Sermon – Be Persistent in Prayer
Scripture - Luke 18:1-8 “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. “There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?”
Introduction: Does it amaze you that Jesus would conclude his teaching of the end times and the kingdom of God with a lesson on Prayer? Even though men should always pray, every prayer may not be immediately answered. We must persist in prayer while dealing with unjust systems, prejudice, and hostility in our present world. What does the parable in Luke 18 mean? The Parable of the Persistent Widow teaches us about the importance of persistence in prayer and faith. We must always pray and never lose heart or give up when facing obstacles, but instead, pray continually like the widow who kept coming to the unjust judge. Through her persistence, justice was served.
I was taught by listening to others that Jesus always answers prayer and prayer was a way to get what we want from God. My prayers seem to be hit and miss. I had to rethink my concept of prayer. Even though I donot claim to understand everything about prayer. I have had enough experience with answered prayer and enough experience in my relationship with God to know that it is God’s will for me to pray and not faint. Prayer is making my request known to God. God is perfect, holy, righteous and all knowing. God does not need my advice about what is best for me. God is perfectly good, so he knows what is best for me and how best to me my need and the need of the world. Yet, God seems to get joy out of allowing me to participate in his blessing the world. God could cause sick bodies to recover without doctors or medicine, without hospitals and nurses, but he chooses to work with them and through them. God could feed the world without farmers, seeds, and agriculture but he chooses to use them in his process. God could bring peace to the world, save every sinner, root out injustice, and rid the world of hatred without the church, without Law and without good government, but he chooses to use imperfect human being, faulty systems, faulty Christians to carry out His will in the earth.
Though our prayers are imperfect, our faith is weak, and the conditions are deteriorating around us, we are called to be persistent in prayer. In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus provides us with a parable about the necessity of persistent prayer. "Because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming."
Jesus’ parable falls near the end of his journey to Jerusalem. He has given the disciples a lesson of unforgiveness. As the last days approach, they would need to forgive their brothers seven times seven times. Everyone you meet is going through something. They will need your kindness and forgiveness. Then, immediately follows his teaching about the coming of God’s kingdom and the end times (Luke 17:20-37). Jesus shift to the importance of prayer. Despite his shift to the topic of prayer in Luke 18:1-8, Jesus’ parable continues this eschatological thread from the previous passage. Now Jesus reveals the imperative of persistence and actively relying on God as we await the end. Life may not get easier, in fact life in this world will continue to be troubled by evil influences and injustice. Even though we lived holy, dedicated lives, in this world we will have trouble.
Apostle Paul was a faithful servant who prayed three times for a thorn in His flesh to be removed, the result was the response, “my grace is sufficient for you.” No one experienced the level of faithfulness to God that Jesus experienced, no one was more obedient to God or faithful in prayer, yet in the garden of Gethsemane, in his greatest hour of need, after praying three times that the cup of suffering be taken away, His prayer was not heard. Prayer is not a magic bullet or an absolute science, prayer is making a request known and trusting our perfect, all-knowing God who does what is best to respond in the way He chooses.
1.Prayer is about Always Praying and Never losing Heart – Luke 18:1“One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.”
Jesus begins by telling his disciples that the parable he is about to tell is about praying “always” and not losing heart. The parable itself, however, focuses on a widow dealing with a judge in a corrupt justice system. Luke twice tells us that the judge in this tale is someone who neither fears God nor respects people (verses 2 and 4), and Jesus himself characterizes the judge as “unjust”. Regardless, the widow repeatedly comes to the judge in pursuit of justice. (This is conveyed in verse 3 by the tense of the verb ercheto: “she kept on coming.” She tells him to “grant me justice against my opponent,” or literally, “against the one who has treated me unjustly. Despite her plea, though, the judge does nothing. He refuses to act because he is not willing, and so he does not respond at first.
Doing these last days, some injustice will seem immoveable. Corruption may seem to be winning the day but keep on praying. Keep making partitions to God and man. For those familiar with Jewish Scripture, the judge’s lack of action is especially appalling. In biblical texts, widows are counted among the most destitute of society, alongside other vulnerable groups such as the poor, orphans, and resident aliens. Because of the precarious social and economic position of such groups, biblical texts always made provision for them, helping to ensure that they do not fall victim to exploitation.
Yet while the widow’s social location certainly numbers her among Luke’s concern for the “lowly,” the widow in this parable resists the exploitation to which she is being subjected. Like other widows before her, such as Tamar in Genesis 38 and Ruth and Naomi, the widow in Luke 18 takes matters into her own hands. Her persistence and call for justice is such that the judge characterizes her actions as those of a boxer. The judge said, If I don’t do something, she will give my reputation a black eye! Prayer is about Always Praying and Never losing Heart regardless of the odds.
2. Prayer is Always Making a Difference. The judge of our story was making moves in his mind and heart. He felt as if he was in a boxing match, taking body blows. In the original Greek, though, the judge says: “because this widow causes trouble for me, I will give her justice, so that she may not, in the end, give me a black eye by her coming.” Luke situates the judge’s language within the arena of boxing metaphors. The tenacity of the widow’s actions, as well as her perceived status as a “troublemaker” to the system. Prayer gives us power without position or status.
After delivering this short and punchy parable, Jesus offers a few concluding comments that touch on the character of God and the nature of faith. He uses the judge’s words as a jumping off point to speak about God’s own deliverance of justice, which God dispenses to those “who cry out to him day and night.” But while Jesus compares God to the judge with this transition, the real point of comparison is one of contrast. God is in fact not like this reluctantly responsive judge. God does not need to be badgered into listening, and when God does respond, God does so willingly. If anything, God is more like the widow in her own relentless commitment to justice.
3. Prayer is a Request to a Just God Who Respond out of Love. The widow exemplifies how followers of Jesus are to be positioned toward God. Jesus returns to this emphasis on the behavior of believers with a concluding rhetorical question that recalls his opening statement about prayer and not losing heart. Here Jesus says: “I tell you, God will quickly grant justice to those crying out. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” In this final word, Jesus recalls his earlier end times discourse by pointing out that God will answer prayer and the Son of Man will return but there may be extended delays. Even though delays may come, remember your prayers are requests to a Just God, who cannot lie and will always respond in love bring the best possible results.
By ending on a question of whether he will find faith at his return, Jesus raises a number of additional questions for us. How do His followers not lose heart and maintain the faith when God may not come when we want him? How do His followers not lose heart and maintain the faith in light of the fact that Jesus is not returning as soon as many would like? How are we to act if God’s justice is not delivered according to our own timetable? How do we go on in the face of injustice if God’s ultimate justice only arrives “suddenly” at Jesus’ return?
In response to such questions, Luke maintains that we are to act like the widow in our text today. We are not to wait quietly for Jesus’ return and accept our fates in an oppression-ridden world. We are instead to resist injustice with the resolve and constancy of the widow. As Jesus explains elsewhere in Luke 11, prayer is not a passive activity but one that actively seeks God and pursues God’s will. Like the widow, we are to persevere in the faith, crying out to God day and night. This is what persistent prayer looks like. I don’t know about you, but the longer I walk with Lord, the more He seems to make me wait. When I was living in sin, God has immediately come to my rescue. When I accepted Jesus as my Lord, and committed my life to Him, many times I received immediate answers to my prayers. The more mature I become as a Christ follower, I have finally come to understand why old saints, said, “He may not come when you want, but He is always on time. They would say, saints don’t stop praying for the Lord is nigh, don’t stop praying He will hear your cry, the Lord has promised and His word is true, so don’t stop praying He will answer you.”
The Staple Singers recorded a song called, Pray on my Child:
Pray on my child, (Pray on my child) I got a home on high, (Yes, I got a home on high) You know I've been talked about as sure as you’re born) I need Jesus (Jesus to carry me on)
Oh, if I never, never see you no more, I want you meet me on the other shore. Pray on my child (Pray on my child) Oh yeah (Pray on my child) I got a home on high (Yes, I got a home on high)
The Staple Singers were reminding us that delays, trouble, and difficulties will come because we are not home yet. You may be talked about, and even criticized but you pray on because Jesus will carry us on. So don’t stop praying." Understanding the adverse conditions of the End Times, Jesus said, "always pray and never give up." Amen
