things when we asked for them, what seemed like a blessing would actually not work out that way.

I have a friend who was asking about getting a dog a while ago.

And the truth is he lived in a small house.

He worked from home.

He had more kids than bedrooms.

Anyone can relate with that?

And he had no real yard to speak of.

And the advice that he was given was you should adopt something small and laid back,

maybe a little older dog since you just don't have very much space.

And he said, got it.

And he bought a Blue Healer puppy, which, if you're not familiar, is one of the most energetic breeds out there, bred for running nonstop after cattle in the field.

And I'm certain that that decision probably kept him up a night or two.

So when we go to God with our requests, we start with, God, if you will.

We don't say, if you can, because we know that he's all-powerful.

We don't say, if you love me, because we know that he does.

We say, this is what I want, but your kingdom come.

Give me what you know I need to do your will.

So as we close up this passage on prayer, how do we know that God is good?

How do we know that he really has our best interests at heart?

Honestly, we look to Jesus.

We look to the good news of the gospel.

The love of God has never and will never be more clearly on display than in what Jesus did for us.

Jesus who left an eternal throne to take on flesh and become human and walk among us.

And who chose to walk obediently all the way to a horrendous death on a Roman cross.

and through his death and by the power of his resurrection offers us salvation from the death

that we deserve. That's who we have the privilege of coming to in prayer. And if you have not come

to him yet, or you have not come to him recently, come today. Trust your life to Jesus and receive

what God has for you. And what is it that Jesus said in that very last verse that God will

What is this thing that he wants to give us more than anything?

What's the best gift that mankind could ever hope to receive from God?

Himself.

Our greatest possible good is to be in the presence of God.

And through the gift of the Spirit of God, that is the present reality for every follower of Jesus.

It is a reality in which we are offered salvation and we are being transformed into the image of

Christ day by day. The Spirit does the work of helping us to desire and even to pray according

to God's will and to focus on the kingdom. Whether you are on your knees in private or you are in a

large assembly of the church on a Sunday or a smaller one at a table in your midweek house

church, prayer is essential.

Because through prayer, we see God and our need for him more clearly.

Through prayer, we are submitting to the process of transformation through the power of God.

And because through prayer, we are given the gift of the presence of the Spirit of God

himself, dwelling in us and walking with us every step of this journey as disciples of Jesus.

Ekklesia is a church of house churches gathering weekly in Council Bluffs, Iowa,

and in homes throughout the week. We are a Bible-centered church focused on preaching

from scripture and making disciples of Jesus. You can learn more about our statement of faith

and contact a pastor by visiting ekklesiachurches.org.