ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS OF PRAYER Luke 18:1-14 First ...

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4 In the end, God will heal all and raise them to new life. In the end, relationships will find reconciliation. In the end, war will be no more. In the end, God will grant justice. This is not to say that God doesn't respond to our prayers in the short-term. Certainly God does. I could tell you stories of answered prayer in my own life and together we could collectively fill up many hours rejoicing in God’s goodness. God will accomplish his will. God's reign will come. There are times when we see the results almost immediately. There are times when we wait many weeks or years to see the fruit of our prayers. There are times when God accomplishes God’s will only at the end. But it is sure! God will act. God will respond. So we don't give up. We don't lose heart. We are called to walk by faith, trusting that God is at work in the world and will one day bring justice for all of God's people. What do you do though, when prayer itself becomes really, really hard? Sometimes life is overwhelming. We’re going through a crisis, we lack energy, we’re upset and angry. Any number of circumstances can cause prayer to be really hard. What do we do then? Several things have been helpful to the saints through the ages. The first is to pray the psalms. I have found great comfort in praying the psalms. I will turn to a psalm and simply read it, understanding that I am expressing my concerns, my thoughts, my prayers to God. Not all the psalms are as helpful at all points in our lives. Selection is critical but there is a psalm for whatever you’re going through or wherever you are in your life. (Psalms that I suggest to get you started include: 22, 23, 27, 42, 46, 51, 90, 95, 100, 121, 139, 150). Also, when we don’t know what to pray or when we can’t pray, it is helpful to lean on the prayers of others. When I don’t know what to pray, I look for and lean on other people praying. We will gladly pray for your concern during worship. If your concern is more confidential, please know that our prayer chain will lift up your concern to God. You can lean on them. It is certainly my hope that our prayers of the people every Sunday morning voice some of your concerns. And when prayer is really hard it is also helpful to remember that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Romans 8:26-27 says: “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” And remember too, that Jesus himself is interceding for us. That’s what Jesus is doing right at this moment. We say in the Apostle’s Creed: “he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” What’s Jesus doing there when he “sitteth”?
5 The historic answer is found in Romans 8:34: “It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.” That’s what Jesus does now. He no longer walks the earth healing and teaching. But his ministry continues. It is a ministry of intercession for you and me. It is seeing our concerns and praying for us. When praying becomes really hard, we pray the psalms, lean on the prayers of others, and realize that the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself are interceding for us. The second parable is a nice complement to the first one. This time the theme is not persistence but humility. Once again, there are two main characters. You have to understand the reputations of these characters to fully understand the parable. The Pharisee is a representative of a religious party which was well known for their strict adherence to the law. They were respected and esteemed as the most spiritual people in their society. The tax collector, on the other hand, was reviled by most Jews. The taxes for one thing went to the hated Romans, the Romans who ruled over them. In addition, the tax collectors often abused their position by overcharging and putting the excess into their pockets. To top it all off, these tax collectors were fellow Jews. They were perceived as political traitors and religiously unclean. Those were the reputations of the two, those were their roles in society. But appearances can be deceiving. By reversing their reputations, Jesus makes a point about the spirit or attitude with which we approach God. Notice the content of the Pharisee's prayer: “Thank you God that I am not like other people- all those people who are immoral and just can't get their lives together, all the poor and homeless, all the “flakes” and uncommitted. As you know, God, I fast twice a week, attend worship every Sunday, and unlike the uncommitted people, I give you ten percent of my gross income. Amen.” Is that a prayer? Is that a person communicating with God? I like what William Barclay says here: this is not a prayer, this is an "essay in self-congratulation." Notice the content then of the tax collector's prayer. This person simply prays: "God be merciful to me a sinner!." The contrast in attitude here is significant. The Pharisee has no sense of need. His spirituality is totally independent of God. He is spiritual enough to be virtuous but not spiritual enough to be humble. This can happen to us. We can be just like this Pharisee: spiritual, knowledgeable, committed but self-important and lacking in compassion. There is a common theme between these two parables. The unjust judge and the Pharisee both disrespect people, they both regard others
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