Today we continue in our exposition of the Lord's Word in Luke chapter 11, verses 5 to 13. Luke chapter 11, verses 5 to 13. And here we will be looking at a parable of the Lord Jesus, usually called the parable of a friend at midnight.
And this is what we read here: "And he," that is the Lord Jesus, "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 importunity," that is, his persistence, "he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him 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?'"
Now here is a parable, and first I would like to paint the picture of this parable for you, so that you can see it in your mind's eye. And here what is presented is an argument, a spiritual argument, which goes from the lesser to the greater. It is what you might say in Latin, "a minori ad maius." That is, an argument from the lesser to the greater. If it's true in the case of the lesser, so much more will it be true in the case of the greater. That is the point that is here.
Now the Lord Jesus says, here is the picture of a person who finds that at midnight, a friend of his arrives. Now that's a very odd time to arrive, you might think. But not so odd in hot countries. Because after all, you are not going to be traveling when the sun is straight overhead, especially in Palestine, when it's going to be very, very hot at noonday. So when do you travel? Well, you wait for the sun to go down. When it begins to get cool, when it's evening, and then you go on your journey. So say it begins to get cool at around six o'clock. Then you have six hours in which to travel. And so here we find that in the cool of the day, this person is traveling, and he arrives at the friend's place somewhere near midnight. It says here, that's why this parable is called "friend at midnight" in many books or dictionaries.
Now, here this friend gets awakened at night, and this traveler has arrived. I don't know whether he expected him to arrive or not. Communications were not so good. There were no telephones that he could pick up and say, "I'm going to arrive at midnight." So presumably he just appeared from somewhere. Maybe he wrote a letter. But the postal services being what they were in those days — and perhaps, I don't know whether they are a lot better these days — but in any case, the letter might have arrived after the traveler has arrived. However the case may be, he arrives there at midnight.
Now, the host discovers that he has no food for his unexpected guest. And this presumably is the clue that he was unexpected, since he has no food for him. And this man has been traveling, and so he's obviously quite hungry by now. And the host has no bread. Nothing to put before his unexpected guest. So what's he going to do? Well, he looks around. He thinks for a moment, and he thinks, "Ah! My friend over there across the road — he usually is well stocked up. So I'll go there and bang on his door." But surely at midnight, you don't go and wake the whole place up. And he thinks about it, and he wonders, "I wonder what's the best thing to do? Shall I let my friend here who has just arrived be hungry until the morning? Or shall I go and disturb my friend across the road?" And so having thought about it, he thought, "Well, if I disturb my friend — after all, what are friends for? A friend in need is a friend indeed. So right now, I need this friend. I need some bread. So I'm going to go and knock on that friend's door. And after all, even if he's asleep, I mean, after a few minutes, it just takes only a few minutes to give me the bread, and he can go back to sleep again. Whereas this poor fellow who has just arrived is going to be hungry until the morning." So he decides to go there and bang on the door.
But he doesn't get a very enthusiastic response, as you can well imagine. I mean, most people have to work fairly hard, and so they do treasure their sleep. And here, there's banging in the middle of the night. And the other friend, inside the house there, the friend with the bread, replies, "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." The answer then is no, in one word. "Just leave me alone, and go away. You see, we are in bed. And this is no time to be banging on the door. I mean, have you no sense? Have you no consideration? Don't you know what time it is?"
But he is explaining from outside the door, with a loud voice, which might wake up the whole street if he doesn't open up the door soon. He says, "You see, I got a friend who has come, and I need three loaves of bread." What do you need three loaves of bread for one friend? And he must be a big eater. He eats like a horse. Three loaves of bread? Well, he is going to be sure he wants a sufficient supply, that's for sure. Now the loaves, of course, are not the kind of loaves we have today. They look more like the Chinese bing. In Shanghai, we have the da bing, that sort of thing. So I guess a very hungry fellow could easily consume two of these without too much trouble — even three, perhaps. Or else he may want to give him two. And after all, seeing that I am the host, I can't very well sit there and watch him eat. So I have got to eat something with him. Peike. You see, you have to eat with him. I mean, that's courtesy. Especially in Chinese, you don't just say, you sit there and he eats, and you are looking at him. So you eat a bit too while he is eating. Makes him feel better. So presumably, one loaf might be for himself, the other two for our friend, the traveling friend.
But nothing doing. Our friend there inside the house says, "I am in bed, you see, and my children are with me." The picture is that, of course, of a Palestinian house, which is all in one room. And then you have a slightly elevated floor. And oftentimes, on the lower deck, there is a sort of split level. On the lower deck of the floor, you have the chickens and the goats, who are sleeping down there. And up there is where the children and the family live. So it's not the case that you have lots of rooms. These houses were generally very simple buildings, with one room, and these two floors, with a few steps going up, and the other floor a little lower down. And sometimes you have a sort of little cave-like thing under the floor, the higher floor, where you have the goats, or the sheep, or whatever domestic animals they keep in there, or chickens — they are all sleeping inside there.
Also, because it's all one thing — and maybe the poorer people in those days, we don't know — but this looks like a one-room house from the account. They didn't have beds, so they would sleep on a sort of mattress. And the children were all snuggled up together with each other to keep warm. And so it was — if you move one, you wake up the other person. Perhaps actually the excuse that the children are in bed is not very strong, because most of you who have children know that when a child has gone to sleep, it's rather hard to wake them up again, at least not till daybreak are you going to wake them up very easily. So that was a rather lame excuse. The fact is, he simply didn't want to be bothered to get up. He was rather annoyed with this fellow shamelessly banging on his door in the middle of the night. And I guess most of us would have that reaction, isn't it? I mean, let's be honest with ourselves. Otherwise, one of these days, I'll try it out on your door, to see how you feel like. "What are you doing at this time of the night, banging on the door?"
So this person who knocks on the door, looking for the three loaves of bread, is not going to go away. He keeps banging on the door. Keeps saying, "Give me the loaves, because I can't let my friend go hungry. So will you get up?" And the other fellow says, "No." And this one says, "Yes," and he keeps banging on the door. And finally he thought, "Well, if I don't give him these three loaves, he'll be banging on my door till dawn, and I'm still not going to get any sleep. So the only way to get rid of him is to give him the three loaves and say, 'Take it, and just keep going, okay?' And so I can get back to sleep again."
And so we have here, in verse 8 of this passage: "I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend" — or better translated, in fact, the word "though" rather weakens the meaning of the original. It would be better translated, "Even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend." Even if, out of friendship's sake, he will not give him the bread, yet because of his importunity, he will give him whatever he wants. Just to get rid of him. He says, "How many loaves do you want? Did you say you want six? Well, take them all. Take them all, just go off." Never mind how many loaves you want. So he will do this not for friendship's sake. Because even friendship in the world has a certain limit beyond which friendship will not go. But this shameless persistence gets its point, gets its way.
Now the point here to observe that the Lord is illustrating is this persistence. This persistence that does not take no for an answer. This comes out also in verse 9, but it doesn't come out very well in the English or in the translations. But here we have a present continuous in the original, which is: "And I tell you, keep on asking" — that is what the force of the Greek is — "keep on asking, and it will be given to you. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you." You see, that's exactly what he's doing. He keeps on knocking. He keeps banging there until the door opens. He keeps on asking until he gets it. He keeps on seeking those three loaves of bread until he gets it. And that's shameless. Quite shameless. This fellow's skin is very thick, you might say. But he is determined. He's going to have these three loaves of bread, and that's how it's going to be, and that's the end of the matter.
Now, the question then here is, exactly what is the Lord Jesus trying to teach us? I mean, is he trying to teach us to be inconsiderate? Is he trying to teach us to be shameless, so that next time you discover that in the middle of the night you feel hungry and you need a hamburger, you say, "Ah, well, there are those people upstairs, you know. There's that brother up there, the sister there. And after all, people live in the center of town. So I mean, I'm feeling hungry at two o'clock in the morning, I'm banging on his door." He says, "You see, I read the Bible the other day, you see. And after all, the pastor was saying, he's preaching there, he's saying, well, you've got to be persistent. That's what the Lord Jesus taught. And so here I am. Let's have the hamburger." You see? Is Jesus teaching such? What is he teaching? What is the lesson? I mean, what is this? Persistence is good, but this seems to be taking things a bit far. So we can see that we have to search for the significance. What is the meaning of what the Lord is saying here?
Now the key word of this passage lies in this word "importunity" in verse 8, or what the Revised Standard Version has translated as "importunity." Actually, this word in the original, in the Greek, is a very interesting word, which occurs only once in the New Testament. And this noun occurs nowhere in the Old Testament, except in the Apocrypha. And this word literally means "shamelessness." "He will not give him the bread because he is his friend. Even if he doesn't give him the bread because he is his friend, he will give it to him, and whatever he wants, because of his shamelessness." That's what the word literally means. And though the noun does not occur in the Old Testament, the adjective occurs quite a number of times in the Greek Old Testament. And the significant thing is that this word never once has a good meaning to it in the Old Testament. It just means "shameless, impudent."
Now, this rather puzzles us. It seems to us that the Lord is encouraging shamelessness, is it not? What is he trying to say to his disciples? Does he want to make this bunch of disciples people who are utterly inconsiderate? And after all, the world is already full of inconsiderate people. We don't need to have twelve apostles who are going around banging on people's doors at midnight. And you remember that this passage comes immediately after the Lord's teaching about prayer, in verse 1. You will notice he is addressing these words to his disciples, and he gives them the prayer that we know as the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father, who art in heaven." Here we have it in the Luke form: "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come," and so forth. And then having taught them, he tells them a secret about prayer. Now bear this in mind: it has to do with the secret of prayer. And he says that in prayer, the one thing you have got to learn is this matter of shameless persistence.
Now, what do we mean by this? First thing to notice about this word "shamelessness" that the Lord wants to teach us is the meaning, the significance, of determination. Determination in prayer. Now when we think of it like this, we immediately see that the Lord has put his finger upon a great spiritual weakness of most Christians today. Think of the way you pray. Is there any kind of determination in your prayer? Is there any kind of persistence in your prayer? Not to say shamelessness. There is nothing like determination.
Now the first thing to notice is the spiritual importance of determination. At the most elementary level, let me tell you: no one ever achieves anything in this life without determination. You simply achieve nothing without determination. That is a principle. I'm sure that you have seen these kinds of American stories of some young newspaper editor or some lawyer — a young, budding lawyer — who is looking for a job. And he goes to the newspaper office and he wants to get a job as an editor. And the big, cigar-puffing chief editor, with his feet on the desk, looks at the young fellow and tells him to get out. I mean, he has no experience. "Get out." And this fellow will not go, you see. I'm sure you have seen pictures of this kind, right? And he is determined not to take no. He says, "But give me a chance. You have got to give me a chance. I'll prove to you how good I am," and so forth. We're very familiar with this story, of some young lawyer who is looking for a job, and the big boss doesn't want him, and he's determined he's going to get this job, and finally he does in the end, and everybody's hearts are feeling happy. But the point does come through. What comes through is this: that without determination, you accomplish nothing. Even the worldly person knows that.
But when I look at the non-Christians, they seem to have often more sense than the Christian in this area. I think of the Lord's words: "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light." I see Christians utterly lacking in determination. Think of your prayer life again. When did you ask for something with determined perseverance, and say, "Lord, I really need to have this thing, for the sake of this friend, or this brother, or this sister. I'm going to hold on to you until you give it. I'm not going to take no for an answer"? You say, "That's shameless." That's right. But that's exactly what the Lord is saying. You just try that with God. God loves it. God loves people who have spiritual determination.
You know, we as Chinese are very keqi. Very keqi. "Oh, you can't behave like this. No, no, no, no. I mean, it's a loss of face. I mean, you can't behave like this. I mean, you don't give the other fellow any face, you see. You lose your face. You have to save face." So you can't go and do this. I mean, that's not the right way. Let me tell you, that's exactly what the Lord wants us to change our thinking. He is saying this: maybe you don't like it. Maybe other people don't like it, because they are all so selfish. But God is not selfish. And he loves the people who will come and persist with something. That is why, as we saw at the communion last week, when speaking about remembrance, in Isaiah chapter 62, verse 6, there those people are exhorted to give God no rest. "Give him no rest, until he accomplishes his purpose, until he makes Israel a praise in the earth." Isaiah 62, verse 6. Wonderful! "Those of you who put God in remembrance, give him no rest." Just keep on persisting, until his purpose is accomplished.
You see, people don't like this. But let me tell you, God doesn't think as you do, or as I do. His thinking is completely different. He doesn't mind if you phone him at two o'clock in the morning. He doesn't mind if you phone him at three o'clock in the morning. He doesn't mind you coming at midnight and banging on the doors of heaven. He doesn't mind it. He loves it. He is looking for people who will do just that. Who will give him no rest, spiritually. Who are determined to accomplish something, and will not stop until it's done. You see, God's way of thinking is very different from ours. He loves these people who are spiritually shameless, who will say, "Lord, it's got to get done, and it's going to be done. I beg of you. I'm going to keep begging of you. I'm going to keep knocking on heaven's door." That's what the Lord Jesus is saying: "Knock. Keep on knocking. It will be opened to you."
Oh, if we can learn this spiritual secret, we are on the way to being spiritual giants. But when was the last time you ever asked of the Lord anything with determination? Did you? "Lord," and then he didn't answer, you see. "He never answers. Let's call it a day." That's what he said. "You know, I prayed to the Lord last time. He never answers my prayer. That's why I gave up." You ask him, "You prayed? How much did you pray? Was it about thirty-five seconds? How determined did you pray?" "Oh, you know, I asked it two, three times." Two, three times! Imagine. Even when we ring the bell, we usually ring two, three times. That's about all we do. What he wants is you put your finger on the bell and just hold it there. Just keep holding it. "Lord, I'm not going to let go. I'm not going to let go until this door opens." You say, "That's shameless. Absolutely disgraceful." Right. Shameless. That's what the Lord wants you to do. Hard to grasp, isn't it? God's thinking is so different from ours.
Now he doesn't mean that you should go and ring the neighbor's doorbell like this. But he's saying, you do this with God. He's talking about prayer, remember. He knows that other people don't like this. He knows that other people are selfish. But he says, "God is not like that. Even though other people think this is shameless, God loves it. Do it, and you will see that God really answers prayer." Think of people like George Mueller — a man who doesn't take no for an answer. Everything he comes to God, and he takes hold of God, and God just gives it to him. This is so wonderful.
In the Mishnah, in the Jewish rabbinic writings, there is the story of somebody called Honi. This is found in the Mishnah, in a tractate called Ta'anit. And we are told about a man called Honi, a very interesting person. Josephus, the Jewish historian, called him "Honi the Righteous" — a very righteous man, a godly man. Now that's very important in prayer. As James says in James chapter 5, "The fervent prayer of a righteous man accomplishes much." Now if you are living in sin, then the only thing you can plead with God, with determination, is that God will forgive you your sin, and you don't let go until God forgives. Let me tell you, God will forgive you if you truly repent in that sort of way. But if you are going to ask for other things, you had best be sure you are qualified to ask, and that is to say that you let him cleanse you — as we were singing of the cross just now — cleanse you by his grace, so that you may be able to come to him, and whatever you ask in that way, you shall receive. Then you will experience for yourself that God is the living God. Then your spiritual life will come up. Then your faith will grow in power.
But here in the Mishnah, we read about Honi. And this is why he became so famous. You know why? Because once there was a great drought in Israel. Drought — that is, no rain comes down. And the whole land was without rain for a very long time. The crops are dying. And in an agricultural country — and even in an industrial country — in Alberta, the wheat center of Canada — I mean, if the rain doesn't come down, you have trouble. And there was a drought. There was simply no rain. The economy of the country was being ruined. People were starving. And they came to Honi the Righteous and said, "Pray that the rain may fall for us. Pray!"
Honi immediately replied, "Bring in the Passover ovens." That was his kind of faith. Why bring in the Passover ovens? Because the Passover ovens are made of clay. It's about coming up to Passover, when you bake the Passover bread. The Passover ovens are made of clay. And when the rain comes down, it's going to melt the Passover ovens, you see. It will wash them down into clay again. So he said, immediately, "Bring in the Passover ovens." So unhesitating was his confidence that God would answer, that his immediate reply was, "Okay, you ask me to pray for rain? You will have rain. Bring in the Passover ovens."
And they brought in the Passover ovens. But it didn't rain. So Honi went out there, and he drew a circle around him. That's why he came to be known as Honi the circle drawer, or the circle maker. He drew a circle around him and he said, "Lord, I'm going to stand inside this circle, day and night, until you grant us the rain that we need." And so it rained. A few drops came down. And he kept praying, and he kept saying, "Lord, I didn't ask for this. I mean, this is just a few drops. It's not enough." He's still got his finger on the bell. He's still pressing there. "This is not enough. It's just a few drops of rain." And so it began to pour down in torrents. The rain just came down in buckets upon them. And Honi said, "Lord, I didn't ask for this either. I mean, what I'm asking is that it fills the cisterns, but not to flood the whole land and wash all the houses away." And so the rain came down just right.
That is the story in the Mishnah. Well, that's a very nice story, and we have no doubt, from the sources that we have, that it is a true one too. Honi lived before the time of the Lord Jesus. And this incident happened maybe somewhere around 70 BC, seventy years before the coming of the Lord. And so he was called Honi the circle maker. But of course, the leading rabbi of the time, the leading rabbi, was called Shimon ben Shetach. He regarded Honi's way of praying — in this persistent way, of drawing a circle around him and saying, "I'm not going to step out of this circle until you answer my prayer" — he thought this was impudent and shameless. And so this rabbi said, "If you were not Honi, I would have put a ban on you" — that is, "I would have excommunicated you for your shameless behavior." He says, "But what can I do? You are Honi. And God answers your prayer because you are like a son with a father, who, when the son persists with the father, importunes the father, the father grants him his desire."
And so it is that Honi then was regarded as on the level with Elijah. It says, in the Midrash Rabbah, another Jewish writing: "No man has existed comparable to Elijah and Honi the circle drawer, causing mankind to serve God." You see, what happened was, that as the rain came pouring down, and they saw what God was doing in answer to Honi's prayer, people flocked to the temple and worshipped God. That he is the living God, who answers prayer, who answers the prayer of his righteous servant Honi. And that is why it says here that no man has existed comparable to either Elijah or Honi, causing mankind to serve God, drawing the hearts of the people after God. You remember that Elijah did the same thing. He stood there and he called for God to bring down the fire, and the fire consumed the sacrifice upon the altar, and the people turned back to God as a result of this great servant of God.
What we need in this day is people like that. Who prevail with God. Who, like Jacob, hung on to the Lord and said, "I will not let you go until you bless me. I mean, you can do what you like to me, but I am not going to let you go." So he became the prince with God. A person who prevailed with God. He hung on, remember, all night. When was the time when you prayed for something all night? You try that sometime, and you will be amazed how God answers, far beyond what you can ask or think. This is the joy of the Christian life — to see what God can do. Being a Christian and serving him is not just the case of going to church, of doing this and that, of preaching. All this is very important, but above all things, the ministry of prayer.
But this takes us to the second point that we need to observe. The first point we saw is this spiritual determination, this shamelessness, that refuses to take no for an answer when it is holding on to God. Now I repeat again: maybe, and certainly, people don't like this. But God loves it. He loves people who have spiritual determination. I would to God that God would raise up for us in the church people who really have spiritual determination. And I would say, about this matter of spiritual determination, especially to those who are being baptized today: consider your direction in life. Consider carefully your goal, your purpose in life. And having considered that purpose and that goal, fix your mind upon it with determination, decisiveness, and say, "Lord, I am going to pursue this goal until, by your grace, it is fulfilled." If every person who is baptized today will do this, each one would be a spiritual giant. They would become like Paul. A very determined man was Paul. That is the secret of his spiritual greatness. You see, whenever you look at Paul's life, he is a very determined man. He set his goal before him, spiritually, and nothing would cause him to turn to the left or to the right. Like an arrow, straight to the mark, he would go there, and nothing would stop him on the way. Remember how he set his face to go to Jerusalem, and nobody could stop him, nobody could dissuade him. Once, before God, he knew what was right, what was the direction and purpose. He set his mind and his goal, and there he went forward until it was accomplished.
Would to God each one of us will learn this secret. We have many people in the church — many times we have lots of people in the churches — who have lots of good intentions. Let me tell you, good intentions get you nowhere. It's nice to have good intentions. But there are always good intentions which never get fulfilled. "I'm going to read the Bible a bit more next week." But next week, of course, you're too busy. So it's going to be the week after that. And then it's going to be the week after that. And then so it goes on, and so you never get to read your Bible. "I'm going to start praying. Yeah, I think this is a good message. I'm going to start praying like this. But I'm going to start tomorrow." When tomorrow comes, you say, "No, no, no. Next week." And then next year. And so it goes on. Good intentions. But good intentions never got anyone anywhere. It is spiritual determination that is essential.
The second thing that the Lord Jesus wants to teach us — notice the character of this prayer. Was he praying for himself? Was he banging on the neighbor's door for himself because he wants the bread? No. He was doing this for the other person. Notice the motivation, then, is the motivation of love and concern for another person. This is what so delights God. That this shamelessness is born out of concern. It is such a concern and a love for others that it is prepared to do something about it, even if that doing something means it's necessary to be determined, and even to be shameless. And notice this: why should he take on the trouble of providing this fellow who arrived unexpectedly with bread? Why should he take the trouble to do that? He can say, "Well, I'm sorry, my friend. I mean, you arrive in the middle of the night. You don't expect me to have bread waiting for you, do you? You didn't phone me. You didn't send me a telegram. You didn't even write me a letter. You come in the middle of the night. You don't expect me to have bread. All right. So now you learn the lesson. All right. Next time you come, make sure that you write me a letter in advance, at least give me a phone call before the shops close. And so next time, you know better. Now I'm sorry, my friend, but you go to bed hungry. Okay, that's too bad. I mean, you won't die of starvation, right? And fasting is good for you, sometimes."
# Persistence in Prayer — Part 2 (Luke 11:5-13)
Now this is the second point the Lord Jesus wants to teach us here. Learn to be so concerned about the other person that you are concerned about his or her welfare. Your problem is my problem. You've got nothing to eat, that's my problem. I'm going to see to it that you have something to eat. That's a hard attitude for us to have, because we are born selfish. We don't care about the other guy. It's my survival, not yours. "Your problem, you go and solve it yourself. If you want bread, I tell you, there's a fellow — he's got bread there. You go and knock on the door yourself. You'll see whether he'll give you some or not." Maybe we might say that. We must learn this attitude of willingness to go to a lot of trouble for others. That's hard to learn. It's something we've got to press forward to.
Why? Because here we see a beautiful picture that the Lord Jesus has for us. You will recall that at Han and Helen's wedding, I was preaching on the fact that if you live for yourself, if you are simply concerned only for yourself, you have only one person to be concerned about you — that's yourself. But the Lord Jesus, in establishing the kingdom of God, wants to change that whole mentality, in which everybody is concerned for each, and each is concerned for all. That's very beautiful. Now think of it. If you are concerned for others and others are concerned for you — say we have all the people in the church here, and you are concerned for everybody in the church, and everybody in the church is concerned for you — now how many people are concerned for you? Well, you've got the whole church concerned for you. Before, you were concerned only for yourself. You had only one person concerned for you. Now the whole church is concerned for you. Isn't that how it should be? So you don't have to think about yourself. Others will think about you. In the meantime, you just concentrate on thinking about others. That's so beautiful. If we could put this into practice, we will begin to live as Jesus meant us to live as a church.
But I still don't see this happening in the church. I see that we are all selfish. I see that we still live for ourselves, maybe a little bit better than before. We just have a little bit more concern about others. But you see, I often think about it. I often think of all the people in the church that I should be concerned about, what are their needs and so forth. And I just groan at the fact that my strength is not enough. I neither have the strength nor the energy. Especially, say, after a training program through the week — I do confess, I am so tired that all I want to do is just try and take the strain off my mind. By that time, my head is throbbing. I feel a drum sort of beating in my head. I just feel so tired. And I just constantly feel I cannot do my job as I ought to have done. There's this brother that I should have been concerned about, and I didn't do anything for that person. There's this sister I should have done something about. Many times I lie on my bed and I think — I do pray for this person and that person — and I think, I should have been able to do more for that person. I haven't done it. And I thought to myself, if only the whole church were functioning as the church ought to do, each concerned for the other person, it would not fall to the responsibility of one person trying to look after everybody. This will not work in this way. But when everybody is doing it, each person's little contribution is going to make a lot of difference.
So here is what the Lord Jesus sets before us: the very principle of mutual concern in the kingdom of God, to the point in which we are willing to go through a lot of trouble to help that person. Indeed, even to be shameless and persistent to get the help for that person that that person needs. I long to see the day when the church begins to function like this. For example, in our prayers, how much of our prayer is just for ourselves? It's my exam, it's my job, it's my study, it's my... Let's learn so to forget ourselves that we spend our time just praying for the others. Just interceding for the others. For this person who has a need, just keep praying for that person. You say, "Well, what happens to yourself?" Let me tell you, don't be worried about yourself. The person who forgets himself, God doesn't forget him. That's the very important thing. You try forgetting yourself, and you discover that God keeps remembering you all the time. Just try it sometime. Don't have to be praying for yourself — my this, and my health, and my house, and my job. You just try praying for the other person. Just forget yourself. Just learn to forget yourself for a bit. Would God help us that we forget ourselves! Put ourselves on the altar, like Paul: "That I may be poured out as a sacrifice for you." You just pour yourself out. God will take the trouble to look after you. He will then put his whole concern upon you. Even if nobody else remembers, you will know God remembers. And how wonderful is his care.
But this takes us then to the third and final point, and we need to close on this point. What then is this third point? The third point is this: there is a place for shamelessness in the Christian life. Now, don't get me wrong. I want to explain to you in a moment what I mean. What I mean is this — or rather, what the Lord Jesus means is this, in this third point.
Have you ever noticed how superficial is our relationship with one another? It grieves me oftentimes how hard it is to break through a barrier with another person. There are always barriers. You talk to that person, and there is a barrier there. I mean, it is not an intentional barrier. It's a subconscious barrier in which we are defensive. Have you noticed how often you talk to a person, and the person is very defensive? They are afraid that you are speaking to them. They are wondering, why are you talking to me? Is it you want to get something out of me? Why are we so scared to lose something? Why are we so scared? Have you got treasures? Are you going to lose some diamonds that you have hidden in your heart? But you see, our relationship with each other tends to be very superficial. And now, courtesy, which is the opposite of this shamelessness, can be a great interpersonal hindrance. Now let me tell you, it's very important to be courteous, in a way. But it can become a hindrance, a great hindrance, in our relationship with each other. You see, courtesy can be a defense mechanism by which we are very smiling, very polite, and utterly impenetrable. You don't know what the person really thinks. "Oh yes, yes, yes." Do you like — "Oh yes, yes, yes, yes." Everything is yes. So what is the person really thinking? You don't know. And sometimes when I preach the gospel, I wish that somebody said to me, "No." And then, all right, now I know where I stand with you, right? But I'm very scared of the person you talk to and says, "Oh yes, yes, yes." "Will you come to church next Sunday?" "Oh, sure, sure, sure. I'll come to church next Sunday." And of course, next Sunday you don't see the person. But why can't you be honest with me? And say, "I'm not coming to church because, this, this, this reason." Or, you don't have to give me any reason. Say, "I'm not coming to church." That's all. At least I know where you stand. But no, you don't want to offend the person's feelings, so you say, "Yes. Oh yes, sure, sure, sure." "What time is your service?" "Ah, two o'clock. Well, I'll put this down here. Thank you. Yes, so kind of you to tell me." And of course, you never see the person again. What is this? It is courtesy as a means of putting up a barrier, closing the way.
So there are two kinds of courtesy. There is one that is genuine, that comes out of love. The other is one that comes with the intention of closing the door. Of not offending you, but saying no by saying yes. Whatever that means — but you know what I mean. And the result is that this is so second nature to us, that our relationship with each other, even as Christians, becomes very superficial. It's very hard, really, to make contact with each other, in which you really know what I mean, and I know exactly what you mean, that there is a true love for one another, that is no pretense, no hypocrisy, and no false courtesy. I say false courtesy. But there is a genuine courtesy too, and it's right to be courteous.
Now, when we think of our own Chinese teachings, teachings of Confucius, I always think of Confucius' words: "Junzi zhi jiao dan ru shui." I never forget those words. How many times my father quoted it to me. You see, when I had a very close friend, he would say, "Don't be too close to the friend now. You've got to hold your distance a bit." Because Confucius said, "Junzi zhi jiao dan ru shui." That means to say, our relationship must be as plain as water. Now that is to say, don't get too — you know, it must not be like wine, that has a strong taste, very excited. But, okay, you hold your position there, I hold mine, that's li, and he means you hold your station, I hold mine, and we keep our distance. So we have a courteous distance between us. And beyond that, nobody goes. Well, that's maybe okay in the world, where everybody is selfish, and everybody has to put up their fences and draw their borderline. But what of the church? Should we then always be superficial with one another?
The Western teaching is no different. Everywhere I go, I see a sign: "Private. Keep out." Okay, there's the border. "Trespassers will be prosecuted." It gets more terrifying all the time. So it's the case: if you keep your distance — look, here is the borderline, you stay on that side. If you don't, I'll get you prosecuted. Right? If I put it more courteously, I just have the word "Private." Less courteously: "Private, keep out." If it's still less courteous: "Beware of the dogs." So we find that here we have this same situation everywhere in the world. It's always the case. We don't want others to get too close, because we feel insecure. We are insecure with other people. We don't know what they want from us. Maybe they want to — maybe he's going to be banging on my door. If I be too friendly with him, at midnight he wants bread from me. So no, no. He says, you understand, I'm not this type. I don't like this kind of behavior.
But you see, what God wants to do with us is to build a very close relationship. He wants us to come close to one another, genuine with one another, honest with one another, not being defensive with one another, willing to pour ourselves out to one another. So hard, isn't it? That's so hard. But that's the ideal that the Lord sets before us. But even more, he wants us — and this is what expresses the mind of God to us — he wants us to come to him in this way: honest and open. No false courtesy.
You know, sometimes we talk to God as though we were talking to our boss in the office. How do you talk to your boss? Ah well, of course, you come into the office with a big smile, you see. It comes all the way up to the ears here. And of course, your best behavior is on there. "Boss, you alright today?" And so we have a nice relationship with the boss, and so we say the kind of things he wants to hear. We tell him, "Oh, what a nice suit you have today! How about this tie? Is this a Christian Dior? Did you buy it? It's $12? Very nice." All right. So we have to pat the boss on the back, so next day he'll give you a higher promotion. He'll remember you in the pay packet. And how often, when we come to God, we do the same thing. We come to God as the big boss, and we try to tell God nice things. "Oh God, you are so wonderful, you know, really, you are." And in my heart — "What's the time? He didn't give me the thing I wanted last time. But anyway, so kind of you. Yes, and so here I am, Lord. And so it's a beautiful day you gave us today. Will you give us a nice day also tomorrow?" And so we go on. Our prayer — we've got — is superficial. What is this for prayer? God doesn't want us to fool around with him. Say what you mean. Go straight to the point. He would rather that you be with him — shameless, persistent.
Habakkuk was like that. I always remind you, Habakkuk was like that. "Lord, why are you doing this? I really don't understand why you are doing this. And I'm going to stand here, Lord — in all due respect, but I'm going to stand here until you give me the answer that I'm asking for." Now, that's daring. But that's spiritual boldness. God wants us to come reverently — reverently, yes — but determined, persistent, and absolutely honestly. Oh, let us pray to God honestly. Let's not think that he is like other men. He is God. He looks into our heart. He knows what we think. Let's not pretend. And let's speak to him heart to heart. How relaxing. How relaxing.
You have, I'm sure, a close friend. Do you know why that friend is close? Why you enjoy being with that friend? Because with that person, you don't have to put up a front. You can relax. You can be yourself. You can say what's on your mind, because that's a friend. You can't do that with everybody, but you can do that with your friend. Now, that's what God wants. "Come to me, and treat me as a friend." That's what the Lord is saying. That's why the whole story begins with this: one friend to another friend. It is a friend going to a friend for another friend. Both are friends. Both you truly love. Loving God and the neighbor. If we can learn this secret, we would have come a long way in the spiritual life. Because this is what God wants us to learn. I wish to God that we will know the kind of love that overcomes shame.
And so, in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 2 — in fact, in the passage that Katherine read as she was announcing the hymn for the witness and song — those are the words that go on: that "for the joy that was set before him, Jesus endured the cross, disregarding the shame." For our sake, he was willing to be shameless. To die on a cross is very shameful. Who wants to, by choice, go and die on a cross? Now, if you want to save your face, you don't go on a cross. The cross is for robbers, it's for gangsters, it's for thieves. So of course, what would he be willing to endure for a friend? Nothing. But Jesus was willing to take the shame, or to despise the shame. Willing to be shameless for our salvation. Can we not have this mentality too for our friends? To say, "Well, I am willing to be shamefully persistent for his welfare, for her welfare."
Let us come to God in this way. Let us change our thinking about God. And so here then to summarize, and with that we have to close. Simply, the first point we saw: this wonderful teaching of the Lord Jesus is the spiritual determination that we need. Spiritual persistence to the point of shamelessness. If you can do that, you become a spiritual giant. Many of you will remember Sundar Singh, that great Indian servant of God. He didn't know God, but right there he said, "Lord, I beg of you to reveal yourself to me. I have got to know you in order to live for you. And if you don't reveal yourself to me, I will die. I am ready to die, rather than to go on." And God revealed himself. It is spiritual determination. God loves such people, and he will answer your prayer. And then you'll see he is the living God.
The second thing is this: the point of our utter commitment to one another. Willing to endure shame for the sake of a brother and a sister. Why not accept the humiliation, if it has to be that, for his or her welfare? Endure a little bit of suffering for others. After all, consider what Jesus endured for us. And finally, come to God. Change our relationship with God. Come to him with utter honesty. With utter honesty. No pretense. Speak to him with persistent determination, the truth that is in your heart. If there is something you are not happy about, you tell him that. Don't make nice speeches to God. He is not there to listen to this. Just tell him the truth as it is in your heart. If you are not happy about something, you say, "Lord, I am really not happy about this. I am not happy about it. I don't understand why this is so."
I shared with some of you that when my mother died, I was really upset and disturbed by this. Because I felt that she had tremendous potential to serve the Lord. She had a tremendous pen. She had great writing abilities. I had great hope that after she came to the Lord — and she was still a very young Christian — that she would be greatly used of the Lord to serve the Lord in some way. And then the Lord took her. She died. And I agonized before the Lord. I said, "Lord, I am not happy about this. I really don't understand what you are doing. I am really upset about this thing." And I wept before the Lord, and I was upset about this, and I told him that. I didn't make nice speeches to him. I poured out my heart in agony and distress, and even in a certain slight anger, you might say. And I quite admit to that. But the Lord is so merciful. And so as I persisted with the Lord, not being able to sleep at night as I pondered the question, the Lord answered me and comforted my heart.
So let us come to him in this way. I think when Christians gradually slide away, they backslide, they fall, because they have never learned to be honest with God. They say things that they don't mean. They treat God as they would treat another person. They don't tell you what they really feel. And that's really bad. You bottle it up in yourself, and soon you will destroy the relationship completely. Come to him. Tell him the facts. And pray with perseverance. You will see how gracious God is. Let us be quiet before God in prayer. Amen.