Pastor Scott Andrews | August 10, 2025
Watch
Listen
Read
Luke 11:5-13
In Greek mythology, we are told the story of Eos or Aurora, the goddess of the dawn – apparently, she rode her chariot across the sky each morning to dispel night’s darkness. Well, she fell in love with a mortal human being, the most attractive of young men named Tithonus. She went to Zeus, king of the gods, and asked for a special favor for her lover. Zeus promised to grant her any request, so she asked that Tithonus might live forever. Zeus granted the request, but there was one small problem. She forgot to ask that Tithonus might remain forever young. So, while he received eternal life, he also received eternal aging. And for all eternity, he has grown older and older – more wrinkled, more decrepit, eventually unable to move, though still alive, much to Aurora’s dismay. Now, those of us who are growing older might take offense to the story, but I think all of us would agree that growing older forever doesn’t sound appealing. You struggled a little with your 40th birthday? Try your 400th birthday, in a 400-year-old body. Brings a whole new meaning to, “for better or for worse.”
Well, the point is, Aurora forgot to be specific with her request. And as a result, she received from the hand of this capricious, thoughtless, mistake-prone god something entirely different than she had in mind – something not very caring nor very loving.
You ever felt like that? You asked God for something and He either didn’t hear you, or He didn’t answer, or gave you something you didn’t want? You ever felt like God was completely out of touch? “God, you don’t understand what my needs are.” You ever felt like He was unresponsive, uncaring or even worse, capricious? That sounds harsh, so let me ask it this way – have you ever had one of these thoughts: God, what are You doing? Why are You letting this happen to me? Don’t You care? I think we all have, to one degree or another.
So, I have some good news for you today – we don’t serve that kind of God. We don’t serve a God who doesn’t get it, who makes mistakes, who is out of touch with the reality of our lives. The truth is, we have a God who is not only benevolent, giving us what we ask for, but also wise, sometimes not giving us what we ask for. A God who is not only powerful, with the ability to meet our needs, but also good, with the wisdom to meet our needs and give us what is best, even if we don’t always understand what is best. We can have complete confidence when we ask Him for anything, He will answer in a way that is always best.
We’ve been talking about prayer – not necessarily what to pray, but the truth behind the words, the attitude or the heart with which we should pray. Today, Jesus continues the topic or prayer, suggesting how we pray. Now, He’s not going to suggest frequency, posture or place – but He is going to suggest persistence and trust. He starts with a parable only found in Luke. The point of the passage is to boldly, shamelessly approach the throne of grace because we have a heavenly Father who not only hears but answers prayers, and again, will also do what is best for His children. Read the text with me, Luke 11:5-13 – yes, that’s right – nine whole verses.
Jesus is teaching us how to pray, and He reminds us to boldly and persistently approach God, who, better than any neighbor or friend or even earthly father, will rightly answer our petitions. Some of you here this morning have been praying a long time for something – something good – and you wonder where God is. This text is for you – you have a heavenly Father who will withhold nothing good from His children. The challenge, of course, is our limited, finite, earthly view and His unlimited, infinite heavenly view. I’m going to break the text down like this:
I. The Parable (5-8)
II. The Application of the Parable (9-10)
III. The Promise of the Parable (11-13)
Now, as we begin, let me suggest that well-meaning yet misguided teachers have used this passage to say things it does not say. This is one of the primary proof-texts used to support a health, wealth, prosperity theology. Meaning this is a kind of biblical Carte-Blanche, ask for whatever you want, and it’s yours. It’s the teaching that God wants you to be healthy and wealthy – He wants you to be physically prosperous. Name it and claim it. He’s got all kinds of gifts – physical gifts – to give His children. All you have to do is ask – and it will be given to you. Seek it, and you’ll find. Knock, and it’ll all be opened to you.
So, it’s the ones who ask, seek and knock who receive. It is terrible God has all these wonderful things to give His children, but they don’t get them, because they don’t ask for them. (Die, go to heaven, Peter, mansion, room, filled with wrapped and unwrapped gifts) So, ask for the bigger house, the nicer car, the bigger bank account. You have not because you ask not – ask, that it may be given to you. God doesn’t want His children to be poor, does He? He doesn’t want us to live in poverty, to be sick. If you’re poor or sick, it’s because you haven’t asked – or, you don’t have enough faith. Notice, Jesus says everyone who asks, will receive. So go ahead – there’s not a person here this morning who can’t be rich and healthy. It’s a promise. As a matter of fact – I can help you get rich. Just send me $49.95, and I’ll send you my autographed book.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? But there is a problem – it’s called context. Jesus has just finished giving them a pattern of prayer. And we saw prayer begins with a focus on God – He is Father, we want His name to be hallowed or set apart as holy, and we want His kingdom – not mine – His kingdom to come. Then as we turn to personal needs, we pray for daily provision – daily bread, not daily caviar. We pray for daily pardon, forgive us our sins. And we pray for daily protection, lead us not into temptation. Nowhere in that pattern is a prayer for prosperity, lest it be spiritual prosperity. We don’t pray for daily financial increase, but simply daily bread. We don’t pray for physical health, although we can and He does answer, but we pray for spiritual health – spiritual cleansing. And we pray to not be led into trials and testing, not into prosperity that would tempt us to forget God.
This kind of abuse, this selfish kind of asking is addressed in James 4. There, James says, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
The point is, James’ readers were asking, but they weren’t interested in His kingdom, they were interested in their own. They were acting like spoiled little children with selfish motives and were only interested in their own pleasures. The word pleasure is the word from which we get our hedonism. Hedonism is the philosophy which sees pleasure as the chief end of man. Is that the chief end of man? Living a self-centered life – seeking to have all my needs and wants met. That, James says is being a friend of the world and it makes you an enemy of God.
Jesus said you can’t serve God and money. John said, do not love the world and all that is in the world – he that loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Paul said anyone who desires to be rich plunges himself into many foolish and harmful desires. Does it make sense, then, that Jesus would say, ask for all the prosperity you want? No, the context is the Lord’s Prayer, and it’s in the context of being content with what our wise and good God provides.
Jesus is teaching us to pray, and I believe He does have our best interests in mind. So He says, ask. Ask for those things God wants for you. Why do we have to ask? To keep the relationship healthy, to keep us dependent, to keep us seeking the only one who can give us what we need. And we see in this text that while we persistently ask, God persistently gives because He is persistently generous. This is an amazing text.
Well, let me start with the parable before I preach my entire message. Having just given us a pattern of prayer, Jesus now gives parable of prayer. He starts with, suppose one of you – stop right there. He says the same thing in verse 11, suppose one of you. Then He goes on to give an absurdity – of course, we know this would not happen. That’s the point – the stories He tells are absurd – and He then argues from the lesser to the greater. He applies the stories to the Father. Of course God would not act this way. Which means, as we’ve talked about recently, we should not apply our familial or parental experiences to God. He’s not like that.
Suppose one of you has friend, who happens to be a neighbor, and you go to him at midnight because another friend has come to his house from a long journey – and he says, I don’t have anything to give him – please give me three loaves of bread. It was a reasonable request at an unreasonable hour.
Several cultural things to know. First, travel at night was often the norm since it was so hot during the day. Second, there was a high cultural expectation of hospitality in the Middle East – which is still somewhat true today. It was a sacred duty. It was not only the friend’s responsibility to show hospitality – it was the entire community’s duty to show hospitality. Third, three loaves of bread were likely flat little personal loaves – used both the eat and eat with. It was your fork or your knife. Quite common in the Middle East even today. Fourth, there were no shops, certainly not open at midnight. No, you prepared your own bread each day as God provided daily bread.
Obviously, this friend to whom the traveler came didn’t have any bread. But the cultural expectation was, after this long journey, that he provide his friend something to eat. So, he goes next door and asks his neighbor for some bread. What was the neighbor’s response?
Well, it’s midnight. No TV, Smart Phones or internet, so most went to bed right after dusk when it was dark, and rose to begin the day as soon as it was light. So this man had already gone to bed. Now, at this time, most houses were small – one room – and everyone would sleep on a large mat, while the animals would sleep around on the floor. This man was already asleep, his family/children with him. So, he says, don’t bother me; the door has already been shut – likely locked with a bar across the door – my children and I are in bed, I cannot get up – I’ll wake them up and have to begin the time bed routine all over. I cannot give you anything. Many note it was not that the man didn’t have any bread to give his friend – it was that he would not give any bread to his friend.
Remember, this is supposed to be absurd. Suppose one of you has a friend. The demands of hospitality would require the man to get up and provide for his friend. So Jesus’ hearers are already a bit puzzled. Jesus goes on, I tell you, even though the man will not get up and give him anything because he’s supposed to be a friend, yet because of his friend’s persistence, he will get up and give him what he needs. Notice, he didn’t respond out of need or care for his friend or a desire to meet the demands of hospitality, but simply because the neighbor was bold and insistent – persistent.
This is incredibly important. As Luke records it, Jesus uses a word found nowhere else in the NT – persistence. The word literally means bold, shamelessness. Because of his bold, shameless persistence. The ESV has it impudence which is impertinence or shameless presumption. All those words have a bit of an edge to them, don’t they?
And Jesus drives the truth home, from the lesser to the greater – “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you, seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” The implication is, with the same bold shamelessness, presumption, you can approach God, and He will hear and He will answer. Wow. One of my commentaries suggests we are not timidly dropping hints, but boldly and repeatedly presenting our requests to God. Does that mean we have to shame and pester God into answering? That’s not the point. It’s not that we cajole Him into answering – the point of the parable is comparison and contrast. We, the needy, can approach God – go to the throne of grace, with the same boldness and shamelessness and ask, seek, and knock, persistently until we get an answer. We are not irreverent, but we are persistent.
Those words are also present imperatives, and each one intensifies the next. Which means, it’s not enough to ask once and drop it. We ask and keep asking. It’s not enough to seek once – we keep seeking. It’s not enough to knock once – we keep pounding on the door of heaven. Again, each word implies greater intensity. It’s not enough to ask, we’ve got to seek, and seek diligently. And it’s not enough to seek, we’ve got to knock, and knock loudly. Why? Because there’s a promise – everyone who asks, receives, everyone who seeks, finds, and everyone who knocks – the very doors of heaven will be opened. Do you understand the promise? We keep asking, seeking and knocking, and the Father hears those prayers, and He answers. Jesus says it in verse 9, then says it again in verse 10.
But don’t forget, this is in the context of the Lord’s Prayer – we are asking for daily provision, daily forgiveness, and daily protection. Again, this is not a blank check that if we keep asking, seeking, knocking we get whatever we want. Remember, and this is true of all our requests, God always knows what is best – and sometimes the answer is yes, and sometimes it is no. We’ll come back to that.
Now, when we hear we have to keep on asking, seeking, knocking, it almost sounds like God is forgetful so we have to keep asking, or He plays hide and seek, so we have to keep seeking, or He’s hard of hearing, so we have to keep knocking louder. That’s not the case. The reason we keep doing these things is a constant reminder to us – we need His grace every moment of every day to be what He wants us to be, to do what He wants us to do. It’s a constant reminder – we need Him every moment of our lives.
God, give us this day our daily bread – You are my provider, I trust you for everything, even bread. Father, continue to forgive me, and help me to forgive others. Yes, I know Jesus died for all my sins, judicially, I have been forgiven, but I want to keep the fellowship with you – I seek ongoing relational forgiveness. And don’t lead me into temptation – don’t allow me to be tested or tried beyond that which I can bear. I pray that repeatedly. Is that the way you’re praying? It’s not for Him that we keep on, it’s for us.
Some of you have prayed for something or some things for a long time. Perhaps you’re weary, tired. You think God distant, uncaring, remote. The encouragement this morning is to keep praying, trusting that God hears and He will answer. And we have this promise: we will receive. God will answer because you are His child, and He wants what is best for you – to perfect you, to mature you. We don’t have a God who is unconcerned with our lives – who is out of touch, who doesn’t understand. He is concerned, He does know, He does understand, and He is here this morning to hear your prayer and answer your need.
Which brings us to our third point – the promise of the parable. Look at verses 11-13 again.
Notice again – suppose one of you – and then Jesus continues with an absurdity. Verses 11 and 12 repeat the same point. Suppose a son asks a father for a fish. The father would not give the child a snake, would he? Of course not. Certainly, there are exceptions – evil fathers who seek to do harm to their own children – but that’s not the norm. A father would not seek to hurt his own son – he wouldn’t give a snake to a son expecting a fish.
So also, verse 12, if the son asked for an egg, the father wouldn’t give him a scorpion, would he? Of course not. And again, Jesus argues from the lesser to the greater, from earthly fathers, who mostly know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more does our heavenly Father? Notice verse 13, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father?” Notice, even good fathers, because of sin, are inherently evil. They are not to be compared to our heavenly Father but contrasted with Him.
Notice second, the children ask for good things – fish and eggs. Those are good requests – perhaps like some of the things for which you’ve. But the promise is this: God will answer our prayers and give us good things. If evil fathers know how, how much more will our perfectly good heavenly Father? He won’t give us evil things, right? He won’t withhold good things from us, right? Why would He withhold them? He wants to give them to us.
So, if you ask God for things akin to the Lord’s prayer – daily bread, forgiveness of sin, lead me not into testing and trials – He’ll answer that prayer. We just have to ask.
Now, I want us to explore this idea a bit further. The point of the illustration is that a father knows how to give good things to his son. How much more, a heavenly Father, who is infinitely good, and wise, and all-knowing, and all-powerful – how much more will He give good things to His children.
We know as parents, there are times our children ask for things that would not be best for them. They ask for candy right before dinner, to stay out late on a school night, to cosign a loan for a car we know they can’t afford. We say no, because we know these are desires to spend on their own pleasures, and we know it’s not good for them.
Then, too, there are times when we say no to seemingly good things, because we still know what’s best. They want to get a job which might serve as a distraction from school, they want to go out for soccer when they’re already consumed with something else – things that in themselves seem okay, but as we look at the big picture, we say no, because we know what is best.
Then, there are times we allow difficulties in their lives, because we know it will mature them. They want out of a particularly difficult class, and we say no – stay there, it will push you to learn. They want to walk away from a difficult job, and we say no – you need to persevere and learn through this. They want to have nothing to do with a difficult relationship – and we encourage it, knowing they’ll be glad in the end that they did.
Isn’t the same true for us, to an infinitely greater degree, with God? He gives us what is best, even when we don’t understand. He tells us no when we ask for things to spend on our selfish pleasures. He tells us no when He sees the big picture. He tells us no when we ask to be delivered from some difficult trial – knowing that trial will mature us. God knows what is best – He won’t give us a snake when we ask for a fish. Nor will He give us a snake when we ask for one. And we don’t have to worry if our requests are incomplete or just plain dumb. God is a loving, benevolent God who knows what is best for His children.
But there is a bit of a twist – a surprise at the end of the text. We’re talking about asking for our needs to be met from a gracious heavenly Father, and we read, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” What? I thought we were talking about bread, fish, eggs. What is this about the Holy Spirit?
Well, the Holy Spirit had not come yet – not like He would on the Day of Pentecost and has ever since. He comes to convict of sin, to regenerate, to indwell, to lead, to interpret Scripture, to give gifts, to grant the fruit of the Spirit, to secure our inheritance. You see, the fulfillment of all God’s promises are ultimately found in Him through the Holy Spirit. It’s a bit of spiritual shorthand – you ask, and every answer you receive will come through the Holy Spirit. So, I’ll give Him to all those who ask. Have you ever asked for the Holy Spirit in all His fullness?
As we close this morning, I have this picture in mind of this great banquet table. Jesus has invited us to come, and the table is full of all kinds of good things – all kind of things He has prepared for us. I don’t know about you, but at my house, if there’s something at the table you want, all you have to do is ask. There’s enough for everyone.
That’s the way it is at His table. I’m not talking about paltry physical things like cars and money and houses. I’m talking about spiritual riches – bread, so you’ll never hunger again. Water, so you’ll never thirst again. Things like grace and mercy and love and forgiveness and strength and maturity and faith – kingdom stuff. What do you need, today? Are you tired? All you have to do is ask. Are you weak? All you have to do is ask. Are you struggling with some sin? All you have to do is ask. Need more love, more mercy, more grace? All you have to do is ask. You want the kingdom to come – that is, God to reign in your life? All you have to do is ask. You want the will of God to be done in your life, right now, just like it is in heaven? All you have to do is ask. Jesus says, that’s a prayer God will answer in His perfect time.
He who did not spare His own Son, how will He not also along with Him graciously give us all things.