Lucas 18
John Piper · Citado em PreceptAustin
Lucas 18
Piper adds that "Insight or understanding is the product of intensive, headache-producing meditation on two or three verses and how they fit together. This kind of reflection and rumination is provoked by asking questions of the text. And you cannot do it if you hurry. Therefore, we must resist the deceptive urge to carve notches in our bibliographic gun. Take two hours to ask ten questions of Galatians 2:20+ and you will gain one hundred times the insight you would have attained by reading thirty pages of the New Testament or any other book. Slow down. Query. Ponder. Chew.... (John Dewey rightly said) "People only truly think when they are confronted with a problem. Without some kind of dilemma to stimulate thought, behavior becomes habitual rather than thoughtful.” “Asking questions is the key to understanding.” --Jonathan Edwards That said, below are the 5W/H questions for each verse in this chapter (click page to enlarge). This is not neatly typed but is handwritten and was used for leading a class discussion on this chapter, so you are welcome to use it in this "as is" condition... Luke 18:1 Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart, that at all times they ought to pray: Lu 11:5-8 21:36 Ge 32:9-12,24-26 Job 27:8-10 Ps 55:16,17 65:2 Ps 86:3 Ps 102:17 142:5-7 Jer 29:12 Ro 12:12 Eph 6:18 Php 4:6 Col 4:2,12 1Th 5:17 not to lose heart: Ps 27:13 Jon 2:7 Ga 6:9 Heb 12:3-5 Luke 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Luke 18:1-8 Persevering in Prayer - Steven Cole Luke 18:1-8 - Persistent Prayer for the Lord's Return - John MacArthur PARABLE OF UNJUST JUDGE AND HELPLESS WIDOW We often read this passage and think of it as a call to persevering, persistent prayer in general (keep pestering the judge until he gives in, so to speak), and persevering prayer is surely a valid application. But we need to recall the preceding context and the opening question in Lk 17:20 about the Kingdom of God which launched Jesus into prophetic teachings related to His return and the implication that there would be a some delay, the implication being that one might lose heart because of the delay. So it seems reasonable that this parable teaching the call for the necessity of prayer and not losing heart relates to the Lord's Second Coming of Luke 17. This important aspect of this parable on prayer only found in Luke will be discussed in greater detail in Luke 18:8+. J Vernon McGee agrees writing "Now, I have heard many Bible teachers say that this parable teaches the value of importunate (troublesomely urgent, overly persistent in request or demand) prayer. Although I don’t like to disagree with men who are greater than I, that isn’t so. This is not a parable on the persistency or the pertinacity of prayer—as though somehow God will hear if you hold on long enough. This is a parable by contrast, not by comparison....If this unjust judge would hear a poor widow because she kept coming continually, then (BY WAY OF CONTRAST) why do you get discouraged going to God who is not an unjust judge, but Who actually wants to hear and answer prayer?"
Lucas 18
Piper - ANOTHER PARADOX OF PRAYER: “VAIN REPETITIONS” VERSUS “CONTINUAL COMING” Pondering Matthew 6:7, Luke 11:8, and Luke 18:5 What’s the difference between the “vain repetitions” of the Gentiles who want their prayers to be “heard for their many words” (in Matthew 6:7), and the “continual coming” of the widow to wear down the judge and get her legal protection (in Luke 18:5), or the “persistence” of the man at midnight who prevails on his friend to get up and give him bread (in Luke 11:8)? In Matthew 6:7–8, Jesus introduces the Lord’s Prayer by saying, “And when you are praying, do not use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words” (emphasis added). In Luke 11:5–8, Jesus follows the Lord’s Prayer with a parable about a persistent friend at midnight: “I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs” (verse 8, emphasis added). In Luke 18:1–5, Jesus tells a parable about a widow pleading with an unjust judge. He says that the point of the parable is “to show that at all times [we] ought to pray and not to lose heart” (verse 1). The breakthrough comes with these words: “Because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection, otherwise by continually coming she will wear me out” (verse 5, emphasis added). And if the petition about bread is supposed to be repeated daily, then probably the same applies to the other petitions in the Lord’s Prayer. Every day we should pray for the hallowing of God’s name, the coming of his kingdom, the heaven-like doing of his will, and the forgiveness of sins. So the teaching in Matthew 6 agrees with the teaching in Luke 11 and 18, to the effect that “continual” or “persistent” praying is a good thing. The key question, then, is this: What danger does Matthew 6:7–8 warn us against in this continual, persistent kind of praying that does not give up but keeps on asking and seeking and knocking (Matthew 7:7; Luke 11:9)? There are two clauses that give us the clues in Matthew 6:7–8, “When you are praying, do not use vain repetitions as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (emphasis added). 1. “They suppose that they will be heard for their many words.” The warning here seems to be against thinking of our praying as impressive or coercive to God. It is as if Jesus wants to say, “Yes, you could take the parables about the persistent friend or tenacious widow to mean that God is impressed with many words or other human resources. But in fact, that is not what I mean to call attention to. I mean to call attention to the absence of human resources anywhere but in God.” Right praying feels destitute, not resourceful. If we find ourselves reaching inside of us for more and better phrases to tell God what we mean, we are in danger of “vain repetitions.” If we grasp for more words with a view to showing God we are more worthy than if we had one simple cry, we are in danger of “vain repetitions.” 2. “For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” The warning here is that there is a kind of praying that makes God look unaware and uncaring. Jesus says, “He knows what you need,” and so he is not unaware, and “He is your Father,” so he is not uncaring. Therefore, don’t pray in a way that makes him look ignorant or apathetic. Yes, but why does the persistence and tenacity of continual prayer not make God look this way? It might. And we are being called by Jesus to find the balance. There is a reason why Jesus not only calls us to simplicity and brevity, but also to persistence and tenacity. The demand for prevailing prayer exposes those who pray in a passing way, as if they are just trying to cover all their bases. They are not looking to God as their only hope. They are trying God out alongside other resources. Such praying does not prevail. In other words, there are dangers on both sides; one danger needs the admonition to “always pray and not lose heart” (Luke 18:1), and the other danger needs the admonition to avoid “vain repetitions” (Matthew 6:7). Let us not be more fearful of persistence than Jesus was, when he prayed all night (Luke 6:12), nor more fearful of repetition than Jesus was, when he prayed three times the same thing: “Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44). If we pray in the Spirit and feel that God is our only hope, we will find our way. (Taste and See) Luke 18:6 And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said; Luke 18 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Luke 18:1-8 Persevering in Prayer - Steven Cole Luke 18:1-8 - Persistent Prayer for the Lord's Return - John MacArthur JESUS BEGINS TO EXPLAIN THE INTENTION OF HIS ILLUSTRATION And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge said - Jesus gives His disciples (the 12 and us) a command in the aorist imperative which conveys the idea of "Hear this now! Don't miss this!" First they are to focus on what the unrighteous judge had just stated (Lk 18:5). This would prepare them to hear what Jesus is about to say, because He is about to explain the point of the parable. The story is finished and now it is time to apply the lesson of the parable to real life. Jamieson says Luke's use of the Lord is "a name expressive of the authoritative style in which He interprets His own parable." Lord (master, owner)(2962)(kurios from kuros = might or power, related to kuroo = to give authority) primarily means the possessor, owner, master, the supreme one, one who is sovereign (used this way of Roman emperors - Act 25:26) and possesses absolute authority, absolute ownership and uncontested power. Kurios is used of the one to whom a person or thing belonged, over which he has the power of deciding, the one who is the master or disposer of a thing (Mk 7:28)