Persistent Prayer

Persistent Prayer – Luke 18: 1 – 8

Intro: A young entrepreneur came to a “dry town” to build a tavern. There was no law against doing so; but the community was very religiously conservative. Members from the various town church held prayer meetings to pray for God to intervene. One night the tavern was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. The tavern owner, aware of the activities of the “church people” sued each congregation. They, of course, denied any responsibility. The judge hearing the case said at the beginning of the trial, “No matter what the outcome, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believed in the power of prayer and the Christians do not!”

I VS 1 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Reading this verse, we might assume the purpose of the parable is to “not give up”

A The GK expression translated as “not give up” is ekkakeo / ???a??? which has a variety of translations including: to be weak/ to be weary / show cowardice / faintheartedness / desperate.

B Choose any one of the above. It appears that Jesus is encouraging the disciples in their prayer-life.

C We pray about something or someone for awhile and expect an immediate answer from God. We are impatient: we want what we want, and we want it now! That’s not how God works. ALL prayer is answered: No / not yet / yes / I’ve got a better idea / you’ve got to be kidding.

II The actual parable begins in VV 2 & 3. There, Jesus sets the stage by describing the two characters who create the relevance of the story.

A The first character is a judge described in VS. 2 as “a judge who neither feared God nor care what people thought.” This man /unds -+++like people who exist in our world today. I call them the “all about me” people.

B The second character is a widow, who has no money to bribe a judge, w/o a husband to speak up for her, and no way to influence or pressure the judge to do what is right. She is in a helpless situation, w/o any other recourse.

C VS. 3 “And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’” Her request in the parable was for what was right. There are quite a few of those people in our own community.

III Looking superficially at this parable, one might assume that it is about praying persistently. Pray for what you want and just keep on praying until you get what you want.

A My grandfather was fond of saying, “If you can’t win them over; wear them down.” Unfortunately, that does not work with God. You see, the unjust judge in this parable DOES NOT represent God.

B Look at VV. 6 & 7 “And the Lord said, ‘Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?”

C The parable is not about persistent praying. It is about persistently praying for justice. The judge finally grants the widow’s request for JUSTICE because she has been persistent in seeking what is right. The Lord has no patience with injustice and oppression and neither should we.

Concl: VS. 8b – When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth. The blight of worldliness, the spread of selfish ambition, the me-first mentality, and holding on to past joys and pains makes us a beleaguered garrison in a hostile world rather than a conquering army.

We are not expected to succeed or do great things. We are asked to only bear witness and be faithful. Whether there are any faithful people when Christ returns depends on our persistence in praying and being faithful to God’s word and work. If Christ Jesus were to come today, would he find faith in your life? Would he find you persevering in prayer and service? Or would he find that you have quit praying because you do not really believe?