We have already read during the service of worship as our new testament lesson the text we're looking at Now in the time of our sermon. I just want to make Call one thing to your attention if you look at the bottom of the page Page 10. You'll see it the asterisk with the words alternative translation Preaching from the new American standard version and in there you'll see that in the in the flow of the scriptures it says If you look and find this at the end of verse seven in the original or not the original but in the in the Bible It says something and will he delay long over them and then your marginal note gives you what we have put in here And yet he is long suffering over them It's a place where the the translators have gone back and forth saying which which way should we translate this and If you look at the the new King James it has something very similar to what we have Printed for you in the new King James it says though he bears long with them and I think it's an appropriate translation and that's why I've given that to you it has to do with the fact that as we are praying To God we can have confidence that he will listen to us and hear us because he is patient He is long-suffering he does not treat us as our sins deserves But we who have put our faith in Christ Jesus are Free to approach his throne without fear of wrath or indignation because Christ is our righteousness and while we live in this world We are simultaneously Saint and center right justified declared righteous holy in God's sight, but he is not blind. He sees all He knows our misdeeds our words spoken in vain He knows the thoughts of our hearts and so he is long-suffering He has put aside our sin and is willing to be patient with us. That's the the context. I believe that Jesus Was speaking when he gave that part. Let me ask you a question. How you doing? Are any of you weary or any of you burdened by The adversities of life in one way or another if so this is a text for you Jesus wants to speak really right into your life We are in a series in the book of Luke kind of going verse by verse and chapter by chapter not not hitting every single word But still trying to get the the just in the flow of what Jesus is saying and last week He was speaking primarily to his disciples and telling them about the The fact that the kingdom is already come, but it is not yet fully realized There's more to come and he told the disciples. They will long for one of the days of the Son of man For the Son of man they will long for one of those days where Christ is Raining supremely when every knee is bowing and confessing that Jesus is Lord when we are free from our sinful nature from Sickness and disease when the new heavens and the new earth are upon us Well, long for one of those days and he speaks about life between his death and resurrection and his returning again and Our chapters can kind of throw us for a loop here. We are at chapter 18 and it starts off Now he was telling them a parable and we may forget all about the context But we ought not do that. We ought to see that there's a teaching here and often we find in Luke Jesus will give a teaching before a parable or after a parable and I believe in this case the parable that we're looking at today Follows the teaching about the amount of time that passes between the death of Christ in this resurrection So we'll look at that We'll see that Jesus is Concerned that we not lose heart in fact. We'll look at this text under these kind of three headings The dangers disciples face the perspective disciples need and the discipline Disciples practice. That's basically what he's talking about in this text And so let's take a look at it with first considering the dangers or the danger Disciples face. I say danger disciples face because of verse one where Luke tells us now He that is Jesus now Jesus was telling them a parable and he gives us read the reason why to show that at all times they ought to pray and not lose heart The danger we face see it's interesting he calls us to pray and to not lose heart We might think that the the danger the disciples are going to face is when they come to arrest Jesus Maybe they'll get hurt, but that's not what he's speaking about He's not speaking about the fact that they will face various forms of persecution They'll be put in jail James will be put to death in fact ultimately all the apostles are almost all of them Die the martyr's death and yet that's not the danger that he's referring to here What he's referring to the danger that the disciples face is the danger of losing heart That is something that we have to take a little bit of Excuse me time and consider it seems to be the main point. It's why he is teaching at the end of this teaching He'll ask the question however when the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth? In other words, will they have lost hearts? Will there be anyone walking by faith in Matthew's gospel? Jesus is speaking in chapter 24 about the end times and the struggles we face and all and there he says in verses 12 and 13 Because lawlessness is increased most people's love will grow cold But the one who endures to the end he shall be saved That's what we're looking at the danger of losing Heart well why would we lose heart? What are some of the reasons our love grows cold? We we considered some of these last week when we talked about our Longing for the days of the son of man how we long for the time where we are no longer ravaged by disease Where our bodies do not waste away whether in the prime of our life or by old age By the way, I I looked up on the internet how many people die every day Any idea how many people die every day? Well, there there are various sites that postulate various things most of them came in at between 146,000 people per day over planet earth to about 155,000 people every day die and One of the the places the legal information source. It's my life.com offers some interesting mortality statistics for the United States of the two million four hundred thousand plus Americans who die each year over 45,000 are killed in transport transport accidents The number of homicides poisonings and drunk driving fatalities are roughly the same at around 17,000 each Perhaps more surprisingly a stunning a hundred and 78,000 Americans die from medical or hospital air every year We long for Resurrected bodies We long for that time where our life does not suffer the aches and pains of life the broken bones The grueling disease
The miseries of this life we we long for that time when our relationships are harmonious where where we understand each other I don't know how many times an eye Sarah and I in our marriage have argued only to find out 30 minutes into our argument We both agreed we were just stating it differently Then ever happened to It's through difficulties. We learn to relate and love those who are closest to us We long for the days we we sometimes lose heart when I was a Singles pastor and ministered among those who were going through the crisis of separation and divorce I saw over and over and over again those on the brink who would describe their souls as being like Hiroshima after the bombing the danger is We might lose heart We can look at it from a world perspective and say man look what's going on in Syria The whole Arab Spring and and how in many of the countries where there has been Result revolt and and demonstration and there's now a new political system It's worse for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. There's more persecution more oppression more death And throughout the world there's oppression there's child soldiers. There's there's Human trafficking that takes place even in Dayton, Ohio It's too much to bear sometimes when we think about that with our marriage problems our family problems our problems in the workplace the The despair can move us to feeling like giving up and as Jesus teaches about The time between his death burial and resurrection and his glorious Appearing in the clouds when he comes again to judge the living and the dead he looks at that period of time he looks at us and he understands and He acknowledges there's a danger Well, so he gives a parable to help us see that we should pray at all times and not give up and let's consider that under the rubric The perspective disciples need we find this in the parable as Jesus was teaching He said in a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not Respect man and there was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying give me legal protection from my opponent Well, he was unwilling, but afterward he said to himself even though I do not fear God or respect man yet Because this widow is bothering me. I will give her legal protection. Otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out the The idea is like Really an uppercut of mock me out is just as little of a translation and the Lord said Hear what the unrighteous judge said Now will not God bring about justice for his elect who cry to him day and night and yet He is long suffering over them again. They ought to be praying to him Let's consider the parable. It's a little bit removed from our culture We need to keep in mind this is a Jewish setting right Jewish judge going by the Jewish law the law of Moses a Jewish widow who's coming Imagine if you will one of those Middle Eastern small village towns that would be in the mind of many where Jesus is teaching and giving this parable And in that town the at the gates there would be all sorts of Judicial and civic responsibilities, you know the elder at the gates kind of idea And often there was a judge and the way you got to see that judge as you got on the docket kind of like we have today only Often, you know the there was someone who organized that for him and they could be bribed and so You know the richer you were the sooner your case got heard in fact if you had enough you could have things ruled without you even having to show up And so there's the judge and there's his helper and and things are moving this way and now a Jewish judge Would follow the law of Moses and the law of Moses was was explicit In several places about the importance of making sure that the the vulnerable the the the people who have the least amount Power in society would be protected and so specifically mentioned were both orphans or the fatherless and widows Well as refugees But the widows would be mentioned and and god would say now you make sure not to neglect justice For the oppressed for the neglected for the the vulnerable don't Don't defer to them because they're poor or vulnerable, but but don't deny them justice because they can't afford the lawyer or the court appointed a lawyer that sort of stuff So Jesus tells us that this particular judge Was cropped he did not fear god and he did not respect man Again in the the Middle East the idea would be this man has no shame in a shame-based culture where You always do what is right because you don't want to shame yourself. You don't want to shame your family You don't want to shame your village. You don't want to shame. It's all shame-based that way And this judge had no shame. He didn't care. He didn't care what happened. He didn't care about his family name He didn't care about his community. He didn't he didn't care what people said And so he didn't care about this widow
Interesting widow would would cry out there is another cultural thing I want to read to you from Kenneth Bailey. I do love his work. He is an expert in Middle Eastern studies and ancient history and stuff this book This is actually two books poet and peasant and through peasant eyes Very very good work that he has done and I've printed it out and enlarged the text so that I can read it a little easier. He's speaking about an important element And that has to do with how a widow would be heard how this persistent widow could keep coming and Pastoring the judge He writes during the Lebanese Civil War of 1975-1976 a Palestinian peasant woman of my acquaintance was caught in a tragedy Her cousin disappeared. He was assumed to be kidnapped by one of the many armed groups fighting in the city of Beirut The entire extended family searched in vain for him or his body He was the only son of his widowed mother and was not a member of a paramilitary group In desperation the family sent a delegation of three present women to the political military leader of the leftist forces in the area Where he had disappeared the man they went to see was an internationally known powerful military and political figure These women shouted their way into an audience with him once there flung a torrent of hard words in his face The entire scene was vividly described to me by my peasant friend the following day. I specifically ask What would have happened if the men of your family had said such things Such things to this man with raised eyebrows and a shake of the head she answered oh They would have been killed at once Few more words go by and then it tells us how did the widow get attention? Obviously her shouting was different from the others Tone of voice and such and traditional society in the middle east women are generally powerless in a man's world But at the same time they are respected and honored Men can be mistreated in public but not women women can scream at a public figure and nothing will happen to them In the case of my Palestinian friend the family had deliberately sent the women because they could express openly Their sense of heard and betrayal in language guaranteed to evoke a response The men could not say the same kinds of things and stay alive This same background is reflected in the rest of the parable You get the sense If everyone listening to the story could imagine you know the Jewish grandmother Judge judge you know They could hear it they imagine the story It's to give us perspective And it's not so much the story it's Jesus is teaching afterwards right Jesus is saying that our Heavenly Father is nothing like An unrighteous judge everyone knows that he's the judge of all the earth in fact as I was reading through this a second time It made me think of abraham interceding for the for the city of Sodom on behalf of his nephew Lot will not the judge of all the earth do justly and so I think Jesus would encourage us to gain perspective as we think about this Here's the the fill in the blank the first one is this God is wise and as timing That's hard for us as we live between those holes right the resurrection and the return It doesn't always seem wise to us does it In fact, we might say I can't understand why God would allow We fill in the blanks And what Jesus is telling you his disciples Is remember God is wise in his timing At timing is a big word it really is verse 1 At all times they ought to pray verse 2 verse 3 she kept coming verse 4 for a while But afterward verse 5 otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out verse 7 who cried to him day and night and then verse 8 Bring about justice for them quickly And when he comes timing timing timing the the the words that give us this timing element or throughout the teaching throughout the parable and throughout the teaching
God is wise in his timing
He is at work We have to keep that in mind he's he's infinitely wise remember he created Not just the world and not just you He created the universe All things were made by him And all things are sustained by him and he is appointed the days and the seasons the the family we're born into in the time that we are born He has appointed it all he knows it all and he is infinitely wise
That's truth just true
We struggle with that we I know we can put a list of how is this wise How is this wise how is this wise and and we don't understand why God will permit what he hates But we do believe that he will permit what he hates for the ultimate good of what he loves
How many times for our own sanctification do we suffer trials of various sorts How many times for the sake of the elect do we suffer many things
It's amazing to me and it should be to all of us God is able to do you know He kills a million birds with one stone
Wise in his timing and and the other thing that we are called to keep in perspective the disciples perspective is that God is always just Good and caring He's always just good and caring. He's not like the unjust judge He is the the judge of all the earth He is the one who who gave the the Jewish judges the the law they're to carry out Where he keeps demanding justice and only justice you shall not defer to the rich or to the poor you shall always do what is right And he spells out what that looks like from the care to the poor to how to return thanks to him for all the good ways He blesses us and cares for us how he provides for the protection of various people how to get out of poverty and so on and so forth You read through the law and it's it's the just he's just he's good this the law and the prophets continue to scream that to us And Jesus doesn't emphasize it much to his disciples in this point Because they already know it and the very mention of the unjust judges like oh yeah God's not that way
What makes you want to lose heart?
Remember this perspective God's timing is always wise and God is always good caring loving One more aspect the disciples discipline or the disciples Sorry the discipline the disciples practice the discipline the disciples practice as we think about this I want to make an important distinction I am not saying if you Learn to practice these disciplines you will not lose heart I think there's some truth in that but that's not what I'm saying what I As we look at these disciplines what I want to have fully in your mind is that it is God who grants us perseverance God himself gives us the ability to trust in him to endure to the end Okay, but you know we talk about in theological terms that that God justifies us freely by his grace on the basis of faith and apart from any works that we do right that's Justification by faith alone I know it's not reformation Sunday, but nevertheless It's always good for us to remember that doctrine that God freely grants us the righteousness of Christ The good deeds that Christ did is perfect obedience until he gives that to us freely without any merit on our part Just as a gift that we received by faith Now having that gift The changes he makes in our lives what we call sanctification While it's 100% of work of God. There is no sanctification. There is no change There is no growth in godliness without God doing it He requires from us a hundred percent cooperation You get that And that's an important distinction as we talk about the discipline that disciples practice We do this not to endure we do this because God calls us to it and he uses it most of the time Usually to help us in this area we may call perseverance or not losing heart Well, what's mentioned in the passage the first one is this pray always right verse one Now he was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray
It's just one of the disciplines I chose the word disciplines too because it's a discipline. It's not easy. It doesn't come natural You don't just follow your heart You come to the scriptures and you see what God calls us to pray about it and who God is And you practice practice practice it's like the the sportsman who works out who gains strength who keeps doing the same Whatever it is if it's hockey some foot move or gymnastics some trick what you know the football player the coach says You know you cut this way then now whatever it is you keep doing it and doing it and doing it and you practice it You practice it and you practice it and build strength and build strength and build strength and that's how you get good at it It's the discipline of prayer and we are to pray at all times
It's very much connected with what we just looked at at point two the perspective disciples need It's in our prayers. We remember That God is wise and is timing that he causes all things to work together for good to those who love him It's it's in our prayer time where our perspective is oh yeah We are speaking to the creator at the ends of the universe the one who always does what is just and right He may be willing to endure What he hates because sinful men do it and he doesn't stop them But he will always use it for good purposes in the lives of his children
And our perspective is matured and we learn to live by a God the Perspective When we at all times pray you see the connection there
The next thing I would say the next discipline Almost hard to consider to discipline But I'll put it here anyway and that is live by faith Verse eight. I tell you the truth I tell you that he will bring about justice for them quickly However When the son of man comes will he find faith on the earth? That's to be a penetrating question
Will he find faith? Not talking about will I find a copy of the creed or the catechism or the confession Where the faith is spelled out Talking about the souls of his children Will they retain That godly perspective Will they live on the basis of that godly perspective god is wise I don't have to return insult for insult god will protect me God is wise I don't have to shout I don't have to force my way god will take care of me god is wise god will give me justice You know some of the illustrations I thought of modern day the frustrations we have in injustice had to do with stuff like working With insurance claims and you know it just if you've ever had to use an insurance claim You know you can get just so frustrated that if you were to talk to the human that was connected to the company if you Which would be a miracle in and of itself
He just want to give up my cousin of it
It's where we by faith say god will take care of me god is in control of this god is his hand is not too short He can save me in this I can trust him
It's always living by faith it's saying I will do XYZ whatever fill in the blank I will do fill in the blank because I know god wants me to and I trust him To do it sovereign will Notice I didn't say I will do whatever because I know god will work it out the way I want it worked out The Lord willing you'll mature past that is that's where you're at You'll have to You're your skinned knees your bloody lip you'll say. Oh Yes as well Which really brings us to this last point and Again, I don't know if I like the way I have it written here I'll give you the fill in the blank though imitate Jesus That's true, but it's really where I want to remind us that Christ is our strength Christ is our hope Christ is the one That we want to Trust to take care of us But think about his life of faith and prayer
When he was baptized it tells us that While he was praying the heavens open and the stuff came down the voice of God while he was praying Verse chapter five and verse 16 of Luke Jesus would often slip away to the wilderness Chapter six It was at this time he went off to the mountain to pray and he spent the whole night in prayer next and then called the disciples to himself Chapter 19 and it happened while he was praying alone and his disciples were with him Chapter nine and little later on some eight days later after these things he took Peter John and James they went up to pray Chapter 11 while he was praying the disciple said Lord teach us to pray
The night he was betrayed when he spoke to Peter Chapter 22 verses 31 and 32 Simon Simon behold Satan has demanded to sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you
It's not recorded in Luke's gospel But sometime between the Lord's supper and his arrest We have that great high priestly prayer in John and As he speaks I'm again just a few verses from it father The hour has come glorify your son that the son may glorify you skipping down a little bit further To verse four I glorified you on the earth having accomplished the work which you have given me To do and he prays all about that and he prays for our unity and he prays that we would not lose heart and such During this time and then from the cross my god my god why have you forsaken me And again into your hands I commit my spirit
We look to Jesus we want to imitate him We see that he had a life of prayer and he he lived by faith He knew what god had called him to do and so he could pray about it I have accomplished the work you have given me to do
Good perspective When the writer of Hebrews wanted to encourage the Hebrew saints who were suffering They were being persecuted they were considering giving up they had Almost lost heart There's warning after warning after warning pay close attention do not lose heart do not give up encourage one another We get to chapter 11 and we have what's called the the hall of fame right the hall of faith by faith by faith We hear about we hear about Canon able and Abel offering a better sacrifice and Noah and Abraham and the patriarchs and David and And the prophets and so on and so forth and it's every every time the example is by faith by faith by faith
And it culminates in chapter 12 where we are told that we need to run the race that is set before us With perseverance how Fixing our eyes on The author and perfect our of our
And then he says for consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against him so that you may not Grunt weary and lose heart
Before the joy set before him endured the cross despising the shame it's very hard times For some of you The physical pain of your hard times is intolerable sometimes For some of you you have that on top of emotional pain
The words of our Lord Jesus to you are don't give up Don't give up your heavenly father We'll bring about justice quickly By his perspective of time But it is absolutely sure That's pray We thank you father for your word and we ask that you would strengthen us That you would have us keep our eyes stayed upon Jehovah our eyes fixed on Jesus the author and perfect of our faith Pray in Jesus name We pray in Jesus name We pray in Jesus name