Conversations With God - 4

Luke 18:1-14 (TNIV)

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

   4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 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?”

 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

   13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

   14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Questions

• Pastor Jon also spoke about Ephesians 6:10-20 and the imagery used there of the "Armor of God."  As you think of this imagery in light of the passages above, how does it change your understanding of both the battle and the armor?

• How can contemporary/popular/generally accepted ideas of armor/warfare/prayer  mask the point that Jesus is trying to help us understand about this metaphor, and about prayer in general?  Like so many other things, He turns the imagery upside down and invites us to see things in a new and fresh way.

• Do you notice the irony in how God sometimes gets characterized in exactly the way Jesus was trying to get people to let go of and reject, because we miss what Jesus is really getting at?  Has this ever happened to you?  What parts of your God imagery needs to be re-imaged?

• To what extent do you tend to tie your idea that God is listening to seeing the "results" you were hoping for?  What is the inherent spiritual hazard in this? 

Hanging in . . .The first parable begins by telling us what Jesus was wanting to show us . . . that we should always pray and not give up.  Ever felt like giving up?  What makes us feel like that?  Might it have to do with the way we think about prayer, and how we respond when our praying, or the way in which God responds, does not bring about what we had anticipated?  There are a lot of factors that contribute to the impulse to quit praying and just give up!

Justice.  Fairness.  For things to work out well. Things that we should be praying for, but sometimes the answers don't come as we had hoped they would.  So we assume there is either something wrong with us, or the judge.  Curiously, Jesus does not seem to go with either of those assumptions.  He reminds us that even unjust judges are actually, eventually, responsive and so we don't need to worry about that when it comes to God.  Nor does He suggest that she is just not praying enough or praying properly.  He simply says to continue to pray and not give up.  Praying, Jesus seems to suggest, should not be tied to the way we measure results.

The second parable about prayer also challenges our thinking.  Do we assume that God's responsiveness to us is tied more to how well we are doing or complying with conditions, especially in comparison to others who don't seem to be doing as well . . . or, when it comes to justice, is the person who is more honest and humble in his self assessment, aware of the flaws and dependent on grace, more likely to find what God offers?

When we listen carefully, Jesus challenges some of our assumptions about, perhaps even the way we think about,  prayer, or justice, or what it means to be a part of His Kingdom.   Where do you hear Him challenging yours as you listen and reflect on these parables?  That's what Pastor Jon gets into in this, the 4th installment of his series on prayer.  If you would like to listen to the sermon once again, or perhaps for the first time, you can access our sermon library by clicking here.

So, what if persistence is less about continuing to beat on Someone's door, demanding what we want, and more about continuing to stay in communion and conversation with Someone you know you can trust, even when things don't seem to work out the way we had hoped - knowing that the final outcome is assured?  What if persistence in prayer is less about demanding what we want, and more about staying the course even when it gets hard?  What if persistence has more to do with trust and honesty and humility, than our own view of how to get results?  Something to think about . . .