Bothering God - 6 October 2019

“Bothering God”

Luke 18:1-8

6 October 2019 (SBC, Sligo IE)

INTRODUCTION:

Every pastor eventually learns that there are three basic kinds of people in his life, in his sphere of relationships.

1.      Mentors – People who pump sunlight and fresh air into your life whenever you are around them. These are people who really know you and are willing and able to tell you what you need to know rather than what you just want to hear. They are people who fill up your emotional tank. They top you off. You esteem them as better, smarter, and wiser than you, yet they love you and ask for little in return. They are your go-to people when you are in trouble and need advice. You are fortunate indeed, and blessed, if you have a couple of people like this in your inner circle.

2.      Equals – People with whom you can associate and have solid friendship relationships where you balance out one another. You can share your lives with one another and come away feeling good, not drained, not stressed out. They are basically on the same journey with you and you see them as fellow-travelers, comrades, brothers. After being together you come away saying, “That was fun! That was a good day!” Using the tank metaphor, you overflow into them and they overflow back into you so that you nurture one another.

3.      Drainers – People who are difficult to be around for very long because they sap your strength and drain your tank. I call them “energy vampires.” These folks are needy and difficult and usually do not even realize it. They see you as their lifeline, and they draw their strength from you, draining your energy/emotions tank in the process. You love them but cannot be around them for very long periods at a time or you will run dry. They must be taken in small doses.

TRANSITION:

In our passage for this morning, Jesus tells a story about a woman who was wearing out a judge from whom she wanted something. She would not leave him alone. She gave him no peace. She was an energy vampire and he finally gave in to her demands just to get her off his back.

Jesus used this parable to teach a lesson about us and God, and how we also should be persistent in asking Him for what we need. However, this story needs to be carefully examined and interpreted lest we draw wrong conclusions about the character of God. Let’s look at the passage in Luke 18:1-8.  

MAIN BODY:

Verses 1-2: Now [Jesus] was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, ² saying, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.” 

·         Luke tells us right up front the correct interpretation of this parable, even before he relates the parable itself. He says that Jesus told this story to teach that we “ought to pray at all times and not to faint or lose heart.” That’s it! That is the bottom line, the principle we should take home with us.

·         Similar teaching about prayer is found in other places in the Scriptures. For example, 1 Thess. 5:16-18 says, “Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray without ceasing, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Likewise, in Ephesians 6:18 Paul tells us, “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.” Or as Paul tells the church of Colossae in Colossians 1:3, “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.” And again in 4:2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.” So, this is not something foreign to us. We all know that we “…ought to pray” more, to live in a state of prayer. [N.B. Already in Luke’s Gospel we eavesdropped on a conversation between Jesus and the Twelve back in Luke 11:5-13. You might want to revisit that text.]

·         Likewise, this phrase, “…do not faint,” or as it is in many of our translations, “do not lose heart,” is one with which we are familiar. It appears in several other NT passages. Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:1, 16 says, “Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart… ¹⁶ Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.”  Later, in Galatians 6:9 Paul says, “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Then finally in Ephesians 3:13 the apostle declares, “Therefore I ask you not to lose heart at my tribulations on your behalf, for they are your glory.” 

·         What might be some things that could make a Christian lose heart?

o   Disillusionment with other believers

o   Lack of visible results from our ministry

o   Loneliness

o   Feelings of abandonment

o   Seeming lack of appreciation despite our best efforts

o   Grief and sadness

o   Perceived lack of answers to prayer

·         Look again at verse 2. Jesus said, “In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man.” Notice that Jesus did not pinpoint the location…why? Because it is not important. This is a made-up story to make a point. Parables are not supposed to walk on four legs. They are not news, or factual history. With that in mind be careful not to jump to wrong conclusions here. Our immediate tendency is to equate God with this judge in the story. But that is where a red flag should go up. Jesus is not saying that His Father is like this judge who fears neither God nor man. That would be a “bridge too far.”

·         This judge in the parable “…did not respect God or fear man.” What does that mean? For one thing he was an unrighteous man. To use another biblical phrase, there was no fear of God before his eyes. He saw himself as the final authority with no one who could tell him what to do. He might have been a Roman magistrate, who would care nothing about any disputes between Jews and would thus see it beneath his dignity to even take notice, let alone rule in favour of one worthless Jew over another.

Verse 3: “There was a widow in that city, and she kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me legal protection from my opponent.’”

·         Again, Jesus does not go into detail here. The widow’s specific need is of no importance to the story. All we need to know is that it was of great importance to her that this judge should grant her legal protection against her enemy and she refused to take “no” for an answer.  

·         “…she kept coming to him.” The form of the verb here indicates continued repeated action. This was not a one-off, but a pattern. She came back and back and back until the judge was sick of seeing her show up. But what was she to do? In this story she stands as a symbol of helplessness. She had no resources to bribe the judge and she had no advocate to plead her case in court. All she had were her faith in the justice of her cause, her courage, and her persistence.

Verses 4-5: “For a while he was unwilling; but afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out.’”

·         At first the judge followed his inclination and turned down her request, multiple times, but she was not about to be put off. She was all over him like a bad rash. His testimony was, “…she bothers [troubles] me,” meaning she hounded him incessantly, giving him no rest. She was one of those “energy vampire” people that I spoke of a few minutes ago. By her continual coming she was, in his own words, “wearing him out” [literally: “she gives me a black eye,” used metaphorically]. That is what energy vampires do. So, he decided to give in to her demands and give her what she wanted, just to get her off his back and out of his office.  

Verses 6-7: And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; ⁷ now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?” 

·         Now this is where the story gets interesting because Jesus applies the lesson to us asking God for what we have need of. So, does this mean that we are to be bossy, and clingy, and whining, and demanding of God to force Him to give us what we want? And is Jesus saying that God the Father is like that judge who doesn’t really give a fig about what we need or want but can be manipulated by our constant demands and pounding on the door of Heaven until He gets irritated enough to give in to our demands? Neither of those seems to fit with what we read in the rest of Scripture or what we know about our Heavenly Father and His love for His children.

·         Again, we must remember that this is a parable, a story that teaches a moral lesson. The elements of the story must be taken together. Do not try and make each element stand on its own.

·         Here in verses 6-7 Jesus assures us that since even an unjust judge can sometimes do justice, how much more should we expect that our righteous God will vindicate His elect at just the right time, although that day might feel to us like a long time coming.  

Verse 8: “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?” 

·         Unlike the judge in the story, God, our Heavenly Father will bring about justice for His children, and Jesus says He will do it speedily without being harangued or pestered. But we need to understand this in terms of God’s timing, not our own. Remember Peter’s statement that with God “one day is as 1,000 years and 1,000 years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8). Jesus is speaking here of the certainty of speedy action when the time comes.

·         Here in verse 8 Jesus again brings in a prophetic element to His teaching, just as He did in chapter 17. He is obviously referring to His Second Coming and the general state of affairs that will exist at that time. He poses the question: “However, when the Son of Man comes [back], will He find faith on the earth?” He is talking about this kind of powerful faith demonstrated by the widow in His parable. Jesus here questions whether at that time there will be people who have that kind of persistent faith.

·         He is not suggesting that there will be no believers on the earth at that time but is challenging us to emulate the faith of this widow who trusted that she would eventually see justice done and had her prayers answered.

CONCLUSION:

In this parable God is not likened to an unrighteous judge. That would be absurd to even suggest. Rather, He is contrasted with such a person! This parable is of the “how much more…” variety, meaning, if a wicked man will sometimes do good, even if from bad motives, how much more will God, who is a loving Father, do the right thing from righteous motives and give His children what they need? Look again at Jesus’ question in verse 7: “Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?” Of course, He will attend to the prayers of His people!

Jesus’ teaching stated in verse 1 stands in contrast to the Jewish teachers who wanted to limit the times of prayer in a day lest they weary God. Following the model of Daniel in Dan. 6:10 who prayed three times a day, they suggested that number as the maximum. But Jesus said, “NO! Pray at all times, unceasingly!” We are never a bother to God. He never gets tired of hearing our prayers. He is never too busy to listen to our pleas for help, no matter how often we come to Him.

[Closing illustration about me and my little granddaughter, who knocks at my office door and sticks her head in and says, “Grandpa, can you help me?” I’m never too busy for her, and she is never a bother or an interruption.]