“The Doctrine of Importunity”
(Sunday Morning February 27th, 2011)
Passage: Luke 11:5-13
O.S. I Believe That We are All Very Hopeful About This Opportunity That We Have
to Purchase Our Own Property and Two Buildings With Over 10,000 Square Feet
-> But of Course, This Transaction Has Not Been Completed Yet
-> And Therefore, We All Still Need to Give All That We Can as Soon as We Can
in Order to See This Become a Reality
-> More Than That, However, I Believe That We All Need to be Praying Earnestly
and Persistently About All of This
-> For You See, I Believe That There is a Spiritual Conflict Going on Right Now,
and None of Us Can Really Know What That Conflict Involves
-> Even Though This Seems Like an Awesome Opportunity for Us, for Example,
It Could Actually be aSerious Mistake and Only God Would Know That
-> So, We Need to be Praying for His Will to be Done in This Matter
-> It is Also Very Possible That God Wants Us to Have These Facilities; and if This
is the Case, That There is a Spiritual Conflict Being Waged Over It Right Now
-> And I Can Support That Statement by Drawing Your Attention to Several
Different Passages of Scripture Regarding the Power of Prayer
-> In Genesis 32, for Example, We Find a Story About Jacob Wrestling
With the Angel of the Lord at a Placed Called “Peniel” Which Literally
Means “The Face of God” (By the Way, Have You Ever Done Any Wrestling?)
-> I Believe That Was a Pre-incarnate Appearance of the Lord Jesus as the Name
“Peniel” Suggests, and Jacob Wrestled With the Lord All Night Long and Even
After the Socket of His Thigh Had Been Permanently Affected by the Conflict
“Then he said (The Lord Said), ‘Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.’ But he said,
(Jacob Said) ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me.’" (Picture That)(Gen 32:26)
-> And Jacob, as Most of Us Know, Was Blessed by God, Because He Had Wrestled
With Godin Prayer All Night Long and He Had Prevailed
St = In Exodus 17, We are Told About an Occasion When the Amalekites Attacked
the Israelites
-> So, Moses Went Up on a Nearby Mountain to Pray and in Exodus 17:11
the Bible Says
“So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when
he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed”
-> If You are Familiar With That Story, You Should Know That Moses’ Arms Got
Tired, and He Couldn’t Keep Them Up Any Longer
-> So, Aaron and a Man Named Hur (H.U.R.) Helped Moses Keep His Arms Up
to God, Which Obviously Symbolized Prayer; and Consequently, the Israelites
Were Victorious
-> Joseph Parker, a 19th Century British Preacher, Once Wrote This; He Wrote,
“Prayers are battles. Prayer was the battlefield of our Lord’s life in which
he won all of His victories. ‘In the days of flesh, He offered up prayers
and supplications with strong crying and tears’”
-> The Last Part of That Statement Came Directly From Hebrews 5:7, and All We
Have to do is Study Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer to Verify the Reality of It
-> Because There We are Told That Jesus’ Sweat Became Like Drops of Blood
as He Prayed Very Intensely for His Disciples and for You and for Me
Pt = There is a Spiritual Conflict Going on; We Cannot See It With Our Human Eyes,
But It is Very Real and Our Prayers to God Have Some Bearing Upon It
-> It is Impossible for Us to Know Exactly Why This is So, But the Scriptures
Make It Very Clear to Us That This is True
-> And This Passage of Scripture That We are Studying This Morning is a Perfect
Example of This
-> Because in This Passage, We are Encouraged to Pray Earnestly, and Persistently,
and Yes, Even Shamelessly, or With What Theologians Call “IMPORTUNITY!”
-> That is What This Passage is All About; So, With This in Mind, I Have Divided
Into Two Parts
I. Jesus Used a Parable of Contrasts to Illustrate This Doctrine
1) We Have an Emphasis
Verses 5-8 (Read)
-> The Key Word in This Passage, the Operative Word, is Found in Verse 8
-> It is Translated as the Word “Persistence,” But It Really Implies More Than That
-> It is the Greek Word “Anaideion”
-> It Only Appears Once in the Greek New Testament, and It Literally Means
“To be Overly Bold” or “To be Shamelessly Persistent”
-> We Might Say of Someone Like This in Our Day
“Well, He Has a Lot of Nerve to Make That Kind of a Request”
-> And That is the Point That Jesus is Trying to Get Across in This Parable
-> This Guy Was “Shamelessly Persistent” When It Came to Getting What He Wanted
From This so Called “Friend”
-> Now, to Really Appreciate This Parable, Which is Actually a Humorous Parable,
We Need to Understand a Few Things About What Life Was Like in Jesus’ Day
a. To Begin With, We Need to Understand That Hospitality Was Considered
to be a Sacred Duty Back Then
-> And That is Still True in Parts of the Middle East Today
-> Even Poverty Was Not an Excuse, if You Were Destitute and Had Nothing to Set
in Front of a Visitor, You Were Obligated to Find a Way to Give Him Something
b. In Addition to This, It Was Not Unusual for People to Arrive at Your House
at Night
-> This is Also Still True in the Middle East Today
-> Because of the Blistering Heat of the Sun in That Desert Tropical Area,
People Often Traveled at Night, and They Often Arrived at Night
c. Moreover, It Was Considered Inappropriate to Knock on Someone’s Door
-> It Was the Custom in the Ancient Middle East for People to Leave Their Doors
Open During the Day, and Anyone Who Wanted to Could Simply Come In
-> That is Also Still True in Many Places in the Middle East Today
-> But Once the Door Was Shut, People Were Expected to Respect a Family’s
Privacy
-> And Not Only That, Opening and Closing a Door Was Not an Easy Task
-> Closing a Door Required Sliding an Iron or Wooden Stake Through a Series
of Rings, and With Only the Dim Light of an Oil Lamp Available,This Would
Have Been a Complicated Ordeal
-> In Fact, I am Sure That is Why the Word “Shut” is in the Perfect Tense
in the Greek Here
-> It Means That the Door Was Shut, and This Man Intended to Keep It Shut
-> Another Fact That Should Add a Little Humor to This Story is the Fact
That People Brought Their Small Animals Into Their Houses at Night
to Protect Them From Predators
-> The Animals Stayed on the Ground Near the Door While All of the Family
Members Slept Together on a Raised Platform
-> So, You Can Just Imagine How Difficult It Would Have Been to Get
Everyone to go to Sleep at Night
-> And This Man Knew That if He Gave in and Opened His Door in the Middle
of the Night, He Could Give Up on Getting a Good Nights Sleep
. The Light of the Lamp Might Cause Some of His Kids to Wake Up
. The Goats Might Start Butting Heads With Each Other or Something
. The Chickens Might Start Cackling
. And if the Rooster Decided to Crow, You Could Forget About It
-> So, the Last Thing This Guy Wanted to do Was to Get Up in the Middle
of the Night and Open His Door and Give This so Called “Friend” Some
Bread, But This Man Just Wouldn’t Take “No” for an Answer
(That is the Point = Elaborate = He Didn’t Just Knock Once and go Away)
St = Now Listen, Jesus is Saying, in Essence, That This is What He Wants Us to Do
-> Jesus is Encouraging Us to Continue to Pray in a Shamelessly Persistent Way,
and That is What the Word “Importunity” Means
-> Someone Might be Tempted to Say
“Well, God is Sovereign; God is on His Throne; God is Busy Running This
Universe;and So, I Shouldn’t Bother Him With My Little Petitions”
-> But, Jesus, in Essence, Said
“By All Means Bother Him,Pester Him, be Shamelessly Persistent in Prayer,
and by Doing So, You Will Increase Your Odds of Getting a Positive Answer”
-> In Fact, I Want You to Take Note of the Fact That This Parable Describes
a Conflict
-> We Have One Man Trying to Bend and Affect the Will of Another Man
-> And in Just a Moment, I am Going to Describe a Parable About an Importunate
Widow Who Kept Pleading With a Reluctant Judge to Take Up Her Case
-> That is an Even Better Example of One Person Trying to Bend and Affect the Will
of Another Person, and Jesus Says That She Got What She Wanted Because of Her
Shameless Persistence
-> Moreover, Luke Prefaced That Parable With This Statement; Listen, He Said,
“Now He (Referring to Jesus) was telling them a parable to show that at all times
they ought to pray and not to lose heart”
-> Prayer Involves a Conflict, in Other Words, and We Should Not Lose Heart;
We Should Not Give Up; We Should Continue to Try to Bend and Affect the Will
of Another,NAMELY OUR HEAVENLY FATHER, in an Earnest and Persistent
and Even Shameless Way
-> And This is Why I Have No Intention of Turning Down the Volume in My Prayer
Life Right Now
-> Every Day for the Past 21 Months, I Have Asked the Lord to Provide a Property
and Facilities Miracle for Us, and This Could Very Well be That Miracle; So, I am
Not About to Turn the Volume Down Now (Can I Get a Witness?)
2) We Have an Explanation
-> Now, Most of the Time Jesus Used Parables to Make Comparisons, But Sometimes
He Used Parables to Provide Us With a Contrast
-> And That is What He Does Here
Contrast # 1 = God is More Than a Friend; He is Our HeavenlyFather
-> Back in Verse 2 of This Same Chapter, Jesus Said That It is Alright to Begin
Our Prayers by Saying “Our Father Who is in Heaven”
-> This Means That Our Relationship With God is Such That We Should Not Feel
That We Need to Hesitate to Come to Him With a Bold Request
-> Furthermore, God, by His Very Nature, is a Giver; He is Not Reluctant to Give
Us Things as This so Called “Friend” Was
-> In James 1:5, for Example, James, the Half Brother of Jesus Said This; He Said,
“But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously
and without reproach, …”
-> This Means That God Does Not “Chide Us” When We Make a Request;
He Doesn’t Make Us Feel Guilty for Asking (Ex. Borrowing From a Relative)
Contrast # 2 = God Never Sleeps; Therefore, He Cannot be Inconvenienced
-> In Psalms 121:4,the Psalmist Said,
“Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep”
-> So, We Can Come to God in Prayer at Any Time Day or Night, and He Will
Not Feel Inconvenienced in Any Way Whatsoever
Contrast # 3 = This Man Was Reluctant to Provide a Small Request, But God is More
Than Willing and Able to Grant a Large Request
-> My Favorite Verse of Scripture on Prayer, as Most of You Know,
is Ephesians 3:20 Which Says
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask
or think, according to the power that works within us” (Elaborate)
Ill: Now, as I Said Earlier, There is Another Parable of Contrasts That Deals With This
Same Subject Recorded in the 18th Chapter of the Gospel of Luke
-> It is a Parable About an Unjust Judge and a Widow, and Jesus Described the Judge
in That Parable as a Man Who Neither “Feared God” or “Respected Man”
-> Jesus Was Saying, in Essence, That This Man Was a Bad Dude Who Only Cared
About Three People in This World “Me, Myself and I”
-> Women in That Day Had Very Few Rights, and a Widow Had Even Fewer Rights
-> And This Widow Wanted the Judge to Hear Her Case, But She Didn’t Have Any
Political Clout or Money to Bribe Him With; So, He Just Ignored Her Request
-> But This Widow Did Have One Thing Going for Her, and That is That She Could
Talk, and Talk, and Talk, and Talk, and Talk(Some Women are Good at That)
-> Anyway, She Pestered Him, and She Badgered Him, But He Still Didn’t Take Notice
Until (LISTEN)He Began to Sense That His Reputation Was Being Damaged
-> He Said, “But Because This Widow Bothers Me” or Literally “Because She is Giving
Me a Black Eye”Which Means That She Was Damaging His Reputation (Elaborate
-“Anaideion” = “Shame” Usually Resulted in Extravagance = Shaming God)
NOW, I WANT YOU TO CONSIDER THIS
-> By Way of Contrast, God is Not at All Like an Unjust Judge(God is Kind and Just),
and We are Not at All Like theImpoverished Widow(We are Joint Heirs with Christ)
-> But Like This Unjust Judge, God is Also Concerned About His Reputation or What
the Bible Refers to as His Glory
-> And This is Why Moses, on One Occasion, Very Wisely Appealed to God
on the Basis of His Own Reputation When He Had Stated That He Was Going
to Destroy the Israelites
-> Moses Said, in Essence,
“Lord, if You do That the Egyptians Will Hear of It and Other Nations Will Hear of It
as Well and Your Reputation Will be Tarnished; You Will be Shamed”(Num 14:13-17)
-> So, for His Own Name’s Sake, the Lord Set Aside His Wrath, and He Answered
Moses’ Prayer of Intercession
Q.n = Now, Does This Mean That God is Reluctant to Answer Our Prayers?
Ans = Not at All
-> For You See, Both of These Parables That I Just Mentioned are Contrasting
Parables
-> God IS NOT Like a Reluctant Friend; God IS NOT Like an Unjust Judge, and God
IS NOT Like an Evil Father Who Plays Dirty Tricks on His Kids
-> In Fact, He Spoke Through the Prophet Isaiah, and He Said,
"It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they
are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24)
-> God is Not Reluctant to Answer Our Prayers, But He is Greatly Honored
by Our Faith and Our Persistence
______
Ill: The Story of Leslie Lemke is a Good Example of This
-> He Was Born Prematurely and Expected to Die, But a Nurse by the Name
of May Lemke Felt Compassion for This Child and She Adopted Him
-> For 16 Years, She Worked Tirelessly With Him, and She Prayed Every Day
That God Would Show Her How He Could be Glorified by Leslie’s Life
-> Then, She Heard One Night What She Thought Was the Television Set;
But It Wasn’t the Television, It Was Her Son Leslie Playing Tchaikovsky’s
Piano Concerto Number One
-> Leslie Had Heard It, and He Duplicated It to Perfection
-> Eventually, May and Leslie Were Interviewed on 60 Minutes, and ABC’s Show
Called That’sIncredible(You Can View That Video on My Website at
It’s on My Sermon Page)
-> They Also Made a Movie About Leslie’s Life, and He Received Numerous
Invitations to Play the Piano and Sing at Churches
Q.n = Why Did God Give Leslie Lemke This Marvelous Gift and Cause Him
to Rise to This Level of Fame and Ministry?
Ans = I Believe It Happened Because May Lemke Prayed Earnestly
and Persistently and Shamelessly for God to Bless Him
II. Jesus Used a Principle of Comparison to Implement This Doctrine
-> Jesus Based Everything He Said in These Next Four Verses on a Principle,
and the Principle is This:
“Natural Fathers do Good Things for Their Children; And So, We Can Trust
Our Heavenly Father to do Even Better Things for Us”
1) We Have an Extreme
vs 9-10 (Read)
-> Now, I Want You to Notice That Jesus Encourages Us to Put Forth Some Effort
-> To Begin With, He Tells Us to Ask, and Our Children are a Good Example of This
Aren’t They? (They Persists, and Sometimes They Get Their Friends to Help Them)
a. Asking Expresses Our Dependence
-> When We Ask God for Something, We Acknowledge That We are Dependent
Upon Him to Meet Our Need
-> And the Sad Truth is That a Lot of Prayers are Never Answered Simply
Because They are Never Asked
-> In James 4:2, James, the Half Brother of Jesus, Simply Said,
“…You do not have because you do not ask”
b. Seeking Expresses OurDesire
-> Because We are Not Omniscient, There are Times When We Must Pray Even
Though We are Not Sure About What We Should be Praying for
-> But the Good News is That the Holy Spirit Can Help Us to Pray and God Will
Apply Our Prayers in the Proper Way
-> Romans 8:26-27, the Apostle Paul Said,
“26 In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how
to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too
deep for words; 27 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the
Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God”
c. Knocking Expresses Our Determination
-> Many Believe That Jesus Had the Ancient Beggars in Mind When He Made
This Statement
-> Now, We Have Beggars in Our Society, But They are Nothing at All Like Those
in the Society in Which Jesus Lived (Ex. Ours Stand Silently on Street Corners)