The Faith Jesus Comes Looking For

October 18, 1998

Luke 18:1-8

It was the last of the ninth inning. The old days at Fenway. Red Sox versus Yankees. Red Sox batter steps into the batter's box and reaches out to make the sign of the cross on the plate. Yogi Berra reaches out with his big catcher's mitt and wipes off the plate. He says, "Why don't we let God just WATCH this game, OK?"

A God who just watches is probably good baseball theology. But it is a TERRIBLE theology for the way we live our lives every day. We believe that our God is a God that cares about every detail of our everyday living. We believe that it is right for us to pray about all things great and small. The text says we 'ought to pray all the time.' But the question is, HOW?

Prayer is not as simple as some people might want to make it. It is not like "writing a check on God's account," or running down a "wish list." You know, a 'little faith' gets a 'little item,' and a 'big faith' maybe gets a genuine miracle. We all know of miracles. We also all know about things we have desperately prayed for and have been denied.

One insight into this mystery of prayer and faith is this enigmatic story in Luke 18: 1 -8. The story itself actually is NOT too difficult to understand:

I. THE STORY

The story is an encouragement to keep on doing the right thing. It is the same truth found in Galatians 6: 7 - 9. Don't quit when you know you are in the right spirit, and doing God's will!

Two or three years ago Kay Roberts was teaching English as a second language to a woman from Viet Nam. As often happens Kay began to get personally acquainted with her pupil. She found that at the close of hostilities in Viet Nam this woman's husband had been imprisoned by the Communists and was in serious trouble. Kay's pupil said that every day she would go to the prison, and knock on the office door, and ask the officials to release her husband. She sat down on the steps of the prison. She would not go away. Day after day she went back to plead the innocence of her husband. And one day they simply went and got him out of his cell and let him go.

Here in the Gospel we have (1) a powerful but unfeeling, unfair, amoral judge. We have (2) a helpless but persistent widow. And finally, we have (3) a very satisfactory conclusion.

Of course this has to be seen as a story of contrast. Our God is NOT like the judge. This is a "how much more" situation, like the promise in Luke 11:13. Prayer is not as simple as some preachers want to make it. It is not like "writing a check on God's account," or running down a "wish list." You know, a 'little faith' gets a 'little item,' and a 'big faith' maybe gets a genuine miracle. We all know of miracles. We also all know about things we have desperately prayed for and have been denied.

Why, do you suppose, did Jesus tell this kind of story about prayer?

II. THE PURPOSE

Luke tells us 'up front' what Jesus had in mind when he told this story. (He was not describing God's nature as being unfeeling and hard-hearted.) Jesus was teaching two things which actually merge into just one:

1. LIVE IN GOD'S FACE ("we ought always to pray")

   God is NOT simply WATCHING the game. God wants intimate access by our own consent to every part of our lives. When we think of God as a Sunday morning God, and think of our faith as a 'special occasion faith,' we are missing the very heart of God's love for us. God wants us to 'stay in His face' in the sense that we keep in contact with Him all the day long. Every burden, every joy– nothing too big, and nothing too small.

   This seems to trivialize God to those who have great theories. But the only theologies that fit the way we are to live are those that bring us into a living relatinship with God. Theologies that don't 'connect with life' don't do the widow woman any good.

   Yes, God is great beyond all comprehension. Yes, when we try to describe Him we are in danger of creating our own idol. God is the great I AM THAT I AM. But God is also a Father who wants to know us by our own consent. That is the way God has designed His people should live. 'LIVE IN GOD'S FACE!"

2. NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP! (". . . always to pray and not faint!")

   Go is a covenant-making God. He has entered into covenant with you and me, that He will be our God, and that we will be His people. God will NEVER break that covenant.

   We all too often think of prayer as successful or not successful as we get the thing we are asking for; i.e., we are looking for a miracle of physical healing, or a particular job opening, or an end to a source of pain. When that doesn't happen as we see it we believe that something is either defective in our faith, or else God is limited in his power, or in His love for us.

   Jesus is telling us that if a poor, weak widow woman can persuade a powerful wicked judge, then we can be certain that persistent prayer by the Weakest of God's little children will never be unheard, and never in vain. You can be sure of it. God hears you! God cares!

   But the story part of the Gospel text is not the end of the lesson. I wish I knew how Jesus asked this question . I wish I could have seen the expression on his face, and understood the concern he seems to express.

III. THE QUESTION

When he had told this story about persistent prayer Jesus asked what seems a surprising question: "NEVERTHELESS, WHEN THE SON OF MAN SOME, WILL HE FIND [THIS KIND OF PERSISTENT] FAITH ON THE EARTH?"
Why did Jesus put this question right here? I'm sure it is not a mistake.

1. The days before we see Jesus will be testing days. It is probably as difficult right NOW for people to "live in God's face" as it ever has been in all history. Only a fool with his head in the sand cannot see how sinful our times are. It is not a simple thing, but little by little the values we have been sure of have crumbled. We accept as normal things we would have been shocked about just a few years ago. Symptoms instead of causes, perhaps. Still, how easy is it for us to sense God's Presence all through our day?
2. Staying in God's face is the ONLY way we can hope to come through this spiritual warfare. In our arrogance and conceit we think WE know what the church needs to survive. So we hold a few more seminars, and we arrange a few more studies of the latest spiritual fad. And we forget to stay kind and loving and tender and caring even for our own families. We know we ought to DO something.

[[ British Prime Minister Winston Churchill failed eighth grade English three times but, during WW II, it was his eloquence over the radio that encouraged the huddled masses in bomb shelters to persevere. After the war Oxford University invited him to make a commencement address. He arrived on stage with his usual props: a cigar, a cane, and a top hat that accompanied the beloved Churchill everywhere he went. He stood confidently before his admirers. He removed his cigar and laid the top hat on the podium. All ears wondered what great things he would include in his speech. He gazed over his silent audience. A few seconds passed before his authoritative deep gravely voice said, "Never give up!" Again he waited a few seconds before he shouted, "Never, never give up!" His profound words thundered in their ears as everyone realized that their nation had been saved by such perseverance. There was deafening silence as Sir. Winston reached for his hat and cigar, steadied himself with his cane and walked off the podium, his commencement address finished.

This story has been redacted in our personal history all of our lives. Churchill, and the British peoples' fortitude has contributed greatly to our American ideal of stick-to-it-tive-ness. ]]

But we DON'T know what we NEED! We DON'T have the answers! We DON'T DARE simply ask God to 'bless OUR plans!' IF EVERY ONE OF US DOES HIS/HER BEST TO BRING IN GOD'S KINGDOM WE WILL MISERABLY FAIL! Because PRAYER is where we begin! Being OPEN TO GOD is our only hope of finding justice. We cannot do anything until and unless we have prayed!

A GOD WHO SITS IN THE STANDS AND WATCHES, first base side,, front row– interested but impartial– that may be all right for baseball. (Especially since it is 'wait till next year' for the Red Sox.) But life is NOT a game of baseball. Unless we have a God who does more than just watch, then what is our faith all about?? We TALK too much about prayer and we PRAY too little. G. Campbell Morgan said, "Any study of prayer which does not result in praying is not only NOT helpful, it is HURTFUL!"

In this Gospel lesson YOU and I are the helpless widow woman! Unless God comes to our aid we are going to be finally lost and hopeless. Like dear Jim Couchenour has said more than once: "Prayer does not support the work of the church; prayer IS the work of the church!"

Our Lord is watching us– he is watching me as I type this message– watching YOU as you listen– watching to see if we will dare to be the kind of people who will live in God's face day in and day out. Stay in God's face for our children's salvation. Stay in God's face to find his best will for our lives. Stay in God's face to tell him we need him and we love him. Because THAT is the kind of faith Jesus is coming to look for!

Prayer

Father in Heaven, We, your church, want to be grateful for your many blessing. We want to keep covenant with you, and live as the people of God. Give us grace to love you above all else, and grace to love our neighbors as ourselves.

Grant that our times of worship may be a sanctuary in a very secular world. We pray that the Sunday School, Bible studies, and fellowship gatherings that bind us together as a community of believers will make us strong to do your will. And then in your mercy send us out of this sanctuary to dare to live in your face, and to be your Church. We ask this in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, One God Holy and Eternal. Amen.

Song of Response - 477 - Oswald Smith's Deeper and Deeper