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Always Pray & Do Not Lose Heart-Luke 18:1-8

By Charlie Vensel | June 12, 2008

Back when I read the newspaper, I used to read the section called “Letters to the Editor.” Some time ago a letter appeared in Jacksonville which sparked my interest. At that time a local Christian woman was getting a good bit of publicity in her fight against nude bars. She had helped a number of young women get out of the strip-joint business. But not everyone had been pleased. A letter appeared in the newspaper saying essentially this: “Those Christians have a lot of nerve, trying to tell us how to live our lives! What are they trying to do, remake the world?”

If I had known the address of that angry soul, I would have written and said, “Yes, that is exactly what we are trying to do, remake this world.” As Christians, we pray every Sunday a prayer Jesus taught which includes these words: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:9-10 NIV) If we pray for something, we ought to be willing to work for it. We are to be committed to work and pray that this world will more nearly resemble heaven.

The theological term for this is the “cultural mandate”; if first appears in Gen 1:28, “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”” (Gen 1:28 NIV) It is reiterated in Gen 2:15, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Gen 2:15 NIV) Our task today is exactly the same task that Adam and Eve had, to fill the earth with images of God and subdue it under the rein of God the Father, to prepare the earth as a suitable dwelling place for our King.

This commission, multiplication and dominion, is woven throughout God’s redemptive story. Adam and Eve started with the Garden and were to fill it with God’s servants and expand it over the deserted earth, but their task was fraught with sin after the Fall. Ever since, God’s faithful have struggled with the task. Abraham was promised the Land and children, but would only have a taste before his death. Jacob saw the seed of the tribes of Israel, but they were filled with contention. Moses was to lead the people out of Egypt to a land flowing with milk and honey, but the first generation would die in the wilderness. Joshua led the second generation into the Land, but they failed to take dominion of the Land entirely. David had a kingdom; at last Israel enjoyed their land and numbers, even though it was only a foretaste of the fullness of the kingdom, nevertheless his disobedience would lead to the splitting of the kingdom and the eventual exile from the land. Though Israel tried to return several times and enjoy multiplication and dominion in the Promised Land, they never fully returned; they were still in exile by the time of the New Testament. Sinful man is just not capable of doing the work.

However, there remained in the hopes of the faithful people, a great redeemer who would lead Israel out of exile and not only return her to the glory of the Davidic monarchy, but surpass it. Indeed, he would move Israel so far that she would not just go back to the Paradise told of in the Creation Account, but advance her to what the Garden would have developed into had the first man and woman not brought sin into the world. It would not be just a paradise that was “good”, but a paradise that was fully and finally grown into mature perfection. Things would at last be the way they ought to be.

Those awaiting the Redeemer, the Messiah, had understood this to take place by military might, the Redeemer would be a mighty warrior, one like David and Joshua, overthrowing Roman rule and eliminating all Israel’s enemies. The coming of the kingdom of God would establish the Promised Land for all times. Israel would have her land, her people, and her rule.

The redeemer came, redefined Israel to include all those of faith in Christ, and instead of overthrowing the earthly rulers, he overthrew the enemies of God, he broke the bonds of sin and death, and defeated evil. As the second Adam, he reverses the curse of the Fall and counts believers righteous; believers are restored and our cultural mandate reissued; fill the earth and subdue it. We fill it with spiritual children and we prepare it for his second coming. That is where we are presently in redemptive history. We are in the in-between time, the already, but not yet. Though we are redeemed, and live in the economy of the Holy Spirit and are farther ahead of any of the Old Testament believers in terms of understanding and the cultural mandate, we still struggle with our task. We are forgiven, but still sinful; sinful people fill the earth, and the prince of darkness, though defeated, is still able to exercise some power. But, one day, we will struggle no longer.

The kingdom of God entered with Christ’s resistance to Satan’s temptation in the wilderness, his ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Presently, the kingdom of God is coming down from heaven to the earth by the work of the Church, and will fully and finally arrive at his second coming…and the meek shall inherit the earth. At last, we too will have our perfect dominion and dynasty in the new heavens and the new earth, our Promised Land. Our service and worship will be pure and we will forever be in the physical presence of the risen Lord. In the meantime, we have his spiritual presence and work for the last step in the coming of the kingdom.

Jesus preached about the kingdom of God over 110 times in the records of the four Gospels. Being a Christian means more than getting saved so that we can go to heaven when we die. When we say yes to Jesus Christ, we enlist in a revolutionary movement designed to turn the world upside down.

We would like to change much about Littleton, about Colorado, about America, and much about the world. We want to abolish everything that dehumanizes people, take care of the environment, and strengthen the family. We want everybody to have decent housing, medical care, and education. Above all, we want everybody to submit to Jesus as Savior and Lord.

That is our agenda; we are kingdom builders. 

The questions I want everybody to ask this morning are these: First, what is my individual responsibility in the kingdom? Second, how am I helping God’s kingdom to come closer? The question you are all asking me is, “What does this have to do with our Gospel reading, the parable of the widow and the unjust judge?” I hope, in the rest of the sermon, to help us answer those questions.

The last verse of the Gospel parable this morning, Luke 18:8, refers to the second coming of Christ, “I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”” (Luke 18:8 NIV) It is fitting that we should read it as a conclusion to the section on the coming of the kingdom just before it in Luke 17:20-37.

In 17:20-22 the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God was coming. We have already talked about their expectations of a physical deliverer that would overthrow the Roman government. Jesus’ response was quite confusing to those who did not believe him to be the Messiah. Basically he says, “If you are looking for Rome to be overthrown by miraculous signs and wonders, you have already misunderstood, for the kingdom of God is in your midst.” In 17:23-24, he warns about the other mistake, thinking that his second coming would be anything less than catastrophic. The difference between his first and second coming are the differences between a 25-watt light bulb and lightening.

In essence, he is telling us that we are in the in-between time with the clock ticking until his second coming. Remember the kingdom of God, “is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest seed you plant in the ground. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds of the air can perch in its shade.” (Mark 4:31-32 NIV) Jesus tells us that we need to be prepared, for we do not know when he will return. His return will be like the days of Noah and the destruction of Sodom, but the days before will be filled with ordinary commerce.

In 17:31-37, he tells us not to be like Lot’s wife, loving the world, especially in the time of crisis. He will separate the sheep from the goats, even as they lay side by side in the bed. To not be Christ’s own when he returns is to face utter destruction and eternal torment. He makes it clear that eternal life hangs on being in relationship with him before he returns.

Having said that, I think it makes it clear that our passage today, 18:1-8 is part of the end-time teaching, verse 8 closes with, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8 NIV) Will we not love the world like Lot’s wife? Will we endure to the end? Will the bridegroom find us with our lamps lit and filled with oil?

I think a natural question for us to ask is, “How can we be sure we will endure to the end?” How can we avoid being like Lot’s wife? How can we avoid the temptations of Sodom? Sodom was destroyed for a whole lot more than just homosexuality; in fact, Jesus does not even mention that here in this list. He does not even list anything as sinful, “eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building.” All of these are ordinary routines in life, but in worldly Sodom, even the mundane was devoid of God. Our individual responsibility to the kingdom is making sure we endure to the end.

How many of us know what it is like to be so consumed by finances, dreams and goals, materials, and status? If you have spent any amount of time pursuing those things, you know it does not take long for the things of God to all but fall away. We may still go to church, but our attendance becomes a matter of a social resume, rather than worship. Our service is about being seen, rather than honoring God. To be sure, the good things in life can make us just as insensitive to the reality of God as the gross things in life.

Not only are believers in a battle to maintain a radical self-denying faith in Christ, one that will face death in persecution (21:12-19) and temptations hurled from the pit of hell, but we are also in a battle against the threat of ordinary life: Football, the Firm, and the Family; Sex, Shekels, and Stomach; and Pleasure, Treasure, and Leisure. All of these things are of God and indeed can be used to his glory, but it does not take much for us to begin to worship them, rather than the God who gives them. The danger we face is that our love for Christ will be swallowed up by the sheer ordinariness of daily life.

Since our individual responsibility to the kingdom of God is to endure, how can we endure? Jesus gives us the answer in today’s parable; he even interprets it for us in 18:1, “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” (Luke 18:1 NIV) We endure to the end by prayer.

I have heard this parable misinterpreted by many. Usually, you have heard it said like this, “Just keep on begging God like the persistent widow, you will wear him out, and he will eventually give you everything you ask.” That is to suggest that God is like the unjust human judge, who when tired of hearing your complaining, acquiesces to get you off his back. That is hardly a fitting description of the relationship between God and his own.

Yes, the parable does compare the unjust judge and God, but as an argument from the lesser to the greater. Like, Jesus’ remarks in Luke 11:13, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13 NIV) In actuality, this is a contrast; God is quite different from the judge. The judge is twice described as neither fearing God nor caring for man; they are obstacles for his helping the widow. Since he does not fear God, he is prone not to help her. This means that the fear of God would prompt someone to help. If the fear of God would prompt a judge to help a widow, then God is not like the judge, but is the kind of God whose heart inclines to help those who cry to him. So, the point is not that God can be worn down like the unjust judge, but that he responds to those who cry to him day and night.

The judge also had no regard for man. If the judge cared about this woman, he would have helped her. But, does God care for us? Quite assuredly. Verse 7 calls us the “chosen ones”. Here I much prefer many other translations that rightly use the word “elect” in place of “chosen ones”. The Greek word is e˙klekto/ß and means the very same thing we elsewhere see the NIV use the word “elect”. Believers are not strangers to God; they are his elect. They are his favored chosen ones ordained to salvation. They are not only his creation, but also his children and there is a difference between those two categories. As Paul says in Romans 8:31-33, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.” (Rom 8:31-33 NAS95S)

There is no condition greater for a person than to be labeled among God’s elect, for God is with them with all his might. Therefore, Jesus argues, if an unjust judge can be moved by persistent petitions to help a stranger for whom he has no regard, how much more, “[will God help his] chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” (Luke 18:7 NIV)

In 18:7, Jesus draws out the lesson he intends from 18:1, “Always pray and do not lose heart.” If you cry to God day and night, if you always pray and do not lose heart, you will not be like Lot’s wife, you will not be left in judgment, you will endure in faith and love, and God will vindicate you when the Son of man comes. Therefore, the parable is rightly interpreted as, “Always pray and do not lose heart”.

I have mentioned that we are in the in-between time, marching toward final consummation with the return of the bridegroom. When that will be, we do not know, but we do know that it will appear to be business as usual; a day an awful lot like today. We also know that we are closer to that day than we were yesterday. From Scripture, we are left with a great sense of urgency regarding Christ’s return, and as the end of the age ticks away day by day, Peter’s words are all the more for us today, “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” (1Pet 4:7 NIV) In other words, we need to keep our priorities straight so that we can pray meaningfully and with power, so that we may not lose heart.

So, this parable is intended to be an encouragement for us to pray continually until Jesus comes back. When Jesus asks at the end of verse 8, “Will the Son of man comes, will he find faith on the earth” he means, “Will the Son of man find that his disciples have kept praying, or have lost heart, returned to the world, and given up?”

I think it is clear that faith and prayer go together, they rise and fall together. Faith is a furnace and prayer its fire. When we fail to pray, our faith will burn dim; we will grow lukewarm, and when he returns, we will be vomited out of his mouth (Rev. 3:16). Two will be sleeping in one bed; one will be taken, the other left. The test will not be if we went to church, attended an Alpha Course, or were baptized or had a grandfather that was a clergyman. The test will be whether we continued in prayer and did not lose heart; that we endured.

If any among us are thinking that daily earnest prayer for more power to live a fruitful and obedient Christian life is only for those who have time and only for those who are spiritual giants, and that you can make it into heaven without such extras, then you have been deceived. Without persevering in prayer, we grow lukewarm, and we have already covered that uninterrupted lukewarm faith is not saving faith. Second, Jesus commands us in 18:1 to always pray. Therefore, prayerlessness is disobedience. If no repentance can be found, we have dire need to examine ourselves. Hebrews 5:9 says, “And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation.”(Heb 5:9 NAS95S)

We cannot lose heart and we must always pray for strength and obedient endurance. This is not to say that salvation can be lost, but it is to say that the sign of the elect is that they continue in prayer and do not lose heart; they cry to God day and night. That is what endurance looks like and as Matthew 24:13 says, “But the one who endures to the end, he will be saved.” (Matt 24:13 NAS95S)

This is a good place to transition back to the beginning when we started talking about the Lord’s Prayer and the cultural mandate. Not only are we to pray for our daily bread, which is both our physical provision and the spiritual provision of grace required to endure in this in-between time, but also we are to pray and work for the kingdom to come in its fullness. This is how we make the kingdom come closer, prayer over our kingdom work.

In the beginning verses of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught the disciples more than a pattern of intercession; he was revealing his redemptive plan for the future. We read in Matthew 6:9-10, “So pray this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be holy, may your kingdom come, and may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Jesus asked God’s name to be kept holy, that it is made holy by the coming of the kingdom; that which is crooked is made straight, that which is wrong is made right, unbelievers repent and become worshippers of God, such that earth looks like heaven. That is the Lord’s will for earth as it is in heaven.

So what does heaven look like? We can catch a glimpse of what goes on in heaven in Revelation 4:8-11: “They never rest day or night, saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, Who was and who is, and who is still to come!” And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns before his throne, saying: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, since you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created!”

Here, God’s presence in the throne room of heaven causes certain effects, namely countless creatures attend him, praise him, and serve him. Therefore, when Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:9-10, he had in mind God’s heavenly glory filling the earth; that all people on earth would obey God and honor him in worship as it is in heaven. That is the cultural mandate of the Church.
Jesus commands obedience in all of life in Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said to him, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” Therefore, as part of obeying the Lord’s commands and as an act of loving our neighbors as ourselves, the Church is to share the riches of Christ with all of their neighbors; hence the Great Commission.

Here, Jesus prescribes the kingdom advancement methodology the apostles are to use in Matthew 28:18-20, “Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Therefore, taking the gospel to the ends of the earth and maturing the believers is the way that God’s heavenly glory comes to earth, and thus the Lord’s will is done.

As our Anglican Catechism states, “The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love. The Church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.”[1] Therefore, the Church is Christ’s instrument to fill the earth with God’s glory.

All of this to say, it makes no sense to pray the Lord’s Prayer, asking for his will to be done-the coming of the kingdom, unless our prayers of endurance are greater than us just getting through our short lives. Endurance is bigger than our individual prayers for faithfulness. We are all part of the Body of Christ, the Church. Not only do we have responsibility for ourselves individually, but for the Church and the world. We have a role to play and a responsibility for the coming of the kingdom, namely, making white-hot worshippers of God. It would be hard enough for each of us to try to enter through the narrow door individually without prayer. How much harder for the church to be effective in carrying out her responsibilities without prayer?

What about some practical suggestions? I assure you that I am no stranger to seasons of prayerlessness. It is very easy, studying God’s Word in seminary and working in a Christian environment now, to just assume everything I say, think and do is somehow sanctified to God’s use; to think that I’m on the inside and do not really need to do that because I am so busy working for the Lord in other areas. Before I went to seminary, I faced a similar temptation as the ordinary cares of life constantly wooed me away from the Lord. Before long, I would be asking where God was in my life. Do any of you identify with that? I suspect many of you would.

As I prepared this sermon, I came under great conviction. I am reminded that prayer is a discipline, and like all disciplines, it must be practiced to keep the skills honed. I might add there is no shortage of things to practice praying. Not only that, it is a requirement. I offer several things to you that might help. First, I have often found that the BCP’s morning and evening prayer services are quite helpful in getting me back in the discipline after a season away. Second, I have found classic books in spiritual discipline like St. John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul or Brother Lawrence’s Practicing the Presence of God help stir me out of my complacency; there are many others. Third, I have found that praying through each line of the Lord’s Prayer with careful intention can be a very effective tool to bring me back into the discipline. Lastly, I offer that there is nothing quite as effective as getting together with a group of people regularly to pray and hold each other accountable for our spiritual rules of life. That works very well for individuals, but corporately I offer this. I am looking for some people to join me every week to pray over how this church can help prepare Littleton a suitable dwelling place for the Lord, but I’ll tell you more about that in the announcements shortly.

How is your prayer life? What are your prayers? What is your vision of the kingdom? Are they sufficient? Are your prayers bigger than yourself, to include God’s kingdom coming to earth? God has called us to change the world, one life at a time, starting with our own. He has blessed us with the Church, which is his corporate plow, and the Holy Spirit, which is his ox. We have a God whom we do not have to pester to gain his strength, power, support, direction, and blessing; but grants them freely if we will just ask him in prayer. We have joined the heavenly revolution; we are soldiers in the army of the kingdom of God. May we dare not attempt to fight with soft knees and weak vision any more than modern soldiers would enter battle without loyalty, purpose, training, discipline, and munitions. Today is the day of decision. Will you accept your orders from on high, or go AWOL?

If the Lord returns first to Littleton, may he find faith in our midst. May he find us in prayer, having never lost our heart.

Amen.

[1] Anglican Book of Common Prayer, Catechism.

Topics: Luke |

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