A New Way - Week 2: "Persistence & Prayer"

Let’s check… Yes, It’s Still the Season of Pentecost

And it will be for a while, at least until November, when we shift to the season of Advent.  These historic rhythms of the Church help us to stay connected to our ancient traditions, all the while re-imagining them through the lens of our historic moment.  

We are teaching through a sermon series in October, entitled “A New Way.” Early Christians were called “Followers of the Way," long before they became known as Christians, and now more than ever, we need to reconnect with that idea of following in the way of Christ in a divided world where it's often difficult to know what it really means to be a Christian.  

Today, we’re going to read a story Jesus told about an unjust judge and a persistent widow to learn the power of persistence and prayer.  

How Do We Define Persistence In Our Current Culture?

Do we give up too easily in a world of immediacy?  When things become difficult, and our plans, hopes, and dreams are not coming to fruition on our timetable, the lure of giving up on them is strong.  

Let me show you some images, and let’s see what resonates with you... 

We love success stories about persistence, but we don’t often apply the lessons to ourselves.  

The stories of people who didn't give up on their dreams, pursuing them with persistence despite all the odds, are stories that we love to hear, but for most of us, we know deep down inside that we probably don't have the kind of courage or the stick-to-it mentality to do the same. 

And so we pray to God, assuming that our prayers aren't getting answered when all along God might very well be telling us that we are the answers to our own prayers.  

The story we're going to read today, a parable Jesus told, will teach us that persistence, combined with prayer, helps us put our prayers to work. And when this happens, we get the chance to see our persistence pay off.  

THE WAY OF CHRIST LEADS US TO PUT OUR PRAYERS INTO ACTION

Luke 18: 1-8

The story that Jesus tells is about people waiting for the world to change. 

18 Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people.  

In many of Jesus’ parables, the authority figure stands in for God. Not here. 

3 In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my accuser.’  

The widow here is one without standing or means, just persistence.  

4 For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.’ ”  

The judge finally gets weary of having to deal with her. “Losing face.” 

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8 I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

"How much more…" Jesus is shifting the focus now to God.  

The widow in this story exemplifies what it means to pray always and not to lose heart—a way of putting prayer into action.  

How Do We Live With Persistence & Prayer?

• Persistence in prayer shapes us, not just our outcomes.  
• God is not unjust and wants the best for us; we do well to remember this. 
• Faithful persistence and prayer can be an act of resistance in an unjust world. 

THE WAY OF CHRIST LEADS US TO PUT OUR PRAYERS INTO ACTION