Sermon by Rev Sydney Maitland for Sunday 20 October 2019.
Readings
Old Testament: Jeremiah 1: 27 -34
Epistle: 2 Timothy 3: 14 – 4: 5
Gospel: Luke 18: 1-8
One of my most enduring memories when I was training for ministry in the church was a set of lectures by Graeme Hely about group dynamics.
A central theme was the question about the honesty that we bring to our encounters with people – and equally the honesty with which they approach us.
Is there a hidden motive or agenda here – us there a purpose within all the talk, a manoeuvre or strategy to move us in a particular direction?
Is there an aim to get us to endorse a particular point of view or to take a particular action?
In other words, is there a political or ulterior motive within all the polite words and assurances?
This was not so much aimed at making us suspicious, but rather to keep us alert to what was going on.
But in our lessons there is another direction of travel and this time it is about God’s purposes with His people and in their personal lives.
In Jeremiah, which was written to an exiled and demoralized people, there was this deep assurance that despite it all, God was still in control and meant to draw, even out of this tragedy, a new purpose and a new beginning.
While the walls and temple of Jerusalem had been destroyed, God intended to build and to plant. There would be a new beginning, and the people would be restored.
In this sense, not only were the exiles restored to their land – under the eye of the new Persian ruler, Cyrus, but the community had developed a new form of worship and devotion.
They still met together, now in synagogues, where they studied the scriptures and prayed together. This institution has endured through thousands of years and is with us today.
It is there in the restored land of Israel and it is there in the dispersed Jews around the world. Here is a wonderful example of how God’s promise is neither given lightly nor fulfilled lightly.
And even though the Jewish community has been through many trials, they endure still and they enrich the people among whom they dwell.
God was indeed doing a new thing, and it has indeed stood the test of time, even if on occasion, such as during Jesus’ time, there were some vicious disputes within this new structure.
God’s plan was there and it has endured.
Then there is Paul’s counsel to Timothy, a young leader of the church much in need of support and encouragement.
This time it was about Timothy’s teaching and the standing of the scriptures.
Here Paul was clear. All scripture was inspired by God, without exception. It may have different forms – stories, laws, poems and plays, statistical and territorial records, and so on, but it was all inspired – God-breathed – and was therefore authoritative in all aspects of life that it addressed.
For all sorts of reasons there have been people – then and now – for whom the teaching of scripture is obscure, its authority is outdated and its content is highly unfashionable, especially when it touches personal aspects of life.
But scripture, while it demands love and respect rather than destructive (even one-sided) analysis and even corrosive contempt, is there as our standard for life and for receiving the gospel message. None of that has changed
But this brings me to the gospel lesson in which Jesus is pointing us to persistence in prayer.
This is far more about-a relationship than an irksome duty, even if a personal discipline of prayer is necessary.
God is not blind or deaf to His children and He indeed sees and hears their plight. But equally, God’s timescales are different to ours.
Some prayers bring answers immediately or within a few hours or days. Others may take years or decades to be realized – and God’s answer can be ‘Yes’, ‘No’ or ‘wait’ – and the most difficult of these is ‘wait’.
But ‘wait’ does not mean ‘stop’. It means ‘stay where you are in prayer, do not give up; do not allow yourself to be discouraged or to despair.’ It means that the very trial of prayer is still an offering which in due season, God will honour.
It all comes back to God’s agenda and timescale. It is His and not ours. Sometimes we may be taken entirely by surprise and lifted in joy – and other times may lead us into a work, even a travail of prayer.
But this is where it is for us to join our hearts together in prayer and to come before His personally and honestly. It is about working in and with His will and not against it.
But be sure, the Lord is also doing a new thing among us and in our time.
