Scriptures: Jeremiah 31: 27-34, 2 Timothy 3: 14- 4:5, Luke 18: 1-8
Have you ever played Free Cell solitaire? When I first encountered the game (years ago) I remember being told that it's possible to win every game. Frankly I found that hard to believe. So I tried it. I played some games. I won some and lost many more. Over time, however, I came to believe not only that it's possible to win every game, but (with the help of the trusty "undo" function) that I could win every time I played -- as long as I persisted in trying.
Big deal, right? It's just a game. That's very true. It is just a game. But when I think about the instant society we live in today, Free Cell teaches an important lesson: persistence is critical to success. Thomas Edison is the modern poster child for the kind of persistence that matters. He failed more than 10,000 times in his attempts to invent a successful electric lamp. He knew, however, that with each failed attempt he was one step closer to success. there was no doubt in Edison's mind that he would invent the light bulb, and eventually he did.
If you're like me, you'd be sorely tempted to give up long before the 10,000th try. We're conditioned to believe that success should come quickly. An entire meal can easily be micro-waved in 4 or 5 minutes. Complex problems are solved in 60 minutes on our favorite dramas - and if you're into comedy, it only takes 30 minutes to resolve issues... When we're on the Internet we feel dissatisfied if we have to wait for a web page to load. Faster and faster speeds over time have conditioned a certain amount of impatience in us.
If you want to live a successful Christian life persistence is essential. The Christian life is not a 60 minute drama or a 30 minute sitcom. In the Medieval world view, the Christian life was depicted as a journey - a pilgrimage from Babylon to Jerusalem - from captivity to freedom -from slavery to son-ship. I think that's a good and accurate way to look at it. Life is a pilgrimage of transformation; and because the changes God intends are profound, they take time.
Persistence is an underlying theme in today's Lectionary readings. Through this morning's readings God is calling us to persist in three areas. We are called to persist in hope, in the Word, and in prayer. These three disciplines promise to assist us as we journey toward transformation and life together with God who is persistent in His pursuit of our hearts and lives.
Hope:
The words in the passage from Jeremiah are addressed to an audience that has lost hope. Do you remember last week's Old Testament Lectionary reading from Jeremiah? In that reading, the Israelites are told to settle into their captivity: to build houses, plant gardens, marry, and seek the welfare of the city where they'd been sent into exile. They weren't to expect to come home any time soon.
For the Israelites, the Babylonian captivity had drained the present of all meaning and hope, for their identity and destiny was from God and, in their minds, integrally tied to the Promised Land and the temple. Was it over for them? Did they miss out on their chance to participate in God's plans as His chosen people? The exile was a result of their unfaithfulness to the covenant and to God Himself. They had no one to blame but themselves for their predicament.
But through Jeremiah God speaks a word of hope. The days are surely coming when the exiles will be restored to the land, but more importantly they'll be restored in covenant - a new covenant. This time God will put his law within them - written on their hearts. Under the new covenant each one will be in dynamic relationship with God - knowing Him. Four times in the text Jeremiah emphasizes that the future will come because of God's action. It is God's loving, persistent pursuit of the people that will bring a bright future.
The good news for us is that God's plans for us will ultimately succeed. We can be confident that no matter where we are on our pilgrimage, that God has His hands upon us. One of my favorite verses is Philippians 1:6 where Paul says that, "He who began the good work in you will carry it through to completion, right up to the day of Christ Jesus." Our future is secure because God is in control of it. His loving purposes will be accomplished. Our job is to put our hope in Him, love Him, and obey what we know to be His will.
The Word:
The Scriptures from 2 Timothy urge us to be persistent in the Word. Paul tells Timothy to do two things: first to continue to live in what he has learned and believed, and second to proclaim the Word- the Gospel. In verse 16 Paul says that all scripture is inspired by God, literally "God breathed". It is not only inspired, but inspiring, and it can breathe new life into us. Regardless of the time or season of our life, the scriptures will always speak into our hearts and souls. As we read the scriptures they read us - exposing our desires, motivations, and actions for what they really are; the result is a transformation of heart, mind, and life as the Holy Spirit shows us a better way, revealing the heart of God to us in His word.
Unfortunately, many Christians don't know much more about the Bible than what they learned in Sunday school as children. They know some Bible stories and some of the common verses, but do not spend time reading daily - and being read - by the scriptures. Have you ever known someone who was looking for direction and guidance about a situation he was facing or a decision he needed to make and suddenly he's interested in what the Bible has to say? It's almost like he wants to use the Bible as a horoscope that day - close his eyes, open the book, and place his finger in a random spot hoping that God will guide his finger to the answer.
That's not the way to get good, sound answers and direction. When we spend time reading the Bible daily, God begins to speak into our lives and subtly direct us over time. Then when faced with a situation or decision, we find that God has been slowly shaping our hearts so that when the time comes to decide or act, we're ready to make a God centered choice.
How about proclaiming the Word? Pastor Joe has reminded us more than once that the people we encounter from day to day can read our lives, even if they never read the Bible. The truth is that this kind of "reading" happens all the time. I have acquaintances who are hostile toward Christianity because of the hypocrisy and lack of love they "read" in the lives of Christians. Our friends don't need us to preach them a sermon, but they do need us to live out the Gospel - to live in the love and grace, and truth we have received from God. As the Word of God speaks into our lives - reads us as we read it - our lives are gradually transformed (maybe conformed is a better word) - and we are made able to be flesh and blood pictures of the Gospel.
Prayer:
Our Gospel lesson this morning has intrigued me for years. Jesus tells a very interesting story about a widow and an unjust judge. We're told up front that the parable is about the need to pray always and not lose heart. Then we hear about a poor and powerless widow who through her continual coming wins justice from an unjust judge - one who cares neither for God nor man. The passage emphasizes the widow's persistence three times with words like: she "kept coming", "keeps bothering me", and "continually coming". Then Jesus shifts the focus from the judge to God and says, "And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
Here Jesus seems to be promising that those who persist in prayer will receive a speedy answer from God. This parable gets my attention! How many of us hammer away at God's door to no apparent avail? My guess would be that there are many here this morning who are weary - worn out - from praying. There are many who are exhausted, who wait un-expectantly for answers. There are others who say that God already knows what they need, so there's not need to ask for it. There are some - even some Christians - who don't really believe that God answers prayer. They haven't apprehended God's answers in the lives of others, so they don't feel moved to pray themselves.
Well, the answer for folks who don't believe in prayer because they can't see the answers in the lives of others is fairly simple: God's not interested in you learning about prayer second hand. Come to Him yourself. Commune with Him. Give prayer a try. See if God won't help you as you bring your concerns to Him.
How about those who say that God is good and already knows all that we need far better than we do ourselves? Why should we "bother" God by bringing our concerns to Him and asking Him to meet needs He already knows we have? Well... what if God knows that prayer is the thing we need first and most? What if God's object in prayer is to supply the thing we need the most - Himself? George MacDonald had a great illustration of this concept. He said that hunger may drive a run away child home, and that the child may or may not be fed immediately, but he needs his mother more than he needs his dinner. Communion with God is the one need of the heart beyond all other needs. The Giver is always in the gift. The truth is that sometimes the things that God would gladly give us, things that we need, must wait until we ask for them so that we can understand where they came from.
Then there are those who have been waiting in prayer for a long time. What about Jesus' promise of a speedy answer from the Father? It may be that the better the gift we pray for, the more time necessary for its arrival. There are some things -- especially the deep things in our lives - that take time. In some things, God must begin far back in our spirit, in regions we don't even know about, and do work that we can only be aware of in the final results. As we pray God works deep in our hearts - behind our consciousness - with His own presence. Through persistent prayer, God changes our hearts. He comes at us from behind, and so long before we're aware of it, He's answering our request - has answered it, and is visiting us in a profound way.
I began this morning by mentioning the game Free Cell. It is possible to win every game - as long as you approach it with patience and persistence. Occasionally I'll still lose a game, but only when I decide to give up. The reason it's relevant to all of us is that whatever our situation, in Christ it's possible to win. Winning in the Christian life means that Christ is formed in us, that the Kingdom of God is advanced, that love prevails. The only factor that prevents our winning is giving up. The God who is All Powerful and All Knowing is in full control. He calls us (as Winston Churchill - another very persistent person - once said) to never, never, never give us. Instead we are to persist: in hope, in the Word, and in prayer. And the God whose steadfast love persistently pursues us will be glorified in our lives and in the church.
No comments:
Post a Comment