The Bible Recap - Day 286 (Luke 11) - Year 5

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible recap. If you've ever felt like a JV prayer, you're in good company. Even the apostles asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. The good news is, just like any conversation you have with a person, it's a skill you can learn. We don't have time to dig in deep on this, but there are a few things worth noting in the prayer Jesus teaches his followers that I want to highlight. First, Jesus tells him to pray to the Father, not to him. If we aren't careful, we end up putting the three persons of the Trinity in a blender and mixing them all up together as though they're the same.

Starting point is 00:00:41 While they are one, and they are unified in their will and purpose, they're also distinct in their roles. In scripture, the most normative way we see prayer modeled is to pray to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. And Jesus is the mediator between us and the Father and the Spirit empowers our prayers through the Son to the Father. That's not to say we can't or shouldn't pray

Starting point is 00:01:03 to the Son or Spirit. It definitely enriches our relationship and deepens our understanding of God when we think intentionally about which person of the Trinity we're praying to and talk to them according to their roles. The more we get to know him, the more natural this will become. In today's show notes, we'll link to two articles about this as well as our favorite book on the topic of the Trinity. What Jesus is pointing to here that is so huge is that we can boldly approach the Father, the supreme authority of the universe. For some people though this can be challenging. Maybe you had an absent dad or a terrible dad. Maybe it feels easier to you to pray to a

Starting point is 00:01:40 different person of the Trinity, the Son or the Spirit, instead of the Father. There is grace for you in this. He knows. If that's you, my hope is that He'll draw you in, and that by beginning to talk to God, the Father, it may unlock some healing for you. That He'll redeem the word Father for you by being all that your earthly Father failed to be. And I know this sounds crazy, but reading the Old Testament helps.

Starting point is 00:02:03 If you didn't make it through the Old Testament with us this year, I hope you will next year, because going through that has transformed so many people's views of the Father. In this prayer today, Jesus also demonstrates yielding. He prioritizes the Father and His Kingdom in the prayer, which gives everything else its proper landing spot. All our praise and repentance and asking falls under the heading of submission to God and his kingdom. While prayer is submitting to God, it's primarily talking with God. I never want to stop being in awe of the fact that I get to talk to the God who has always existed, who made everything, who knows me better than I know myself, and who loves me more than anyone. In the next section, we encounter a scene we've studied before, where the Pharisees

Starting point is 00:02:46 accused Jesus of being demon-possessed. But the part we haven't seen yet is what happens right after that, where a woman in the crowd cries out, blessing his mother. Then verse 28 says, but he said, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it. So to have a balanced view of what's happening here, we have to say that Jesus doesn't show Mary any special reverence, but he's not demoting or disrespecting her. He's just rightly positioning her alongside everyone else. She's a sinner in need of a Savior, just like all of us. This is similar to what we read in Mark 3, where Jesus elevates those who are in the family of God,

Starting point is 00:03:19 showing that kingdom relationships have greater significance than genetic relationships. As he's talking, the crowds ask him for a sign to prove he's the Messiah, and he basically rebukes them. When Jesus performs miracles, it's to help people in need, not to prove himself. He's not doing those things to be flashy or the center of attention. He always has the purpose of helping people in mind. He doesn't have anything to prove. And we've already seen that his miracles weren't enough for the people of Capurnaam or the

Starting point is 00:03:46 other cities he pronounced woe to. Signs don't soften hearts. Jesus tells them that the only sign they'll get will be the one of his death and resurrection, the sign of Jonah, as he calls it. We first read about this sign in Matthew 12. Matthew gave us a little more of Jesus' explanation than Luke does today. in Matthew's account, Jesus says he'll spend three days and nights in the grave, just like Jonas spent three days and nights in the fish. Put a pin in that, we'll come back to it in the days ahead. The final story we encounter today is similar to when we read earlier in Luke's Gospel, back in chapter 7, where a Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner. We don't know if this is the same Pharisee, and we don't know the motive behind this invitation. But even if they have an amicable relationship, Jesus doesn't hesitate to rebuke him in his own home.

Starting point is 00:04:30 The host is shocked that Jesus doesn't wash up before dinner. It's not a law, it's just a tradition of the Pharisees. And Jesus is like, let me tell you a thing or two about washing up. You're so concerned with being clean on the outside, but you're dead inside. You bring your tithes, and that's great. Keep it up. But also, give to the poor. Stop being greedy. God values love and justice. A lawyer who is also at the dinner party pushes back and basically says, well, that's harsh. And Jesus says, do you want to know what's really harsh? You make burdens unnecessarily hard for some people, and you refuse to offer any help at all.

Starting point is 00:05:06 You're harsh, and God is holding you responsible for what you've done. Jesus saves His strongest words for the people who are self-righteous, who have entirely missed the mark of God's heart. I love that He speaks up for those who can't speak for themselves, those who would never get a seat in the home of a Pharisee or share a table with a lawyer. He pushes back to his own detriment. We don't know if these two guys ever appended if they ever came around,

Starting point is 00:05:30 but Jesus seems to speak true that every table he's invited to. Today, my God shot was in the way Jesus explained prayer to his disciples. He wanted them to know how much the Father loves to communicate with his kids. Depending on your life circumstances, it may be natural to feel like you're bothering God when you pray, or that he has better things to do than hear your prayers over meaningful things. But did you notice that the examples Jesus uses are things like eggs and fish and bread? Apparently God wants us to talk to him about little things.

Starting point is 00:06:01 And Jesus says to be persistent in prayer to beg God essentially. He says the Father can be trusted to hear your prayers, sift through them and answer them with whatever is best. He says everyone who asks receives, that means there's no such thing as an unanswered prayer. He answers all of them either with yes, no, or wait. We tend to forget that no and wait are answers, too. God doesn't always give us what we ask for, because sometimes he has better ideas,

Starting point is 00:06:30 but he always hears and he always responds. Tim Keller says it this way, God will either give us what we ask for in prayer or give us what we would have asked for if we knew everything he knows. That's a good father, and he's where the joy is. Or any of your fantasy football players, it's exciting to put your dream team together, right? I should know, I'm super thankful

Starting point is 00:06:55 that I get to put together my dream team. I'm also super thankful that they're not a fantasy or just a dream, they are very real and very helpful. And oh my goodness, you have no idea. This podcast would not happen without them. Truly, it's almost midnight when I'm recording this and I can think of three or four other team members who are up right now working to keep everything running smoothly for you. So in case you never get to meet them in this life, let me tell you who they are so you can high-five them when

Starting point is 00:07:22 you see them in the kingdom. You know me, Terri Lee Cobble, I research, write, and record each podcast, and I rely heavily on these people. Allison King, our sound engineer. Laravue Shelter and Olivia Ramsey, our content and editing managers. Lindsay Herring, who created all our YouTube videos. Bonnie Hartwick, director of the Bible recap. Meg Mitchell, our recacapton Community Manager. Arlette Blackwell and Omar Cardenas, who help with Los Anopsis da la bibliya.

Starting point is 00:07:50 Courtney Vaughn, who facilitates the Bible Recap ASL. Sarah Yokem, who leads our incredible social media crew. Morgan Young, who created all the daily images we post on our socials, and Landon Wade, who designed our logo. So big thanks to all of you guys for making the dream team a reality. I love being on mission with you. We have a brand new exciting trip giveaway and I think you're definitely gonna want to enter. Sign up to win a trip with me to the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC for you and a friend, nobibber, first, do third.

Starting point is 00:08:23 I've only been to the Museum of the Bible once and and I didn't get to spend too much time there, so I am super excited to go again with you. Museum of the Bible is an immersive experience that explores the impact and the history of the Bible, which we all know and love, and we'll get to see thousands of artifacts from biblical times and even get to visit the Holy Land without even having to own a passport. Text Museum to 67101 to enter. That's M-U-S-E-U-M to 67101 or click the link in the show notes.

The Bible Recap - Day 286 (Luke 11) - Year 5

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