Dangerous Christian Pt 4

Luke 18:1-8 And he spake a parable unto them to this end, "that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;" [2] Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: [3] And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. [4] And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; [5] Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. [6] And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. [7] And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? [8] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

I honestly thought that we were done with this series on this subject... the dangerous Christian. I felt like the well was empty like I had covered everything that the Holy Spirit wanted me to cover but as I spent time in his presence meditating in the word worshiping God, I heard the Holy Spirit speak to my heart.

He said to me, everything you've said is true about the knowledge, what you know, what you have, and what you do. But this series and this subject on becoming and living the life as a dangerous Christian cannot be complete without addressing the subject of Prayer.

The fact of the matter is it is impossible to be a dangerous Christian without prayer.

In our text the master of prayer and intercession himself, our savior the Lord Jesus Christ, is teaching us about prayer. And he begins by telling us, if you don't pray you will faint. And he uses a parable to drive his point home. Parables are stories of natural ordinary life conditions and circumstances that parallel to spiritual truths.

Jesus often taught spiritual principals by first telling a natural parable.

That's what he does here.

In this parable we have a widow woman who has been wronged, and she has no one to help her, so she goes to the judge. This judge is in the position of righting wrongs, and meeting out justice. The problem is, this judge is wicked, self-serving, self-righteous and Godless. He has no respect for anyone including God. He doesn't care about anyone except himself.

Why does Jesus tell us all these terrible things about this judge? This judge is certainly no true representation of God who is the righteous judge of all creation.

So why? It is to create a back drop for the attitude that pleases God, and gets answers.

So Jesus says this widow comes to this unjust, wicked, self-serving judge seeking for justice for what she has suffered. And the Bible says...

Luke 18:4-6 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; [5] Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. [6] And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

So here is the spiritual truth that Jesus is presenting... This widow womans audacity, and boldness, and persistence won her case. Even though the judge didn't care about the law, and didn't care that she had been wronged, and didn't care about her as a person or a fellow human being.

All he cared about was that he could see in this woman a boldness and a persistence that was making and would continue to make his life miserable.

This is what Jesus is really teaching. He is teaching that bold, audacious, agressive, persistent faith, manifested by never quitting, never backing off, always wins, even against the most difficult, and most contrary and unyielding circumstances.

Then Jesus ties it all together and brings the parable to a spiritual application. Luke 18:7-8 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? [8] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

Jesus ends by saying... when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

In other words, will he find faith that is manifested by this kind of committment, and persistence, and boldness.

We are talking about being a dangerous Christian, the fact is...You and I will never be a threat to the devil without prayer.

Secondly you will never be of any use in Kingdom purposes without prayer.

We can talk about singing we can talk about preaching, we can talk about prophesying, we can talk about Church attendance, we can talk about giving, and sowing, we can talk about Joy, and peace, and we can talk about having power over the devil. But the fact of the matter is when it's all said and done it doesn't matter how much we talk about it, what matters is whether we do it or not.