Be Constant in Prayer and Do Not Lose Heart - Luke 18:1-8

1:13Or different opinions on in prayer, should we declare things to be true and make very bold statements towards God of what he's promised to us, or should we be perhaps more humble when we come to him and request as if we don't. Have the authority to claim them in that way. And so on. There's a lot of different opinions about prayer and how we should pray. And it seems that for something that we agree is of primary importance, there's a lot of confusion around prayer. And I think one reason might be the varieties of prayer that we see in the Bible itself. If you think through the texts that you know that contain prayers, I think you'll realize that we see people praying in a whole lot of different ways in Scripture. And there's even some passages in Scripture where people are praying, and it's uncertain whether they were sinful to pray that the way that they did and to address God how they did. So you see a lot of variety in that way. And I think that prayer, as with any act of worship that we have in the Christian life, we only have true freedom in it when we understand what the biblical parameters are or the rules, if you would dare use that word that is considered a bad word these days, and what God would have to say about prayer. And so I would say, look at the Psalms. And I think we would all agree that the Psalms are this amazing display of prayers that we would all want to imitate in some way. We look at the Psalms and we see a great freedom in the expressions of prayer. They're very deep, very profound, and I think all of us would say, wow, if our prayer life looked like the Psalms, that seems like that would be an amazing Prayer life. And I think we can pray like that, but we have to understand God's will for our prayers and what His and pray according to His plan. We have to pray in a way that pleases God. And I think similar to Thomas preaching through John 6 on Sunday mornings and has mentioned over and over again that we have to come to Jesus on His terms and be humble and willing to conform our ways to His. And I think that's true for prayer as well. We come to God on His terms and pray as He would like.

3:35And an example that made me think of as I was thinking through this week is: any of y'all know the comic strip, Calvin and Hobbes? I don't know if it's still as popular anymore, but because he hasn't been writing them for years, but in middle school, I really got into Calvin and Hobbes. Somebody, I think, gave me a collection. And it's a six-year-old boy, I believe, maybe eight, six, or eight-year-old. The premise is he has his pet tiger that's actually a stuffed tiger, but he thinks he's real. It's like his imaginary friend. And so, in Calvin and Hobbes, you get an example of a deceptive form of freedom. So, he has this game called Calvin Ball in Calvin and Hobbes. And the rule of Calvin Ball is that Calvin makes all the rules. He makes them up as he goes, He does whatever he wants. And I think it's the way that we think of freedom in general is that we get to have the most fun and the most enjoyment when you have. A Calvin ball situation. You just make it up as you go. The reason it works for Calvin, and it only works when it's him and his pet tiger, who is just his own imagination, is because it's only him. He's the dictator of that world. He defines all the rules. He determines everything, and so it's fun. But whenever anyone else in the comic strip encounters the game, it's not fun at all because they don't understand it. There's no freedom in it because Calvin can just change things as he goes. And so I think that's sometimes we think of freedom as being the lack of any restrictions or parameters. That's not freedom. Freedom is understanding what God would have of us, and then we're free to express ourselves and what's on our heart in very deep ways. And I think we see that with prayer. So the point of these sermons, as we lay the foundation of the Lord's Prayer the last couple weeks, and as we're continuing to understand it, is that if we have these biblical parameters in place, I mean, wow, we can just express the depths of our heart to God, and we'll have real freedom to pray to Him. So let's read Luke chapter 18, and I'm going to read verses 1 through 8.

5:38And he told them a parable, this is Jesus, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, In a certain city, there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, Give me justice against my adversary. For a while, he refused. Afterward, he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming. And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?

6:34And so the purpose of tonight's sermon, the point and the takeaway is quite simple. It's verse 1 that Jesus says, he tells this parable that they ought always to pray and to not lose heart. The title you saw in the bulletin was to be constant in prayer and to not lose heart. And that's borrowing from Romans 12 language that we'll talk about later as well. So this passage is found later in Jesus' ministry than last week. We were in Luke 11, and we are interrupting a conversation that Jesus is having between himself, the disciples, and the Pharisees, are the parties that we're told are there. And in each story or section in the Gospels that we're given, you always have to determine if that section relates to the context and how. Is it a standalone? It always relates to the context and how. Some sense, but it can be a bit of a standalone, or is it directly flow from what comes right before? And often Luke 18:1 through 8 is isolated from the context around it. But I think we'll see that it should be seen as a continuation of what's going on in Luke 17, verse 20 through 37. And the best reason for this is because Luke 17 is about the coming of the Son of Man. And if you look at the last verse that I read in 18:8, the parable is about the coming of the Son of Man. And both sections are teaching about the kingdom of God. So if you look in Luke 17, verse 20, it starts off with a question that the Pharisees asked Jesus. They asked him, When is the kingdom of God coming?

8:15And as a side note here, many interpret the kingdom of God very spiritually and in sort of a lofty way, and they say it's this non-physical reality and kind of something that's hard to grasp and understand what it is. We see very clearly here that they understood it to be a literal physical kingdom that was coming later. And we see that as well from Jesus' answer. It's clear that it is not there yet, even though Jesus has said in his ministry, the kingdom of God has come near to you. We see the kingdom has not come fully yet. And so Jesus' answer to them is very helpful in understanding the kingdom. Because he says, when the kingdom comes, we won't have to search for it. For it. No one is going to wonder where it is or if it's here. Verse 20, he says, the kingdom is not coming in ways that can be observed. And the language here is conveying is that it's not coming in such a way that it's going to be like a sickness that a doctor has to look and carefully inspect the body to find and to look very closely at the details to get it what it is. It's not coming in things to be observed in that way. It's going to be everywhere. The kingdom is not going to be here or there. And so Jesus is saying, we're not going to point and say, that's the kingdom. There it is over there or there it is over there. The kingdom is going to be everywhere. It's going to be obvious that it's here. And then Jesus turns to his disciples and says the same thing to them, but then gives additional information.

9:51He says that the day of the Son of Man is going to be very swift and will come totally unexpected to the people who are here on the earth. And so he gives the example first of Noah's day. And he says the kingdom is going to come like in Noah's Day when people were eating, they were hanging out with each other, they were going about their lives, and the flood came. It was very swift. And then he gives an example of in Lot's day, the people were carrying on, doing their thing, and the fire came down and consumed Sodom and Gomorrah. And then he gives more generic examples of that two will be in bed and one will be taken but the other left. Two women will be grinding and one will be taken and the other left. In Matthew, it adds two in a field, one taken, the other left. And verse 37 makes it clear that Jesus is talking about a swift destruction that is coming. In this passage, he's not talking about a swift salvation that's coming.

10:46The salvation is found in other places, but this is a swift end to the wicked. And we see that because the disciples say, well, where are these people being taken away from? Or away to. And Jesus says, where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. So it's clear that it's destruction. And so if you look at chapter 18 and verse 3, you'll see that this parable that we're discussing is about a widow who wants justice against her adversary. And if you look in verse 7 of chapter 18, the parable describes God giving justice to his elect. And so it seems clear that the teaching of 17 relates on through this parable in 18. So with the teaching in chapter 17 as a background, Jesus gives a parable to illustrate some of what he is saying. And he tells us the purpose of the parable, which is a very gracious thing that he does here. The parables can be tricky to interpret in some ways because, by their nature, they're stories that are an analogy, and sometimes it's hard to figure out where the analogy stops, and we don't want to take it too far. But he tells us the purpose of it. So he tells them the parable in verse 1 that they should always pray and to not lose heart. So that's a good gift. That's a gift we've been given right there. So keep that fixed in your mind as we go through this parable. But it's interesting that Jesus could have just made that statement, but he didn't just say that that was true. Now, it's Luke telling us that this was the purpose of the parable, so maybe Jesus didn't state it directly there in the context, but God is saying that that's the meaning. God could have just said, this is what it means, move on, go to the next passage. But he gives a parable to illustrate it. And so it seems that this parable is giving us a profound insight that we wouldn't have simply with the statement itself. And so the situation in the parable is that we have this widow who is asking a judge to give her justice from her adversary. And it's obvious that this justice that she is seeking, she's right to seek this justice. The story assumes that this is proper, that she's asking for this justice. It's justice that she should get. It's not a fraudulent claim. And Jesus is using a widow here because she would be one of the most vulnerable members of society who would have the least leverage in court of law. The next actor in this story that he brings in is a judge. And he says that this judge does not fear God and does not respect man. So the setup is this. It is a scenario where if you were in the crowd, you would see this setup and say, this widow might as well just give up. This is a terrible situation. The widow has no leverage as a widow in society. The judge, there's nothing that's going to sway him that should. She might as well give up, go home. Her cause is hopeless. That's what this scenario would lead the crowd to understand. And so Jesus says, this widow does an interesting thing. She keeps going to the judge and keeps asking for justice. The judge refuses for a while and then finally gives her justice. Why did he give her justice?

14:14Was it because he reasoned that she had a good case? No. Was it because he respected God's law and understood that God would have justice be given to a widow? No. Or was it because he cared about her as someone made in the image of God and had compassion under circumstance? It's clear he's setting up that it is none of these things. He gave her justice because she was pestering him. She wore him down. And Jesus asks us in verse 6 to pay attention. He says, hear what the righteous judge says. And he introduces here the unrighteous, did I say righteous? Unrighteous.

15:01He says, Hear what the unrighteous judge says. So it's very clear if you were still wondering whether this judge was in the right or the wrong, he is an unrighteous judge. And in verse 7, he asks two questions. He says, Will not God give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night? is the first question. And the second is, will God delay long over them? The first question has the answer built into the question.

15:31It expects a response that, yes, God will give justice to his elect who cry to him day and night. And so, what does it mean that God is going to give justice? If you say give somebody justice, you have to have a context to understand justice in what form, from what, what's the scenario. And I think the context of chapter 17 shows us what this justice is that God grants to his elect. And it's the swift destruction that is coming upon the wicked on the earth. So the elect are going to obtain justice against their adversaries, the wicked, who are going to be destroyed in their wickedness.

16:18The second question he asks is, Will God delay long over them? And I think this question is a little trickier than the first. The first gives us the answer in the question. Is maybe a little trickier. And I think in some sense it seems like God has delayed long. We're in the year 2018. The wicked have prospered on the earth for quite a while now. But it's interesting to understand that compared with God, a span of time, it's hard to say what would be short or long, right? God's span of time is eternally into the past and eternally into the future. And I think the meaning is not really talking about a span of time when it says, will God delay long? I think it's comparing him against this unrighteous judge. So unlike this unrighteous judge, God is not going to be lazy. He's not going to be unalert. He's not going to be this judge who has this, well, in this case, a widow, but his elect petitioning him, and he just doesn't care. He doesn't hear it, whatever, get out of my court. I don't feel like discussing this today. It's saying, God is not going to delay long. He's not that kind of judge. He hears the request before him, and he is going to grant justice to them.

17:41And so when Jesus says that he is returning soon in other passages, I was thinking through some of these issues of time spans and even. Jesus himself in discussing that he is returning soon. This is a good example biblically where we understand when Jesus says I'm returning soon, that we know it doesn't mean a particular amount of weeks and months, right? It's saying that he doesn't tarry unnecessarily, and God is the same in this way, unlike this unrighteous judge. Keep that comparison in mind between that God is different. And so Jesus says that this justice is going to come speedily in verse 8. And this can be understood as swiftly. And the meaning is that this justice will be rapid. I think, like in chapter 17, it's going to be like in the days of Noah, or like in the time of Lot, when people are going about their business and it is a very swift destruction that happens then. Here it's saying that this justice is going to come in a swift manner. It's going to come in a severe and total way.

19:00And the idea is not that it will necessarily come soon, meaning chronologically in a short amount of time, but that it's going to be swift. And so he asks the question: will he find faith on earth when this justice comes? And he could here be talking about faith unto salvation, but I think we should tie it back to verse 1. I think the kind of faith That he is talking about is he's meaning: will Jesus find Christians who are still praying when he comes back? Will he find those elect that are still demanding justice, that haven't given up? Will he find those who have petitioned the judge and haven't just said, This judge is not going to give us justice. We're done with him. He hurt us, he didn't listen, we're moving on to something else. He's saying, Will he find elect who won't give up in their cry for justice simply because God has not acted yet? So he's juxtaposing in verse 1, he's saying, Always pray and don't lose heart. And then he's saying in verse 8, When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? Will he find the faithful who are still praying and haven't lost heart?

20:20So, should we stop praying for God to bring us justice on earth simply because it hasn't happened yet? So, this is very applicable to us because we're not in the end times yet, meaning the kingdom has not come and we are still awaiting justice on this earth. So, do we give up? Do we stop praying? And Jesus says to us, Hear what the unrighteous judge says, and explains that God is a righteous judge. So, compared with this unrighteous judge, God is a righteous judge who will all the more give us justice, unlike this unrighteous judge. So, let's summarize the meaning of this parable. And then go on to the application of it. So, hopefully, this summary is helpful. You've got to get into the nitty-gritty of the verses sometime, and then you step back and you are able to take it as a whole. And I think what Jesus is saying is this: you should always pray and not lose heart, because even though this judge was unrighteous, he eventually gave justice to the widow. How much more will God, who is holy and compassionate, give justice to his elect? I think that is the meaning of the parable that he is presenting us with here.

21:39So, let's connect this with our understanding of prayer in general that we have been talking about these last couple weeks. And in Luke 18, it's interesting that Jesus is talking specifically about prayer for God to bring justice on the world and usher in the kingdom. Remember that the topic he's discussing here is the kingdom of God. And so, one commentator says it this way: this prayer, meaning the persistent prayer of the widow in Luke 18, is about the end-time resolution of the problems of the present and is not simply about answered prayer in the normal sense. And I think he's right. He's saying that we should be careful not to say that Jesus is teaching we can expect to imitate the widow when praying about any of the things that we pray about. Jesus is not here directly teaching that if we're praying for sick loved ones, which we do and we should, or a job interview, or for our friends who are in need, that if we just pray for it repeatedly, day and night, that God will answer. That doesn't seem to be the direct teaching of what Jesus is saying here. But I think that the lesson that he's teaching is actually more profound.

22:58This parable is answering the question: should we pray for the needs that God already knows that we have? Why pray if God knows our needs ahead of time, as Jesus teaches in Matthew 6, if you remember, he already knows what we need before we pray? Why pray if we've already prayed about something before and God didn't answer in a way that we thought he should or thought he would? Why pray if God is sovereign and working everything towards his will, whether we pray or not? You've probably all had these thoughts at some point or another. I know I have, of feeling some amount of futility around your prayers.

23:42And so I think this parable is very important for us as we seek to understand God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, especially in prayer. This passage, I think, gives us a great amount of information about the character of God. And so, how does it relate? Relate to prayer in general. Remember the model prayer that Jesus gave us. We discussed it in Luke 11 last week and Matthew 6 a few weeks ago. And if you remember the model prayer, it goes like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive those who are indebted to us and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

24:35If God meant to restrict the teaching here in Luke 18 to only prayers about the kingdom, it's interesting that the model prayer itself includes a request that God's kingdom would come. So in the model prayer, it includes that we pray to God that his kingdom was come. And doesn't it seem like we learned that God wants to find faithful people who are continually praying according to the model prayer and who are not losing heart? I think the lesson is that God does not want us to lose heart in our prayer, that we should be constant in this prayer. And I think sometimes we use the term persistent, and the word covers the meaning that is true here, but I think that word, the way we use it nowadays, can be a little misleading. I think the call here is not simply to repeat ourselves. Ad nauseum to do some kind of chant or just scheduled repetition of our requests. I think the issue here is not that we badger God or we wear him down or we create a scheme whereby we can get the most amount of people praying. You don't do the math and say, well, I only have 20 people praying, so if I can do some sort of exponential flow and get a million praying, that that would somehow move God in a greater way. I don't think that's what is being taught here. And I think we have to be careful about how we talk about our prayers in this way, because God can't be worn down. I think that pushes the parable too far and misunderstands the unrighteous judge and the fact that he's unrighteous. So God is not completely like this judge.

26:22I think to say that we should be constant in prayer is a better way to say it. And we see this language used elsewhere, or always pray. You can say always pray, be constant rolls off the tongue nicely as well. But in Romans 12, verse 12, that's where I'm grabbing that particular phrase from, Paul says, Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer. In Ephesians 6, verse 18, about putting on the armor of God, Paul says, praying at all times in the spirit with all prayer and supplication, to that end. Keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. I think that's the same idea here: we're to be at all times praying and to persevere. Keep alert, persevere, don't give up, don't grow faint. In Colossians 4 and verse 2, Paul says, continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. And a few weeks ago, we mentioned 1 Thessalonians 5:17, rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. You see a recurring theme in Paul's writings, but I like that the phrasing changes and reinforces the idea. And we talked about that pray without ceasing doesn't mean all you're to ever do is pray, but it means you're going around looking for opportunities to seize and to subject to prayer. And these are all passages where the language pertains to being constant in prayer, being faithful in prayer, be watchful, persistent, perseverant. I don't think that's a word. Persevering in prayer.

28:08God wants us to never lose heart as we long for his kingdom and as we petition him, because he is the righteous judge. And I want to highlight one last aspect of being constant in prayer. If you would turn with me to Matthew 6. So in Matthew 6, a few weeks ago, we discussed the earlier part of the chapter. With the Lord's Prayer. And this is all the Sermon on the Mount. And you'll see a section that starts at verse 25.

28:41You'll see in verse 25, Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. And skip down to verse 31. He says, Therefore, do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? And in verse 33, he says, But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things will be added to you. Therefore, do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Hold that thought and flip over to Luke in chapter 12.

29:27See the parallel teaching. If you remember, it's at a different time in Jesus' ministry where he gives very similar teachings, but he adds a little bit in Luke 12. So look in verse 31 of Luke 12. He has said much the same up until this point, but he gives a slightly different conclusion here. In verse 31, he says, instead, so don't be anxious for food, drink, or clothing. Instead, seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. So, the lesson in both cases of these teachings is that God knows what we need and He will take care of us, but that we should seek the kingdom and His righteousness. In Luke, it's promised that God will give us the kingdom in the same passage that we are told to seek for it.

30:32And it sounds similar to our parable, doesn't it? That we are to seek that which God has already promised and to not lose heart in it. It's a promise given to us in Scripture that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. It's a promise a lot of us know and have memorized. And yet we pray. If God works it all for good, why would we ask Him to change anything according to our prayers? The answer is simple, because God commands us to. God wants us to pray, yet He is sovereign. It's a mark of a faithful Christian who is constant in prayer. Philippians 4:6, that many of you know, says, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So, how does a mature and Faithful Christian handle anxiety. It's to pray, to take it to God, to be constant and watchful and faithful to pray about it. And anxiety, with the teaching on anxiety, we see a case where God tells us to come to Him, to be constant in coming to Him about the anxieties that we have and to seek Him on it, and that He is faithful to provide it, even though He's promised to provide it. There's this tension we all feel, I think, in that. And so, remember, in the model prayer, Jesus includes this phrase, Give us this day our daily bread. And I think that phrase in the prayer is an excellent model of what it means to be constant in prayer. Because the prayer is, Give us this day our daily bread. It's not a give us our bread for the rest of our days, and we don't need to pray it again. It's this prayer that it's expected that we would do often, daily, even.

32:35And so, it's a good model of what it means to be constant in prayer. God has promised He will provide our needs, but we are commanded to pray for our daily needs. And so, in Luke 18, as Jesus said in verse 1, he tells this parable that we would always pray and Not to lose heart. A Christian who wants to honor God with their prayer life will be constant in their prayers. We should petition God for what we need and for the needs of others, daily even. And how do our prayers move the hand of God? Well, this parable tells us: He's a righteous judge who desires to deliver justice to his elect and who desires to provide for all of our needs, as we saw in those other passages. And so, a mark of faithfulness is that we don't lose heart, but we keep praying. And I was reminded of when Tim Cantrell was here, he brought up, I forgot to write the reference in front of me, it's Revelation 5, when it talks about that our prayers before God are as a pleasing aroma. They're brought in bowls, as pleasing incense before God. We looked at it in the prayer meeting, a great picture of what our prayers mean to God. And so, as we even wrestle through what impact our prayers have, you don't just pray because you know it's commanded, but it's a loving command. God loves our prayers, they mean a lot to Him. I can't exactly tell you why, because sometimes my prayers, I know, are weak. But God wants us to keep praying and to be faithful in it. So, I pray for each of us in our lives that that sticks in your mind to be faithful and constant. In your prayers. So let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for this short time that we had to look at the parable in Luke 18 and the teaching that you've given us. And it is a rich teaching that gives us many specifics on the kingdom that is coming. We know that it is coming. It will be swift. And you have promised it will come. And we thank you that justice will be realized on this earth when wickedness is eradicated. And we thank you for that we know the end of the story and how your plan unfolds and the comfort that gives. We thank you also for what this parable shows us about your character, about the sort of righteous judge that you are, that you are moved by the right things, that your character is perfect and holy. And we don't have to be concerned that you don't care or don't hear us. Lord, we ask that you would help us to be constant and to be faithful in our praying, and that we would not lose heart in the circumstances of life, no matter how big or small, that things, when they beat us down in one way or another, that we would always go to you and lean on you. We thank you that you are near to us. You're always near to us, and you've provided so well for all of us. Lord, I thank you for this church, the opportunity we've had together here tonight, and pray this week that you would help our prayers to be rich and meaningful. Time as we communicate with you the things that are on our heart. We pray all these things in your Son's name. Amen.