The Persistent Pray-er

Luke 18:1-8, The Parable of the Persistent Widow

Introduction

Can you imagine running a race perfectly and never making it to the finish line? I remember seeing this video on Youtube about this bicycle race. One guy was in a race and he was coming right to the finish line. He was probably 20 or 30 feet away. He began to celebrate and put his hands in the air, and his bike spun out and he crashed.

Or how often do you see guys in professional football, who make an amazing catch, run down the field for the touchdown, and instead of sprinting into the end zone they slow down and begin to celebrate early. Then out of no where comes another jersey who hits him before he scores.

What a shame to come that close to the goal, that close to the finish line and not make it.

For those of you who like math, maybe you have heard of the race between the Tortoise and the hare, or the turtle and the rabbit? They both have to run a hundred feet. The turtle runs at about a foot a minute. The rabbit runs half the remaining field every minute. So the first minute the turtle is only one foot into the race, and the rabbit is 50 feet. Then the next minute the turtle is only 2 feet in the race, and the rabbit is 75 feet, running half the remaining field. But of course the rabbit never crosses the finish line, because one half the field never actually gets you to the end, and in 100 minutes the turtle wins.

What a shame to be so close, and never make it past the finish line. As Christians, as disciples of Christ, we can fall into the same trap. You see there is a danger, that we as disciples become like the cycler or the wide receiver who make it close to the end but don’t cross the finish line. Like the Rabbit in the race we start off running fast, studying God’s Word and praying and serving, but we give up before we make it to the end.


I. Retell the Story

Jesus tells the parable about a certain persistent widow and an unjust judge. This judge is basically a corrupt and immoral man masquerading as a judge. He doesn’t fear God and he doesn’t care about man. Maybe over time he’s given up on the concept of justice. Maybe he just wants to use his position of power to receive bribes and look out for number one. Maybe he is just a cold-blooded guy that doesn’t care about anything.

Nevertheless a certain desperate widow kept coming to him and asking for justice. She appears to have no sons, as she comes alone to the judge and his desperate. We are not told what the issue was, but she is persistent. Maybe she is looking for justice for her husband’s death. Regardless, she is determined. She will have her justice.

Of course at first the judge doesn’t care about the widow. This just shows how bad of a judge he really is, because judges were supposed to especially care for widows and orphans. But to him, she’s just another lady asking him to do more work and it makes no difference to him. But she keeps coming and keeps coming.

Eventually the judge is annoyed with her, and he says, “Even though I don’t care in the least about what is right and wrong here, and even though I couldn’t care less about this widow, I’m going to give her justice simply so that she will leave me alone.” The judge answers her request and she gets what she so desperately longed for.

Shockingly Jesus applies this to God. He says we are supposed to be like the widow crying out for justice. And God is like the judge who is responsible for giving justice. Now, you hear this and may think, ‘Huh?’ How can God compare himself to the unjust judge? He is nothing like God.

But that’s the point, Jesus is using an argument from the lesser to the greater. If this is true of an unjust judge, how much more so is it true of God. God is not like the unjust judge, he is infinitely greater.

· This judge couldn’t care less about justice. God is infinitely concerned about justice.
· This judge did not fear God. God does not merely fear God, he is God
· This judge did not care about man. God cares more about us than we could ever imagine.
· This judge didn’t know this woman from Adam. God has chosen and loved his people like nothing else in the universe.

But if even this unjust judge will hear the request of this widow, then how much more so will God hear our Prayers. If this unjust judge will hear this widow, God Almighty will certainly hear us.

II. Big Idea

The good thing about this parable is we don’t have to guess what it is about. Luke tells us what this parable is all about from the outset in verse 1 “Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.”

As disciples of Christ, Jesus is very concerned that we continue to pray and not give up. He calls us to make it past the finish line, make it to the end. It would be tragic for us to come all the way near the end in prayer, and give up. Disciples of Jesus continue to pray and never give up.


III. Application

I. Continue to Pray

(Hymn 517, bookmark ‘Pray without ceasing’)

As disciples of Christ, God calls us to pray without ceasing. Sometimes people ask, “How often should I pray?” And the answer to that is: continually. In fact, many people take this to mean we need to have to maintain a spirit of prayer. We need to try to live life in such a way that we are constantly talking and listening to God.

"You may as soon find a living man that does not breath, as a living Christian that does not pray." Matthew Henry

Friends if you want to grow as a Christian, I don’t know another way besides prayer. This is it. This is huge. Prayer has got to be central. There is no loophole around this one. There is no escape hatch from the prayer. But here is the funny thing about prayer, the more you do it, the more you will love doing it. Paul said that we train in godliness like physical training. It is a lot like going to the gym. (FBC people at the gym). The first time you go the gym, it hurts, you get sore, you feel weak. Then you start going consistently, once a week, twice a week, three times a week, and it starts to get easier and you start to look forward to it. It sets off the endorphins in your body and you feel more energy. In fact if you miss a week you feel bad, because your body feels icky. The same is true of prayer.

The more you pray, the more prayer will be a sweet retreat and refreshing oasis to your week. Prayer ceases to feel like a chore or a duty. Instead we look forward to praying, like we would look forward to talking to a loving Father.

Reverent but real. When we speak to God we speak to him reverent, but real. Be reverent. We shouldn’t talk to God like he’s some guy we met at mechanic shop. “Hey Gawd, you gonna do something for me today or what?” But at the same time God is not interested in you simply using fancy language. “I thank thee for thine bounty and for thine excellencies.” In fact Jesus said make sure you don’t babble like the pagans when you pray. Reverent, but real.

“God you are Holy and I am not, so I need you now to be with me as I go home to my family now. Give some grace to be a good husband and father, even though I’m exhausted. Amen.” Reverent.

“God. I just want to thank you for giving me this day. Thanks for that delicious breakfast I had this morning. Homemade waffles with real syrup (none of that sugar-free low-fat junk). And that bacon and sausage.” Real


That’s not a chore. That’s not a duty. That’s a conversation with someone we know and love. Reverent, but real. You are talking to a loving Father. I have one of those. I recently called up my dad for advice. I presented this situation to him, and said, what do you think I should do. So we talked about it, he gave me some advice. I took his advice and the situation was resolved. I thought, “My dad has learned a few things in his 55 years.”

Mark Twain once said, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

Here are a list of ideas that may help you in prayer. Some may be helpful for you, others may not be helpful for you.

1. Pray the Scriptures

2. Have a place and time of prayer

3. Journal when you pray

4. Come to Wednesday night, There is group prayer and there is private prayer.

5. Be willing to pray out loud

6. Sometimes just be silent

7. Pray with your family.

8. Pray while driving alone

9. Learn breathing prayers

10. Structure your prayers (ACTS, written)

II. Never give up

Jesus said disciples never give up. Persevere to the end in prayer. Think about this widow, she bugged this judge night and day. She was persistent. She stuck it out. That’s how determined we should be about pray.

Think about it, why did Jesus tell this story? I mean if God is not like the unjust judge and he loves us, and he always answers our prayers, why even tell this parable?

All of us know the answer from our own experience. Things aren’t so nice and tighty. God doesn’t always seem to answer us when we pray. Sometimes we feel like the widow who isn’t receiving justice. Sometimes we pray for something over and over, “God help me find a job”, and still no job. “God help my wife be healed of her cancer”, and still no healing. Why is that? I mean if God loves us, and wants what’s best for us, why then does he not give us that job or heal her of her cancer? That’s why he told this parable.

You see friends, God’s answer to our prayers are not always what we want them to be. God always answers the prayers of his people, but he doesn’t always answer them as we might expect. So, if it seems like God is not answering our prayers, we just keep asking him and begging him, but nothing seems to happen, what should we do? Jesus’ answer, Disciples continue to pray and never give up.

God is mysterious. This is deep stuff friends, this isn’t Christianity 101, we’ve moved on to 201. I remember teaching a class on prayer about a year or two ago. And one of the questions that kept coming up was “If God knows the future already, what does it matter if we pray or not?” And my answer was there is a mystery here. “You see, God not only knows the future, he also knows whether or not we are going to pray. So God is not only sovereign over what he wills for the future, but he is also sovereign over whether or not we pray for that will.” I think that caused more confusion than help. But here is what we can say God is completely sovereign over everything, AND God calls us to pray. How it all works together is not for us to know.

God is mysterious. He is not easy to understand. He is not like a giant candy machine. If I put in two prayers for health, then he gives me health. If I put in four prayers for a better marriage, then I get out a better marriage. Doesn’t work that way. God is mysterious. He is not a giant candy machine. He is a wise Father who doesn’t always explain himself to us. He doesn’t always give us an answer to the ‘why’ question. Instead he gives us himself, which is better by far.

God why are you not answering my prayer? God why did you not heal my spouse? Why did you not fix my marriage? Why did you not watch over my teenager that rainy night? And it is almost as if God puts his hand our shoulder like a wise old Father and says “You don’t need to know the answer to the ‘why’ question right now, but here’s what you need to know. I am right here with you. I am not going anywhere. You may not have what you asked for, but you have me. Don’t give up just because things haven’t turned out as you asked. Stick to it, in the end it will all make sense.”

We need to be persistent in prayer, like George Mueller. George Mueller was an evangelist in the 1800s in England. He was known for his orphanages, but also for his deep love of God. I recently came across this quote about Muller:

“One day George Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.”

Just like this persistent widow got an answer in then from an unjust judge, so God will give us an answer in the end. Just don’t give up. Persevere to the end in prayer. Finish the race. Don’t be like the bicyclist or the wide receiver who stopped before the finish line. Don’t be like the rabbit who runs fast in the beginning but never crosses the finish line.

This parable that Jesus told is not so much a parable about prayer as it is about perseverance. The context in Luke is about the end times. Oftentimes people will talk about the end times, and whether or not the end is near. You know what Jesus concern was? Not that his disciples would know the end, but that they always remain faithful to the end. People ask, ‘Do you think that we are near the end’. The truth is I don’t know, I don’t have a clue. Here is what I do know, whether Christ comes back tomorrow, or comes back in 10,000 years, he calls me to be faithful and pray. He calls me to never give up.

Just like the persistent widow never gives up, so it is true that we as Christians must never give up. We are called to persevere to the end. Notice how Jesus ends the parable, verse 8, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” When Jesus comes back will we still be persevering in prayer? Will he find us praying, or giving up?


Conclusion

Jesus tells us to continue to pray: to pray without ceasing. And he calls us to never give up: to persevere in prayer to the end.

Imagine if our church made prayer central to everything we do. Imagine if the first thought that came into people’s minds when they heard First Baptist Church is that is a church that loves to pray. That love to talk to God there.

Imagine what God would do to our church if we all prayed without ceasing; where we all maintained a spirit of prayer; where when someone expressed a difficult situation we come together and pray. When something great happens to our church, we thank God about it in prayer.

Imagine a church where we persevere in prayer; where we look to God as a loving Father who even though we don’t understand why he does things, we never give up.

The whole culture of the church would change. That would be a church that I would dream of being a part of. Continue to pray and never give up.