Pestering God to Move

Actually, two weeks ago in what
has been known as the Lord’s Prayer or the Disciples Prayer,
or as I renamed it, the Prayers Prayer, because really this is
for any child of God, any would-be prayer of God. And after having
declared there to the disciples, Jesus laid out, not in a rote
prayer that He ever intended to be said mindlessly over and
over again, but as a model prayer, giving us the key elements, the
objects for which we are to pray. After having done that and laying
the groundwork for how to pray, Jesus now wants to tell them
about the One and encourage them in knowing who it is that they
go to pray to and what’s the use. What good is prayer? That’s what Jesus wants them
to know. We don’t know how to pray. The disciples admitted
it. They said that, Lord, teach us
to pray. Our hearts say amen to that. We know that there are many times
when we fall As it were, with blank screens in our heads, with
an inability to approach the Father. This past week in the
crisis in Russia, one article that I was reading from one of
the ones that was fortunate to escape said that we were all
praying. And there were those that didn’t
know how to pray. And so we taught them. Now, we
don’t know exactly what they said. And perhaps it was a form
of prayer. But the point is, we don’t know
how to pray. And Jesus in His mercy pauses
in His ministry to teach us. He taught us what things to pray
for. Now He wants to teach us why. Why pray? Why should we pray? The question I want to pose before
we even read the passage is when do you quit praying? When do
we quit praying? Now, I know the rote answer,
the typical response is going to be pray ceaselessly. Right. We know that. We know that the
word says that over and over again, always in prayer, in everything,
giving thanks. We know that. I’m not talking
about the fact that we should always be praying. What I’m wondering
this morning is for what things have we quit praying? For what
elements, for what blessings have we quit praying? If you
would, I put the passage in your bulletin if you wish. Luke chapter
11. Look at it beginning in verse
5. Then he, that is Jesus, said to them, suppose one of you has
a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, friend, lend
me three loaves for a friend of mine has come to me from a
journey and I have nothing to set before him. And from inside,
he answers and says, do not bother me. The door has already been
shut. My children and I are in bed.
I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though
he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend,
yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as
much as he needs. So I say to you, ask and it will
be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock
and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives,
and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If you will bear with me this
week, I have two outlines, an outline within an outline. If
I can, I want to give you the larger concentric circle and
tell you how I’ve broken down the passage. And then I want
to take a step closer. We’ll zero in a little bit. And
I want to focus on a particular passage. If you will, the larger
outline would be the illustration first and foremost. Sometimes
in Jesus ministry, Jesus gave the illustration often in the
form of a parable first. He gave them the illustration
first. And then he gave them the instruction in verse nine,
the illustration in five through eight, then the instruction in
verse nine stated or followed by the intention in verse 10. This passage is often quoted
and alluded to and pointed to as one of the most incredible
encouragements to prayer, one of the most precious promises
in all of Scripture. Ask, seek and knock and it will
be opened. But it’s beyond just an encouragement
to prayer. What it is, is a declaration.
It’s a statement of the condition of receiving any good gift from
God. We don’t know exactly how God
operates or many times why. But it’s as if there is this
giant treasure house of goods. And we can’t get anything out
of it unless we ask for it. We can’t get anything out of
it unless we go and seek and we can’t get anything unless
we continually pound on the door. And only then, according to God’s
sovereign will, Jesus has already admonished
us about idle repetitions. He warned us about that. That’s
what precipitated the so-called Lord’s Prayer in the Gospel of
Matthew. We’re not advocating idle repetitions. Jesus isn’t
here saying just keep repeating the same mundane drone of a prayer
in whatever verbiage you put it in and eventually it will
get answered. That’s not what Jesus is saying. What he is advocating is a persistency, a dogged persistency in praying
for specific issues. He’s not just talking about prayer
in general now, he’s talking about specific things. And I
ask you again, what have you quit praying for? What he’s advocating
here is a wrestling with God and not letting him go. Like
Jacob, Israel, wrestling with God, demanding that God bless
him. What do we pray for like that? What do we lay hold of God for,
refusing to let go until he answers our prayer? There are a few in
my life. But even in saying so, I would
admit that there are too few. There are too few things that
we just lay hold of God and keep coming back to God almost in
demanding an answer from Him. There are too few. I’ve entitled
the message this morning, Pestering God to Move. What it advocates here throughout
the course of this short passage is unrelenting prayer, a prayer
that does not give up. And what Jesus gives in this
portion of instruction is the character, and that’s what we’ll
look at in depth in a moment, the character of persistent prayer. What is persistent prayer look
like? Or, if you will, the degrees
of persistent prayer. And I told you, sometimes the
illustration is given first. And that’s exactly the case in
this passage. Jesus had just taught them about
the disciples prayer. He had just given them a model
to pray. And then suddenly. He launches
into this illustration and seemingly there is no fit except that this
is a class. On prayer, the class didn’t end
at verse four. And Jesus says in verse five,
let’s pretend. That’s not in the Greek. That’s essentially what Jesus
says, suppose, what if? Let’s pretend you had a friend
that went, pardon me, to another friend’s house at midnight. Now,
I don’t know about you. I don’t receive a whole lot of
visitors at midnight. We’ve gotten a few. One of them,
we’ve been laughing and joking with the Magnussons this week.
We’re still trying to adjust their California clock backwards
an hour. Well, imagine us. We have just
exited college ministry. Two, three o’clock in the morning
wasn’t out of the ordinary. Right, Aaron? We had just exited
the college ministry and then we moved two hours east to Illinois
from California. And it was probably one or two
or later when we got a knock on the door, ironically, from
two of our college kids who had taken a red-eyed jet into Chicago,
rented a car, and were supposed to drive back in an errand for
this gentleman’s boss. I don’t receive a whole lot of
guests at one or two o’clock in the morning. And that’s the
point of the parable. It’s an inconvenient time. It’s a sleeping
time. Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him at midnight.
That ought to stand out in our minds as being abnormal. And
it was there too. You can preach this to your college
kids if you want. Suppose one of you goes to him at midnight
and says to him, friend, lend me three loaves. Let me put some
perspective on this too. This wasn’t an entire meal. This
is dips and chip, right? Or chips and dip. This is just
a little something to tide his friend over who had just come
in off the road. Lend me three loaves. They were these small,
flat pieces of bread. Dry. And so you’d need some dip
with it or salsa if you go to the Santinis. Friend, lend me
three loaves, for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey
and I have nothing to set before him. Somehow, what he’s trying
to do is put his own hospitality off on his friend. I was unprepared. Somehow you need to be prepared
for me and give me the bread. I have nothing to set before
him. And the answer might surprise you. Then again, maybe these
are the words you use from inside, he answers and says, do not bother
me. Go away, go home to bed. The door has already been shut.
My children and I are in bed. I cannot get up and give you
anything. Now, I don’t know what was involved. I’ve read some
commentaries, some fanciful ideas of what was involved in locking
a door in first century Christianity. I don’t know. I can’t imagine
that it was too difficult, right? Maybe a piece of wood that slid
backwards. The guy’s making up excuses. Go back to bed. I don’t
have anything for you. This midnight drop-by. wasn’t
a pleasant event for the guy who was in bed. I love the way
he puts it, though. I love the way Luke characterizes
it. Friend? Isn’t that always how it starts?
Hi, buddy. Hey. And you know, man, what
are they going to borrow? What tool do they not already
have that they want to borrow? So no wonder the answer is harsh. neighbor, ironically, throughout
this whole thing, the neighbor is made here by Christ to represent
God. Go away. Don’t bother me. That is painted here to represent
God Himself. The one petitioning is us. And
so it’s kind of a it’s an uncomfortable parable. In fact, let me tell
you how the in the highly technical world of pastoring a church,
how we arrive at sermon titles. First, you pencil something down
and eventually it makes it on to the bulletin or to the pre
bulletin, and then the wife sees it and her eyes raise and she
says, I don’t think so. My original title for the sermon
was Rousting God Out of Bed. rousting God out of bed, because
that’s exactly what Jesus says. That’s what he says we’re supposed
to be doing in our prayer. It’s as if we’re rousting God
out of bed. Now, don’t write me letters,
especially not unsigned one, because I don’t read those anyway.
But here’s the here’s the situation. God, God doesn’t need a bed.
He doesn’t sleep. His eyes neither slumber nor
sleep. God doesn’t need sleep, but Jesus
is painting the picture. It’s Jesus’ story. Take it up
with Him. The picture here is of this almost shameless, arrogant,
bold individual who barges almost ludicrously
before this man’s house and pounds on his door and won’t go away
until he’s got three big crackers. What our Lord is teaching us.
What he says is he wants us to be, quote unquote, invasive. He wants us to pester him out
of bed. He wants us to come and to keep
coming and to keep knocking and to keep seeking that which we
need. He wants us to come. The man ultimately responded,
says Jesus, not so much out of friendship, but out of irritation.
All right, already. So we’re not waking God up. Jesus concludes in verse 8, I
tell you, even though he will not get up and get him anything
because he is his friend, Jesus, you know what? It’s his parable.
He can do with it whatever he wishes. And here he gives us
the motive of the man’s heart. He didn’t get up and usually
we won’t either. He doesn’t get up just because
of the friendship. He gets up because the guy pesters
him. Look at it. Verse 8, I tell you,
even though he will not get up and give him anything because
he is his friend, yet because of his persistence, he will get
up and he will give him as much as he needs. Jesus, in emphasizing the effectiveness
of prayer, basically says that it is absolutely
imperative that we be persistent in our prayer, even obstinate,
even obnoxious, because this word, if you examine it quite
carefully, that’s exactly what it means. The word rendered persistence,
or if you have the older version, importunity. Now, that’s a word
I use pretty often. And I say it tongue in cheek,
but you know, I’ve tried it. I read this parable, the importunate
slave, the importunate friend going before a friend and importuning
himself before him. I’ve tried it. And I get these
blank stares. What on earth are you talking
about? And so I looked it up, I began to study this word. It
essentially means shamelessness without shame. The guy has no
sense of self-image at all. He’s willing to stand on the
door at midnight in his friend’s house, waking up the children,
the neighbors, and who else? He doesn’t care. It’s persistence. The old word is importune, and
it’s not what you’re thinking. It’s not like some of us sing
importune. It’s importune. It’s a rarely
used word. And it’s it’s really it’s only
used here in all of the New Testament, but it means to press on or urge
with a troublesome persistence. To bug somebody literally. To
request or beg urgently to annoy or to trouble now, if any of
you Parents, if you’ve ever taken your children to the store, especially
to a store that has toys in it, you’ll know exactly what importunity
is. Shamelessness. Impudence. Unblushing persistence. Mom! I’ll give you an example of this from
the Old Testament. Let me show you one who went
before God with importunity. A man by the name of Abraham.
Genesis chapter 18, Abraham came near and said, Will you indeed
sweep away the righteous with the wicked? He’s going before
God, challenging God as to his plan, and he’s pleading with
him, he’s asking. And he presents to God a scenario,
suppose there are 50 righteous within the city, will you indeed
sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the 50
who are in it? The answer far be it from you
to do so. Pardon me the rest of his statement. Far be it from
you to do such a thing to slay the righteous with the wicked
so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far
be it from you shall not the judge of all the earth feel justly.
So the Lord said, if I sense find in Sodom 50 righteous within
the city, then I’ll spare the whole place on their account.
And Abraham knew they didn’t have 50. And so in verse twenty seven,
he says, Abraham says, Abraham replied, Now behold, Lord, I
venture to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.
Now he’s seeking. He’d already asked. Now he’s
pressing it further. Suppose the 50 righteous are
lacking five, what about forty five, Lord? And, you know, the
model and Abraham keeps coming and keeps coming back. This is
the opportunity. This is the illustration of a
saint going before Almighty God and continuing in this irritating
persistence. We’re not informing God about
anything. We’re not changing the structure
of God’s divine plan. God is the one, however, who
has told us to come, and He’s told us to come in these three
things. Asking, seeking, knocking. Essentially, what Jesus says
here back in Luke, that even if this imperfect friend, this
man who was capable, like any one of us, of being irritated
about a midnight visitor, even if this guy ends up responding
out of frustration because the guy won’t go away, what Jesus
is saying, how much more will God respond? How much more will your loving
Heavenly Father, the one that he had just urged us to pray
to, how much more will he give what is good? Martin Luther said
it this way. Prayer is not overcoming God’s
reluctance. Do you get that mentality even
in your own prayer life? You certainly hear that mentality
among people from time to time. that God is this austere, mean
old guy with a white beard, and you’ve got to really plead and
beg, and you’ve got to really convince Him, or He’s not going
to move. He’s not going to open His hand.
He’s not going to give you what you want. Martin Luther said, prayer is
not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold of His willingness.
It’s laying hold of it. You know what the issue is? God
wants to see how bad we want it. And that’s why I ask you
again, what have you quit praying for? What have you given up praying
for? Is essentially the illustration,
the instruction that Jesus gives is essentially three characteristics
of perseverant prayer. That’s where we’ll close this
morning. And they’re clearly arranged in this rising scale
of intensity. It builds and it builds to a
crescendo where you’re pounding on the door at the end. Pestering God to move. The prayer
that God answers is first and foremost characterized by an
earnest request for a specific blessing. An earnest request
for a specific blessing. From time to time, we have this
tendency, in fact, I’d say it’s even a it’s a regular habit,
a feature of our prayer lives. Bless all the missionaries in
the whole wide world. Right. We make it so general
that we couldn’t possibly quantify it if God, we don’t know. We
don’t know whether God answered our prayer or not. And we fail
to be specific. We fail to zero in and ask God
for something clear and concrete and specific. There’s no doubt that asking
here implies a consciousness of need. Jesus had just taught
us that we need our daily bread. We need everything that we have
for our spiritual lives in order to be faithful to God. This word,
this word was used always of an inferior asking of a superior. You know what? It’s never recorded
that this word is used of Jesus speaking with the Father. When
Jesus asked, He didn’t ask as an inferior. He put in a requisition
to His Heavenly Father. It was a one-to-one exchange.
Not for us. This is us falling on our knees
as inferiors asking to Almighty God. And that presupposes a personal
belief of faith, a trust in this God is the father. It’s used of asking by an inferior,
it’s used of a man asking from God, it’s used of of one who
is in a lesser position, asking of a superior. Of a child from
a parent of a subject to a king, it’s our word. It’s the word
that God uses for us to come to Him. Come and ask. And it’s not just here in Luke’s
Gospel. John 16. He says there, teaching
his disciples, until now you have asked for nothing in my
name. Ask. Same word. And you will receive.
Just ask for it. Matthew 21, all things that you
ask in prayer, believing you will receive. Same word. And
it’s repeatedly used throughout the Scripture. Colossians 1.9 For this reason,
since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for
you and to ask. Here’s the Apostle Paul using
this word of inferior to superior. Yep. It’s our word. Whatever we ask from him, we
receive. First John 3.22 Because we keep
his commandments and do the things that are pleasing in his sight.
He’s our heavenly father. So the problem becomes many times,
as James says, we don’t ask. James 4.2 says you do not have
because you do not ask. And I wondered, I began to wonder,
this passage just made me shudder. Because I would have to admit
before you all, there are many, many prayer requests that I have
left off praying. I would encourage you to go back
to your prayer journals, whether you do them on a three by five
card or eight, eight and a half by 11. Do it on the computer
palm pilot if the thing, the batteries still work in it. Go
back and look at your prayer requests. What have you prayed
for in the past and what have you quit praying for? That’s
the issue here. You do not have because you do
not ask. One Puritan said, many Christians
shrink from prayer, respecting outward necessities. But our
spiritual wants we carry to the throne of grace. The cares of
this world and the disappointment of the cherished hopes, the thwarting
of carefully devised plans, the anxieties of narrow income, we
too frequently nurse our depression instead of laying the matter
before God. Did you hear what he says? We’re
big babies. And when we don’t get what we
want, when we want, we quit. We throw our Bible on the bed,
we toss away our prayer journal and we quit praying, we quit
asking Him for that thing. We give up. Some might say, we have asked
God and we’re still in want. He’s not listening to me. I give up. To these, the Apostle
replies that the solution to this difficulty is not far to
seek. Their supplications had lacked one essential element
of true prayer. The desire to consecrate all
God’s gifts to His glory. You know what God says also in
James? Motive. And that’s one thing that will
only come out in time. Why are we praying for what we’re
praying? And you might look at some of the prayer requests that
you’ve prayed in the past and left off, and there might be
good reason to stop praying for them. Your motive was wrong.
You wanted the wrong thing. In that case, you ought to have
another prayer meeting and thank God that he didn’t answer that
prayer. The prayer that God answers is
characterized not only by an earnest request of a specific
blessing, but secondly, secondly, by a thorough and sustained watchfulness. He says, seek, look for it, seek
and you will find. This little word seek is seeking. It’s it’s it’s asking plus seeking. It’s stacked one on top of the
other. It implies that you’ve already earnestly petitioned
the Lord for it. You’ve already asked him, but
that’s not enough. It’s an interesting word in this
passage. It can’t possibly mean that we
don’t know where to look for it because it’s all about prayer.
It’s us going towards God. And so it has to be watching
for how God works, praying and then essentially expecting, watching,
not wondering whether God’s going to work, but when and how. And
people don’t misunderstand me. You know me better than to say
that this is some kind of to think that I’m saying that this
is some kind of wishful thinking or positive thinking. It’s not
that at all. But if you pray for something
to an Almighty God who has all ability, don’t you expect Him
to move? One old pastor said it this way,
to seek is a more industrious and eager and careful, animated
kind of asking. We ask for what we want. We seek
for that which we’ve lost. How badly do we want it? That’s
the bottom line. Are we really seeking it? Are we really expecting God to
respond? You know what? One of the most
amusing passages in all of Scripture to me? Peter gets arrested in
Acts chapter 12. Remember? Peter gets arrested
and so they have a prayer meeting on his behalf. Oh Lord, please
release Peter. Verse 5. Prayer for him was being
fervently made by the church. There they are in a prayer meeting,
praying for Peter, and all of a sudden, a knock on the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice
because of her joy, she did not open the gate, but ran and announced
that Peter was standing out in front of the gate. They said
to her, you’re out of your mind. And you know what? That’s us. We pray for things. We plead for God to move. And
then when it happens, we say, wow, Is it true? Could it be? Is it really you,
Peter? You’re out of your mind. But
she kept insisting that it was so. They kept saying it’s his
angel. Peter continued knocking when
he opened the door, they saw him and they were amazed. They
were amazed. I don’t mean to take anything
away from God. God should. Most of his works should amaze
us in every way. But there are some things that
we should. We prayed for it. Why shouldn’t we expect it? Titus chapter 2 says the same
thing of the Christian. Grace of God has appeared, bringing
salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly
desires, live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age.
Doing what? Looking. We’ve laid hold of Christ. Now
we’re looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the
glory of our great God and Savior. We’re looking for Him. That’s
the seeking. It’s not some kind of crass,
positive thinking, but it’s a hopeful anticipation that God is going
to do what He says. Finally, the prayer that God
answers is characterized by an earnest request for a specific
blessing, secondly, by a thorough, sustained watchfulness, and thirdly,
by a stubbornly persistent appeal to God. Knock. Knock and it shall be open to
you. Knocking is asking plus acting plus persevering. We ask,
we continue, we seek, we continue, we knock. We don’t give up. We
don’t relent. It doesn’t tell us exactly what
we knock on. He’s using the imagery from the
illustration here that he gave at the outset. But every one
of us knows what it’s like to come across a roadblock, an obstacle.
We know what it’s like to bump up into God’s providence. We
can’t do anything about it. God must move or we’re stuck. That’s what he’s talking about.
It’s a closed door. And it’s seemingly and hopelessly
locked unless God moves. And sadly, I would tell you,
for many of us, this is where we give up. This is when we quit
praying. I already prayed that prayer.
I told God what I want and this is how we live, isn’t it? We
pray for it once and we expect that that’s enough. How bad do
we want it? How bad? Scriptures replete with this
kind of insistence that we continue knocking, that we continue persevering. Luke 18.1 tells a similar parable. He was telling them a parable
to show that at all times they ought to pray and not faint.
Many of us are out on our feet. Many of us have fainted, we quit
praying, we quit praying for specific things. Romans 12, 2,
we are to be rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted
to prayer. Could you possibly say on some
of these issues, some of these key elements of your prayer life,
are you devoted to praying for them? Are you devoted to praying
for your family, for your spouse, for your children? Are you devoted
to praying for the church? Are you devoted to praying for
your country? Are you devoted? Ephesians 6, 18 says this with
all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the spirit and
with this in view, be alert and with all perseverance and petition,
pray for all the saints. You pray for one another in that
regard or have you left off? I prayed for him when I met him. God didn’t answer the prayer.
No wonder Jesus closes with His intention. What’s this lesson
all about? It’s simple. He’s already said it. This is
a repeat. I’m not telling you anything new, He says. Everyone
who asks, verse 10, receives. He who seeks, finds. And to him who knocks, it will
be opened. We’re not supposed to quit praying.
We’re not supposed to quit praying when things get difficult. The
question could be asked of us in our day and age. Do we even
know what it is? Do we even know what it is to
be devoted to prayer, to be committed to asking and seeking and knocking
and wrestling in prayer? Treat some subject, some matters
of prayer like it’s a matter of life and death and we will
not stop praying about it until God answers? What kind of prayers
do we quit? When you have an unreasonable
boss, how long do you pray? How long do you pray for his
soul? How long do you pray for patience? How long do you pray
for him that God might soften and turn his heart? What about
a loved one or family friend that you’ve shared Christ with?
At one time you prayed for his soul with such fervency. And
now we quit. Somebody who’s sick, maybe you,
maybe somebody else, some illness. How many times do we just end
up accepting that as normal? We quit praying. This must be
how it’s supposed to be. A nation in turmoil. Split almost
down the middle on almost every subject. How often do we wrestle
in prayer? How often are we committed? How
often do we ask, seek and knock that God might turn the hearts
of our people? What about our leaders? What
about our church? You say, why on earth would we quit? Your
heart can answer that question. Why do we quit? Some of the lamest
excuses I’ve ever heard, God’s sovereign. God’s sovereign, he’ll
work it out. He is sovereign and he will work
it out. But he tells you to pray. You work that out. Not an excuse not to pray. Some
will say that it’s no good. It’s no use. I prayed and God
didn’t do anything. It’s not an excuse. I’m too busy. That’s not an excuse. Some of the Puritans used to
say that they were too busy not to pray three to four hours a
day, too busy not to pray that long. I’ll tell you what persistent
prayer isn’t. Persistent prayer isn’t a laziness
in prayer. It’s not an occasional thing.
It’s not a hastiness in prayer. It’s not going in and jumping
in and jumping out. The three things for which we
pray and then closing for the day. It’s not mumbled prayers. It’s not an occasional prayer.
It’s not a lukewarm prayer. It’s not a wandering, empty mind
in prayer. It’s a fervent pleading with
God that God would move. And unless he moves, he will
not let him go. Jesus says that’s how to pray.
That’s why to pray. Let’s pray. Oh, gracious God, we’re ashamed because we’ve never
even acknowledged it, that we don’t know how to pray. And so
our first and foremost plea to you, we ask that you would teach
us how to pray. that You would make us a praying
people that lays hold of You and will not let go. Glorify
Yourself, Father, through us in the lives of prayer that You
cultivate among us. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray,
Amen. We’ll let our brother John, or
sorry, somebody, take us out.