Luke 18:1-8 – If Something is Worth Doing…
Dear God, So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help. Amen.
The honesty before God in that prayer is wonderful. Today we will be thinking about prayer for a few minutes. Not because I am an expert in the field, most certainly not. I’ve said before, I’m just a pilgrim going into the same uncharted territory as you. I have not yet “arrived” at the prayer life I should have, but I’m on my way. I’m growing, even if no-one else sees it. But I also have the words of Jesus here, and I need to share them with you today. Let’s read Luke 18:1-8.
Jesus talked about prayer fairly often, and He prayed even more often. So of course, He wanted to teach His followers how to pray, how to talk to the Father. In Luke 11, His disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” At that point He taught them what we call the Lord’s prayer. But as wonderful as that prayer is, obviously Jesus wanted to take them further in their prayer life, 7 chapters later.
I have a hunch that Jesus would like each of us to grow in our prayer lives. I know that it’s awful easy to get comfortable in what we do and don’t do – I understand. It easier to stay where we are than progress and move on. It’s easier to remain unchanged than it is to step out in faith. Yet can you call it a spiritual walk if you’re not moving anywhere? Can you say you’re following Him if you’re sitting still and doing nothing? Sometimes Jesus calls us to get off our seats and go somewhere new. So today I challenge you to hear His words and if He is leading you to somewhere new in your prayer life, don’t resist Him. Don’t argue with Him. Just obey Him.
So let’s look at these words about prayer, and I hope to glean 4 truths about prayer from them. Now, in v1, Jesus says we ought to pray. This is, we should pray. Prayer is what God wants for us. This is probably no surprise to anyone. As we wrap up the sermon series “The Why’s of our Worship” – why we do what we do – we come at last to prayer. Why do we pray in church? Why do we have in invocation – that is, the prayer to invoke God’s presence here? Why do we pray over the offering? Why do we have a pastoral prayer? Why do we close in prayer? There are many reasons, but the main one is that God wants His people to talk to Him.
But this lesson on prayer is not just that we should pray. Jesus went on to describe how we should pray. He said we should always pray, that is, constant prayer. Keeping up our conversation with Him all day long, whispering prayers, breathing prayers on and off all day long. That is constant prayer, and it is a possibility. I’m just starting to see that. You and I can talk to Him on and off all day long.
Jesus also said that we are to pray and not give up. That’s persistent prayer. Don’t give up praying. This one is hard. To keep praying for something and not stopping. It makes you wonder sometimes why God doesn’t just answer our prayers right away. Are we asking for the wrong things? Are our motives wrong? You know, what’s wrong that God doesn’t answer my prayers the way I want? And so we are tempted to give up. But Jesus says, keep praying and something will eventually happen. We need to pray persistently.
And as the story progresses, in v7, Jesus gives us another clue as to the nature of our prayers. God answers the prayers of those who “cry out”. There seems to be a fervent nature about their prayers. Fervent: passionate, burning, eager, enthusiastic. They had some heart in them. The people praying seemed to understand the life-or-death nature of what they were praying. They really meant what they prayed. They were serious about their prayers. Maybe that’s where we fall short. We don’t seem to take things seriously enough. So Jesus indicated the kind of prayers we should have: constant, persistent and fervent.
But let’s be honest. This type of praying is hard work. Why do you suppose that Jesus told us to pray like this? Because it doesn’t come easy. I think of the old country song that talks about relationships, but it describes our attitude of prayer. It says: “If it don’t come easy, you better let it go. ‘Cause when it don’t come easy, there’s no natural flow. Don’t make it hard on your heart; you might be better off alone. If it don’t come easy you’d better let it go.” So we do. We let it go. We leave the praying to others. We hope someone else prays for the pastor, the church, the town, the Sunday school, the special events. It’s too hard to pray like Jesus wants us to.
Well, you’re not the first to feel like that. Over the years, many great thinkers, and pray-ers, have commented on that idea. For example, SD Gordon wrote: “The greatest thing anyone can do for God and man is pray. It is not the only thing, but it is the chief thing. The great people of earth are the people who pray. I do not mean those who talk about prayer; nor those who say they believe in prayer; nor yet those who can explain about prayer; but I mean those people who take time to pray.”
J. H. Jowett wrote: “All vital praying makes a drain on a man’s vitality. True intercession is a sacrifice, a bleeding sacrifice.” And Thomas Watson wrote: “Christ went more readily to the cross, than we do to the throne of grace.” Prayer is indeed hard work. That’s at least part of the reason why people would rather come to church than to prayer meetings. It’s easier to be entertained at church than at prayer meetings. Prayer is hard work. That’s the 2nd truth about prayer flowing from this passage.
The 3rd truth is that even though prayer is hard work, still, prayer taps into God’s power. The very essence of the parable that Jesus told is that the judge eventually gave the woman what she was looking for. Even though he was a cruel man, he still gave in. How much more will God give us what we need when we pray?
Does that mean we always get what we want? Of course not. Does He always do things as quickly as we want? No. Or does He give things to us the first time we ask? Well, you know better than that, too. So why even pray then? What difference does it make, then? Well, if the woman hadn’t asked the judge for what she needed, she would not have gotten it. James 4:2 says: “You do not have because you do not ask God.” Our hearts make a difference in things too. The Bible says things like God doesn’t hear prayers of people who cling to sin in their hearts – Ps.66:18. Peter tells us that we husbands have to treat our wives well, or else He won’t hear our prayers. James tells us that we need godly motives. Having prayers answered isn’t just about asking once. It isn’t just about asking for the right things. William Gurnall, the Puritan preacher, used to say, “When people do not mind what God speaks to them in His Word, God doth as little mind what they say to Him in prayer.” Folks, we need to be in a right relationship with God first. And to God, that’s why we are to pray anyway.
Jesus went on with one more truth about prayer, found in v8b. This is interesting. At the end of His story on prayer, He asks about faith. He didn’t say, “Will I find people praying when I return?” He asks if He would find faith. It’s as if for Jesus, the measure of our faith is found in the measure of our prayer life. As in, our prayer life is a reflection of our faith. If we don’t pray, it’s because we don’t believe.
Those are hard words, yes. But think about it. If all the power of the universe is in God’s hands, and we don’t ever ask Him to use it once in a while, it’s probably because we think He won’t. He won’t help me. He won’t do this. He won’t save so-and-so. He won’t fix this. He won’t change that. Well, maybe He will and maybe He won’t – we don’t want to presume He’ll do things we hope He does. But the story seems to say that He certainly won’t if we don’t ask.
And besides, there are things that He said He would do. Those “if-then” statements. “If you do this, then I will do that.” Those are promises. And if we don’t ever ask God to make good on them, it’s an issue of faith. William Barclay said: “When you pray, remember…1. The love of God that wants the best for us. 2. The wisdom of God that knows what is best for us. 3. The power of God that can accomplish it.” We can trust Him with our faith and with our prayers.
J. K. Johnston, in the book Why Christians Sin, told a tale about a small town that had historically been “dry,” but then a local businessman decided to build a tavern. A group of Christians from a local church were concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. It just so happened that shortly thereafter lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The owner of the bar sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible, but the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. The presiding judge, after his initial review of the case, stated that “no matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear. The tavern owner believes in prayer and the Christians do not.”
Do you really believe in prayer? Does it matter? Do you pray as Jesus told you to: constantly, persistently, fervently? Yes, Jesus said that prayer is hard work, but He also said that prayer taps you into the power of God. Therefore, how you pray is a reflection of your faith. Again I ask, do you believe? Let me put it this way: if every person in the church prayed just like you, would people say that this church believed in the power of prayer?
