"Go Into Your Room, Close The Door And Pray"
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, 'Grant me justice against my opponent.' For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, 'Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'" And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:1-8)
Let us pray -- O' Heavenly Father, we come before you this day and we ask that you reveal more about the nature of prayer. May our hearts and our minds be open to your Word this day. We ask this in the blessed name of Jesus your son and our Savior .... Amen.
A young man went into a drugstore to buy 3 boxes of chocolate: small, medium, and large. When the pharmacist asked him about the three boxes, he said, ... "Well, I'm going over to my new girlfriend's house for supper. Then we are going out for the evening. If she only lets me hold her hand, ... then I'll give her the small box. If she lets me kiss her on the cheek, ... then I'll give her the medium box. But if she really lets me smooch seriously, ... I'll give her the large box." He made his purchase and left.
That evening as he sat down for dinner with his girlfriend's family, ... he asked if he could say the prayer before the meal. He began to pray, ... and he prayed a most earnest, and intense prayer ... that lasted for almost five minutes. When he finished his girlfriend said, ... "You never told me you were such a religious person." He said, ...... "You never told me your dad was a pharmacist!"
Beloved ... It is essential to pray...... whatever the circumstance!
Jesus told His disciples in our Gospel reading today their need to pray ...... when? .... Always.
According to many public opinion polls, .... prayer is still very important .... to most Americans.
The Gallup organization found 90 percent of Americans pray.
And 86 percent said they believed in God.
Isn't it interesting .... more people pray .... than claim to believe in God?
83 percent said they favor prayer at graduation exercises.
70 percent favor Christian prayers be spoken in school.
There is a story that ... true or not .... does make a point.
A small village church had a hall that needed a new roof.
So after every Sunday service, ...... the congregation would go over to the church hall .... to pray for a new roof.
And ...... at the end of the prayer meeting, .... there would be a collection.
One old villager, ...... renown for being very tight fisted, would come in and sit at the back of the prayer meeting ...... so he could make a quick escape ...... when the collection plate came around.
One Sunday just as he was going to the prayer meeting he was held up by the priest ...... so he came in a little late.
Unfortunately, ....... there was only room at the front.
So he went to the front and sat down.
During the prayer meeting, a piece of roof fell and hit him on the head.
Feeling spoken to; he stood up and said: "Lord, I'll give $1,000".
A voice in the back rang out: ....... "Hit him again Lord, hit him again".
In today's Gospel reading Jesus focuses on prayer ...... using the parable of the Unjust Judge to encourage us ....... to persevere at prayer. (Luke 18:1-8)
Prayer is very precious ...... to our Father in Heaven.
We read in Revelation that the prayers of the saints are equated with ...... incense offered to God .... at the altar. (Revelation 8:3-4)
It is important to note what Jesus is Not saying with the Parable of the Unjust Judge.
He is Not saying that God is as tightfisted in answering prayer, ....... as the unjust judge was frugal ... in dispensing justice.
Judges were notoriously corrupt in Israel during the 1st century.
And the implication in the parable would be ... that some rich person has bribed the judge Not to give the widow justice.
Possibly to stop her from inheriting ... her husband's estate.
Without the protection of a benefactor, .... the widow would have neither .... the strings to pull .... nor a bribe to offer.
Yet, in this parable, her persistence won the day.
What Jesus Is saying:
If the Unjust Judge in this parable gives justice to the woman .... surely God .... who wants to answer our prayers .... will do so.
It seems to me, ... there are three challenges from this passage:
1. God is calling his people to be persistent in prayer.
2. God is calling his people to be changed, ...... to be transformed through prayer
3. And God is calling to those who truly enjoy and who truly yearn to spend time with Him.
Let us look at the first of these challenges: God is calling his people to be persistent in prayer.
The Jews, .... in the first century, .... limited prayer to three times a day, .... so they would not wear God out by their petitions.
But Jesus taught quite the opposite.
God inhabits our praise ... and our prays.
And the real danger is...... that we will run out of energy .... and give up praying.
It is worth noting that the woman came to the judge .... because she ...... Expected to win.
In other words, ...... she had faith in receiving a fair judgment from the judge ....... Eventually.
I meet people far too often who do not Expect God to answer prayer.
And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
There may be some here today who find prayer .... very hard.
The reason we do not seem to get anywhere ...... may be ...... due to the fact ...... that our motivation is suspect:
Why do we pray?
Do we see prayer as something to do to appease an angry God; .... a sort of divine insurance policy?
Do we see it as a religious duty?
God wants me to pray, .... So I must do it.
Do I do it expecting a reward so I will be blessed?
Do I pray because I think I am a better person than others?
Or do you come to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords .... to be in Fellowship; ....... to hear His Voice?
Remember His promise "My Sheep, .... My Sheep hear my voice".
God is calling his people to be persistent in prayer.
The second challenge in this parable is that God is calling his people to be changed, .... to be transformed through prayer.
What is real prayer?
Prayer is the turning of a person to God.
As it states in the Scriptures ... "If my people, who are called by My Name, will humble themselves and pray .... and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, ...... then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
That is why our services .... are filled with prayer especially ...... of confession.
And when we repent ...... God can truly transform us.
In the 18th Century, John Newton was a slave trader.
He swore and cursed.
He bought and sold slaves.
He nearly lost his life in a storm and it was in that storm ...... that he found God.
He repented; ... he renounced his evil ways and eventually became a vicar in the Anglican Church.
Newton latter went on and helped William Wilberforce in outlawing slavery in the British Empire.
Newton was one of the leading men of the Evangelical Revival in England.
You may know him as the author of the hymn: "Amazing Grace".
Beloved .... No one is too lost ..... No one is too bad for the Grace of God.
The third challenge is that God is calling those who truly enjoy and truly yearn to spend time with Him.
Prayer is Fellowship; ... it is open Communication between God and each one of us ... much as one talks to their friend. (Exodus 33:11)
The Conversation needs to be two ways.
We need time for private prayer with God.
We need to shut ourselves away and have this intensely personal time with God.
The world and Satan are out to get us so busy - that we overlook our time with God.
Hear our Lords words: "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men." "I tell you they have their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room close the door and pray to the Father who is unseen. Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." (Matthew 6:5-6)
Go into your room, close the door and pray.
How much clearing does our Lord need to make it?
One, go into your room, two, close the door, three pray!
Talk to God then listen!
Jesus - after intense ministry- would go away, even from his closest disciples to pray quietly.
St Mark records the following in the life of Jesus:
"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up and went off to a solitary place where he prayed." (Mark 1:35)
If Jesus needed time alone with God, don't we ... even more?
We need also to Listen, ... to listen for the Voice of God.
When my children were young, ... they would ask me a question, ... and they did so ... in the expectation that they would Get an answer.
It might not always be the one they wanted to hear!!
Often, maybe too often the initial answer was NO!! ....... I can almost hear my wife Lee say Amen to that.
And if I did not give them an answer they would ask it again and again.
The same is true for our life with God.
If we expect to hear from God, then we need to learn to Listen.
You will not hear the response from God until you Listen to Him.
Hear God's Word from the Palms: "Be Still, Be still and Know that I am God." (Palms 46:10)
Beloved: God is calling his people to be persistent in prayer.
God is calling his people to be changed, ... to be transformed through prayer
And God is calling those ... who truly enjoy and truly yearn... to spend time with Him.
Nothing of eternal significance is ever accomplished apart from prayer.
Please, ... Please Beloved ... seek God in Prayer ...
And let the maker of the Universe Transform you ... and take you ... from Glory to Glory!
Amen and Amen!
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted. Sermon shared by J Jeffrey Smead October 2013.
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