Sunday
Morning Bible Study
November
6, 2016
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it address the person who is: Empty, lonely, guilty, or afraid
to die? Does it speak to the broken
hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk – Meat – Manna Preach for a decision
Is the church loved? Regular: 2900
words Communion: 2500 words Video=75wpm
Luke was a doctor and a travelling
companion of the apostle Paul.
He wrote this book while Paul was
in prison.
In writing this book about Jesus,
Luke made use of other older documents like the Gospel of Mark, as well as
extensive eyewitness accounts.
Jesus’ ministry is well under way, and the people have been amazed not just
at the things He’s been teaching, but the things He’s been doing.
18:1-8 The Unjust Judge
:1 Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not
lose heart,
parable – parabole
– a placing of one thing by the side of another; a pithy and instructive
saying, involving some likeness or comparison and having preceptive or
admonitory force
ought – dei – it is
necessary, there is need of, it behooves, is right and proper
Present active infinitive
men – this word isn’t in the text. Just as easily translated, “that they ought
always to pray…”
always – pantote
– at all times, always, ever
to pray – proseuchomai
– to offer prayers, to pray
:1 that men always ought to pray
The movie “War Room” was a movie about prayer.
Lesson
What is prayer?
Turn to Matthew 6
1. Talking to God
(Matthew 6:5–13
NKJV) —5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they
love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you,
when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to
your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees
in secret will reward you openly.
Jesus isn’t saying that we should never pray with other
people or that we shouldn’t pray out loud.
His whole point is that we ought to be praying to God.
Sometimes when we pray in front of other people, we can
fall into a trap of praying “to the people” than praying to God. Sometimes we can find ourselves trying to
“send a message” to someone in the group with our prayer.
Jesus told us that
when we pray we ought to address our prayers to God – “Our Father which art
in heaven…”
2. Heart over words
7 And when you
pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that
they will be heard for their many words.
I think that it’s okay to learn some memorized prayers,
like the Lord’s Prayer. But if the words
don’t mean anything to you, there’s no value.
I think we can also fall into a trap of thinking that if
we keep going on and on and on with our prayer, that somehow that is more
spiritual.
(James
5:16–18 NLT) —16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you
may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and
produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly
that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when
he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
Elijah is a great example of a man of prayer.
He prayed powerful prayers that did some amazing things.
Yet if you look at the actual prayers that Elijah prayed,
they weren’t long prayers.
They were just prayers with a heart.
God is more concerned that your heart is in the right
place than whether or not you are using the proper “words”.
3. Not information
8 “Therefore do not be like them. For
your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.
When some people pray, it’s like they’re whispering secrets to God that God
doesn’t have a clue about.
When they are praying for a person, they will go into
great detail about what has happened, when it happened, who was involved, all
as if God is hearing it for the first time.
Let me assure you that God knows much more about the situation than you
do. You don’t have to go into great
detail, you just need to ask.
4. God’s Will
9 In this
manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Prayer is not about demanding that our will be
done, but asking that His will be done.
That’s how Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane.
The goal of prayer is not to shape the world a little more
into the picture that we want it to be, but to be a part of seeing things work
out the way that God wants them to be.
It is not a lack of faith to say, “if it be Your
will”. This is exactly how we’re
supposed to pray.
5. Needs
11 Give us this
day our daily bread.
Even though we don’t need to inform God about what our needs are, God does
want us to ask.
Why do we need to ask when He already knows what we need?
God wants us to learn to come to Him and depend upon Him
to meet our needs. He wants us to see
the connection of being in need and seeing Him respond and meet our needs. He wants us to learn to depend upon Him.
For some reason, God withholds some things in our lives because
He is waiting for us to come to Him and ask Him for them.
(James
4:2b NKJV) …Yet you do not have because you do not ask.
Our lives will start to run the way God intends them to
run the more we learn to depend upon Him.
Not only do we pray for our own needs, but we need to be involved in asking
God’s help with the needs of others.
We call this “intercession”.
Do you have a list of people that you regularly pray for?
Do you have a list of specific things that You are asking
God to do in their lives?
You are going to
find that there are some prayer requests that God is not going to answer until
we’ve been asking regularly, sometimes for years.
6. Confess
12 And forgive
us our debts, As we
forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one…
When you are truly praying to God, when you are truly in
His presence, you can’t help but realize that you are a sinner.
Sin is the very thing that cuts off our communication with
God.
(Isaiah
59:1–2 NLT) —1 Listen! The Lord’s
arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. 2 It’s your
sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away
and will not listen anymore.
If we want to keep our lines of communication open with
God, we need to stay current with God on our sin.
Don’t run from Him when you’ve blown it, run to Him and
ask for His mercy and forgiveness.
When we confess our sins, He will forgive us.
7. Adoration
13b For Yours is
the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
As you learn to cultivate worship and adoration of God in your prayer time,
you will find a greater sense of God’s presence around you. David wrote,
(Psalm
22:3 NLT) Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
You will sense He is sitting on the throne of your heart
when you give Him praise.
In my own prayer life, I have found that I need to work hard at this
aspect.
When you begin to develop a serious agenda in prayer, and
you have things you need to cover with God, it’s tempting to just get into
asking God for things instead of taking time to think about who you are talking
to.
Learn to acknowledge God’s greatness.
Be sure to give thanks for who He is and what He’s done.
We talked a few weeks ago about the ten lepers who were
healed, but only one returned to give thanks (Luke 17:11-19). Our time of talking with God ought to always
include thanks, praise, and adoration.
Now on to the parable…
:2 saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor
regard man.
a judge – krites
– one who passes or arrogates to himself, judgment on anything
city – polis
– a city
feared – phobeo
– to put to flight by terrifying (to scare away); to fear, be afraid; to
reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience
nor
regard – entrepo
– to shame one; to be ashamed; to reverence a person; to turn about
(Luke
18:2 NLT) …with great contempt for
everyone.
(Luke
18:2 NIV) …nor cared about men.
(Luke
18:2 ICB) …He also did not care what
people thought about him.
:2 There was in a certain city a judge
Keep in mind, Jesus is telling us a parable here. A parable is a story that is intended to
teach a lesson. The point of the parable
is not to find deep symbolism in every single detail. Don’t try to interpret small details like,
“what does the city represent?” or “who does the judge represent?” Instead look
for the overall point that Jesus is trying to make.
:2 who did not fear God nor regard man
A.T. Robertson – This was a “hard-boiled” judge who knew no one as his
superior.
:3 Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get
justice for me from my adversary.’
a
widow – chera
– a widow.
get justice – ekdikeo
– do one justice; to protect, defend, one person from another; to avenge a
thing; to punish a person for a thing
adversary – antidikos – opponent;
an opponent in a suit of law; an adversary, enemy
:3 there was a widow in that city
In Jesus’ day, a widow was just about the most defenseless, powerless,
least influential person there was.
You too may feel from time to time that there is absolutely no one to turn
to for help.
You may feel like no one cares for you or will stick up for you.
You might be like this widow.
:3 she came to him
The verb is an imperfect tense: She
was continually coming.
:3 Get justice for me from my adversary
Someone is trying to take advantage of this widow and she is looking for
someone to help her. She is asking this judge to help her.
:4 And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself,
‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man,
:5 yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her
continual coming she weary me.’ ”
feared – phobeo
– to put to flight by terrifying (to scare away); to fear, be afraid; to
reverence, venerate, to treat with deference or reverential obedience
nor
regard – entrepo
– to shame one; to be ashamed; to reverence a person; to turn about
:4 he would not for a while
would – thelo – to will;
to desire, to wish
We might say, “he didn’t have the will …”
This is also an “imperfect” tense, meaning that he continually
didn’t have the desire to do anything to help this woman.
:5 this widow troubles me …she weary me
troubles – kopos – a beating; sorrow;
labor; to cause one trouble, make work for him
We could say, “because she is
bringing me so much grief …”
weary – hupopiazo – to beat black and blue, to
smite so as to cause bruises; the part of the face that is under the eyes
(black eye); intolerable annoyance
Some have suggested that the judge
is afraid the woman is going to come and beat him up.
She’s a pain in the …
The judge is simply tired of being bothered by this woman, so he will help
her because of her continual coming.
She just won’t let up.
troubles – two words
parecho – to reach
forth, offer; to give, bring
Present active indicative
kopos – a beating; sorrow; labor; to cause one trouble, make work
for him
We could say, “because she is
bringing me so much grief …”
avenge – ekdikeo
– to vindicate one’s right, do one justice; to protect, defend, one person
from another; to avenge a thing; to punish a person for a thing
Future active indicative
continual – telos
– end; eternal
:6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said.
hear – aκούω
– to hear; to comprehend, to understand
unjust – aδικία
– injustice, of a judge
Pay attention to what this unjust judge is saying because there’s a lesson
here for us.
:7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him,
though He bears long with them?
:7 shall God not avenge His own elect
avenge – two words –
poieo – to make; to do
ekdikesis – a
revenging, vengeance, punishment
elect – eklektos–
picked out, chosen
God will answer the prayers of His people.
:7 who cry out day and night to Him
which cry – boao – to
raise a cry; speak with a high, strong voice; to implore his aid; to cry out as
a manifestation of feeling, a cry for help
Present active participle
It’s in the “present” tense – continuously crying out to Him.
:7 though He bears long with them
bear long – makrothumeo –
to be of a long spirit; patient, slow to anger, slow to punish
though – kai – and, also
I think it would be better translates, “and
He is patient with them”
Even though some of our translations make is sound as if God is just barely
putting up with us, I think that’s the wrong idea.
Jesus is contrasting God with the unjust judge.
The unjust judge responded from his impatience, so he did something.
God can put up with us, is
patient towards us, and when He answers, it’s not out of frustration, it’s out
of love.
Some of the translations have it
this way
(Luke 18:7 NASB95) …and will
He delay long over them?
(Luke 18:7 NLT) …Will he keep putting
them off?
Is this saying that sometimes we
are obnoxious to God, but He still puts up with us anyways?
Maybe this is in contrast to the
wicked judge who was impatient with the widow and just wanted to get rid of
her.
God is very patient with us.
He won’t answer prayers just
because He wants us to go away.
He will answer prayers when the
time is right.
Is this saying that God is being
patient alongside us when we go through difficulties?
A.T. Robertson:
God delays taking vengeance on
behalf of his people, not through indifference, but through patient
forbearance.[1]
:8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son
of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
He will – poieo
– to make; to do
Future active indicative
avenge – ekdikesis
– a revenging, vengeance, punishment
He will make vengeance
speedily – tachos
– quickness, speed
Nevertheless – plen
– moreover, besides, but, nevertheless; besides, except, but
Will He – ara –
a Greek interrogative particle that implies anxiety or impatience on the part
of the questioner
find – heurisko
– to come upon, hit upon, to meet with; to find by enquiry, thought,
examination, scrutiny, observation, to find out by practice and experience
:8 He will avenge them speedily
So why does God delay the answers to our prayers sometimes?
Sometimes it’s just not the right time.
God, out of His great love for us, knows when the time is right.
(Psalm 84:11 NKJV) For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing
will He withhold
From
those who walk uprightly.
If God is not answering your prayers right away, there is
a reason.
He won’t withhold something that’s good for you.
But when the time is right, snap and it’s done.
What’s the whole point of the
parable?
Is Jesus trying to tell us that God is some cranky old guy who doesn’t care
about anyone but Himself, and if we just bother Him enough, He’ll pay attention
to us so we’ll leave Him alone?
No!!!
The idea is this – If a cranky, selfish old judge will help a widow because
she continues to ask for help, HOW MUCH MORE will God pay attention to His
people, whom He loves and cares for?
:8 will He really find faith on the earth?
When the day comes that Jesus returns, will He find people on earth who are
trusting Him enough that they are praying?
I think you can get an idea of just how “hot” your walk with God is by
looking at your prayer life.
Just how serious are you about praying for the issues in your life, in your
family, in our world?
:1 men always ought to pray and not lose heart
Here’s the core of the parable.
lose heart – ekkakeo (“out of” + “evil”) – to be
utterly spiritless, to be wearied out, exhausted
The idea is that we are NOT to give in to evil and quit.
(Luke 18:1 NASB) …and not to lose heart,
(Luke
18:1 NLT) …and to show them that they
must never give up.
(Luke
18:1 ICB) …and never lose hope.
This word is used six times in the
New Testament, including:
(2 Corinthians 4:16–18 NKJV) —16 Therefore
we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man
is being renewed day by day. 17 For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we
do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are
not seen are eternal.
(Galatians 6:9 NKJV) And let us
not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not
lose heart.
Lesson
Don’t quit, Pray
It’s not hard to “lose heart” and “grow weary”.
It might be an area of your life where you just keep giving in to sin and
can’t seem to stop.
It might be financial trouble.
It might be trouble in your marriage.
It might be trouble with your kids.
It might be trouble at work.
It may even be the state of our nation and the upcoming election.
Are you discouraged with the direction our nation is
heading? Are you discouraged with the
choices we have when it comes to voting?
Jesus said the antidote to quitting or “fainting” was to pray.
Isaiah put it this way:
(Isaiah
40:28–31 NKJV) —28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator
of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, And to those
who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be
weary, And the
young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their
strength; They shall
mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.
When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?
Maybe we should stop being discouraged and do something about it.
Video: Franklin
Graham – A Time for Decision