23 Jan

11/11/18    LUKE 18:1-8     “NEVER GIVE UP”

Before we begin today I would like to point out something about parables.  If you remember a while back and it may have been last summer, we saw where Jesus said that we are to eat, drink and be merry.  This was part of a parable.  The lesson here is that we cannot take things from a parable and isolate them.  They are a part of whole story and the whole story is where the meaning mostly lies.  We do not always get the meaning from the individual sentences but from the big picture.  With this in mind I would like to do the same thing that Jesus tells us in verse 1.  He tells a parable to show the way of the verse before.  I would like to show you that we should always pray and never give up.

Barry Robinson points out that ‘Rocky’ is one of the most spiritual movies he has ever seen.  For those of you who have never seen it, it’s about an underdog boxer that wins.  Personally, I do not care about this movie but I have come to see his point.  The popularity of this movie doesn’t lie in Sylvester Stallone’s accent or his intelligence.  It lies in his heart.  It didn’t matter how badly he was beaten, he would always get up.

And we all know people like this.  There is something about them that attracts our attention.  What we notice is that these people never give up.  Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team.  Abraham Lincoln lost 8 elections before being elected as President.  One time on a Monday night football game, one of the announcers said that the Bears great running back, Walter Payton, had accumulated over nine miles of rushing yards in his career.  Another announcer piped in, “Yeah, and somebody was knocking him down every 4.6 yards.”

John Wesley, the founder of our church was a tremendous preacher.  But he had trouble also.  Listen to this that comes from his diary.  “Sunday, May 5, preached at St. Ann’s and was asked not to come back.  Sunday, May 5, preached at St. John’s and was told, “Get out and stay out.”  Sunday, May 12, preached at St. Jude’s, can’t go back there either.  May 12, preached at St. George’s, kicked out again.  May 19, preached at St. somewhere else, deacons called a special meeting and said I couldn’t return.  May 19, preached on the street, kicked off the street.  May 26, preached in a meadow, chased out of the meadow as a bull was turned loose during the service.  Sunday, June 2, afternoon service, preached in a pasture, 10,000 people came to hear me.  Don’t give up.”

That is what Jesus is telling us in verse 1.  Then he tells a parable.  Before we begin I would like to point out a couple of things.  In today’s world, when we think of judge, we think of a fancy courthouse, a somber and quiet room, and a man or woman in a long robe pounding a gavel.  But that isn’t the kind of a judge that is in today’s Scripture.  Generally speaking, we are talking about a rich man in a tent.  Men are allowed to come and air their complaints as long as they pay a little bribe first.  Many times the verdicts could also be purchased.  Therefore, this is a far cry from any judge we know today.  Or is it?

How much justice do we get in this country unless we can hire an expensive lawyer?  How often do our Senators and Representatives take money from rich people to make laws for them?  I’m not going to go any farther here except to make the point that we are just as dishonest today as in any time of history if not more so.  Our Congressional approval rating is at less than 20%.  One would think that maybe they might realize that something is wrong but they don’t.  They set the example of lying and cheating all during their campaigns and then have the audacity to think that people won’t follow their lead!  I think that campaigns should be R-rated and children shouldn’t be allowed to watch or listen.

Anyway, enough of my rant!  Moving on, we see that once again Jesus uses a widow woman as a central character.  Women could not go to court unless they had a husband to stand with them.  She had no standing in the Law because she was both a woman and a widow.  And being a widow, she would be very poor and could not afford the bribes.  She has three strikes against her.

Also notice in verse 2, that the judge neither feared God nor cared about man.  Many times I have heard people say that this judge is some sort of symbol for God.  Don’t listen to these people.  Clearly, Jesus is making this judge out to be just the opposite.  Jesus is always fair and He fears God, the Father.

Now back to the parable.  This widow is being persecuted by an adversary.  We don’t know who it is but the term is generally used to call attention to an evil presence.  She has no choice but to try to get the wicked judges attention.  The only way that she can get his attention is to pester him as much as she can.  She must have done it everywhere possible outside of the court tent.  She probably hounded him or maybe stalked him.  Finally, he can take her bothering him no more.  He decides to give her justice so that he can have peace.  He doesn’t do it so that there would be justice.  He does it for his own gain.  Her persistence paid off.

I return to the point that her only choice left was the wicked judge.  There is an important point here that really applies to us.  And many times we have no choice about situations like our widow.  How often have you had to make the choice of the lesser of two evils?  You know, when you have a yes or no choice and both choices are bad.  The difference is that one isn’t quite as bad as the other but you only have the two choices.  I think that we have all been there.  These situations are ugly. I know I always say that the lesser of 2 evils is still evil but sometimes that is all there is or is there?

I would like to offer a little piece of advice when this happens.  Try prayer.  Try asking Jesus.  Many times we think that we have to get out of things or do things on our own accord.  Many times we leave God out of our decisions.  Try talking to God.  He is always willing to listen and always able to help.  It is through your total reliance on Him that you will find freedom.  It is hard for people to understand this but total reliance on Jesus is the only way to true freedom.  He will help you in these difficult matters.

The widow here can teach us not to give up praying.  Many times our prayers are answered in a way that is untimely to us.  They may even be answered in a way so that we don’t even see the answer because we are looking in the wrong direction.  For example, for years I prayed that God would use me.  And He did.  I did a lot of things in the Methodist church before we had to move to the Lutheran Brethren church.  There we did a lot of things and we kept praying for ways for God to use us.  Then we became involved in a church plant and we thought we were home.  Then Jesus called us two small churches in rural North Dakota.  Twenty years ago I would have told you that you were crazy if you told me I would be here doing this today.  God works on His time table and I praise the Lord for that.  He had used us all along the way and we hadn’t noticed it until after.

I think that all of us have prayed and thought our prayers weren’t answered at one time or another.  Please try to remember that God answers pray.  The problem is in us.  We either quit praying, or quit looking or we just cannot see.   He will even answer if we have to take the lesser of two evils.  Often when we pray, the answer is no and we don’t want to accept this.  God is not a granter of all our wishes.  He works His way on His time.

The second point I would like to make is that we have to keep on praying because persistence in prayer is essential to success.  If we look at the widow, we find that if she isn’t persistent with the judge then she will not get to see him.  We are to be persistent in our prayers with God.  This is not because we won’t get to see him.  It is because He wants to talk to us.  He wants to have the same kind of conversations with you that He had with Adam and Eve.  Many times, answered prayer comes in stages like my being here today.  If I had come directly to the two rural churches years ago, they would have had a pastor who wasn’t ready to be a pastor.  God took me through stages so I can be here.  All we have to do is trust in Him.  All we have to do is give Him our lives.

That is one of our biggest problems.  The people of this country have too many good things.  We basically have everything that we need.  In other words, we don’t need God.  But those of us, who know Him, know better.  We know that He is everything that we need and the world really offers us nothing.  It is through Jesus that I am here today.  I know many of you feel the same way.  It is because of Jesus that you have made it this far in life.  It is through persistent prayer and dialogue with Jesus.  For those of you who don’t know Him, try talking to Him and letting Him into your life.  The rewards are better than anything this old world can offer.

And He does this because of the third point, the third and most important point.  I have tried to tell you this every week and here it is in black and white.  If an evil judge who hates God and man is willing to do this for the least of his people just because she is persistent, then how much more will our God do who loves you and wants the very best for you?  If you keep on praying, then God will keep on answering because He loves you so much.  How many times have we made our jobs our god and we don’t find happiness?  How many times have we made power our god and not found contentment?  How many times have we made money our god and not been satisfied?  We even make our computers and the internet our god.  Forget about these things!  It is time we make God your center and find out what life is all about.  He loves you so much that He will always answer your prayers as you keep praying.

This can be seen in a story told by John Hamby that sums up this passage very well.  This is a true story first told by Kirk Johnston.  Roger Simms was hitchhiking home on May 7.  He was tired and anxious to get out of his army uniform.  He was having no luck getting a ride when a sleek Cadillac stopped.  The passenger door opened and he quickly jumped in.  The well-dressed man was going passed Roger’s destination and on to Chicago.  So the ride worked out for him.

The driver said his name was Hanover and he had a business in the city.  They drove on and talked about many things.  As they neared Rogers home, he felt this compulsion to tell this man about Jesus.  Finally, he told Mr. Hanover about the grace of Jesus Christ.  To Rogers’s surprise, he pulled the car over to the side of the road.  Roger thought that he was about to be ejected from the car.  The car stopped and the businessman bowed his head and accepted Jesus.  Then he said, “This is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me.”

Five years went by and Roger had a 2 year old son and his own business.  One day he had to go to Chicago for business and he accidentally found Hanover’s business card that he had been given 5 years earlier.  He looked up Hanover Enterprises when he got there.  The receptionist told him that it was impossible to see Mr. Hanover but he could see Mrs. Hanover.  He was clearly confused as he met Mrs. Hanover.  “You knew my husband?” she began.  Roger said that he had given him a ride when he had just gotten out of the army.  Mrs. Hanover asked when that was.

“It was May 7, five years ago, the day I was discharged from the army.” He said.

She asked him, “Is there anything special that happened that day?”  He was a little confused and he hesitated before he finally said, “Mrs. Hanover, I explained the gospel.  He pulled over to the side of the road and wept against the steering wheel.  He gave his life to Christ that day.”

Mrs. Hanover began to sob uncontrollably.  She finally gained some control and said through her sobs, “I prayed for my husband’s salvation for years.  I believed that God would save him.”  Then Roger asked, “And where is your husband, Mrs. Hanover?”

“He’s dead,” she wept, struggling for words.  “He was in a car crash after he let you out of the car.  He never got home.  I thought that God had not kept his promise.”  Then she added, “You see, I stopped living for God 5 years ago because I thought that He had not kept his word.”

Brothers and sisters in Christ:  Don’t stop.  Don’t quit.  Don’t give up on your prayers.  God loves you so much that He will answer all of your prayers.  But remember, He is all knowing and you are not.  He answers in His way, at His time.  He knows what the best is for you and that is what He will give you.  I praise the Lord for His answers and timing in my life and in your lives also.  And thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.