Transcript
We return this morning to the Gospel of Luke and chapter 11. Luke 11:5.
And He said to them, Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him; and he will answer from within and say, Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Or another translation of this is shamelessness. Yet because of his shamelessness he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
Here is a story that is both horrifying and heartwarming. It is both ugly and beautiful. We are tempted to say that it could only have happened in the place where it did, in New York City.
You see, last year around Thanksgiving time, New York City received about four and seven-tenths inches of snow, and the city experienced its first white Thanksgiving in fifty-one years. On Thanksgiving Day, thirty-one-year-old Robert Saunders was walking up the block in the direction of the apartment building where his aunt Clossetia Saunders lived. He was expecting to eat Thanksgiving dinner with her.
However, as he approached her building, two children came up to him. These children told him that they had heard wailing, and they had traced the cries to a pile of garbage that was stacked up on the snowy curb in front of the aunt’s apartment building.
Now we’ve all heard stories about how New Yorkers don’t want to get involved, but Robert Saunders got involved immediately. He dug into that pile of garbage. He ripped open bag after bag, and he finally came to a bag and ripped it open. In the bottom there was another bag, and when he opened that bag, guess what he discovered? He discovered a little baby boy who was estimated later to have been about two hours old.
Needless to say, this little newborn infant was suffering from exposure to the cold. When he was examined by Dr. Jonathan Golden at New York’s Lincoln Hospital, his temperature had sunk so far below normal that it didn’t even register on the doctor’s thermometer. The doctor stated that a few more hours on that freezing sidewalk would have been fatal.
But by Friday the little baby was in stable condition, and they were calling it Baby Bob in honor of Robert Saunders who had found and rescued it. Needless to say, in the rush of events the Saunders family did not get an opportunity to eat their Thanksgiving dinner, and they postponed it to another day. But they told the media that when they did finally eat it, they would be offering many thanks.
Clossetia said it turned out to be a beautiful Thanksgiving Day after all, because we saved a little baby’s life. And they certainly did. My hat is off to them, and it’s off to Robert Saunders in particular.
But you know what I think? Two of the biggest heroes of this story are not even mentioned by name in the newspaper account. Of course I’m talking about the two little children who originally heard the cries of the baby and who persuaded Robert Saunders to step in and help. Without them, little Baby Bob might very well be dead today.
And this morning, against the background of those two little children, I would like to talk to you about a very special and a very unique group of people whom I shall call the persuaders.
The persuaders. Yes, I know that sounds like the title of a television series or something similar, but it’s not. This group of people that I’m calling the persuaders are responsible for an enormous amount of the good things that happen in our world. There is no way that the world as a whole could possibly compute its debt to this very special group of people.
And because this is true, the question that I want to confront you with this morning, as well as the title of my message this morning, is this: Are you a persuader?
Don’t duck that question. Don’t dodge it. Try to confront it directly. Try to confront it honestly this morning. Are you—you, not the person sitting next to you—but are you a persuader?
Now I suppose that all of us at one time or another have met somebody that we regarded as a very effective salesperson. People, for example, who were so good at it that you were convinced that they could sell their own grandmother the Brooklyn Bridge.
Take for example me sitting in a restaurant, and I have just finished eating a delicious eighteen-ounce T-bone steak. I say to myself, I don’t need another bite. I am as full as a tick. And just at that point my waitress glides up to the table and she says, How about some dessert tonight? And before I can turn the idea down she says, We have some hot homemade apple pie, and it’s really delicious. And when I cave into that she says, How about a scoop of ice cream to go with that? There’s nothing better than ice cream and hot homemade apple pie.
And by the time she walks away from my table I’ve ordered pie à la mode. I say to myself, Why did I do that? I’m already a stuffed turkey. But obviously this waitress knew when to approach me, and she knew how to approach me. She was just a little lucky because her customer happens to be a guy who firmly believes that no steak dinner is really complete without an appropriate dessert.
And strange as it may seem to us at first, my friends, this group of people that we call the persuaders are a group of people who know how and when to approach the living God. One of the secrets of their effectiveness is that they know how to approach God in the way that they need to.
Did you notice the words that we read just a few minutes ago in our passage of Scripture? As the Lord Jesus begins his very neat little story about prayer, Jesus says, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him, Friend—get that word—Friend, Friend.
Now I strongly suspect that at first blush most of us would draw the conclusion that midnight is not the ideal time to go to somebody’s house and ask them for a favor. But if we are inclined to feel that way we need to think again. We need to think again.
Do you know, over the years I have lost track of the number of times that at midnight or later I’ve had a knock at my door or a telephone call. As a result of that I have found myself getting out of bed and going down to a jail or to a hospital or to a residence.
I’m going to confess something to you. I’m a much softer touch at midnight and at 2 a.m. than I am at twelve noon or two in the afternoon. I’m a lot softer touch. You know why? Most people—not everybody of course, but most people—are very self-conscious about breaking into your sleep hours. If they call you or come to your doorway at midnight or later, that is a pretty good indication that they regard their situation as an emergency, as very, very important. That inclines me to be helpful.
And not only that, when people have emergencies late at night they don’t generally take the telephone directory and just flip through the directory and pick out a name and call them or go to their house. No. What do they do? They think over the people that they know, and they say, Who’s my friend? Who’s the best friend I could possibly go to at this hour of the night and expect them to be willing to hear my plea and do something to assist me?
And so when somebody contacts me late at night—folks, I hope this doesn’t lead to a deluge of midnight calls—but when somebody contacts me late at night, I’m really flattered. They feel that their need is urgent and that I’m the kind of friend who will respond to them in the urgency of their need.
And obviously God wants us to think of Him in exactly the same way, doesn’t He? God wants us to regard Him as the kind of heavenly friend that I can go to in times of emergency at any hour of the day or night.
And I think it is a significant element of the story that it is a man who is coming to his friend and who addresses this man as Friend.
A British soldier was once caught by British guards as he was creeping out of the woods back to his quarters. They took him to the commanding officer, and he was accused of having communications with the enemy. He explained, however, that the reason he had gone out into the woods was so that he could have some time for private prayer. That was the only defense he had to offer.
His commanding officer growled at him. The commanding officer said, Are you in the habit of spending hours in private prayer? And the British soldier replied, Yes, sir. Then the commanding officer warned him. He said, Well, get down on your knees and pray now, because you have never needed it more in your entire life.
Well, this soldier expected to be shot as a traitor. So he fell to his knees, but he poured out a prayer that was so simple, so direct, so genuine that his closeness and intimacy to God could not be at all mistaken.
When he was finished with his prayer the commanding officer said, You may go now. I believe your story. If you had not been often at drill you could not have done so well at review.
One of the most valuable things that we can do, my friends, is to cultivate friendship and intimacy with God through prayer, so that we learn to talk to God with the familiarity that we would talk to a friend. Then when an emergency comes it’ll be easy to communicate with Him, whether it is morning, noon, or night.
Dr. Charles Fuller was one of the great radio evangelists of the last generation, and his radio program was called The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour. On one occasion the Old-Fashioned Revival Hour was about to be broadcast from a tin-roof tabernacle that was located in Waterloo, Iowa. Dr. Fuller was standing before the microphone. The tabernacle presumably was filled with people waiting to hear him give the broadcast.
Shortly before the broadcast was to begin, it started to rain very hard. The rain beat down on that tin roof, noisy, so that it would be impossible to broadcast with that kind of background noise. Dr. Fuller was evidently a man who was on intimate and friendly terms with God. So as he stood before that microphone he prayed this prayer. He said, Lord, if You don’t stop the rain the Old-Fashioned Revival Hour will not be able to be broadcast. For Jesus’ sake, please stop the rain.
It was that simple. It was that direct. Within three minutes the rain stopped. The Old-Fashioned Revival Hour was broadcast in its entirety without any interruption. And five minutes after the broadcast was over it started to rain again, a torrential downpour that beat on that tin-roof building.
Now please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not suggesting that if you’re on friendly terms with God He’ll stop the rain every time you ask Him to stop the rain. But I am suggesting that if you’re on friendly terms with the living God, in the hour of emergency, in the hour of need, you’ll be able to communicate with Him effectively, and you will be able to expect His help.
No wonder that it has been said that one of the most popular hymns in our hymnal is that hymn that we often sing right here at Victor Street Bible Chapel.
“What a Friend We Have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer. Oh, what peace we often forfeit, oh, what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”
What is a persuader? A persuader is a man who knows that he has a generous heavenly friend.
A persuader knows more than that. A persuader knows more than that. Not only does the persuader know that God is a generous heavenly friend to him, but a persuader also knows how to be a friend.
Did you hear that? A persuader knows how to be a friend.
Did you notice how Jesus proceeds with this story? He says, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go to him at midnight, and shall say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves. I just woke up a few minutes ago and I was terribly hungry, and I went to the icebox and there wasn’t a thing in the icebox, and I’m coming to you so I can have a midnight snack. What’s that you say? It’s not in your Bible? Not in my Bible either.
Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.
Do you see how simple, how clear, and obvious this parable about prayer really is? It’s almost as if the man said to his friend, Look, I wouldn’t have bothered you at this time of night if it had just been for myself, but this is an emergency. A friend that I was not expecting has come to me after traveling a long way. He’s tired. He’s hungry. If I’m going to be the host that he needs me to be, if I’m going to be the friend that I ought to be at this moment, I’m gonna need to feed him. I don’t have anything. Would you help me, friend? Would you help me to be a friend to my friend?
Sound familiar? You bet.
You know, I’m willing to gamble that there is not a single Christian in this audience this morning who does not have more than one hungry friend. Maybe your hungry friend is an unsaved person. They have never understood that by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ for the free gift of everlasting life they can be saved and be sure that they’re going to heaven. They have never tasted of the bread of life, and you know that you can’t meet their need, but God can. And therefore you go to your friend in heaven, and you ask God to help you to share the bread of life with your hungry unsaved friend.
Or maybe your hungry friend is a fellow Christian. They’re born again. They’re on their way to heaven. But they’ve been away from the Lord so long. They’ve been away from the ministry of His Word. They’ve been away from His Bible. They’re starving spiritually, and maybe their lives are coming apart at the seams. They’re hungry. They don’t even know sometimes what they’re hungry for. And you go to your friend in heaven, and you recognize that you cannot solve this person’s problem without the help of your friend. Therefore you ask your friend to help you to be a friend to your friend.
And don’t you see it? A persuader is not basically a selfish and self-centered person. He’s not the kind of person that only comes to God for his own personal needs. A persuader is a loving person, a concerned person, an involved person. A persuader comes to Jesus Christ for the needs of his friends.
Albrecht Dürer had wanted to be an artist from his very earliest years. Finally he got the chance to study under a great artist, and he met another young artist who also had the same ambitions. They became roommates. But after a while they discovered that they really couldn’t study art and earn a living at the same time. It was too difficult.
So the roommate of Albrecht Dürer volunteered to work while Dürer continued to study. He said that after Dürer had begun to sell his stuff, then this friend would quit work and he would study and he would paint. Well, it took a lot of persuasion, but finally Albrecht Dürer agreed to that arrangement. Dürer continued to study painting, and his friend continued to work and to earn the money by toilsome and long hours of labor.
Finally Albrecht Dürer sold a wood carving, and now it was the turn of his friend. It was the turn of his friend to get a chance to be trained as an artist. But unfortunately the long, long hours and days of work had stiffened and twisted his fingers, and he was no longer able to paint with skill.
Albrecht Dürer was filled with sorrow over the lost possibilities of his friend. But one day Dürer came home somewhat unexpectedly, and he heard his friend lifting his voice in prayer to God. He looked in on his friend, and he saw those two hands of his friend—so gnarled and worn with toil—placed together like this in prayer.
Dürer said to himself, I will show the world my appreciation for my friend by painting a portrait of those hands folded in prayer. And he did so. And the picture that he painted contained only two hands, only like that in prayer. It has become one of the most famous pictures that has ever been painted. You have probably seen pictures of it in books that you have read, and it’s called Praying Hands. It was Albrecht Dürer’s tribute to a friend who sacrificed for him.
And you know that all through the Christian church today there are men and women who are in the church because they had friends who prayed for them. They had friends who prayed for them when they were unsaved. They became Christians, and they’re in the church today because of their friends who prayed. Or they were away from the Lord and wandering the paths of sin, and now they’re back in the church because they had friends who prayed.
Do you know who your best friend is other than Jesus Christ Himself? It’s not necessarily the person you spend the most time with. It’s the person who spends the most time on his knees before God for you.
Out on the highways and byways of life, many are weary and sad. Carry the sunshine where darkness is rife, making the sorrowing glad. Give as ’twas given to you in your need. Love is the master key. Others will trust Him if only you’ll prove faithful in all that you do.
And then the chorus of that wonderful song that we often sing is a prayer. Did you ever notice it’s a prayer? Make me a blessing, make me a blessing, out of my life may Jesus shine. Make me a blessing, O Savior, I pray. Make me a blessing to someone today.
And a persuader is not only a man who knows he has a friend in heaven, but a persuader is somebody who is praying because he is a friend also to somebody on earth.
But that’s not quite the end of the story, is it? That’s not quite the end of the story. Yes, a persuader knows these things. But the bottom line is this: What really makes the persuader effective? What seals the effectiveness of his intercession?
Listen to Jesus’ closing words. He says, What man of you will have a friend, and shall go to his house, and say, Friend, lend me three loaves; I have a friend who’s come to me and I have nothing to set before him. And then Jesus says, And then that friend will say, Don’t bother me. The door is shut. The children are with me in bed. I cannot arise and give to you.
Jesus says, No, he won’t say that. Even if he won’t get up and give to him because he is his friend, yet he will do it because of this man’s shamelessness. Or may I put it in a word that we will probably understand more clearly: He will do it because this man has a lot of nerve. He’s got a lot of nerve.
You know, once in a while over the years I’ve picked up the telephone late at night, and a voice of a friend came over the line, and they said, Zane, I’m down in the county jail, and I can’t get out. It’ll take fifty dollars to get me out. Would you please come down and bail me out? I’ll pay you later.
Almost the first thought that goes through my mind is, This guy has got a lot of nerve. Here I am lying in bed, and he’s locked up for whatever reason. He has told me he expects me to get out of bed and come down with my fifty bucks and bail him out in the middle of the night. Can he wait till the morning? What kind of nerve is that?
But you know, even though that’s what I think, I also think positively about it. I say, Wouldn’t it be awful if he had felt he couldn’t have called me in this hour of emergency? If he had been too timid, too frightened of me, too uncertain about my friendship to him that he didn’t have the nerve to pick up the phone and ask me for help?
And out of bed I get. Down to the jail I go with my fifty bucks, and I get my friend out of jail. It’s one of the best experiences that you can have.
Now of course, friends, God never hangs a sign on His door that says Don’t bother Me. He never refuses to help us because that would inconvenience some other children that He has. He never reneges or goes back on our friendship. And Jesus is not suggesting that He would ever do that.
But what Jesus is suggesting is this: That even if God would not respond to us on the basis of friendship, He would respond to our nerviness. He would respond to our shamelessness. Or if He will permit me to use another word, He would respond to our boldness. He would respond to our boldness.
That is why the writer of Hebrews wrote these lovely words: Let us therefore come boldly—come boldly, come courageously, come shamelessly—to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
So a persuader, my friends, has boldness.
Little Carol Ann Miller had a heart defect which needed surgical repair. But in order for the surgeons to proceed on her case it was necessary for her to have a quantity of a very rare type of blood, B negative, before they would proceed with the operation.
Guess what little Carol Ann Miller did? She wrote the President of the United States, President Dwight D. Eisenhower. And this was what her letter said: My dear President, the surgeons want to close up a hole in my heart. If you know anybody who has B negative blood, please call my mother. It’s very important.
You talk about nerve. That’s nerve.
And President Eisenhower was so moved by that that he contacted the Red Cross, and he contacted the doctors at Walter Reed Hospital. In a relatively short time, twenty pints of B negative blood were made available to Carol Ann Miller’s surgeons.
You say that’s nervy. Yes, but it’s even more nervy for us to come to the throne of the universe, to the Creator and Maker of all things. But God not only invites us to come, He invites us to come both boldly.
And a persuader, my friends, not only knows that he has a heavenly friend, he not only knows how to be a friend to his friends on earth, he knows how to approach God with courage and boldness.
Back in the early days of the Republic a stranger came to Washington, D.C., to observe the U.S. Congress in action. And the stranger asked somebody how he would recognize George Washington when he was looking at Congress. And this was the very interesting reply that was given to him. He was told, That’s easy. You can easily recognize him when Congress is at prayer. Washington is the gentleman who kneels.
Listen to me. All of the great men and all of the great women who have ever lived on earth have known how to kneel. And I am persuaded that there is no such thing as a truly great individual who is not also a great individual of prayer.
It was true of Abraham. It was true of Daniel. It was true of David. It was true of Paul. It’s been true of Queen Victoria. It’s been true of countless Christians that we know nothing about. Yet I submit to you that without exception they were men and women of prayer.
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care. That bids me at my Father’s throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief my soul has often found relief, and oft escaped the tempter’s snare by thy return, sweet hour of prayer.
My friends, that is a song that is very special to every persuader.
Shall we pray?
How can we thank You, Father, for the awesome privilege that we have as mere creatures of dust to come boldly into Thy presence, to address Thee as our Father and as our friend, and to find in all of the emergencies of our lives that You are there to help? We thank You for this. Make all of us persuaders, we pray, in Christ’s name. Amen.