PARABLES - "Hey Judge" (Luke 18:1-8)

There are some memorable characters in Jesus' stories. The unjust judge and the needy widow just happen to be two that we should remember when we are struggling to pray.

Transcript

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Jesus shares this story with the disciples because he knew. He knew they would be tempted to give up and to stop bringing their requests to God. When is it that you need to be told not to give up? When you're ready to give up. Welcome in everyone. My name is Jason, and I'm one of the pastors at Highland Christian Church. And on behalf of our team, I just wanted to say thanks for taking some time to journey with us through the scripture. Our hope is that these words would cause you to think carefully about this Jesus we proclaim and that you would choose to trust him in your day-to-day. And as always, if you're in the Asheville area, whether you live here or you're visiting, we'd love for you to come join us at the corner of Livingston and Depot Street in person at the Dr. Wesley Grant Senior Southside Center. Our prayer is that God's words would equip you for every good work that He's prepared for you to do today. So every once in a while, you and I need to hear stories that teach us to always pray and never give up. Well, today is that once in a while. So in a small town, a big-time judge known for not giving a rip about God or about people, a judge known for stuffing his pockets with the biggest bribe, patting the chair that he sits in by decisions favoring those who could scratch his back. A judge who was responsible for justice. Clearly, there wasn't a lot of justice flowing out of that courtroom. But in the same small town, a widow who was fed up with injustice in her life, a widow with no husband, no son, no cousin, no brother. She got brave and went to the judge that day and wanted justice in her dispute. Hey Judge, because that's how she would say it. That's how she would say it. Hey, Judge, I need some justice over here. Right? That's how she would say it. The judge would look down from his big chair and say, Who's that? And the court clerk, Snooty, he was like, Oh, that's that's a new one, Your Honor. That's a new one. That's a new one, Your Honor. And she would say, Hey, I'm not a no one. I'm a widow. I need justice over here. And that judge would look right past her and say, next case. She would look up and say, We're not done here, Your Honor. I'll be back tomorrow. And as promised, this widow got up, came to the courthouse. Hey, judge, I need some justice over here. The judge would look down from his big comfy chair and say, Who is that? And the snooty court clerk would say, Oh, it's no one, Your Honor. It's no one. It's the one, it's the no one from yesterday. She would threaten the court clerk and then say, Hey, Judge, I need some justice over here. And every day it was the same. Next case. As if she wasn't even in the room, right? This widow would get desperate and she would try and play on the judge's emotions. Your honor, what would your mother say? What would your mother say if she knew you weren't giving me a widow justice? I don't care about my mother. I don't care what she would think. I don't care what anyone thinks. Next case. She would play on his other emotions. Your honor? What about God? God would want you to be just and give me justice. God. I'm God in this courtroom. My word matters most. Next case. Day after day after day. Hey Judge. I need some justice over here. No, I know you guys want to say it. Come on, let's all say it together. Say it. Hey Judge, I need some justice. Say it again. Say it like it's good. It feels good to just say it, right? Hey Judge. You're all gonna be saying it. You can thank me later, okay? I know you're gonna hear it. Because the widow's plan was working. The judge would leave for the day and he would hear, hey Judge, terrified, he'd look around the corner. She wasn't there. He would go home, sit down in his big comfy chair at house, at his house, and hear, hey Judge, and he would get up and freak out. He would be walking to work the morning of, hey Judge! And it's all he could do to keep hearing her voice. And like clockwork, this widow gets up this morning. She's brave, she persists, and she shows up at the courthouse. Hey, Judge! And then all of a sudden it freaks everyone out because the judge goes, enough! The court clerk is like, uh-oh. The people in the courtroom are like, This is this is different. The judge looks down on this widow and says, I don't know you. I don't care about you, but I can't stop hearing, hey judge, hey judge, hey judge, everywhere I go I hear your voice. And she says, Your Honor, I'm flattered. He says it's not a compliment. I don't know you, I don't care about you, but you're wearing me out, lady. I will give you your justice. Hey, Judge! What? Can I give you a hug? Get out of my courtroom. And scene. Right? That's how it would end, right there. And I want you to hear Jesus' words directly after this story. Luke 8, verse 6. Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly. But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith? The story you just endured, because in my head the widow's request is wearing me out. I was practicing that all week, so believe me, I've heard it. Jesus shares this story with the disciples because he knew. He knew they would be tempted to give up and to stop bringing their requests to God. When is it that you need to be told not to give up? When you're ready to give up. When you're ready to give up. It only makes sense. Jesus knew what he was doing. That phrase give up is translated not fainting, not losing heart, or not giving in to evil. It's an interesting phrase because in Matthew chapter 26, Jesus kind of references this when his disciples keep falling asleep while he's praying in his most desperate moment. Listen to what Jesus says to the disciples. He says, Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak. For the disciples to faint in prayer, for you and I to just give up in prayer. Guess what that means? We find ourselves trying to handle things without God. That's what it means. You and I will fall into temptation to act and decide and to move and to live and to breathe without Him. This is truly giving in to evil. I know we like to think of all the dark, evil, descriptive, destructive things, right, when we think of evil, but truly it's just living in a way opposite of what God intended for us. The temptation to give up is real, so Jesus addresses it. Now, to be clear, that clear, as we read Jesus' words, I want his words to inform the way we think. Jesus tells the disciples that God is not like this judge. I'm gonna say it again. God is not like this judge. You're gonna say it now. God is not like this judge. You've got the point of the story. Now, why would Jesus have to tell the disciples that God is not like this judge? Because we think he is like this judge. You know that, right? We do think God is like this judge. We have narratives, we have backgrounds, we have upbringings. We're dealing with all sorts of stuff when it comes to our view of God. So it only makes sense that Jesus would have to tell this to the disciples. Because guess what? When you believe God is like this judge, you will give up and you will stop praying. I'm sorry, you just will. Your view of who God is absolutely weighs in and determines how you pray. And if you pray. This is one of the reasons we see Jesus telling these stories. Why would we doubt that God is just? Why would we doubt that God hears us? Why would we doubt that God loves us? Because we see judges like this all the time, don't we? Having traveled around the world, there are so many stories of churches feeling crushed and people who are believers being destroyed by injustice going on around them. Bribery is a regular thing around the country and when around the world, when Christ's followers can't afford to pay things, they're removed from their homes, they're removed from their places of worship, they're removed all over the place because they can't pay a bribe. Defending those who have money becomes a regular practice around the world. It's about scratching my back, and if you can't scratch my back, I'm not gonna scratch yours. Prejudices because of who people are, who they were born, how they were born, what family they were born into, what caste system they exist in, injustice regularly. I think the hardest one to really put your head around is when a case of justice being needed in someone's life is their entire world, but because society sees them as insignificant, they don't get justice. Because of how society sees them in society, in their role, in their in their place, they're in desperate need of justice, but because of who they are, they don't receive it. This is what we see regularly around the world. You and I can look at this widow and understand what Jesus is trying to communicate. The widow was symbolic for the most vulnerable adult there was on the planet at the time. And if the disciples saw themselves as insignificant or they see God as this unjust judge, you tell me, will they persevere in prayer? No. I I go through my short list of why my prayer life struggles, and maybe this week you need to do the same. Maybe you need to write down some of your views as to why you don't pray as much as you want. Because every time you bring up prayer, everyone's like, I should do that more. Every time, every time. You're gonna walk out of here going, I should pray more. Good. That's what I'm hoping. I'm hoping that's what you want to do. But there's gonna be a cycle. And you gotta break that cycle. You gotta figure some things out. I know for me, the number one, and I'm gonna start with a number one. I'm not gonna go from bottom four all the way up to one. I'm gonna start with my number one for why I my prayer life suffers, it's because I'll do it myself. Right? I'll just do it myself. I'll take over. And this is exactly what Jesus does not want his disciples to do. This is what it means to faint. To faint is not to just be exhausted from doing stuff. It means I'm gonna pick up another way of doing things. It means I'm going to say, God, I'm not gonna do things your way. I'm gonna go my way. Number one reason it's because I often believe I'll do it myself. But second, I question. And I live in a society that questions. Is spending your time in prayer really the best use of your time? Right? Social media movements are no more prayers, time for action, right? Everybody's done with prayers and good thoughts, time for action. Do I believe there's a space for action? In fact, I absolutely wish the church would step into action more when she prays. Uh, a couple years ago, we showed a video released by the Bible Society of Egypt after the beheading of all the Coptic Christians by the Islamic terrorist group. And she said, one of the things we need other people to do in the countries that are free is we need you to pray. But more than that, we need you to get up from your prayers and do whatever it is God asked you to do while you were praying. That puts teeth to it, doesn't it? If we believe God speaks to his people when we pray, you better believe we better be a people of action because he's gonna hear about injustice and he's gonna cause, he's gonna cause some of you to change your degrees. He's gonna cause some of you to go back to school, to change what you're living your life for. He's gonna cause some of you children in here to be people who go, I see the case of someone else, and I'm gonna go stand for that, and I'm gonna change everything I thought I was gonna do because God has given me a heart to pursue that for other people. What if we all got up after we prayed and did what God asked us to do? How different would things be? Third, though, I've I've asked before, God, and you said no. How would that work in my house with my children? If the first time my children heard no from me, they never came back and asked me for anything, how would that work? And you ask my kids, if I say maybe, typically I mean no. They'll say it. He said maybe, it means no. Yeah, God says no. In fact, if your God never says no, good indicator. Might not be God you're praying to. We can't let because God said no one time before keep us from persevering. The last one that I typically struggle with the most is I've had a bad week. I don't think God wants to hear from me. I guarantee some of y'all struggle with that. You think, well, I really messed up this week. I can't pray. Look, you need to be praying, okay? You had a bad week? You better pray more. Find yourself seeking after the Lord because we approach him the same way. Good or bad. The reason we get to approach the throne of grace is because it's just that. It's God's grace that has gained us access to even bring our requests to him. I don't know what your top reasons are for not persisting and giving up in prayer, but I do know it has to it has to do with whether or not we believe he is capable and powerful and that he loves us. Jesus uses a bad example to give us a good lesson. This judge is very human. He does not fear God, he doesn't even care what people think. So even in that courtroom, people couldn't appeal to the two things that you would appeal to in a in a um in a pride and shame culture. Like a community culture would typically go, like, if they're not giving me what I want, I would appeal. What do you think the community would think about you? What do you think God would think about you? And if this person doesn't care about either of those, ain't nothing gonna get done. We're used to this visual. But even when the judge did yield, he didn't do it for her. He did it so she wouldn't give him a black eye. He did it so she'd leave him alone. That's selfishness. And we're used to this. We see this. But this woman was totally alone. For a widow to show up at in a court, the whole group of people listening would go, this lady clearly has no one. Because it would traditionally be a male who would go and represent her, but the fact that she showed up on her own meant everything was on the table. Desperation level five. And when corrupt justice is involved, she would not have any bribe money, she would not have anyone to speak up for her, she would be completely dependent upon the judge and his ruling. First Timothy chapter five, Timothy says, Now a true widow, a woman who is truly alone in this world, has placed her hope in God. She prays night and day, asking God for help. It was understood. There was a desperation in place. Nothing of her own power to offer, all she could do was persist in prayer. All she could do was be loud. All she could do was say what she needed over and over and over. Obviously, we are to learn from Jesus that our view of God matters in this instance. But you and I are going to be asked the same question. Luke 18, again, reading verse 7, even he rendered a just decision in the end, the unjust judge. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly. But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith? Jesus did not ask this question because he thought maybe there'd be no one who believed him on the earth when he returns. He knows that's not going to be the case. But guess what he was doing in the hearts of the disciples? The disciples would be able to say, putting two and two together, okay, so this judge did not care for this woman, but God cares for me, so I will keep on praying. Jesus, I'm gonna keep on praying. I will be asking big things of God when you return, because God cares about me, unlike that judge, right, Jesus? Yes. Yes, that's right. That's right. He didn't ask the question because he was ignorant of will there be any believers left on the planet? No. He asked it to stir the disciples up. Jesus' aim is to call the disciples to remain steadfast in their prayers, and you and I have the same call today. Not because Jesus is about repetition. I need you to know that. You just spouting the same words over and over and over, that's not necessarily continuous prayer. But continual, am I bringing everything to him? When I do come, am I bringing those things until God answers? Or do I give Up. Do I quickly give up? Jesus is not celebrating repetition in this story. He's celebrating the character of his father. He's saying, God is good and he cares for his people. So please keep asking. Do not let your view of the Pharisees who may treat you lesser, do not let your view of yourself, because you're a disciple or a fisherman and you didn't have all the background and you didn't have all the things, and maybe you see yourself insignificant. Don't let those views affect your prayer life. Let God alone affect how you pray. Because when we're convinced of God's goodness towards his people, we will pray. It is how we will live, it is how we will move, it is how we will breathe. God cares for us and he will not put us off. As the band comes and we close our time this morning, when we are in perilous times, we are not to lose heart. Not because by us not losing heart does it cause God to go, oh look, that person's not losing heart. They've got a point. Oh, we don't lose heart because we know God is good. We know God has rescued, we know God has saved, we know God has brought us out, we know God has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son. We know these things. Why? Because we look at Jesus. How do I know he's all powerful? I look at Jesus. He conquered death, conquered the grave, conquered sin, healed the sick. How do I know he's loving? Well, because Jesus said, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son. How do I know that we are not insignificant? I look at the cross. Our questions are answered in looking at Jesus. For us to be able to continue to pray, you have to be looking at Jesus. This morning, while the widow is indeed the hero of this story, God is the hero of the entire teaching. This story is more about God's character than it is just us going through a routine act of prayer. When we know that God cares for us, we are more likely to pray. The enemy loves to play on our view of God. You know why? Incorrect views of God, they lead to weak prayer lives. And weak prayer lives lead to giving into temptation and living life apart from the one who made us. I can just see it, and maybe you can too. Can you see like the early church with the disciples getting together to pray? Because persecution is coming against them, and it's just really been hard to establish the church. It's been really difficult to get the church moving in any direction. It's been really hard on them, and these new believers are like, man, does God even care? Is he even listening? How does this thing work? We should just stop. Let's just all go back to our homes. And Peter stands up and goes, Hey, judge. Let me tell you a story. We're to be a people who don't give up and we keep praying. And the reason we do that is not because we think God's gonna treat us better, but it's because he already has. He's treated us better than we deserve. And we see that over and over and over in the life of Jesus. Let's keep praying. We just wanted to say thank you for listening to the Highland Christian Church podcast today. And if you ever want to connect with us, send prayer requests, ask questions, or for any other reason, you can visit our website, www.highlandchristian.com, or you can send us an email at infowahhighlandchristian.com. God bless you guys.