Praying for the Kingdom - Luke 18:1-8

Introduction

What is this passage really about? It seems straight forward enough until you get to that last verse. Until then its simply an illustration of Praying – and never giving up until you get what you're asking for. That's easy – right?

But then we get the last part of verse 8 where Jesus says “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

What does Jesus mean, and how does it relate to the parable?

Looking back to the Chapter before our reading today, Jesus is responding to a question about the Kingdom of God. He uses that question to talk about his return. From chapter 17 verse 30.

“It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

The widow in the parable wants justice. We must ask ourselves why there would be a call for justice at the second coming. Christians across the world are hated by those they live among. As a result they are treated badly – persecuted. Sometimes that is simply a form of discrimination but at other times and in other places it is much worse. We are fortunate because we can worship without threat at the moment. There are many places in the world where just going to a Christian meeting would endanger your life. So we can see that there is a great need for justice.

Revelation 6:10 tells us why. 'They called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”' That is the same prayer as the prayer of the widow.

In the parable Jesus is saying that we should be praying for the Kingdom of God – for its establishment, its growth, and finally for justice for its members. He teaches the same thing in Matthew 6, where there is an outline for prayer. Its one of the scriptures that make up the “Lord's Prayer”.

Mt 6:9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

Mt 6:10 your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Mt 6:11 Give us today our daily bread.

Notice that praying for the Kingdom is something that is to be done before even asking God to provide for our most basic needs – our daily bread.'

Praying for the Kingdom includes anything that helps to build Gods Kingdom on Earth:

• For people to come to Christ
• For people to grow closer to Christ
• For strengthening and healing those who are already engaged in spreading the gospel.

Ernest Persistent Prayer

For these things we should pray and never give up. I was trying to think of an example of a time when Christ Church has prayed together for the same thing. A time when we had prayed with a similar sense of persistence as shown by the widow in the parable. That was when Warner was off work in 2008. We met together in the church room each week to pray. Not that many of us, it is true, but enough of us to make a difference. Perhaps, if I had held those times in the church, more people would have come. We prayed like this for about three months, if I remember correctly. Then one night we met for a half night of prayer, and stayed in church praying until midnight.

And it worked!

Looking back now, though, we weren't that committed to what we were doing.

Kefa Sempangi lead a church in Uganda during the Amin dictatorship. His church would call the leadership together to pray whenever there was a serious need in the church. They would pray right through the whole night, expecting an answer in the morning.

When was the last time that the leaders of our church were called together to pray?

A look at Prayer

Request

Lets take a look at what these prayers might be like.

First we must remember that we do not make demands of God.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

C. S. Lewis wrote: “Prayer is request. The essence of a request, as distinct from a demand, is that it may or may not be granted. And if an infinitely wise Being listens to the requests of finite and foolish creatures, of course He will sometimes grant them and sometimes refuse them.”

Sometimes we are not praying for the right thing, as Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham once said, “If God answered every prayer of mine, I would have married the wrong man seven times!”

Our prayers may not always be the best things for us, or for those we are praying for. We must be sure that we are close to God, so that we do not waste our efforts praying for things that are never going to happen.

John 15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.

We may have to wait what seems a very long time to us. Patience and faith are important.

Patience

2Pe 3:8-9 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

In a German prison camp in WWII, unknown to the guards, the American prisoners managed to build a makeshift radio. One day news came that the German high command had surrendered, ending the war—a fact that, because of a communications breakdown, the German guards did not yet know. As word spread, a loud celebration broke out. For three days, the prisoners were hardly recognizable. They sang, waved at guards, laughed at the German shepherd dogs, and shared jokes over meals. On the fourth day, they awoke to find that all the Germans had fled, leaving the gates unlocked.

God, of course doesn't suffer communications breakdowns, but has His reasons for not answering our prayers immediately. Our patience is required.

Faith

Faith is required too.

English preacher George Mueller wrote these words about praying: “The great point is never to give up until the answer comes. I have been praying for 63 years and 8 months for one man’s conversion. He is not saved yet, but he will be. How can it be otherwise? I am praying.” George Mueller died in 1897 and the man was still not saved. But as they lowered Muller’s casket into the ground, the man repented of his sins and trusted Jesus as his Saviour.

George was famous for his prayer life, and is reputed to have read through the Bible 4 times every year.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Sometimes though our certainty in the things we do not see fails us and doubts begin. This is especially the case when we have been praying the same prayer for a long time, and the person that we are praying for seems completely unaffected by our prayers.

Doubt

When you walk into a room and switch on the light an nothing happens you don't say “Oh, that Thomas Edison had no idea what he was talking about. This electricity thing just doesn't work.”. No, you check that there isn't a power cut, then replace the bulb or the switch.

When doubts occur, don't assume that God isn't listening or isn't going to answer your prayer. There are many reasons why God hasn't answered the prayer right NOW.

Closeness to God

If we can stay close to God it will help us to trust Him, then we will be less likely to doubt. Regularly reading the Bible, (4 times through every year is great, but I don't think I will ever manage that!) and spending time just talking to God about your day will help. John 15:5 says “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” We have to stay connected to God if our prayers are to be any use in building the Kingdom.

Faith on Earth

The parable was told to encourage the followers of Jesus to pray and to keep on praying for the Kingdom of God, and in this case for justice for each of its members. This call for justice is echoed John's vision in Revelation 6:10 where the martyrs question God about how long they have to wait for justice. They have been working for the Kingdom of God against the powers of the world and have made the ultimate sacrifice.

At the end of the parable Jesus wonders whether He will find any faithful followers on earth when he returns. Will He find anyone who can stand up the threats of the world and continue to pray for the Kingdom until it comes, or until their time on earth is complete.

Will that be us, or will we succumb to the world and its enchantments?

Thankfulness

Boy & Orange Story

A small boy was given an orange, which he took willingly. His mother said “What do you say?”. The boy looked at the orange and though for a moment, then said “Peel it.”

That wasn't what his mother wanted or expected. When Jesus healed the lepers he didn't get what he wanted or expected either. Maybe you can easily forgive a child, but with adults you expect a better understanding.

I will be Concentrating on Gratitude this morning. I hope we can get a better understanding of what it means to be thankful.

Background to passage

First though we must take a look at the scene we are presented with and understand what is happening here.

Verse 11 says that Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem. We are approaching passover, but there is a long journey yet, and lots of teaching to get through before we arrive. He would be travelling roughly southbound, from Galilee to Jerusalem, but Sameria is between the two. Jesus was going around the region of Sameria, instead of through it. Jews and Samaritans have a common ancestry, but separated after the Babylonian exile. Both sides believed they held the truth about God. Under normal circumstances they do not mix, but leprosy is a special case.

As he was entering a village some lepers called out to him. They had to call, they were not allowed to get too close. They had been excluded from their villages and were not allowed to make contact or come within a certain distance of the healthy population. That meant they were not allowed in the Temple or any other place of worship. It meant they were not allowed at a place or work. All they could do was beg. It was a sensible public health measure. Leprosy was (and still is) a horrible disease, and only since the 1930's we have had a cure. The description of Leprosy in the Bible covers many different types of skin disease – but you couldn't be too careful.

The rules for determining what is and is not a skin disease that makes someone 'unclean' are set out in Leviticus 13.

They asked Jesus to take pity on them. Leprosy was seen in Jesus' time as a punishment from God. They believed that God's mercy would make them clean again.

Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priests. Jews and Samaritans had similar rules and systems for determining if someone had recovered. It was the priests job to examine the person and determine if he was well. As they obeyed Jesus they all realised that they were cured. Their skin became normal.

One of them, just one, turned back to thank Jesus for the miracle. It turns out that he was a Samaritan.

What of the other nine? Why didn't they come back? Here's one preachers ideas:

• One waited to see if the cure was real.
• One waited to see if it would last.
• One said he would see Jesus later.
• One decided that he had never had leprosy.
• One said he would have gotten well anyway.
• One gave the glory to the priests.
• One said, "O, well, Jesus didn’t really do anything."
• One said, "Any rabbi could have done it."
• One said, "I was already much improved."

May be. May be they did think like that. It's almost impossible for us to know how we would have reacted. All I can say is that, for me, I think I would have been so excited about being able to go back to my family, back to my community, to live my normal life that I may well not have thought about my duty of thanks. Of course I would be thankful, but would not have expressed it to the very person that I should have expressed it.

Parallels to our situation

The social effects of Leprosy has parallels with the effects of sin. As Leprosy separates people from their community so sin separates us from God. It puts us outside the community that we would prefer to be inside. It breaks our contact, and leaves us in a position where we can only beg for mercy.

Gratitude

So we have a lot to be thankful for. Jesus has already answered our call for mercy. Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Before any of us had any concept of our need Christ had already died for us, so that we may not be separated from God.

What do we have to be thankful for?

There's much more than that to be thankful for though.

Rudyard Kipling

“Rudyard Kipling lived from 1865 to 1936. He was English, yet born in Bombay, India. He wrote poetry and is the author of books like Captain Courageous, How the Leopard Got His Spots, and The Jungle Books.

Kipling’s writings not only made him famous but also brought him a fortune. A newspaper reporter came up to him once and said, "Mr. Kipling, I just read that somebody calculated that the money you make from your writings amounts to over one hundred dollars a word.”

The reporter reached into his pocket and pulled out a one hundred-dollar bill and gave it to Kipling and said, “Here’s a one hundred dollar bill, Mr. Kipling. Now you give me one of your hundred dollar words.”

Rudyard Kipling looked at the money, put it in his pocket and said, "Thanks!"

Some things to be thankful for.

I'd certainly say “Thanks” for £50, and I bet most of you would too.

Here are some other things that you might be thankful for:

-If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of this world.

-If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish somewhere, you are among the top 8% of the world’s wealthy.

-If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive this week

-If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

-If you can attend church meetings without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion in the world.

-If your parents are still alive and still married, you are fairly rare.

[What else might we be thankful for?]

A different perspective

Perhaps we just need to change our perspective to see what we can be really thankful for.

Jewish Story – (of the goat)

There is an old Jewish story that illustrates this point. There is a man who goes to the rabbi and complains, "Life is unbearable. There are nine of us living in one room. What can I do?" The rabbi answers, "Take your goat into the room with you." The man in incredulous, but the rabbi insists. "Do as I say and come back in a week." A week later the man comes back looking more distraught than before. "We cannot stand it," he tells the rabbi. "The goat is filthy." The rabbi then tells him, "Go home and let the goat out. And come back in a week." A radiant man returns to the rabbi a week later, exclaiming, "Life is beautiful. We enjoy every minute of it now that there’s no goat -- only the nine of us."

The situation was the same as at first, but now his perception had changed. He realized that he was blessed to begin with.

Why be grateful?

Does that help to make you think of the things you can be thankful for?

Sometime though, it takes a doctor or an expert to tell us what to do, before we will change our habits.

because it's good for you!

Here's and extract from a book called “Thanks!: How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier”

 By Robert A. Emmons

"We discovered scientific proof that when people regularly engage in the systematic cultivation of gratitude, they experience a variety of measurable benefits: psychological, physical, and interpersonal. The evidence on gratitude contradicts the widely held view that people have a "set-point" of happiness that cannot be reset by any known means: in some cases, people have reported that gratitude led to transformative life changes. And, even more important, the family, friends, partners, and others that surround them consistently report that people who practice gratitude seem measurably happier and are more pleasant to be around."

Now Robert is saying that you actually have to do 'being thankful', not just think about what you might be thankful for. He's saying that the act of thanking changes your life.

That is surprisingly exactly what the Bible says.

Philippians. 4:6 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

Colossians 2:6-7 "As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving."

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Part of living with Christ, of being a Christian is that we practice thankfulness.

Farmer and Pig Story

An old farmer once had an ungodly relative visit him. After the farmer had bowed his head and thanked God for the food they were about to eat, the relative rudely said, "What did you do that for? There's no God. We live in an age of enlightenment." The old farmer smiled and said, "There is one on the farm who doesn't thank God before he eats." The relative sat up and said, "Who is this enlightened one?" To which the farmer quietly replied, “My pig.”

Let's end with a prayer

"Thank you, dear God
For all You have given me,
For all You have taken away from me,
For all You have left me."
(unknown)