Tell Me a Story
The Persistent Widow
Luke 18:1-8
God wants me to pray persistently
Persistent prayer helps me keep focus…
…on who God is (v. 6-7a)
…on who I am (v. 7b)
…on what’s important
Persistent prayer helps me produce fruit (v. 5-7)(John 15:7-8)
Persistent prayer helps me demonstrate faith (v.8)
Slide
Have you ever spent time praying for something and nothing seems to happen?
Do you ever struggle with the apparent silence of God to some of our requests?
Do you ever just give up praying for something because God just doesn’t seem to be answering?
Lord, make my marriage better, but it doesn’t seem to get better
Lord, help me with these struggling finances, but they are still a struggle
Lord, help find a cure for cancer, but cancer still kills.
If you have, you are not alone.
I am sure all of us have faced times when prayer did not seem to be having any affect on our situation.
Maybe we have faced a time of injustice and we have prayed only to be met with what seems to us as the silence of God.
What is happening in this silence?
Why is God not listening?
Or is He listening and we just don’t see the work that is going on?
This morning we are going to read a story told by Jesus of a persistent widow and an unjust Judge in
Luke 18:1-8 (p. 742)
Slide
Here is a woman who has suffered injustice and is looking for justice to be served but no one is hearing her.
Let’s read this story and see what the Lord would have us learn from this story of the Persistent Widow and unjust judge.
Luke 18:1-8
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ’Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ’Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’"
6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 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? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
Now before we begin, there are a couple things we need to understand.
Some people when they read this think, God is being compared to an unjust judge, like someone we need to pester if we are going to get our way.
That is not the case.
This story is not so much a comparison as it is a “how much more” story.
Jesus starts out many of his parables with “the kingdom of heaven is like…” and he often compares something to help describe a certain aspect of what he is trying to teach.
But in this story, it is more like, if evil men will do justice when they don’t want to, then how much more will it be with God.
If the persistence of a widow will cause even an unjust judge to see justice is served because it will benefit him, how much more will a God who is good see that justice is served for his people?
So it is more of a contrast between God and the unjust judge than a comparison.
Transition
Now what is it that God wants us to learn from telling us this story?
First, we need to see that
God wants me to Pray Persistently
Slide
Now this is kind of hard to see from this, but let’s see if we can pull this out of the first verse.
Luke 18:1
1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.
Now when you go back to the original Greek and you take the last part of the sentence, you will find that what “should always pray and not give up,” really means is that you should always pray and not give up.
My point is that He tells us directly that He wants us to pray persistently.
He is not leaving this as something we need to figure out or interpret.
He tells us directly and this is the entire point of the story He tells.
The widow is persistent in pleading her case for justice and even an unjust judge, because of her persistence, gives her what she requests.
Now the reasons that the unjust judge gives her justice are not the point of the story. The story is told to encourage the disciples and us to pray persistently, even when things don’t seem to be being answered.
But why does God want us to pray persistently?
Slide
Why can’t we just pray once and have Him answer us?
Why do we even have to pray at all?
Doesn’t He know what is best?
Let’s see if we can answer some of these questions so that we might better be able to pray persistently.
1 Reason that I believe God wants us to pray persistently is because
Persistent Prayer helps me keep Focus…
Slide
Now when we pray persistently, it is going to help us keep our minds focused on several truths.
First, persistent prayer will help me keep focus …
…On who God is
Slide
This widow had a need and she kept going to the one who could meet her need.
This judge had the power to grant her justice, even thought he did not fear God or care about men.
He still had the power.
She was focused on who had the power to meet her need.
Transition
As we pray persistently, as we continue to seek to have a need or desire fulfilled, it makes us continually recognize and think about and focus on who has the power to fulfill this need?
There will be times as we persist in praying about a specific thing and nothing seems to be happening, that we may begin to question if God is willing or even able.
But that just serves to help us think about God’s abilities and His goodness in working powerful miracles and bringing glory to Himself, through both
Those things that are recorded in the Bible
as well as through the works he has done previously in our lives.
Illustration
There is a matter that I have been praying about over the last couple of months.
I must confess, I have not questioned God’s ability. I know He is able.
But I have questioned His willingness.
But it has gotten me thinking about things God has done previously and the work that went on during the time when He was seemingly silent.
It has helped me to think about who God is and the things He has done which has encouraged me to continue to pray for this situation, trusting that God is working things out.
Here are few things that I have thought about and focused on about a God who is able to do what seems impossible.
He is a God with the power to stop the sun, and He has.
He is a God with the power to sustain the universe, and He does.
He is a God able to raise the dead, and He has.
In that, we think about the greatest example of that in Jesus Christ
But I think also personally of giving life to my child when I was sure he was going to die.
I think of the life he has brought to this church, when it seemed like it was destined for death.
God is powerful and able.
During those times that I am praying and nothing seems to be happening, I am forced to think about who God is and what He has done.
He is able!
Ephesians 3:20-21 tells us that He
“ is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
He is the King of kings and Lord of lords
Amen.
Persistent prayer will help us keep our focus on who God is
But it also helps me keep my focus on
…On who I am
Slide
The widow recognized that she could not get justice for herself.
She was powerless.
We need to recognize who we are.
In ourselves, we are powerless.
We need to have a real view of who we are, Powerless in ourselves.
But focusing on who we are, means not only recognizing that we are powerless in ourselves, but it also means recognizing that we are a child of God, a chosen one. (v.7)
If you have received Christ as your Savior, then you are His child.
John 1:12
12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Because we are his child, that means we can approach God with confidence,
Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We can confidently go to God in prayer to seek help in our time of need just the way a child approaches His father.
Paul tells us in
Rom 8:15-16
15 For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Abba is an Aramaic term of familiarity for father, like Dad.
I read this story recently about a Roman emperor in his chariot as a part of a parade, Cheering people lined the streets while the legionnaires were stationed to keep the people at a safe distance. The emperor’s family sat on a platform to watch him go by in all the pride of his position. As the emperor came near the place where his family was stationed, a young boy jumped from the platform, burrowed through the crowd, and tried to dodge a legionnaire so he could run to the emperor’s chariot. The soldier stopped him and said, “You cannot go near him.” The boy laughed, then said; “He may be your emperor but he is my father.” Then he ran into his father’s open arms.”
[Martin Wiles. “Jesus on Prayer.” (Sermon Central.)
We are a child of the King of kings and Lord of lords who allows us to approach Him as a child does his own father.
As I persistently pray, it helps me to focus on who I am and while I realize that I am unable in myself, I am a child of God, and my Father is able and willing to help me in my time of need.
Paul writes in
2 Corinthians 12:10
For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Not only that, but it keeps us focused on
…On what’s Important
Slide
In the parable the woman wanted justice.
She persisted because this was important to her.
Have you ever prayed for something only to stop praying about it because it turned out not to be as important to you as you thought in the moment? In fact you just forgot about it.
Persistent prayer is going to weed out those things that are not really important to us or to our life and help us be focused on the things that are important.
So God wants me to pray persistently so I can keep focus on who He is, who I am and what’s important.
But he also wants me to pray persistently because
Persistent Prayer helps me Produce Fruit
Slide
How does that work?
Let’s look at
Luke 18:5-7
5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!’"
6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 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?
In this case, the answer to this widow’s plea was she would get justice and she got it.
How is her getting what she asked for answered, fruit?
Listen to what Jesus says in
John 15:7-8 - If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
It glorifies God to answer our prayers and give us what we desire.
Now we need to temper that with the teaching of other Scripture.
God is not going to give us something that is bad for us, or outside of his will, or evil.
But He does desire to answer our prayer.
And the answer to our prayers is fruit in our lives and it shows that we are followers of the Lord.
Now understand that God doesn’t need us.
He doesn’t need us to pray.
He doesn’t need us to share the gospel with others.
He doesn’t need us to do the things that He has prepared for us to do.
It is mysterious how God has ordained prayer to work.
But somehow, for his glory, He has given us the privilege of praying, and asking, and having our requests heard and answered.
This is how He has designed things in this world and has established to bring glory to Himself by answering our prayers.
Our answered prayers are evidences and fruit of our relationship with the Lord.
As we persist in prayer, we obeying what God wants us to do, recognizing who He is, who we are and what is important, and as continue in prayer, He answers that prayer to His glory and fame and to our benefit.
But not only does persistent prayer help me produce fruit, but
Persistent Prayer helps me Demonstrate Faith
Slide
Luke 18:8
8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
Our persistent and continual prayer to the Lord, the King of kings, is a constant demonstration of our faith in Him.
As we persist in prayer to the Lord, we are saying,
We believe in you Lord.
We believe you are good and able and that you answer prayer.
Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
If we did not believe, we would not persist in praying.
Conclusion
Jesus wants us to persist in prayer.
Persistent prayer grows us in our understanding, helps us be fruitful to God’s glory when our prayers are being answered and demonstrates our faith in a true and good God.
“Bill Hybels tells about an interesting experience after a baptism service in their church. He writes: “I bumped into a woman in the stairwell who was crying. I thought this was a little odd, since the service was so joyful. I asked her if she was all right. She said, ‘No, I’m struggling.’ She said, ‘My mom was baptized today. I prayed for her every day for almost 20 years. The reason I’m crying is because I came this close to giving up on her. At the 5-year mark I said, “Who needs this? God isn’t listening.” At the 10-year mark I said, “Why am I wasting my breath?” At the 15-year mark I said, “This is absurd.” At the 19-year mark I said, “I’m just a fool.” But I just kept trying, kept praying. Even with weak faith I kept praying. Then she gave her life to Christ, and she was baptized today. I will never doubt the power of prayer again.”
Contributed by: Rodney Buchanan - Accessed on 5/30/08 @ http://www.sermoncentral.com/SearchResults30.asp
There are going to be times
when we think God isn’t listening
when we think it is no use or
God doesn’t care
God cares.
God is listening
God is working
Do you believe that?
Do you have faith?
If Jesus were to come back today, would He find faith on earth?
Would He find faith at Hickory Creek?
This message was personally challenging to me this week.
I pray but I don’t persist as I should.
Our lives are busy.
But that just shows that we need to be praying more and persisting in that prayer more.
I believe our busyness shows that we are not praying enough, but striving to handle things ourselves in our own weakness instead of God’s strength.
Let us be a people that produce fruit and demonstrate our faith by persisting in prayer.
Let’s pray.
