Sermons Christ Community Church: Daytona Beach, FL

Jesus is teaching a large crowd and is interrupted by a man who wants Jesus to settle an issue for him, to make his brother give him his share of an inheritance. We might want to think this parable doesn't really have anything to do with us, but when we see it as a story of a man, not seeking justice, but with a clenched fist demanding that God give him what he wants and claiming that life isn't fair if he doesn't, it begins to become a familiar theme that we all struggle with on a regular basis.

The idea of prayer tends to leave us with a lot of questions like 1. If it's so important, why don't we do it more? 2. Why is it that some prayers don't seem to be answered? 3. If God knows everything, why do we pray? 4. How should we pray? Questions like these can be answered in the Bible and specifically as we look at this parable of the unjust judge and the persistent widow.

We don’t use this word “troubled” a lot today except in particularly negative contexts. We may say that a person is “troubled”, implying they are a tortured soul to be pitied. But if the truth be told, we all can be troubled. Internal conflict takes its toll while inflating our hearts with fear. We unknowingly rent out areas of our heart to anxiety, depression, panic, and a host of other disorders that yield disastrous returns in our lives. Jesus says, “All you who are burdened and are carrying heavy loads come to me and I will give you rest ".

The Scriptures would say that Jesus really is the ultimate expert when it comes to love and we're looking at what he said about love in the upper room. In John 13:34-35 Jesus says: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

Jesus never said the cross would be the symbol of those who follow him. He actually did give us something that he said should be the the distinguishing mark of true Christian faith. He gave it in the upper room. It's better than a cross on a chain or even inked into your skin. It's way better than a fish on your bumper. What is that mark? In John 13:34-35 Jesus says: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

In the beginning of the story of Jesus in the gospel of John we are told that Jesus is full of grace and truth. Not grace or truth but grace and truth. Here in the story of the upper room we see both the grace and the truth of Jesus revealed against the dark background of human betrayal and satanic seduction.

Life comes at us fast. Change is all around us. But the question is: What is it all for? “Well I'm just trying to get to the place where I do the things I want to do”. Okay, but what is that all for? Try as you might, the only way you are going to find out what life is for is to find out from the one who made us. What Scripture tells us is that here in Jesus we have the one who made us telling us and showing us what he is about, what we are about and what life is about.

Five times in the small book of Haggai the prophet calls us to think. He says, “Think carefully about your ways.” He wants us to think about 1.) our priorities, 2.) our perspectives and 3.) the outcomes of our actions. Our choices determine the outcomes in our lives. Scripture tells us this is a principle we especially have to think about in relationship to God because “Obedience to God is the most crucial factor in the outcomes of life”.

Faith is the root of our relationship with God, but obedience is the fruit. A.W. Tozer said: “The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are opposites sides of the same coin.”

The Bible says the house of God today is a community of people in whom God dwells by His Spirit. It is built on the foundation of Christ with prayer and worship through acts of love, service, ministry, outreach and discipleship. Paul writes to the Ephesians and says the whole church grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. As God builds his church through us there are also individual things that God wants to build into your life. It takes strength to build the things that God wants you to build.

Sometimes we get a burst of passion, emotion or momentum about God and wanting to know him and build the things he wants us to build into our lives and communities but we run into difficulty and we fail to persevere. Like a slow leak in a tire, there is no explosive crisis, just a steady deflation until eventually we're running on flat tires spiritually. What happens next is predictable. The purposes of God are set aside. We begin to live for our own priorities and purposes. Our focus becomes our house, our life, our comfort, our success. God remains part of our life but not the heart of our life. We don't make a decision we just drift into a way of life that is mostly about us. Because we never really made a decision we don't think that much about it. So someone like Haggai has to come along and tell us to think.