Scripture: Luke 18:1-8 (cf. verse 8) Jeremiah 31:27-34 and Psalms 121
Title: Being Noah and Lot Ready
Proposition: The Kingdom of God is here, God's vindication will come - the question is will we be Noah and Lot Ready? Will Jesus find faithfulness when He returns?
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father and from His Son Jesus Christ who came to take away the sin of the world.
Our passage this morning is one that over time has become very easy to misunderstand and even misapply. At first glance it may appear that it is referring to the subject of prayer in general. It would be easy to read this particular passage and conclude that Jesus is teaching us that in order to be successful in our prayers we need to emulate this nagging widow. We need to possess the same characteristics of persistence and perseverance.
It would be easy to read this passage and conclude that all we need to do is double down. All we have to do is to continue to nag God and eventually we will wear Him down. But is that what Luke is really saying in this passage? After all, isn't our God the direct opposite of this boorish and self-centered judge? Hasn't it always been Luke's contention and Jesus' teaching that our God is loving, kind and desires to give the best to His Children? There is something else going on here. Let's look once again at our passage this morning and allow the Holy Spirit to illuminate us.
We see that our passage is the ending part of a conversation that started back in Luke 17:20 when the Pharisees asked Jesus about the coming of the Kingdom of God. They wanted to know when God would finally vindicate His Chosen People. They wanted to know when God would come and set everything right. They wanted to know when those who had been oppressing and persecuting God's People would finally get their just due. They wanted to know when God's people would once again be set free. The Temple was almost completed and now they believed it was time for the nation to be reestablished.
The disciples had been taught by Jesus to pray, "YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS DONE IN HEAVEN." Both the Pharisees and the disciples were wondering when God's will would come to reality. When would everyone who had chosen God be vindicated over those who were living lives of sin? When would God step in and take over?
In Luke 17:22 - 37 Jesus answers their questions. He tells them that the coming days of the Son of Man will be much like the times of Noah and Lot. If you remember God's judgment/God's vindication came swift and sure. People who should have been ready were caught completely off guard. They had rejected God's warnings and sadly thought that nothing bad was ever going to happen as they continued to live in sin and rebellion. However, as we know that was not the case. In the future Jesus warns that once again one will be taken and the other left when the days of the Son of Man come.
Jesus then shares the Parable that is a part of our reading this morning. Jesus uses it to reinforce the reality that God will vindicate His People. The Pharisees along with the disciples can rest assure that one day God will make all things right. They can rest assured that the day is coming when just like in the days of Noah and Lot the righteous will be vindicated and the unrighteous will fall under God's judgment.
This has been a constant theme running through Luke's Gospel. Go back and listen again to the words of Mary's song and Zachariah's song . Both songs are full of words praying for the day of God's vindication. Both speak of a time when things will be made right. Both speak of a time when God will vindicate the poor, the powerless and the oppressed of the world. Both speak of a time when the lowly are raised and the arrogant and proud are brought low.
Mary, Zachariah, the Pharisees and the disciples were all looking forward to a day of eschatological reversal. All were looking for a time when the 1 % while be forced to change places with the disenfranchised, the oppressed and the marginalized. They were looking forward to the Day in which they believed that God would put them into positions of authority while at the same time bring justice to those all around them.
It is in that context that we must read this passage. This therefore is not a passage about prayer in general. It is about a pray seeking for God to bring about vindication and judgment. It is about God setting the tables right because evil men were in power and were persecuting the people of God. It is about when will God answer our prayers for vindication.
Have we not at some time felt the same way as these Pharisees, disciples and even Mary and Zachariah? Have we not at times wanted the 1% ers of the world to experience the pain and suffering of those who have to live from paycheck to paycheck or even worse the pain of those who are homeless and have to dig for their meals out of dumpster bins? Have we not wanted the rich and the powerful where we work, where we go to school, where we live to experience some of the pain and suffering we have had to endure? Have we not wanted God to come down and create income equality and social equality? Have we not wanted God to come down and cast down the wicked and uplift the righteous?
In this parable Jesus wants us to understand that the day is coming when the scales will be balanced. The day is coming when all things will be made right. Jesus wants us to understand that there is coming a time much like the days of Noah and Lot when those who have oppressed and harmed others will face God's judgment. When that day happens it will come suddenly. People will be unprepared with no exit or escape.
Jesus wants the Pharisees, the disciples and everyone who reads this passage to understand that reality. His Heavenly Father is at work. "The LORD is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." (2 Peter 3:9).
There is coming a day of recompense. But as Jesus shares this revelation he does so with a twist at the end. We find that little twist right there at the end of verse eight. After Jesus refers to the days of Noah and Lot and this nagging widow he ends his little teaching lesson with a question of his own - WHEN THE DAY OF GOD'S JUDGMENT COMES - "WILL HE FIND FAITH ON EARTH?"
WHEN THE DAY OF GOD'S JUDGMENT COMES - "WILL HE FIND FAITH ON EARTH?"
Uh oh! The Pharisees and the disciples have been pressing Jesus to tell them when God will finally bring recompense. They have been pressing Jesus to reveal to them when God will bring judgment upon the wicked and set the scales of justice level. Now, Jesus turns to them and asks them a question - When that day comes how many faithful will God find? How many people will be found living in faith?
Now, we begin to understand the full value of why Jesus spoke of Noah and Lot. It wasn't just to let his listeners know that God will bring vindication. It wasn't only to let them know that it will all happen suddenly and quickly. It was to remind everyone that when those events happened the number of souls ready to be vindicated were very few in number. In the case of Noah it was only eight people out of the millions or billions that were living on the planet. In the case of Lot it was only four (eventually only three) among all the people that lived in the region of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Suddenly, we realize that this whole passage takes a radical twist. The Pharisees and the disciples have been questioning Jesus about God's faithfulness. When will God being a faithful God finally put things into their right order? When will God come down and vindicate His People? When will those people who have been persecuting and oppressing people finally get what is due them?
Jesus doesn't side step their question but he turns it around as asks - When that day happens and it will, just how many people will be found that are faithful? Just how many will there be to be vindicated? After all God has at least twice done what you want Him to do now. God set the scales of justice back to zero at the time of the Flood. He set the scales of justice back to zero at the time of Sodom and Gomorrah. With the first one humanity was given a second chance to create a new earth. They were given a new opportunity to follow God and create a planet that would rival that of the Garden of Eden. With the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah the evil element was removed and everyone could visible see the devastating effects of sin, idolatry and selfishness.
In both cases, however, how long did it take humanity to once again turn away from God? Within a few generations the LORD had to come down and confuse the languages so we would not destroy ourselves all over again. Within a few generations the people who came to inhabit the land around Sodom and Gomorrah were so engrossed in sin that God had to use the armies of the Children of Israel to bring about their destruction and annihilation.
And now Jesus' listeners were wanting to know when God would once again bring judgment. When would God come down and take care of evil? Their desires were based the their own personal beliefs that if God would just set things back into its rightful place one more time then they would as God's chosen people be able to keep it on the right track. They believed that since they had the Temple (Pharisees) and the teachings of Jesus (the Disciples) that they would be able to continue to bring about the Kingdom of God on earth. All they needed was for God to set things back in balance.
They were in effect looking for the LORD to bring the fires of justice. They were looking forward to the LORD bring His fire upon the earth. Truth be told - Jesus was the answer to their prayers. They were seeking for God to put all things into proper order. And God did. God sent His only Son Jesus. Jesus came and shared the Good News. Jesus preached that everyone must repent, be baptized and filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus preached that through the fires of the Holy Spirit everyone including society could be born from above and be transformed. Jesus in fact gave the very Commission for that to happen through his disciples.
This morning, the fires of the Holy Spirit are much more powerful than the waters of the flood or the fire and brimstone that fell on Sodom and Gomorrah. There is no sin, no heart that cannot be cleansed through the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no healing that the Holy Spirit cannot accomplish. There is no power on earth that is more powerful than the power of the Holy Spirit.
This question, this prayer of the Pharisees, the disciples along with Mary and Zachariah has in fact been answered through the coming of the Holy Spirit. The only question that remains is what we are doing in the power of the Holy Spirit? How is our world been impacted by millions and billions of God's People being filled with His Holy Spirit?
The question is not when or if God will vindicate. The question is now that God has sent the power of His Holy Spirit will we unleashed that Holy Spirit to transform our lives, our communities and our world?
It did not take long for sin to raise its ugly head after the flood. Noah participated in sin by abusing his body with an overabundance of alcohol. His son then practiced some of the same perversities that plagued the planet in the first place. Lot's daughters by some measures committed more unspeakable acts than the ones that brought about judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. In both cases it did not take long after God's vindication for humanity to once again begin polluting the planet with sin.
We could say that we must understand that all those people lived before the Day of Pentecost. We could say that they did not have the same opportunities as we have today. But then again how many people have been able to communicate directly with God like Noah? And how many people have been visited by God's holy angels like Lot's family?
Today, Noah, Lot, the world and the church are all in the same boat so to speak. We all need to understand that God's day of final vindication will come to pass. That is a given. What is not a given is what God will find when He comes.
+Will God find His Body - the Church like He found the people at the time of Noah?
+Will God find His Body - the Church like He found the people of Sodom and Gomorrah at the time of Abraham and Lot?
In 2 Peter 2:5 we are told that Noah was a herald of righteousness. That means that while he was building the ark he used all his spare time to preach and live for God. He not only built the boat he also did all he could to share the message of God. He told people about the love of God and warned them against the dangers of idolatry and sin.
2 Peter 2:7 - 8 tells us a similar story concerning Lot. We are to understand that Lot was cut to the heart over the wickedness and lawlessness of those around him. We are to surmise that Lot did all he could to live righteous, to preach the message of righteousness and to rescue people from a life of evil.
Both men were found to be righteous at the time of God's judgment and both men were spared. One was given a boat while the other was led out of the path of destruction by an angel. But the bottom line is both men and those who chose to follow them were saved.
At the end of verse eight Jesus looks at his listeners and asks them - When God's vindication comes
+How many on earth will be faithful?
+How many will be faithful because you have remained faithful?
And that is the two questions we must ask and struggle with this morning:
+If today were the day of God's vindication - if today were the day that God's scales of justice were to be served - would we be found faithful and true. Would our lives - our prayer lives, our meditation, worship, and spiritual formational life be purified by the fires of God or consumed by the fires of God?
+If today were the day of God's vindication - if today were the day that God's scales of justice were to be served what am I doing right now as an individual, as a family as a body of Christ to reach out to those who need salvation? What am I doing to be a Noah and a Lot to my community?
Does it mean that we quit marrying and giving in marriage? Does it mean we quit eating and drinking? Of course not. All of that is what God has designed for us humans to do. We are designed to eat, drink and marry.
We are to do more than simply eat, drink and marry. We are to live a life of faithfulness unto the LORD. We are to be His fire on the earth - spreading the Good News of Salvation. We are to surrender our hearts, our minds and our souls to the LORD and obey and listen to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. We are to be much more than pews, carpet and work and witness missions that are more work than missions. We are to be more than places where people can come and experience a good time. We are to be more than havens of quiet rest. We are to be more than homeostatic and homogeneous fellowships.
We are to be people of faith and faithfulness. We are to be God's ambassadors. We are to be lights in a world of darkness. We are to be salt that is transforming the places that we work, we shop and we play. People are to know that when they are around Jesus disciples they can anticipate that lives are being transformed and miracles and anointings are in common order.
We are to be people who believe that one day Jesus is coming back and at that time there will be great vindication. But until that time we will do all we can to be faithful. We will do all that we can at that time to make sure that unlike Noah and Lot we have more than 8 or 4 people who will be found faithful.
We may laugh at even the mere suggestion of that possibility. Surely that could not happen. But go back and think about the stories of Noah and Lot. Who would have thought with all the people on the earth at that time we would only see eight on the boat and four leave the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah?
This message has ended up for many of us in a different place than we first thought it would. Many who read this passage believe that all we have to do is double down on our prayer time. That all we have to take on the characteristics of a nagging widow. Regrettably, that would be a misunderstanding and misinterpretation.
Many may read this and sit on the side lines with a slight smirk on their face knowing in their heart that one day all those bad people will finally get their just due. That all those sinners like those who lived in the days of Noah and Lot will finally get what is coming to them.
But then there are those who have heard the voice of the Holy Spirit - who have heard the Holy Spirit whisper and say:
+Will I find you faithful? Will you persevere? When I come back will your heart, mind and soul still be surrendered to me?
+Will I find you at work sharing the message of Jesus? Will I find you reaching out to the poor, to the oppressed and to the unsaved?
This morning as we come to the table of the LORD let us come in faith, receiving in faith and leave as people of faith. Let us come committed, surrendered and willing to allow our faith to shine as light and as salt in our world.
This is the message of the LORD for the people of the LORD - Praise Be to the LORD!
