Constancy of Prayer

Constancy of Prayer
Luke 18: 1 – 8.

I. Introduction.
I have several pastor friends that I stay in touch with on a regular basis. I like to have someone to call to talk to about church issues and sometimes church problems. These guys call me for the same reasons. We tell each other the good stuff and the bad stuff. Sometimes we brag about what is going on in our churches, and other times we just need someone to listen to us. Over the years of phone calls and emails, talking and listening to stories from other churches, I have made an observation. No matter how bad I think my problems might be, I would not trade my problems for someone else’s problems. There was even a time when my first church was involved in the biggest and messiest church conflict I have ever experienced. I never want to experience anything like that again in my life. But, I still didn’t want to trade my problems for the problems my friends were going through at the same time.

Last week, I renewed a friendship with a guy I haven’t seen in 10 years. He graduated from Truett with me back in 1997. I moved to Mississippi, and he moved to Oklahoma. Now we are both back in Texas, and we saw each other last Tuesday.

He has just taken a new position, and we were talking about what he is doing now as well as some of the things he experienced in his previous church. He told some wonderful stories. The church was averaging about $200,000 in surplus every year. They called special business meeting just to determine how to spend the excess funds every year. The church was growing for the first time in decades, with visitors and new members nearly every week. BUT…And you knew I was going to say “but.” But, there were some things going on that I would not trade for.
My friend made a recommendation that the church purchase Bibles for the sanctuary. Since the church had a financial surplus, he knew that money would not be an issue. The only issue he was expecting to face was determining which translation of the Bible to use. As all good Baptists do, they formed a committee to make a decision on Bibles. The committee decided not to purchase Bibles.

One person on the committee made the statement: I have been a member of this church for 40 years. We have made it for 40 years with no Bibles in the sanctuary. I think we can make it another 40 years without Bibles.

Can you even begin to fathom a church without Bibles? Of course, I grew up in a home where each person brought his or her own Bible to church. I always “checked every box” on my Sunday School envelope. My pastor encouraged us to bring our Bibles, to read our Bibles daily and to write notes in our Bibles. I want you to do the same: read your Bible, bring your Bible to church and write notes in your Bible. But what about those who do not have a Bible with them today? What about those who bring a Bible, but want to follow along in the same translation I am reading?

Of course, I know that I am making a big deal over something that might not be a big deal. But, a church without a Bible has something missing. And I’m not talking about missing something minor or optional. A church without a Bible is missing one of the most important things. Jesus is the one essential in our Christian faith. But how do we know Jesus? How are we supposed to understand Jesus and follow the pattern he set for our lives? We know and understand and follow Jesus by reading the Bible.

Our message today is not about a church trying to live without the Bible. But, it is very close. Just as we cannot imagine a church without a Bible, we should not recognize a Christian who does not pray. Prayer is an essential part of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Just as the Bible is our source for understanding Jesus and patterning our lives after the life of Jesus, so prayer is our source for strength and power in daily living. We cannot become the men and women God wants us to become without the Bible. And we cannot make it through life without prayer.

When we read the story of Jesus in the Bible, we find that Jesus both taught us about prayer and Jesus demonstrated a life of prayer. Even Jesus recognized that he needed to pray to make it through life. One of Jesus’ teachings on prayer emphasizes how prayer is something we are supposed to do with constancy. It is not enough to pray on Sundays. It is not enough to pray at meal time. We must become men and women of constant prayer.


Read Luke 18: 1 – 8.

This Scripture can be divided into three sections: The Context (v. 1); A Parable (vv. 2 – 5); and Jesus’ Interpretation of the Parable (vv. 6 – 8).

The context is a very simple statement about why Jesus told the parable to his disciples. Jesus told the disciples “to show them that they should pray and not give up.”

This contextual statement helps us in understanding the original meaning. There are many places in the Bible where we must guess about the original meaning and speculate about why a particular story shows up in the Bible. Sometimes we simply do not know how the original hearers would have understood one of Jesus’ teachings. But that is not the case in Luke 18. Jesus wanted his disciples to learn a lesson about constant prayer. Jesus wants you and me to pray without ever giving up.

Despite the straightforward explanation of why Jesus told this parable, the parable itself is a difficult teaching. This parable is a story. It has only two characters. There is a widow, and there is a judge.

The fact that this story features a widow gives us a little insight into the mind of Jesus and a consistent theme throughout the Gospel of Luke. Widows were usually the poorest people in the ancient world. Ancient women did not have opportunities like modern women. They could not go to school and get an education. Education was reserved for men and boys. Widows could not work outside of their homes. Women were totally dependent on their fathers, husbands or sons. A girl had all her needs met by her father until the day she married. After marriage, a husband provided for the needs of his wife. If the husband died before his wife, the woman would need to remarry or to depend on her oldest son for support. There was no such thing as Social Security or life insurance. So, if a woman lost her husband before she had any children—or before her sons were old enough to work—she had only one option. She must beg for money from the people of her community.

We have very limited knowledge about the woman in Jesus’ story. First, we know that she was poor—because we know she was a widow. Second, we know that she had legal troubles. We do not know exactly what kind of legal problems, but we see in verse 3 that she was seeking justice in a situation with an adversary. Someone had committed a crime or injustice against this woman, and there was no one to take her side. The only recourse she had was to approach the local judge in her community.

The judge stands in direct opposition to everything we know about the widow. He was a man. He had visible means of financial support. He was one of the most powerful men in the community. But the judge had no interest in helping the poor widow find justice.
Jesus described the judge as a man who “neither feared God nor cared about people.” He was more interested in using his position of power to take care of himself than to take care of the people in his jurisdiction.

But the woman never gave up. Jesus described the woman’s approach in three different ways. In verse 3, “she kept coming to him” with her plea for justice. In verse 5, “this widow keeps bothering” the judge. Later in verse 5, she will “eventually wear me out.” The widow finally got justice, because she was a nuisance! She pestered the judge until he finally granted her request for justice.

In the end, justice was served. The widow was taken care of, despite the fact that the judge just did not care either about God or about the widow herself. And this is what makes the parable a difficult teaching.

If we take this literally, it seems that you and I are supposed to pray to God in pestering ways. It seems that perhaps God does not want to answer our prayers, but if we annoy God enough, we can get what we want out of him. This view of prayer is not consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about prayer in the Gospel of Luke. In Luke 11, the disciples found Jesus alone, praying to God. They waited for Jesus to stop praying and made a request, “Lord, teach us to pray.” This is when Jesus first taught The Model Prayer… “Father, hallowed be your name, (let) your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also have forgiven everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation (Luke 11: 2 – 4).”
When we look at The Model Prayer, it seems that Jesus has taught us to pray for a variety of things. We are to pray for God’s guidance (Lead us not into temptation). We are to pray for forgiveness of our own sins as well as the strength to forgive those who sin against us. We are to pray for daily provision (Give us each day our daily bread). These are rather simple things that we need on an every day basis. But Jesus also taught us to pray for something miraculous. We are to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth.

Of course, I know that we could debate all day long today over the meaning of God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom of God is in heaven. The Kingdom of God is among us. In very simple terms, the Kingdom of God is everywhere where God is the sovereign King. When you and I become Christians, we relinquish control of our lives over to God. We are no longer in control of our own lives, God is the King. We are no longer controlled by Satan and our own sinful nature, God is our King. But when we join with Jesus in praying, “Let your kingdom come,” it is our prayer that the earth would become a little more like heaven. We are praying that Satan’s grip on this earth will one day be broken. We are praying that Jesus will return to earth to take us into heaven to live with him. We are praying that people like the widow in our story will receive justice that they cannot receive on earth.

This is the interpretation Jesus gave us after the parable. First, Jesus told us that God is not like the unjust judge. A judge who only cares about himself is someone who must be pestered to do the right thing. God is not unjust. Therefore, God can be trusted to act on our behalf. And not only that, but look at verse 8…God will bring justice QUICKLY. If you refuse to give up on asking for justice from an earthly judge who does not care about you, then do not give up on praying for justice from a righteous judge who loves you and promises to ask QUICKLY.
Then, Jesus closed his interpretation with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

This question turns our entire concept of prayer upside down. Most of us think of prayer as asking God to do things for us. And most of us only pray when we have failed on our own strength. Jesus teaches us to pray so that when he does return to earth, he will find us faithful. In other words, if we give up praying, then Jesus will return to earth to find no faith. But if we pray without ever giving up, Jesus will return to earth and find us praying.



II. Conclusion.

Again, exactly what is it that we are supposed to pray for? We are to pray for guidance, forgiveness, provision, and the Kingdom of God to come to earth.

One day, Jesus is coming back. And when he returns, how will he find us? Will he find us living hopeless lives, because we gave up? Or will he find us living faithful lives of prayer?
Prayer is that aspect of life that demonstrates our faith. Men and women who pray are men and women who depend on Jesus to take care of us. Men and women who do not pray are men and women who think they can live without Jesus.

Prayer is a necessary part of faith. It’s like Bibles in church. I just cannot imagine a church without Bibles. And Jesus cannot imagine a Christian who does not pray.