Do You?

Luke 18: 1And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, 'Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.' " 6And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"Luke 18-18 [ESV]

Do you?

Yes, I guess all of us do at times. We do think God is like the crusty, angry, old judge in Jesus' story.

He is not, but because of our sin and the result of it—our great need, we think of Him in this way.

For this reason we always think of Him last when we are in need. We try to solve it ourselves. Yes, we would rather—then, you see, we would rather not be dependent on Him.

Even though we are…for everything. Sun, rain, and crops.

But the very core of the sinful flesh says that it is better if we could not have to be…that if we can do it all ourselves, we will. We are desperate to.

Not that that is possible. Not that that will ever happen.

So, do you?

Do we, His elect…His chosen people—chosen By His Word in Water a few days after we were born—for most of us anyway—do we bring everything to God in prayer…as the hymn says…as we are told to do?

Are you dependent on Him? Be so.

You see, Jesus is giving us permission. Even if our evil hearts were to be right about God—that His is uncaring—it is not even close to being true—but even if somehow life, the devil, the world and our own flesh have convinced us that this is the case—even…

…even then by our constant prayer He will answer. He says so. Read the Gospel text. So do it. Ask.

Ask and it will be given to you…pressed down and overflowing with His goodness to you.

Yes, you say, but we don't see that…any of that…even when we have prayed. We have seen the opposite. My mother died of cancer. The twin towers fell in New York. That bridge in Minneapolis…

Yes, but who says—dares to say—that this is not a just and good answer? You can't see it? We don't, but justice says sins get punished. Good against real evil. God against sin and sinners.

Yet, for us… all of that still does not matter…because He will answer, rescue, save despite all the long list many have against Him—with even that—with each of those on that list. It will be fixed and taken care of.

Jesus has, and will, is, in fact doing so right now.

Jesus is judging sin, paying for sin, dying for sin…and thus procuring our release…healing the very universe.

That is an answer. That is THE answer that answers everything.

That—He is—the best answer to prayer. All things will work for the good of those called by God. This is His purpose.

This is justice met. This is all we need. Everything is in that—in Jesus coming to earth, living a perfect life for us and dying for all sin, then rising again so that we will too.

Prayer answered. Depend on it.

Yet, that is not all. He still answers prayer here and now. Even the small stuff…

He delivers out of danger, heals sickness, keeps buildings from falling and even helps get you a job, a house a car…a wife and children…cattle, crops…all things.

Truly! And you and I don't even know the least of it. We have no idea how many tight spots He and His sent angles have gotten us out of. Or how many times we have not been punished for our sins. Those many times we have escaped death, missed horrible accidents because He said NO!

And all this even when we had not asked. Ah, but someone did. Yes, someone did.

Jesus did…for us. He is always interceding for us. Always. Not to mention the prayers of His church. Not to mention the prayers of your grandmother and mother and friends and wife or husband and your little ones…

Please God, make daddy safe.

…and then we are ungrateful just because we did not get the color car we wanted or the better job we applied for. You have a car. You have a job. You eat, live under a roof…right?

Yes, but… we still whimper…

So, do you, still?

Do you still think of God as a stingy rich old man who has no interest in you and mostly does not want to take the time to bother unless you pester Him to death?

Ask anyway.

Because that is not the only point of Jesus' story. It reaches beyond the practical things that we need.

You see, He will still give good things even to ungrateful people—he lets rain fall on the unjust as well as the just…

…but not always…not always on the righteous even. He will still discipline us and make us ask Him—as He puts us into places at times so that He becomes the only one we can turn to.

That is what He is after. When Jesus saw the crowds following Him after He fed the 5,000, in John 6, He said they were not there for any reason other than the free lunch.

Jesus said big deal. Well, I am paraphrasing, but how long does a belly full last? Three to four hours? You hungry yet… for lunch?

Jesus said, rather, He was the bread that came down from heaven. The Jews in the desert ate manna, yet they died. The 5,000 ate bread and fish, but what good is that when they will die in their sins? They needed to eat His flesh and drink His blood if they wanted more than just a free lunch that day.

If they wanted food that would last forever, water that would take away thirst forever…food that would heal all ills, evil, pain, suffering and…even sin…forever…they had to look beyond just their bellies.

So, Jesus asks in our text today, "when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?" Will there be anyone asking…getting the point…asking for more than just bread or a job or….

Sure, you will ask when you are cornered, and have nowhere else to go, but will you turn to Him because you finally trust Him to take away the cause of your need—your sin? Will you come to His fountain of living water to be really made clean? Will you come to His table for the food that makes you immortal?

It takes faith, you say. Sure, so here. Faith is easy to get. He gives it out in buckets all the time. Each time His Word and Sacraments are given. Every time.

Yet, we disregard it. We ignore the gift. We don't use it.

Don't you know that with that, His gift you can die of hunger, exposure, by sword, disease, or old age—you can die…yes…but die content? Yes, die with all our prayers answered.

Simeon's song remember—the Nunc Dimittis we sing it every time we have communion…departing in peace…for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

That is faith. Faith in Him. Job ended up saying, "Though you slay me, I will trust you!" What faith. Imagine.

Yet, you say, "I don't have faith like that. Too much has happened to me. I have a hard time trusting."

Jesus says, I know. That is why faith is a gift. Here.

Jesus says, I know. So, ask anyway. I promise I will answer and take care of everything. I have and I will.

But how much faith is needed here?

Well, the tinniest amount, the size of a mustard seed, moves mulberry trees and even mountains into the sea. So how much faith is needed for God to listen and answer? How much is needed to save you?

Any amount. The smallest.

You see, that act of praying when we are in need, even with evil hearts and bad feelings toward a God we think is unwilling to help us—that is faith. That is using the gift that He has given us.And He will answer. He promises. Hold Him to it. He wants you to. His answer may not be what we want or like, but guaranteed that it is good and the very best for us. Absolutely true. All things. He promised and He does not go back on His promises.

Let Him worry about our evil hearts. Don't wait to feel all gushy about God. Ask. Trust. Believe. Now and always. That is an act of faith. Despite the situation. Despite the outcome, we go to God. Despite how He answers—or how long it takes. Despite what it looks like.

That is a change—the change in our beings, a reversal of the fall of humanity. Our sinful flesh says to fix it all ourselves. Save yourself and the world. Work for world peace. Work to remove hunger and suffering in the world. Good goals, but with that—our sinful flesh—it is not going to happen. We cannot do it. The universe was created to be dependent on God, not our own limited resources.

God does these things. God fixes all this in His time and by His way. With Real Justice. With real Judgement of evil. With real food. With real peace.

Sin says, "feed self, save self, protect self, love only self." Faith says, I see I cannot, so even if I am angry about it, wish it were different, I will ask God to do it all.

So, God does—God did, with Jesus. Even before we asked. That is how Good God is. He does not wait for us, even though He sets us up so we have to ask, depend, trust and go to Him. So do so. Trust Jesus. He went through all the things that we would have had to, so that we can know HE really understands. So that we know that He really knew what to fix…what to answer with…how to give to us what we really need.

That is dealing with the real problem. Sin. Jesus did. And so all is answered in Jesus. He is the only way.And it will all be done, all be answered, all be worked out for us…for our good—the very best gooder and bestest besterer than we can add "er's" or "ests" to words. He will still top it.

Remember that game as kids? Well, I am better than you. No, I am 100 times better. Well, I am infinity times better than you.

Jesus tops all that.