"NCR--No Coercion Required"

Scripture Passage

John 8:21-59; Luke 10-11:13

(See...like you might "coerce" something with a hammer?)

Scripture Focus

“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:13 NLT)

Observation

Luke 11:13 stands on its own as a great promise of God’s generosity. But the message finds particular emphasis when seen against the story Jesus tells in the preceding verses. In Jesus’ story, a man has been caught off-guard by the arrival of unexpected, late-night guests. Horror of horrors, he has nothing to feed them!

Oh, I know we don’t appreciate that completely, because we forget there was no late-night Taco Bell drive thru and (on a more serious note) because we simply don’t value offering hospitality nearly as much as a first-century Jew would have. But know this: For the man in Jesus’ story, not being able to properly host his unexpected guests would be a social faux pas of the worst kind!

So when the guests arrive, the man is desperate to supply a bite to eat—so desperate that he’s willing to go next door and wake his neighbor to find some. The neighbor protests that he and his family are already in bed. But the man cannot risk being embarrassed by announcing his lack to his guests, so he persists shamelessly. He’ll wake the whole neighborhood if he has to! And so Jesus says about the sleepy neighbor...

“Though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence” (Luke 11:8).

Some folks have read that verse and concluded that our shameless persistence gets us points with God—that the guy who prays loudly enough, long enough…who out-shouts and outlasts the competing prayers…gets kudos from God for his endurance, and maybe an answer to prayer. I think, rather, that the lesson’s not finished until we read verse 13:

“So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” (Luke 11:13 NLT)

The point is, even a reluctant neighbor…a man who, truth be told, is a sinner…someone imperfect, and someone who (in the middle of the night, to be sure) probably has *his* best interests at heart more than *your* best interests…

Even a reluctant, sinful neighbor will eventually concede to your “shameless persistence.” “How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him” (Luke 11:13 NLT)—no coercion required.

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