Luke 11

Luke 11:1

As far as we know, the disciples never said, “Lord, teach us to preach,” or, “Teach us to do miracles.” I believe this is because, hanging out with the Lord, they understood that His teaching, His witnessing, His miraculous powerthat indeed all He was and all He did was linked to, and a result of, His devoted prayer life. Notice that the disciples didn’t say, “Teach us how to pray,” but rather, simply, “Teach us to pray.” Every one of us who is a believer knows that the posture of prayer is the place of power. So why don’t we pray? I believe one reason is that we have greatly complicated prayer. We have made it something it was never intended to be because we have believed the lie of the Enemy that prayer is difficult, time-consuming, heavy. When I think of John the Baptist, I think of a rugged individual boldly proclaiming the need for repentance. But evidently, John was known as one who prayed and one who taught others to pray.

Luke 11:2

In His answer to His disciples’ request, we first see Jesus give a pattern for prayer. Teaching them a prayer only sixty-two words long, it was as if Jesus was saying, “Keep it simple.” In fact, when Jesus gave this same prayer as a model two years previously in the Sermon on the Mount, it was a sentence longer (Mat_6:13). I think our Lord is the only One who gets simpler the longer one walks with Him. We have a tendency to become more complicated. Not so the Lord. He gives a short prayer to begin with, then, after a couple of years, He says, “I’ll make it even easier for you.”

Luke 11:5

Secondly, we see the necessity for persistence in prayer. In Jesus’ day, the middle- and lower-class houses consisted of a single room in which one-third of the floor was elevated about eight inches above the rest and contained a small fire ring around which the family would sleep. The remaining two-thirds of the room housed the animals. Thus, it is easy to see why this man was reluctant to crawl over the kids and stumble over the animals to answer his door. Yet he did so nonetheless. Jesus uses this analogy to say that because our Father never sleeps (Psa_121:3), because our Father never says, “Don’t bother Me,” how much more would He be willing to respond to the one who keeps asking, keeps seeking, keeps knocking. Many people have a huge problem at this point. Why must I keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking? they wonder. There’s a reason. God is not trying to play hard to get. Nor is He treating us like puppies, trying to teach us to begand if we stand up on our hind legs and yap loud enough, He’ll drop a biscuit in our mouth. No, no, no. We need to persist in prayer because it helps us determine that which is important to us. The closer Christmas got, the more Benjamin and Mary, who were toddlers at the time, changed their minds about what they really wanteduntil finally a pattern began to develop, based upon a few things to which they kept returning. The same is true of you and me. We’re like kids. We want this to happen, or that to work out. And then three days later, we want something else entirely. Consequently, I believe the Lord teaches us to persist in prayer to help us sort through what really is important to us.

But even more fundamentally, I think we are to persist in prayer simply because the Father enjoys being with us. And if He gave us what we asked for the first time every time, He knows us well enough to know we would just grab the goods and run. The fact that we must come to Him repeatedly helps us see that, in the end, it was His fellowship we craved all along.

Luke 11:11

In addition to a pattern for prayer and the importance of persistence in prayer, Jesus gives the principle of prayer. No good thing will the Lord withhold from them that love Him (Psa_84:11). Therefore, if that which I want or have prayed does not come my way, I must conclude it is not good for meat least not at this timebecause my Father will do what’s best. He will not give me what He knows is a scorpion, even though I think it’s a fish. Nor will He give me a rock when what I need is a piece of bread.

Luke 11:14

That last phrase is my life verse. The dumb spake and the people wondered.

Luke 11:15

“If indeed I cast out demons by the power of Satan, why would Satan cast out Satan?” Jesus asks. “That makes no sense because a divided kingdom can’t stand.”

Luke 11:20

Notice Jesus doesn’t cast out devils with the arm of God or even the hand of God. He does so with merely the finger of God. We often think Satan and God are involved in a struggle that goes back and forth, which ebbs and flows. Not true. Because Satan is incomparable to the Person and power of God, He is no match for God. Satan being nothing more than a fallen angel, his counterpart is neither God nor Jesus, but an archangel like Michael. And even they are victorious over him (Dan_10:13; Jud_1:9).

Luke 11:21

The fact that Jesus cast out demons was undeniable. And since it was ludicrous of the Pharisees to think that He cast them out by the power of Satan, the only logical conclusion was that He was indeed the One stronger than Satan, the One who, on the Cross would “disarm principalities and powers, making a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it” (Col_2:15).

Luke 11:23

No one can be neutral in the area of spiritual warfare. We either embrace Jesus or we are His enemy.

Luke 11:24

Continuing His discourse on spiritual warfare, Jesus makes it clear that if someone is freed from the grasp of a demon but doesn’t embrace the Lord, demons will return to that individual seven times worse than before. This explains why, although psychology and psychiatry might help someone for a short time, he will end up worse than before if the Lord isn’t at the core of the healing process because reformation apart from regeneration only leads to greater frustration. This applies sociologically, culturally, individually. “We’ll march in the streets to ban abortion,” we say. “We’ll pass laws against it. We’ll elect candidates to outlaw it. We’ll turn the moral tide of this country against it by reformation and legislation.” The result? Seven times the evil has come in the form of RU-486, a pill that causes abortion chemically and quietly. Reformation without regeneration just makes things darker. The real issue is that people must be born again. They must be open to the Word of God to guide them. Therefore, it is not our job as ministers and ambassadors to get people to clean up their acts. Our call is to introduce them to the Person of Jesus in order that they might be born again.

Luke 11:27

Although this woman draws attention to His mothera position that could be claimed by only one, Jesus redirects her attention to His familya position available to all (Joh_1:12).

Luke 11:29

The one sign Jesus would give to this and every generation was His Resurrection. Therefore, whenever you talk to unbelievers, the issue should always center on the Resurrection. The proof of the authority of Jesus Christ over every other so-called religious leader is singular. It is always the Resurrection.

Luke 11:33

The reason light shines is in order that people might see. Therefore, if Jesus is the Light of the world (Joh_8:12), why don’t people see the truth about Him? Read on.

Luke 11:34

Even the brightest sun can’t make a blind man see. This explains why even though Jesus is the Light of the world, people don’t see properly because their eyes are darkened according to their own choice.

Luke 11:37

Jesus never refused an opportunity to have a meal with someonebe it an invitation from a friend or from a Pharisee.

Luke 11:38

Washing speaks not of hygiene but of ritual. The Book of Leviticus makes it clear that ceremonial cleansing was intended only for the priests. But over the years, the priests required it of the people. I can see this same tendency in my own life. Perhaps you can in yours as well. Sometimes the Lord might speak to us individually about specific things we are or are not to do. But the temptation and tendency is for us to make what the Lord tells us personally a rule for everyone around us corporately. And such is the basis of legalism.

Luke 11:39

True piety is not seen in religiosity, but through generosity. “Forget religion,” Jesus says. “Give alms instead. Help people in need.”

Luke 11:42

Jesus indicted the Pharisees for the very thing they were good at: majoring on the minors, concentrating on external details while ignoring that which was essential and eternal. It was not their tithing that was wrong, but their failure to love. If one truly loves, tithing will follow, for while it is possible to give without loving, it is not possible to truly love without giving.

Luke 11:44

According to the law, walking over a grave caused a person to be defiled. Thus, Jesus said to the Pharisees, “When people come into contact with you, they don’t know you’re dead, but you defile them nonetheless.”

Luke 11:45

“Come unto Me all ye that are weary and heavy-laden,” Jesus said, “and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). Jesus is the burden-Bearer. The more I get to know people, the more I find myself praying, “Lord, don’t allow me to burden anyone this day more heavily than they’re already burdened.” You see, although our tendency is to think we’re the only ones going through hard times, everyone we meet, everyone we talk to is fighting a tough battle in some area of their lives. No wonder we are to be kind.

Luke 11:47

The religious leaders built impressive monuments for the prophets their own number had killed. Here, the greatest Prophet of all stood before them, and they would kill Him as well.

Luke 11:49

From A to Zthe blood of Abel to Zacharias would be required at the hand of the religious establishment.

Luke 11:52

In the Middle Ages, the Bible was chained to the pulpit, for church leaders believed only a priest could rightly understand its contents. Although we no longer chain the Bible, I wonder sometimes when we say a clear understanding of the Word cannot be had without a knowledge of Greek, Hebrew, and the intricacies of theology if we’re not, in effect, doing the same thing. While there is indeed a place in exposition for reaching back to the richness of the original language and culture, it must never be implied that one cannot, by himself, understand the Bible. Surely, the Lord will teach and instruct anyone who reads the Word, regardless of his educational or cultural background.

Luke 11:53

The scribes and Pharisees tried to get Jesus to talknot to gain understanding from Him, but in an effort to verbally trap Him.