Jeremy Hoover

 
 

As followers of Jesus we should live according to his example, values, and priorities. In his life, especially as recorded in Luke, we see Jesus giving special attention to prayer and to his friendship with the twelve apostles, whom he chose. If Jesus focused much of his energy on prayer and friendship, as his followers, so should we. Below are my sermon notes for Sunday's sermon. Use them to prepare yourself ahead of time and come back to this page after the sermon and leave a comment.

What things do you give your attention to as a Christian? because you're a Christian?

Jesus and Prayer
Prayer was very important to Jesus. The gospels often record Jesus praying. Luke gives this special emphasis in his gospel and records Jesus praying at least nine times. Since Luke contains 24 chapters, there is a reference to Jesus praying in over one-third of Luke's chapters, making this a very important theme in Jesus' life. But why portray Jesus at prayer so much? Why not just indicate that prayer was important to him?

If we delve deeper, we see when Jesus prayed and what he prayed for. Specifically, Jesus prayed both as a habit and at important times in his life. Prayer was a fundamental aspect and example of Jesus' spirituality. These scriptures indicate to us Jesus' habit of prayer--5:16; 6:12; 9:18; 10:21; 11:1--while these scriptures describe Jesus' prayers at critical moments of his life and ministry--3:21 (at his baptism); 6:12-13 (prior to selecting his twelve apostles); 9:29 (at the transfiguration); 10:21 (as a response to the success of the 72); 22:39-46 (in the garden of Gethesemane); and 23:34, 46 (on the cross).

What is your prayer life like? When do you pray and for what? How do your prayers help you become more like Jesus?

Jesus and Friendship
Another critical component of Jesus' spirituality was friendship. Where we focus on programs, Jesus focused on relationships. Where we focus on information transmission, Jesus focused on mentoring and relational teaching.

Large crowds were always attracted to him and he seems to have had many followers. His group of followers was important to him, as we see him sending out 72 on a mission to share the gospel. But he had a qualitatively different relationship with a selection of his followers, twelve to be exact, "whom he also designated apostles" (6:13).

In this verse we see Jesus calling his followers to him but selecting only twelve to be apostles. Crowds followed Jesus and he taught and healed many out of these crowds, but when it came to learning, mentoring, and growing, he did so with a few. Did he not care about the rest? Did he not worry about them? Not at all. I think we see in this a narrowing of Jesus' focus to mentor, teach, and build relationships (friendships) with just a few.

We can view this as a principle of friendship and imagine Jesus' followers as the church-at-large and his selection of twelve as a model for us to follow in our friendships. He taught his disciples differently than he taught the crowds, providing more spiritual content to his disciples (Luke 8:9-15; 12:1) and his disciples were with him at crucial times in his life (Luke 9:28; 22:39).

What other Christians are you friends (not acquaintances) with? How do these friendships help you become more like Jesus?

 


Comments

Dee Taylor

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:11:17

Jeremy,

As always, I thoroughly enjoyed the sermon today. It was important to be reminded that Jesus, even being the son of God, was a prayerful person who valued friendships. As Christians...if we are striving to be Christlike, we must also set aside time in our lives to pray. I think we should also be mindful of the kinds of things that we pray/ask God for too. I had a friend who told me once to be very specific about what I ask the Lord for when praying, because He is in the business of answering prayers and He can deliver!!!! :) Friendships are so vital in our lives...and, especially, in our Christian community. If we can't get close here on earth and overlook our cultural, political and economic differences...how do we expect to overcome that divide and walk through heaven's gates together??? In the words of the common vernacular..."it ain't gonna happen"!!! :) Your sermon emphasized the need for prayer, love and friendship as a part of our daily Christian lives. As my father used to say when he preached, "It was as clear as the nose on your face"!!! :)

May God continue to bless and keep you, my friend.

Dee

 

Jeremy Hoover

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:34:37

Hi Dee,

That's exactly what I was after in this sermon. Our primary purpose as Christians is to become more like Jesus. We have to "follow him" to do so. Why not start with the things he found most important, as seen in his actual life--prayer and friendship? I hope we can build our church around friendship and see what develops.

Thanks for your feedback.

 



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