At church today, senior pastor Joshua Harris preached on Luke 11:1-13. Part 2 of my church’s new series, “Desperate,” Josh answered what is would mean for us to live desperate and what it would look like for us to live aware of our dependence on God.
Here is a summary of the message by Josh, titled “Ask, Seek, Knock.”
The Holy Spirit’s presence and power in our lives is the best of God’s good gifts. (verses 11-13)
Jesus compares earthly fathers to our Heavenly Father and makes an argument from the lesser to the greater. If an imperfect, evil earthly father is able to give good gifts, how much more will a perfect, righteous and faithful Heavenly Father give good gifts to his children? Jesus is encouraging our confidence and faith to bring our requests to God. And he does this by reminding us of God’s character. When we ask for something we need, he won’t give us something evil. In particular, the Father will give himself in the person of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is saying, “Think about the best thing you could ask and seek for—it’s nothing compared to the gift of the Holy Spirit dwelling in your heart.”
- The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ.
- The Holy Spirit gives us spiritual life.
- The Holy Spirit enables us to believe and trust in Jesus.
- The Holy Spirit works to conform us to be like Jesus.
- The Holy Spirit sustains us and enables us to persevere.
- The Holy Spirit gives us power to overcome spiritual forces of evil with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- The Holy Spirit gives us boldness to proclaim the gospel to the lost.
Is there any “good gift” from God that we want more than the Holy Spirit? Is there anything else on the top of our prayer list? More than we need money, we need God’s Spirit to give us contentment and faith for what we have. More than we need a change of circumstances, we need God’s Spirit to enable us to persevere. More than we need another person to change, we need God’s Spirit to give us supernatural love and patience. More than we need a title or a position, we need God’s Spirit to be assured that we are children of God.
Desperate people ask, seek and knock in their pursuit of more of the Spirit. (verses 5-10)
Jesus tells a story of a neighbor persistently asking for bread late at night to feed a guest. Again and again, this neighbor asks until his request is granted. What is Jesus’ point? He tells this story to teach us that we should bring our requests to God with the same boldness, born of urgency. In the same way that the man was desperate to borrow bread for his guests, we should be people who are desperate for the Holy Spirit.
In verses 9-10, Jesus exhorts us to ask and keep asking, knock and keep knocking, seek and keep seeking. This isn’t describing a technique that we employ to manipulate God. This is a description of a person who realizes his or her need. The boldness in prayer Jesus is calling us to is born of desperation. When we abandon self-reliance, when we see how much we need the Holy Spirit, we ask and seek and knock because we have no other option!
Are we desperate in our pursuit of God’s Spirit? Do we realize how much we need the empowering work of the Spirit in our life—to be a father, a mother, a disciple, a witness? Do we think we can live the Christian life on our own? Can we come to church and get insight and apply truth on our own? Can we grow and change and fight sin and lead our family and parent our kids by ourselves? We need the empowering of the Holy Spirit every moment of our Christian lives.
God gives us his Holy Spirit to enable us to accomplish his purposes. (verses 1-4)
- The glory and exaltation of God—that his name would be honored and respected and worshipped (verse 2a).
- That the reign and rule of Jesus would spread—that his kingdom would be established in the hearts of more and more people (verse 2b).
- That we would depend on him for our basic needs and trust him (verse 3).
- That we would know his forgiveness and extend this forgiveness to others (verse 4a).
- That we would turn from temptation and honor him. (verse 4b)
We should never separate being filled with the Spirit from the priorities outlined in the Lord’s Prayer. And we should never attempt to fulfill the priorities outlined in the Lord’s Prayer apart from the power of the Holy Spirit.
