Tawa Baptist

The Faithful Servant

Scripture: Luke 17:1-10

Video Link: https://youtu.be/diJiAPbUZfU

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 22 Mar 2026 – The Faithful Servant by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • Watch yourselves
  • Restore others
  • Obey Christ
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

At first glance the words lima, coffee, dwarf and black seem unrelated, but there is a connection. What is the connection? [Wait]

That’s right, they are all different types of beans.

Today we continue our series on the parables of Jesus. Last week he heard about the parable of the shrewd manager. This week’s parable features the faithful servant in Luke 17, verses 7-10. The faithful servant is a very different character to the shrewd manager.

In the six verses leading up to the parable of the faithful servant, Jesus gives some instructions to his disciples. At first glance these words of wisdom seem unrelated from each other and from the parable, sort of like a random selection of proverbs.

And you could preach on each word of instruction separately without doing violence to the text. But, as you dwell on these words of Jesus, it becomes apparent they are not random or separate. Verses 1-10 of Luke 17 are connected. They describe what faithfulness to Jesus looks like.

From Luke 17, verse 1 we read…

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. 2 It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 So watch yourselves. “If your brother or sistersins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. 4 Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.” 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. 7 “Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’? 9 Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

These verses give us a picture of what faithfulness to Jesus looks like.

In short, faithful discipleship means watching yourselves, restoring others and obeying Christ. Let us begin with watching yourselves.

Watch yourselves:

Part of my training for church ministry, involved doing CPE. CPE stands for Clinical Pastoral Education. CPE uses an action / reflection model of learning. Rather than sitting and listening to a lecture or writing essays, you reflect on your own real-life experiences of providing pastoral care for people.

For me, this meant visiting people in hospital, then later writing up a verbatim of the conversation and discussing it in a small group with others doing CPE. The purpose was to reflect on our practice with a view to providing better spiritual care.  

Basically, they were teaching us to watch ourselves. That is, to watch how we listened and what we said, so we did not cause anyone to stumble, so we did no harm and maybe even did some good.

Most of the time, when people are facing their own mortality, they don’t want to be tripped up by cheap advice or clever theological arguments. They just want to be understood. When life is uncertain, you need to know you are not alone. Knowing you are not alone nurtures faith and hope.

In verse 2 of Luke 17, Jesus warns against tripping others up spiritually or morally. The consequence for those who do this is dire. The Lord says: It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.

The message here is, do no harm.

These little ones probably includes young children but could also refer to those younger in the faith or in a more vulnerable position. That said, we don’t want to cause anyone to stumble, regardless of their station in life.

Causing others to stumble may indicate a certain malicious intention, like laying a trap on purpose. Some people are predators. They go out of their way to do harm. Hopefully no one here sells crack to school children or tries to catfish minors on the internet. If you do, you’ve been warned.

But we can also cause others to stumble through carelessness or neglect.

If someone cuts their foot on a piece of broken glass, the harm caused is the same whether the glass was left there on purpose or by accident.  

How careful are we with the example we set? Is the way we live our lives providing an even path for others to follow? Or are we leaving a trail of broken glass and trip hazards?   

Jesus was warning his disciples not to be like the Pharisees. The Pharisees did not set the right example. The Pharisees were not faithful. Their hypocrisy was a stumbling block to those who wanted to draw closer to God.

The phrase, better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck, is chilling. It’s one of the many disturbing things Jesus said. The human imagination runs wild with anxiety wondering what could be worse than death by drowning in the depths of the sea.

However, the alternative would be far worse. (The alternative being that there is no consequence for people who cause harm.) If you have suffered abuse at the hands of others, you don’t want them to go on harming you or anyone else. Jesus was always reminding people of God’s justice and mercy. It is a good thing that God cares enough to permanently stop those who are doing harm.     

The punchline comes in verse 3 where Jesus says: So watch yourselves.

Being faithful includes not causing others to stumble morally or spiritually.

And, if we are to avoid causing others to stumble, then we need to watch ourselves.

Make sure your own backyard is in order. Don’t trip others up by your words or example. Be careful how you listen and what you say. Examine your motives. Reflect on your actions. Correct yourself when you stray off course. Make it right when you get it wrong. That’s what it means to watch yourself.

A word of caution on watching yourself. Don’t overdo this. Don’t spend too long in self-reflection. There’s a fine line between healthy self-awareness and unhealthy self-obsession.

Beware of the narcissism or vanity that imagines your influence is greater than it really is. By God’s grace, most people are not thinking about you as much as you are thinking about yourself, and this limits the extent to which you can cause others to stumble.  

Okay, so if we are to be faithful servants of Jesus, then watching ourselves is the first thing we need to do. The next thing is restoring others.

Restoring others:

In the sixth form (year 12) at school, I studied chemistry. My lab partner was a bit of an all-star. Intelligent, good at sports, a lifeguard at the beach, socially popular and a genuinely nice guy. But, like all of us, he had a shadow side.

He drank too much.

After coming back from holidays one time he announced he was taking a break from alcohol. Someone who cared about him noticed his drinking and had a quiet word with him. They knew his potential and didn’t want him going down a path that would ruin his life.

This person (it might have been an older brother) didn’t scold him or yell at him or berate him. They challenged him to go dry for three months, just to see if he could do it. And he did. Giving up alcohol for a while provided the circuit breaker he needed. It restored him and put him on a better path once more.

In verse 3 of Luke 17 Jesus goes on to say: “If your brother or sistersins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them.”

This is essentially about restoring others. It fits hand in glove with what Jesus has just been saying about not causing others to stumble. If someone does stumble, then our first instinct is to look for a way to restore them. Because that’s what Jesus did, he came to seek and save the lost.  

Jesus notes three steps in the restoration process: rebuke, repent and forgive.

Rebuking sounds quite harsh, like you are giving someone a loud and angry telling off. But rebuking doesn’t need to be harsh. The person who challenged my sixth form lab partner to stop drinking for three months was rebuking him for his behaviour in a wise and gentle way. This sort of rebuke led to my friend’s repentance and restoration.    

When the prophet Nathan rebuked king David for committing adultery with Bathsheba, he didn’t go in with both barrels blazing. He wisely told David a parable which cut David to the core, causing him to repent and be forgiven.

The point is, when it comes to giving a rebuke, a careful surgical approach is usually more effective than a butcher’s mallet.

The purpose of rebuking is to restore. Often people are not aware of how their actions affect others. My sixth form lab partner didn’t realise the negative impact his drinking was having on those around him. He was being unfair to others without realising it.

If someone is not aware there is a problem, then they don’t have the opportunity to change. Rebuking is about making someone aware of how their behaviour is affecting others. It’s about being honest and fair with them. The purpose of rebuking is not to punish or humiliate. The purpose is to restore.

Now I don’t think Jesus means us to be rebuking each other over every little offence. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Don’t be petty. Exercise some grace.

If you need to rebuke someone it should be for their wellbeing and the wellbeing of the community.     

Jesus talks about rebuking others in the same breath as telling us to watch ourselves. Before we start reading the riot act, we need to pause and take the plank out of our own eye first. We need to ask ourselves, is the thing that’s aggravating me about this other person something I’m guilty of myself?   

Rebuking is just the first step in the restoration process. Repentance and forgiveness complete the process. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in behaviour. And forgiveness simply means letting go of the hurt, not holding a grudge against the person who offended you.

Jesus’ instruction to forgive someone seven times in a day, if they repent, is to be interpreted generously. It’s not that seven times is the upper limit and an eighth offence does not need to be forgiven. As Martin Luther King said, ‘Forgiveness is an attitude, not an occasional act.’       

The restoration process (of rebuking, repenting and forgiving) can be time consuming and emotionally demanding, but it is far less taxing than the alternative, which is resentment.

Obey Christ:

At this point the disciples ask Jesus to increase their faith. Perhaps the disciples are thinking, what Jesus is asking us to do is really hard. We need extra faith if we are going to meet the demands of watching ourselves and restoring others.

Jesus replies with a short parable saying: “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.”

Mulberry trees, of the variety Jesus is talking about here, are a deeply rooted tree. Indeed, their roots have been known to remain in the ground for hundreds of years. Getting a mulberry tree (or any tree for that matter) to obey your verbal commands, and uproot itself, is an impossible thing to do.

Our selfish, sinful nature is much like the roots of a mulberry tree; stubborn and intractable. Trying to make ourselves (or anyone else) obey the teachings of Jesus is as difficult as telling a mulberry tree to plant itself in the sea.

We cannot make ourselves obey Jesus simply by telling ourselves to do it.

Even when we want to do the right thing, we still find ourselves doing the wrong thing. Our self-centredness, as human beings, is too deeply embedded.

However, God has the power to do the impossible, and faith is the key to unlocking God’s power. You don’t need much faith to access God’s power.

Faith as small as a mustard seed will do.  

It doesn’t take much to access the national power grid. All you need to do is flick a switch. Likewise, it doesn’t take much to access the power to do God’s will. All you need is a little faith. Faith is like flicking a light switch.

Who provides the power to uproot the mulberry tree of our sinful habits?

We don’t. God does. But we still need to flick the switch by asking in faith.

Who provides the power to uproot systemic corruption and injustice?

We don’t. God does. But we still need to flick the switch by asking in faith.

Please understand, Jesus is not saying faith gives us license to tap God for whatever we want. It doesn’t. Believing God for a Ferrari won’t get you a Ferrari, no matter how much faith you have. If you flick the switch of faith and the light doesn’t come on, it is because God (in his wisdom) has chosen to withhold his power in that situation.

Jesus is not talking here about the power to get what we want. He is talking about the power to do God’s will; to repent and forgive, for example.

The power to obey Jesus comes from the Holy Spirit. Or to say it another way, we are able to remain faithful to Christ by trusting in God’s power and grace, not our own resources. 

In keeping with the theme of faithfulness, Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the obedient servant. From verse 7 we read…

7 “Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? 8 Won’t he rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?

This parable is largely lost in translation for us. Here, in New Zealand, we don’t have servants. We are a ‘do it yourself’ society. The idea of keeping servants goes against the grain.

Also, we place a high value on individual freedom. We tend to resist authority. Indeed, we are often unfairly critical of those in authority.     

But in first Century Israel, having a servant was a normal part of life. In fact, you didn’t need to be rich to have a servant. The authority of the master over the servant was accepted and honoured in that society.

The servant was given security and dignity by working for their master.

If their master was someone of standing in the community, this enhanced the servant’s sense of self-worth. Faithful service to one’s master and to the betterment of the wider community was more important to people in the first century than individual freedom.

Today’s parable is not only at odds with the cultural values of contemporary New Zealand, it also seems at odds with Jesus’ parable in Luke 12.

If you were here three weeks ago, you would have heard the parable of the master who, upon returning from a wedding banquet, girded up his loins to wait on his servants. Something unthinkable in that culture. The master in that parable reminds us of Jesus who did not come to be served, but to serve. 

In Luke 17 it’s a different scenario. The servant comes home after working in the field and the master expects his servant to make his dinner right away.

So what’s going on in Luke 17? Why is the master not waiting on his servant? Well, the parable in Luke 17 offers a counterbalance to the parable in Luke 12.

While it is true that Jesus came to serve us by dying on the cross and uprooting our sin, we must not forget our place. Jesus is still our master and we are still his servants. We are not equal with Jesus. We are expected to obey him.

We must not make the fatal mistake of presuming upon God’s grace. We must guard against any sense of entitlement.

Jesus’ parable, in Luke 17, is an argument from the lesser to the greater.

If servants are expected to obey ordinary human masters, how much more are we expected to obey Christ, the Son of God.

Like the servant in the parable, we are expected to obey Christ in the field: which might include, for example, the community, your workplace or school.  

And we are expected to obey Christ in the home: which might include your own family and the church.

This begs the question: are we being obedient to Jesus in every area of our life? If not, what needs to change?

Jesus concludes his parable in verses 9 and 10, saying: 9 Will he [the master] thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10 So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”

These verses are about having the right attitude in obeying Christ.

The term, ‘unworthy servants’ does not mean useless or without value.

It means, ‘servants to whom no favour is due’. Jesus is asking a rhetorical question here: Is the master indebted to his servant when orders are carried out? No, of course not. The master does not owe the servant anything.  

Is God indebted to us when we carry out his commands? No, of course not. God does not owe us anything. Obedience is what we owe God. Our obedience does not entitle us to special treatment. We cannot put God in our debt.

Once again, Jesus is warning his disciples against Pharisaic self-righteousness. The Pharisees got the cart before the horse. They thought, we have been extra scrupulous in obeying God’s law, therefore we are entitled to a reward.

But that is not how God operates. With God, grace comes first. Faithfulness is the right response to the grace God has already shown us. We are in debt to God. We can never repay that debt, much less put God in our debt. The most we can do is trust and obey.       

Conclusion:

Let us pray. Lord Jesus, your grace is manifold. We are not aware of half of what you do for us. Thank you. Help us, by the power of your Spirit, to be faithful; to watch ourselves, to restore others and to obey you. Amen.    

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What do Jesus’ instructions in Luke 17:1-10 share in common?
  3. What did Jesus mean when he said, ‘watch yourself’? How might we do this? Why is it important to watch ourselves?
  4. How careful are we with the example we set? Is the way we live our lives providing a straight path for others to follow? If not, what needs to change?
  5. Discuss / reflect on the three aspects of the restoration process. What does it mean to rebuke, to repent and to forgive? Why do we seek to restore brothers and sisters in the faith?  
  6. Why does Jesus tell the parable of the mustard seed and mulberry tree in Luke 17, verse 6? What is the meaning of this parable? Where / how do we find the resources to remain faithful to Christ?
  7. Discuss / reflect on Jesus’ parable in Luke 17:7-10. Who did Jesus tell this parable for? Why did Jesus tell this parable? How is this parable at odds with the values of our society?
  8. Are you being obedient to Jesus in every area of your life? If not, what needs to change? 

Bibliography:

  • William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, 1967.
  • R.V.G. Tasker, ‘Tyndale Commentaries: St Matthew’, 1963.
  • Kenneth Bailey, ‘Through Peasant Eyes’, 1983.
  • Michael Green, ‘BST: The Message of Matthew’, 2000.
  • R.T. France, ‘New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Matthew’, 2007.
  • Craig S. Keener, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, 2009.
Tawa Baptist

The Good Samaritan (by Sam Barris)

Scripture: Luke 10:25-37

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 8 Mar 2026 – The Good Samaritan (by Sam Barris) by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Good morning everyone. Today I’ll be carrying on Will’s current theme of Parables. We’re going to be looking at the Good Samaritan today – a parable that stems from a question asked of Jesus from an expert in religious law.

We’re going to look at the questions he asked, how Jesus responds, what that meant for the people at the time, and what that means for us now. Let’s begin with reading the parable in Luke chapter 10 v 25 – 37.

One day an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question: “Teacher, what should I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”

The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’”

“Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”

The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?”

Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbour to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

When I was being toilet trained, my parents struck up a deal with me. Every time I went to the toilet and undertook the necessary actions, I would receive one M&M. I agreed, so we wrote up the contract, and the M&M deal was on.

After reviewing the contract however, I noticed a loophole. Fantastic. The deal had specified exactly what I said, “Every time I went to the toilet and undertook the necessary actions, I would receive one M&M.”. It didn’t say anything about undertaking the necessary actions to completion.

I would go to the toilet a little bit, if you understand what I mean, retrieve my agreed upon reward, and then go back to the toilet to do a little bit more, expecting to retrieve the same reward straight away again. From what I’ve been told, it worked at first but my parents were not pleased with me exploiting this loophole so it did not last.

Of course, my main objective here was to obtain as many M&Ms as possible. I was also really asking the question “What’s the least I can get away with here and still obtain my reward?”.

We see the same thinking from the lawyer in this section. The first question he asks of Jesus is, “What should I do to inherit eternal life?”. This gives us a good understanding of how he views Jesus’ teachings to this point. He sees the way to eternal life as a tickbox exercise “If I just do this handy list of things, I’m in – job done.”.

It makes sense, he’s a lawyer – all you’ve gotta do is follow these rules and you’re good to go. This isn’t quite how inheritance works however – an inheritance is received, it’s not earned.

Jesus replies with a question, directing him to the laws he knows this man is already aware of. “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”. How do you read it is an interesting question. He doesn’t just ask him to quote it word for word, Jesus is asking him how he understands and interprets it, maybe as far as how do you choose to live this out?

The lawyer then answers by quoting parts of Deuteronomy and Leviticus.

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind” And “Love your neighbour as yourself”.

He’s nailed it, what a great answer! He describes loving God in all ways – not just a nice feeling but how you live out your life – day to day. As he quotes, loving God goes hand in hand with loving your neighbour as well.

Jesus agrees, a great answer! He says “Right! Do this and you will live!”.

The lawyer then follows up with a question that shows – while he may have fantastic theological knowledge, his desire to live it out fully might not quite be there. There’s a big gap between his knowledge and understanding of the law and how he chooses to act on that.

“Who is my neighbour?” he asks. Luke says that he asks this to justify his actions, not in hoping that he’ll be given the opportunity to show love to more and more people around him, but rather the opposite. He wants to cut down his list of requirements to the bare minimum. He wants to prove he already meets this requirement, job done. He’s asking how can I narrow my obligations and still receive the same reward? Eternal life sounds pretty great, I’m up for that. Let me just check it’s not going to be too much of an inconvenience though.

Some people close to me are so easy to love, I’m completely fine with them being my neighbour. Some others though…. They don’t quite agree with me on everything, maybe they even don’t like me. Surely, I don’t need to show them the same love as those in my inner circle, for example.

Often when I’m reading the Bible and I’m reading passages about religious leaders testing Jesus, trying to cut him and his teachings down, or attacking him for breaking their laws, I read them as the villains of the story. Here’s Jesus who we love, sharing the Good News, and these religious experts come in and just don’t get it – they’re on the bad side, trying to shut down Jesus, the hero of the story.

When I read about this religious lawyer, he’s quite relatable to be honest. I don’t want him to be relatable, but I find myself asking the same question regularly. Whether it’s toilet training or something a bit more recent – reaching out to a friend, giving up my time, energy, and resources to provide for others, putting in my best efforts at work, being a loving friend, brother, flatmate, leader. What’s the minimum I can do to pass? Do I have to put in this level of effort for everyone?

Let’s read again how Jesus responds. Jesus replied with a story:

“A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road. “By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side. “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’ “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbour to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked. The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Hearing this parable in 2026 has quite a different meaning to it than how the Jewish audience were hearing this story when Jesus told it for the first time.

A lot of the depth is lost on us at first – it becomes a nice story of how we should show acts of kindness and not walk past those in need. That in itself is great and important but the cultural impact of this story at the time ran a lot deeper.

Firstly, Jesus introduces us to a Jewish man who is travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was an infamously dangerous road. It was isolated, steep and rocky – descending 4000 feet through narrow, winding canyons that provided great hiding spots for bandits. It had a bad and unsafe reputation but from all we’ve been told, this man is travelling it by himself. Living up to the reputation of the road, the man is attacked, robbed, beaten, and left to die on the side of the road.

We then see a Priest and a temple assistant come across this man in need and walk right past him. There’s an expectation here, that the Jewish audience would have had as well, that these are the exact people who would help out this man in need. It’s even possible that the priest was very wealthy, travelling with a group, plenty of resources available to help here.

I spent some time trying to work out the reasoning or justification these people would have to ignore this man especially given their titles and roles in the temple. Some commentaries said that the priest would have been thinking about becoming ceremonially unclean if they touched this person (if he was dead) or that they only had an obligation to help Jewish people and there was no way of knowing this beaten man’s cultural or ethnic origin so why risk it?

There were all these ideas flying around as to their motivation to just walking past but after looking at it for a bit, I realised it probably doesn’t actually matter. Jesus doesn’t focus at all on their motivation or justification behind this. The sole focus is on their actions and what they chose to do when faced with this opportunity to help – they walked right past.

When we’re faced with situations where we have an opportunity to help those in need, do we focus on the action we need to take or our reasons for not helping? We might be quite tired, we don’t think we’re the best person to support, we might have enough going on to deal with ourselves. Those can all be true but whether our inaction is justified someway or it isn’t – it is still inaction. Our rationalisation of this does nothing more to support the person who is in need.

What Jesus was doing in introducing these two characters in the Priest and the temple assistant was setting the Jewish audience up for the big plot twist. This is where some of the cultural context may not pack the same punch for us as it did for them at the time. Jesus has established a narrative direction here – we’ve started with a priest, next we’ve got a temple assistant, who’s next? The audience here are probably anticipating an Israelite/a regular Jewish person.

That would have been an obvious and clear next person, based on the structure of their society at the time. There would have been genuine shock when a despised Samaritan became the hero of this story.

When you hear the word Samaritan, what do you think? I would be very surprised if you didn’t automatically think of this story we’re talking about today. In fact, the term “Good Samaritan” is a common term today for someone who selflessly helps someone in need. Being called a Good Samaritan today is a great compliment. We even have a charity here called Samaritans Aotearoa. They are a charity that provides a 24/7 crisis help line where volunteers pick up the phone and support people who call through whether they’re lonely, suicidal, depressed, distress or just going through a bad time. The impact of this story over time has moulded the meaning of the word Samaritan into something incredibly positive.

This was really not what the word represented when Jesus told this parable. There was a huge cultural divide between Jewish people and Samaritan people. Jews despised Samaritans largely because of historical, ethnic and religious divisions. When Israel fell to Assyria, foreign people settled in the region and intermarried with the remaining Israelites, creating a group Jews later saw as religiously compromised – or Samaritans which you can read about in 2 Kings 17.

By Jesus’ time, the hostility was so strong that Jews and Samaritans typically avoided each other. We see examples of this in the book of John. Firstly, on a separate occasion to this, Jesus and Jewish religious leaders are debating and, in an attempt to discredit him, they say to him in John 8:48: “You Samaritan devil! Didn’t we say all along that you were possessed by a demon?”. Calling him a Samaritan here is meant as a derogatory term, implying he is religiously corrupt or outside true Jewish faith, and they pair it with accusing him of being demon-possessed to completely undermine his authority.

Secondly, the divide is made clear when Jesus was speaking to a Samaritan woman at a well. When Jesus asks her for a drink, she is shocked because Jewish men normally would not speak with a Samaritan woman at all saying “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”.

This gives an idea of how the Jewish audience would be reacting to this new character introduction – a Samaritan man? This can’t be good. What happens next though? “Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

There are a lot of justifiable reasons for the Samaritan man to walk past, just like the priest and the temple assistant did. In fact, he probably has a lot more reasons to simply carry on his journey. Firstly, this Jewish man was travelling by himself on a dangerous road. He put himself into this situation, right? He clearly wasn’t well prepared or made some bad decisions that got him to this point.

Secondly, this man is Jewish remember. We have a pretty good idea of what he might think of a Samaritan man coming to his aid.

Thirdly, what if this was a trap? An ambush? The same bandits who attacked and robbed this man could be hiding around the corner waiting for him too.

Fourthly, helping this man is going to be expensive and ruin his plans. There are many reasons to walk by here, but he does not. The Samaritan simply acted out of compassion.

Jesus then asks the religious expert: “Now which of these three would you say was a neighbour to the man who was attacked by the bandits?” The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.”

Jesus flips the question on its head. It’s no longer about asking “Who is my neighbour?”. We’re called to be a neighbour to those around us. Jesus makes it very clear that any form of social, cultural, religious, political barriers should not be getting in the way of being a neighbour and showing love to those in need.

What does that look like for us then? If there’s anything that is plentiful in the world today, it’s opportunities to help people in need. It’s clear that Jesus is saying that loving your neighbour is not just an emotion, it’s a physical response as well.

James 2 tells us: Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? It’s a very simple message but do we find it as simple to live out every day on an individual level?

Sometimes it’s small: noticing someone struggling, offering a listening ear, lending a hand with a practical task. Sometimes it’s bigger: volunteering your time, giving resources, or supporting someone who feels isolated. And sometimes it means crossing barriers – social, cultural, or personal – to show care where others wouldn’t. In all cases, it’s about seeing the need and responding with action.

It needs to be a part of a church’s identity as well. When people are in crisis, do they feel they can rely on their local church for support? Can we say that now about our church? Here’s a great example of a church showing love to their community: How good is it to see God’s love being broadcast in local media?

[Audio clip plays of a church providing refuge for people after a crisis]

May they be an example to all of us. Beyond practical help, we can also provide spiritual help to those in need – again, there is a lot of need for this too. Whether that’s praying for those around us, sharing the hope we’ve found in Jesus, providing encouragement, inviting people to church.

The opportunity to lead people to Jesus and the hope he brings is ever present. This comes with the same limitless boundary as to who our neighbour is that Jesus describes in the parable as well. That can be scarier or harder though, right? This is where the cultural, religious, political, personal and a range of other differences can feel like a bigger blocker. If someone is rude to me for whatever reason, that doesn’t make it easier to pray for them. I certainly don’t want to be responding with an invite to church.

This always makes me think of the story of Jonah which we heard here a month or two ago. Jonah, after delivering a message from God to the Ninevites, anticipates and even hopes for God to destroy Nineveh as his message had warned. When God showed compassion to the Ninevites and chose to not carry out the destruction He had threatened, Jonah was very angry. Jonah doesn’t believe the Ninevites deserved the same love God had shown him. To which the Lord responds: “…Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?

Who are the Ninevites in your life? If there’s someone in your life that you’re praying God deals with instead of saves, you’re missing an opportunity to show them the same love you’ve experienced.

To live like the Samaritan in this story, we have to understand that we’ve also been the Jewish man beaten at the side of the road before as well – or maybe we still are. Jesus is our good Samaritan. He’s compelled by compassion to act and show us love. He gave everything, even His life, because he sees the great need we have and acts on His compassion. Through Jesus, we accept the gift, or the inheritance, of eternal life. When we experience Jesus’ compassion, it should change how we live. The love he has shown us isn’t meant to stop with ourselves. When we respond with love to our neighbour, it is an outpouring of the love we have been shown.

Galatians 5 reminds us what that looks like in action. But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.

Living like the good Samaritan is a lifestyle shaped by the Holy Spirit, showing God’s love in practical ways. To be clear, this message isn’t coming from someone who has this perfected either. Living this out fully is a journey that we go on when we accept Jesus into our lives and seek to follow Him and grow more like Him every day.

My prayer today is that for myself and for everyone here, may this message lead us to take action when we feel compassion. To show love to those who need it – not because of where they come from or what they believe, but because of the love we have been shown.

1st John 4:9-12 tells us: God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

If this isn’t a love that you have experienced yourself, you’re in the right place. Chat to those around you, we also have a regular prayer ministry team. May you come to know and understand what it means to be loved by God as well.

Let’s pray: Dear Lord, thank you for this parable and what it teaches us. May we come to love those around us as you have loved us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Tawa Baptist

The Gracious Employer

Scripture: Matthew 20:1-16

Video Link: https://youtu.be/ArWz2FkYrds

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 22 Feb 2026 – The Gracious Employer by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • God’s kingdom is personal
  • God’s kingdom is gracious
  • God’s kingdom is fair
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what belief was unique to the Christian faith. They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.

The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. “What’s the commotion about?” he asked. “We were discussing Christianity’s unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, “Oh, that’s easy. It’s grace”. [1]

Today we continue our series on the parables of Jesus. Last week we heard about the parable of the lost sheep. This week we focus on the parable of the gracious employer, in Matthew 20. The main point of this parable is that God’s kingdom operates by grace. From verse 1 of Matthew 20 we read…

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denariusfor the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

This parable is about the kingdom of heaven, also known as the kingdom of God. The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are interchangeable terms. They are different ways of saying the same thing.

Some people, when they hear this parable, think Jesus is promoting socialism. No. This parable is not about socialism. God’s kingdom is not like any earthly political system we may be familiar with. Nor can it be equated to a geographic location.

On a basic level the kingdom of heaven is God’s government or God’s reign.

Said another way, the kingdom of heaven is life with God in charge. Life when God’s will is done. The kingdom of heaven is God’s way of operating.

Three things this parable tells us about God’s kingdom: It is personal, it is gracious and it is fair. What then do we mean when we say God’s kingdom is personal? Brian McLaren tells a story which helps to illustrate this idea that’s God’s kingdom is personal.

God’s kingdom is personal:

Once upon a time, there was a good and kind king who had a great kingdom with many cities. In one distant city, some people took advantage of the freedom the king gave them and started doing evil.

They profited by their injustice and began to hate the king. They convinced everyone the city would be better off without the king and declared their independence from the kingdom. Soon, with everyone doing whatever they wanted, violence, corruption and fear reigned.

The king thought about what he should do. ‘If I take my army and conquer the city by force, the people will fight against me. I will have to kill so many of them and the rest will only submit through fear, which will make them hate me even more. But if I leave them alone, they will destroy each other. It breaks my heart to think of the pain they are causing one another.’

So the king considered a third way. He took off his robes and dressed in regular clothes. Incognito, he entered the city and began living in an abandoned building. He took up a trade fixing broken furniture.

Whenever people came to him, his kindness and respect were so striking they would linger a little longer, just to be in his presence. They told him their problems and asked his advice. He told them the rebels had fooled them and the true king had a better way to live, which he exemplified and taught.     

One by one people began to put their confidence in him and live his way. Eventually, the city regretted its rebellion and wanted to submit to the king’s reign again. But they were afraid to approach the king. What if he took revenge for their rebellion?

It was then the king-in-disguise revealed his true identity: he, the furniture fixer, was their king and he forgave them. The city was restored to the kingdom once more. All those who loved the king remained in the city, while those who still refused to accept the king’s authority were sent away.

By his gracious presence and personal touch, the king saved the city and most of its citizens, something that could never have been accomplished through brute force. [2]   

God’s kingdom is personal. It operates at the level of the human heart and inter-personal relationships.

In Matthew 20, Jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a human person, more specifically a vineyard owner.  Verse 1 reads: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard…”

Employing casual day labourers was a common practice in the Palestine of Jesus’ day. Workers would go out early in the morning (around 6am) to the marketplace and wait for someone to come and offer them work.

Day labourers tended to be quite poor. If they didn’t get work, they (and their families) didn’t eat. These workers were near the bottom of the heap.

Somewhat surprisingly the wealthy landowner goes out of his way to do the hiring himself, personally. The landowner has a foreman. It is normally the foreman’s job to hire and manage the workers. Why doesn’t the landowner send his foreman to do this job? Because he prefers a personal approach.

The kingdom of heaven is like the landowner. God’s kingdom, his way of operating, is personal. God’s kingdom is not a hard to navigate bureaucratic system. God’s kingdom does not function by AI or recorded message. In God’s kingdom we don’t deal with a machine or even a manager. We deal personally with the Spirit of Jesus.

God’s kingdom is personal and God’s kingdom is gracious. What then is grace?

God’s kingdom is gracious:

The classic definition of grace is unmerited favour. Being treated better than you deserve. Receiving something good without doing anything to earn it and without being entitled to it. God’s grace is what sets Christianity apart from every other religion.

Under New Zealand law, employees are entitled to ten days sick leave per year, payable after six months employment. This can accumulate up to a maximum of 20 days. That’s the letter of the law.

Let’s say you have accumulated 20 days sick leave but, for reasons outside of your control, you need to take 30 days. Your employer then has a choice. They can either abide by the letter of the law and pay you only the 20 days owing, or they can go beyond the letter of the law and pay you the 30 days you need.

Paying you the first 20 days is just and fair. The employer is meeting their obligation to you. But paying the extra 10 days, well that is grace. It is unmerited favour. The employer is under no obligation to pay the extra.

Returning to Matthew 20. The kingdom of heaven is like the landowner in Jesus’ parable. The landowner is gracious and the kingdom of God is gracious. We see this grace operating in a number of ways.

In verses 3-6 we read how the owner comes back to the marketplace in three-hour intervals throughout the day to hire more workers. Normally an employer would get all the workers they needed at the beginning of the day.

But the owner of this vineyard returns personally at 9am, 12 noon, 3pm and then again at the 11th hour, which is 5pm. And each time he goes back he offers the job seekers work.

Interestingly, the landowner does not stipulate the rate of pay with these later workers, like he did with those he hired at the beginning of the day. To those hired at 9, 12 and 3 he simply says, ‘I will pay you whatever is right’.

And the day labourers trust the gracious employer. They don’t attempt to haggle with him or make him sign a contract. They are keen to work and have faith the landowner will do right by them.  

The workers who are employed towards the end of the day are (presumably) less desirable, having been passed over by other employers. By 5pm (one hour before knock off time) this gracious landowner is employing people that no one else will hire.

Those who are last to be offered a job may appear less employable, but you have to admire their tenacity. Most people would have given up and gone home by lunchtime if they hadn’t been offered work. Those who are last are still holding out hope, even when it seems hope-less.

What’s more they agree to work for the landowner, without any promise of payment. The landowner does not say he will pay them anything. He simply tells them to work in his vineyard. The last have shown the greatest faith.    

But the real star here is the landowner, who shows us what the kingdom of God is like. The landowner takes a personal interest in making sure everyone gets the opportunity to earn money to feed their family.

This employer wants to give the poor work in a gracious way, so their mana is preserved. The employer doesn’t rob the last of their dignity by offering them a handout. He could have simply given them one denarius and told them to go home. But he doesn’t do that. The employer upholds their self-respect by giving them the opportunity to do meaningful work for pay.  

The biggest surprise and the most obvious display of grace, comes in the middle of this parable, when the owner instructs his foreman to pay the workers. Each person gets one denarius, regardless of how long they worked. One denarius is the equivalent of a full day’s living wage.

The owner of the vineyard knows this world is not an even playing field.

He understands that half a day’s pay is not enough to feed a hungry family.

So he pays people based on what they need, not what they have achieved. That is grace.

To show grace we must have the capacity to put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. Grace understands. The landowner is like the kingdom of God.

The landowner shows the grace of understanding. Likewise, in God’s kingdom our need is understood and provided for.

God’s kingdom is fair:

Not everyone understands God’s grace though. When those who were hired first saw the late comers receiving a full day’s wage, they presumed they would be paid more.

The first have a sense of entitlement and a sense of entitlement gets in the way of grace. Those who were hired last know their need for God’s grace and they accept it without question. But those who were hired first are blind to their need. They forget it was by the landowner’s grace they were given the opportunity to work all day in the first place.

When the first receive the same as the last, they don’t think it’s fair and complain saying: ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

Now, the vineyard owner could have avoided this confrontation with the grumbling workers. If he had paid them first, they would have gone home happy, none the wiser about what the others were paid. So why does the owner reverse the order? Well, there is no grace without truth.

Perhaps the owner intentionally makes the first wait till last because he wants to show the first what grace really looks like. He wants them to understand the truth, that being on the highest level is not the most important thing. What really matters is not leaving others behind, even if it means you come last.

The vineyard owner is gracious, but he is no fool. He won’t be manipulated or controlled by others. The owner speaks to one of the grumblers saying…

13 ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go…

The main thing to note here is the landowner is being fair and generous.

Yes, he has overpaid some of the workers, but he has not shortchanged anyone. One denarius for a day’s work represents a living wage. It is fair pay and those who were hired first agreed to it.

The landowner is honouring his contract. Now those who worked all day are wanting to break the contract, to change it after the fact. Those who were hired first are the ones who are being unfair, not the landowner.

Another thing to note, in verse 13, is the way the landowner addresses one of the complainers as ‘friend’. New Testament Greek has more than one word for friend. There is the positive word, philos, which refers to someone dearly loved and trusted. However, the landowner does not use philos here.

No, the landowner addresses the complainer as hetairos, which was a general form of address to someone whose name one does not know. It is a polite title for a stranger. [3] In Matthew’s gospel, the word hetairos is applied to those who presume upon grace. [4] You don’t want Jesus to address you as hetairos.

That’s like hearing Jesus say, ‘I don’t know you’.

The landowner (who is like the kingdom of God) has the last word. He says to those who had complained: I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

The owner of the vineyard is being fair with the grumblers. He is being honest with them. Indeed, he is showing them the truth about themselves. They don’t care about justice. They are simply greedy and envious.  

Kenneth Bailey paraphrases the landowner’s meaning like this: “You want to take more for yourselves. I have chosen to give more of myself. You want to be richer at the end of the day. I have chosen to be poorer at the end of the day. Don’t try to control me. Take your just wage and get out.” [5]   

The landowner’s response is personal, gracious and fair. Just as God’s kingdom is personal, gracious and fair.   

Conclusion:

The parable concludes with the saying: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” In other words, the kingdom of God reverses human expectations. God’s kingdom operates by divine grace, not human achievement. [6] It is not for us to try and control God’s grace. It is not for us to say who can and can’t be saved. We need to let God be God.

Let us pray…

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your grace and compassion in reaching out to us personally. Thank you too for your fairness and generosity in meeting our need for salvation. Forgive us for the times we have tried to control you. Grant us humility to embrace the work and reward you offer. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.     

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. What is grace? Can you think of a time when you experienced grace? What happened? How did you feel? What was your response?
  3. What is the kingdom of heaven / kingdom of God? How is God’s kingdom different from the kingdoms / governments of this world?
  4. Discuss / reflect on the parable of the gracious employer. Why did Jesus tell this parable? What is the main point? How does this parable make you feel?
  5. What does the landowner teach us about the kingdom of God?
  6. Why does the landowner go looking for workers to employ himself? Why does he not send his foreman?
  7. Why does the landowner pay all the workers the same? Why does the landowner have the foreman pay the last first and the first last? Why do those who worked all day complain against the landowner?
  8. Who do you identify with most in this parable? Why?

Bibliography:

  • William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, 1967.
  • R.V.G. Tasker, ‘Tyndale Commentaries: St Matthew’, 1963.
  • Michael Green, ‘BST: The Message of Matthew’, 2000.
  • Craig S. Keener, ‘The Gospel of Matthew’, 2009.
  • R.T. France, ‘New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Matthew’, 2007.
  • Kenneth Bailey, ‘Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes’, 2008. 

[1] From Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Basket of Gems’, page 67.

[2] Adapted from a story by Brian McLaren found in Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Basket of Gems’, page 80.

[3] Refer Bailey, page 361.

[4] Refer Keener, page 482.

[5] Refer Kenneth Bailey, page 361.

[6] Refer R. France, page 746.

Tawa Baptist

Lost & Found

Scripture: Luke 15:1-10

Video Link: https://youtu.be/jqYP-goOQk8

Audio Link: Stream Sermon – 15 Feb 2026 – Lost & Found by tawabaptist | Listen online for free on SoundCloud

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The lost leaders
  • The lost sheep
  • The lost coin
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Over the years the metal flashing above our ranch slider has deteriorated.

The purpose of the flashing is to keep the rain out, which makes the flashing fairly important. Rust was showing through the paint. Not only did it look rude, but if I let it go too long, the rust might make holes in the metal.  

So, I decided to restore it. This involved grinding away the rust with a wire brush, then applying a special rust converter to the metal, followed by a rust kill primer and two topcoats of rust kill paint.

Although I’m not ready to quit my day job, just yet, I did enjoy the work. There is a certain pleasure in restoring things. Hopefully my restoration efforts last.

Today we continue our series on the parables of Jesus. Last week we heard about the ten minas and this week our focus is Jesus’ twin parables of the lost sheep and lost coin in Luke 15. These parables are primarily about heaven’s joy in seeing the restoration of people. From verse 1 of Luke 15 we read…

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. 8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coinsand loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.

The lost leaders:

Having purpose in life is like carrying a compass. Purpose helps us to remember the direction we are headed so we don’t lose our way. Jesus’ parables, in Luke 15, are like a compass, they remind us of our true north. They point to our true purpose and direction.

The 13th Century Sufi poet, Rumi, once wrote: “Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.”

This quote speaks to a person’s purpose in life. It helps us to remember the direction we are headed so we don’t lose our way. Rumi was not a Christian, he was a Muslim, and yet his words in this instance are in line with the true north of Jesus’ teachings.

To be a lamp is to help someone find their way in the darkness.

To be a lifeboat is to save someone from drowning.

To be a ladder is to lift someone out of a hole.

And to walk out of your house like a shepherd is go into the world with the purpose of caring for others.    

Luke introduces the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin by pointing to Israel’s lost leadership. From verse 1 we read…

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Tax collectors were part of the machinery which oppressed the Jewish people. They were often suspected of theft, taking more than they should to line their own pockets. Not surprisingly, tax collectors were hated and ostracised.  

The term ‘sinners’ included two groups of people. Those who broke the moral law and those who broke the ceremonial law. The ten commandments are an example of the moral law. Rules about what you can and cannot eat or touch are an example of the ceremonial law.

Those who broke the ceremonial law were not necessarily immoral or unethical. They might be honest hard-working individuals who kept the ten commandments. It was simply their misfortune to work in a trade that made them ceremonially unclean, therefore prohibiting them from gathered worship.     

The Pharisees and teachers of the law were among Israel’s leadership.

They were a religious sect, known for their strict observance of the Jewish law. Not just the written law of Moses, but also the oral tradition that had evolved around the law of Moses. The Pharisees had added a lot of their own rules to God’s law and anyone who did not keep their rules they labelled a sinner.

The Pharisees believed God’s purpose was to destroy those they considered to be sinners. They thought nothing gave God greater joy than annihilating people who sinned. And so, they separated themselves from large sections of society. Sadly, the Pharisees had lost their way.  

Jesus was very different from the Pharisees. There was something attractive about Jesus and his teaching. Tax collectors and sinners were drawn to Jesus and Jesus welcomed them. More than simply welcoming them, Jesus ate with them. And to eat with someone in that culture was to basically make friends with them, to accept them.

In the minds of the Pharisees, Jesus tarred himself with the same brush when he ate with these people who broke their rules. That’s why they muttered against Jesus.     

Jesus spoke these parables (in Luke 15) to show the Pharisees were wrong about God’s purpose. God does not derive joy from destroying people. Quite the opposite in fact. God does not want anyone to perish. God’s purpose is to restore creation, especially his human creatures. Heaven rejoices when the lost are found and people are restored to right relationship with God.

If the Pharisees really wanted to please God, they would not separate themselves from the world. They would join God in his redemptive purpose in the world. They would be a lamp or a lifeboat or a ladder to help others heal. They would walk out of the house (of their manmade rules) like a shepherd.

The lost sheep:

Jesus addresses the lost Pharisees by saying in verse 4, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them…”

Now, when we read this, we think nothing of it. But to the ears of a Pharisee this would grate. It might even sound offensive.

Abraham was a shepherd. Moses was a shepherd. David was a shepherd.

The Old Testament prophets sometimes referred to Israel’s leaders as shepherds. But despite this, the Pharisees despised shepherds. A shepherd’s work often prevented them from participating in ceremonial worship and, when a sheep went missing, the shepherd was suspected of theft.

Jesus asks the Pharisees to imagine being a shepherd who loses one of their sheep. A shepherd who loses sheep is failing in their job. Jesus seems be implying here that the Pharisees (who are among Israel’s leadership) are like shepherds who lose sheep. In which case the Pharisees have forgotten God’s restorative purpose and are failing in their responsibility to the people.  

Jesus continues his parable saying: Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?

Now when I first read this, I thought, that doesn’t make sense, leaving the 99 to fend for themselves in the wilderness, while you go searching for the one lost sheep. The shepherd would probably return to find more sheep missing.

Reading the experts on this passage though, I learned that with a flock of 100 sheep in the middle east there would likely be at least two or three shepherds, so the 99 would not be left on their own. They would still be protected.

Even so you might wonder why the shepherd would go to the trouble of searching for one sheep. I mean, is it worth it? The wilderness is not a safe place. Not only was the shepherd risking his own life, but he could spend many hours searching only to find the sheep dead, killed by a wild animal or something.

Well, shepherds in the first century needed to find the lost sheep, whether dead or alive, in order to exonerate themselves. If you could bring the sheep back alive, all well and good. But even if you brought the sheep back dead, at least then you could prove you had not stolen it and so preserve your honour.      

Before I took to the metal flashing on our house with a grinder, I didn’t know what I might find. Was it just surface rust or was the flashing rusted right through? If it was rusted through, then I had a bigger problem. Still, I needed to find out, so I proceeded in hope and my hope was rewarded with joy.     

The shepherd in Jesus’ parable has an attitude of hope. He is prepared for the worst but hopes for the best. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Jesus’ attitude toward people is one of hope. He doesn’t write a person off as irredeemable. Jesus holds out hope for people.

Everyone, I believe, has at least a little bit of Pharisee in them. Jesus is inviting the Pharisee in each of us to live in hope. Hope for ourselves and hope for others. Do you know someone who is lost? A friend or family member or perhaps someone you don’t like that much. Hold out hope for them.

Pray for them. Who knows what God might do.      

The shepherd’s hope is rewarded when he finds the lost sheep alive. Of course, finding the sheep is one thing, restoring it is another. After finding the sheep, the shepherd then puts it on his shoulders and carries it home.

Carrying a sheep is heavy, dirty work but the shepherd does this joyfully.

He is happy to find the sheep alive, yes, but he also enjoys the work of restoring the sheep, as messy and difficult as that work is.

Restoring the metal flashing on our house was dirty work. I got proper grubby. But there was a certain satisfaction in the process as well. Restoring people is not as straight forward as removing rust or carrying sheep. People are more complicated. We have set backs but, by God’s grace, we also make headway sometimes. We need to be kind to ourselves and celebrate the little wins along the way.    

The shepherd’s joy does not end there. When he gets home, the shepherd calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’

Jesus is saying to the Pharisees here, you should be happy that I am welcoming sinners and eating with them. I know it appears dirty to you, but this is what the work of restoration looks like. You shouldn’t be muttering behind my back. You should be celebrating with me.

I’m fulfilling God’s purpose. I’m being a lamp to those in darkness. I’m being a lifeboat to those who are drowning. I’m being a ladder for others to climb out of a hole and heal. I’m walking into the world with the mindset of a shepherd.

In verse 7 Jesus explains the main point of the parable, saying: I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Jesus is letting the Pharisees know that their values and priorities are very different from heaven’s values and priorities. The Pharisees have lost the compass of God’s purpose and in so doing have become lost themselves.   

Given that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, so too should we. Perhaps for those in heaven, seeing a person repent is like watching someone on your favourite team score a goal or a try or hit a six. The crowd goes wild.

What then does it mean to repent? The word repent literally means to turn around and go in the other direction. Do a U turn basically. Repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change in how one lives.

For a gossip, repentance means learning to be discreet. For someone having an affair, repentance means stopping the affair and remaining faithful to your spouse. For someone prone to arrogance, repentance means being honest with yourself. For the Pharisee in each of us, repentance means trusting Jesus and not relying on our own rules or righteousness.

Repentance happens in a moment but it’s also the work of a lifetime. What is the focus of your repentance right now? What needs to change in your life?    

The interesting thing about the lost sheep is that it does absolutely nothing to be found. The sheep does not know which way to turn. It is powerless to save itself. The sheep’s restoration relies on the shepherd.

Does that mean we don’t need to do anything to be saved? Well, no, our salvation is not automatic. We still need to repent. The point is we cannot repent without God’s grace. God’s grace comes first, before we repent. It’s like Paul says in Romans 8…

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Luke 15 is heavily pregnant with God’s love for us personally. God’s grace in reaching out to save us, before we even knew we were lost and needed saving, speaks to his deep love for humanity. God loves people.

I know it’s difficult to comprehend, but God does not restore us because we repent. No. God restores us because he loves us and delights in restoring people. However, we still need to repent. Faith in Christ and repentance from sin is the right and proper response to God’s prevenient grace and love.

In verse 7 of Luke 15, Jesus says a curious thing. He talks about the 99 being righteous persons who do not need to repent. Hmm? Jesus is probably being ironic here. The wider testimony of Scripture teaches that no one is righteous. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

Most people do think they are righteous though, or at least not as bad as others. The truth is most of the time we don’t realise when we are lost. The Pharisees thought they had a monopoly on being right. Little did they know they were more lost than the sinners they despised. We call that dramatic irony.

At the end of the parable the one lost sheep is returned home, while the other 99 are still in the wilderness oblivious to their true condition.     

The lost coin:

We’ve heard about the lost leaders of Israel and the lost sheep. Now let’s consider the lost coin. The parable of the lost coin reinforces the message of the parable of the lost sheep. Heaven rejoices when the lost are found and sinners repent.

If the Pharisees did not like shepherds, they despised women even more.

So Jesus makes a woman the hero of his second parable. Jesus means to challenge the prejudices and misconceptions of the religious leaders. He wants to get under their skin. How else will they realise they are lost?

Anyway, this woman has 10 silver coins and loses one. It could be she was poor and could not afford to lose any money. Or it might be the coin was part of a necklace and losing it would ruin the whole piece of jewelry, like losing a diamond out of an engagement ring.

Whatever the case, the coin is precious to the woman and she searches the house carefully until she finds it. We note the woman is hopeful in her search. It’s not a long shot. The chances of finding a lost coin in a small house are far greater than the chances of finding a lost sheep in the open country.

We also note that finding the lost coin is dirty work. It requires time and effort, not to mention patience and lighting a lamp.

As with the lost sheep, the lost coin does nothing to save itself. The coin cannot move by itself. It is completely powerless and reliant on the woman for its restoration. The woman searches for the coin because she values the coin and cannot bear to lose it.

We are like the coin, powerless to save ourselves. God searches for us because he loves us and doesn’t want heaven without us. 

The search is successful and (like the shepherd) the woman celebrates with her community.

Once again Jesus is saying to the Pharisees, you should be happy that I am welcoming sinners and eating with them. I know it appears dirty to you, but this is what the work of restoration looks like. You should not be muttering behind my back. You should be celebrating with me.

I’m fulfilling God’s purpose. I’m being a lamp to those in darkness. I’m being a lifeboat to those who are drowning. I’m being a ladder for others to climb out of a hole. I am cleaning house. I am helping people to heal.

Jesus concludes this second parable in a similar way to the first, saying:

I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.  

God’s grace comes first but we still need to repent. Repentance, turning away from sin, is the right response to God’s love and grace. The angels of God rejoice over our repentance because they know the obedience of faith pleases the Lord.    

Conclusion:

Jesus practiced what he preached. Later in Luke’s gospel, in chapter 19, we read how Jesus searched for Zacchaeus, the tax collector, and invited himself over for dinner.

Zacchaeus was thrilled by the Lord’s prevenient grace for him and responded with repentance saying: ‘Look, I give half my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody, I will pay back four times the amount.’   

Jesus declared: ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost.’

And heaven rejoiced.

Let us pray…  

Loving God, we thank you for sending Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners and powerless to save ourselves. Grant us a growing awareness of your love and grace. Move us to respond with faith and repentance. May our lives bring you joy. Through Jesus we pray. Amen.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. Have you ever restored something? What did you restore and how did you go about it? How did you feel throughout the process of restoration? 
  3. Discuss / reflect on the twin parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. Why did Jesus tell these parables? Compare and contrast the two parables? In what ways are they similar? In what ways are they different?
  4. Why does the shepherd search for the sheep? Why does the woman search for the coin? Why does God go out of his way to restore us?
  5. Do you know someone who is lost? Who? Pray for them. What does it mean to live in hope for ourselves and others?
  6. What does it mean to repent? Why do we need to repent? What is the focus of your repentance right now? What needs to change in your life?   
  7. What examples can you think of (in the gospels or in your own life) where God’s grace comes before repentance?
  8. Who do you identify with most in these parables? Why

Bibliography:

  • William Barclay, ‘The Gospel of Luke’, 1965.
  • Leon Morris, ‘Tyndale Commentaries: Luke’, 1976.
  • Kenneth Bailey, ‘Poet & Peasant’, 1976. 
  • Fred Craddock, ‘Interpretation Commentaries: Luke’, 1990.
  • Darrell Bock, ‘NIV Application Commentary: Luke’, 1996.
  • Joel Green, ‘New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Gospel of Luke’, 1997.
Tawa Baptist

Steering Wheel Prayer

Scripture: Luke 18:1-14

Video Link: https://youtu.be/FTbBKTCQdT0

Structure:

  • Introduction
  • The persistent widow
  • The pharisee and the tax collector
  • Conclusion

Introduction:

Good morning everyone.

Corrie Ten Boom asks the question, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?”

A steering wheel is what we use to control the car. A steering wheel keeps us on course and headed in the right direction. When you are driving, you never take your hands off the steering wheel.

By contrast, a spare tyre is only ever used in emergencies. The rest of the time it is forgotten baggage.

Prayer is how we steer our life. Are we in conversation with God, daily seeking his will, or do we only ever call on God in emergencies?

As mentioned earlier in the service, we have a focus on prayer this week while we carry the Pou Karakia (the prayer baton). With this in view our sermon today is based on Jesus’ twin parables about prayer, in Luke 18.

We will start with the parable of the persistent widow, before considering the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. From Luke 18, verse 1, we read…  

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out!’” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?

The persistent widow

The Chinese pianist and composer, Liu Shikun, was born in 1939, just before the second world war. He began his piano training at the age of three and started performing in public at the age of five.

He placed highly in prestigious international piano competitions in 1956 and 1958, while still a teenager. Liu became one of China’s top concert performers. Sadly, with the cultural revolution in 1966, western music was banned and Liu, along with many other artists, was arrested and sent to prison for eight years.

During his whole time in prison, Liu was denied access to a piano. Soon after his release though, in the 1970’s, he was back on tour. Critics were astonished that after eight years without a piano, Liu’s musicianship was better than ever.

‘How did you do this?’ one critic asked. ‘You had no chance to practise for eight years.’

‘I did practise’, Liu replied. ‘Every day I rehearsed every piece I ever played, note by note, in my mind.’ [1]

It seems Liu never gave up hope. He kept faith that he would one day be released and allowed to play piano again. And his faith was rewarded.

As followers of Jesus, the disciples would soon be mistreated and denied justice. So Jesus gave his disciples the parable of the persistent widow to show them they should always pray and not give up.  

There are two people in Jesus’ parable. The first is a wicked judge who does not fear God and does not care what people think. Most likely this judge was accustomed to taking bribes. He wasn’t concerned with doing what is right; he had no shame. The wicked judge is not like God at all.

The second person is a widow. If the judge is the villain, then the widow is the heroine. In a society which generally devalued women, Jesus makes a woman the hero of his story.   

In first century Jewish culture women did not normally get involved in legal matters. The magistrate’s court was the domain of men. The fact that this widow has to advocate for herself shows she is socially powerless, with no one to come to her rescue.

Although she is most likely too poor to offer the judge any sort of bribe, she is persistent. For her, prayer is the steering wheel. She kept coming to the judge with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

The widow was in the right. She was not asking for special treatment. She just wanted a fair go. Hers was a reasonable request.

For some time the judge refused, but eventually he gave her justice, not because he cared about her or God, but because he wanted some peace for himself.

Jesus is reasoning from the lesser to the greater. If an unjust, uncaring judge can be persuaded to vindicate the widow, just to get some peace, then how much more will God (who is gracious and compassionate) vindicate the followers of Jesus when we are denied justice.

After Jesus’ death the disciples would find themselves in a similar position to the poor widow and Liu Shikun; treated unjustly and essentially powerless from a social and political point of view.

Prayer is one thing no one can take away from you. Whatever our situation we are to keep our hands on the steering wheel of prayer, just as the widow continued to ask for justice and just as Liu Shikun continued to practice music.

Indeed, prayer is to Christians, what practising the piano is to a concert musician. We must remain faithful in prayer if we are to go the distance.

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?

Verse 8 says that God’s people will get justice quickly. Justice came relatively quickly for Jesus. It was less than three days between Jesus’ crucifixion and his resurrection from the dead. The resurrection being God’s vindication of Jesus.

From our human perspective though, justice does not always feel quick. More often it feels like a slow train coming. So how are we to understand this verse?

In his commentary on Luke, Bible scholar Darrell Bock offers two thoughts here. Perhaps Jesus meant our vindication comes in the form of protection that God offers his own. Even though God’s people may suffer injustice, they do not perish and that is the sign of their vindication.

Another way to understand verse 8 is to say that our vindication as believers in Christ will come very quickly upon Jesus’ return in glory. [2] In the meantime, however, it may be a long wait.

In relation to unanswered prayer, Fred Craddock asks the question…

‘Is the petitioner being hammered, through long days and nights of prayer, into a vessel that will be able to hold the answer when it comes?’ [3]

Sometimes being made to wait is one of the ways God shapes us. From my own experience of seemingly unanswered prayer, I have learned my place. I am not in charge. I do not call the shots. Jesus is Lord and master and I am his servant.

I might have my hands on the steering wheel, but the Spirit of Jesus is telling me which way to turn.  

How has prayer shaped your soul and spirit?

In all of this we should not lose sight of the main point of the parable. God is greater than any obstacle we may face. He is stronger than any opponent we might confront. More than that, God loves us. He is just and merciful and does not need convincing to do the right thing.  

Jesus encourages the believer to persist in prayer, but if God says ‘no’ to our request or offers a solution other than the one we asked for, the faithful person is expected to respond with, “Your will be done God”.

Accepting God’s will is part of prayer. You don’t take your hands off the wheel every time there’s a bump in the road.  

Jesus finishes the parable with a question: “However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” Jesus is referring to his second coming here.

History is not random or without purpose, rather it moves toward a goal. The future is secured for those who are in Christ. God will vindicate those who put their trust in Jesus.

But will we be found with our hands on the steering wheel of prayer when Jesus returns in glory?

Personally, I think it is a brave thing to call on God for justice. A prayer for justice isn’t just a call for others to get what they deserve. It’s a call for us to get what we deserve as well. I would prefer not to get what I deserve but rather what I need, which is God’s grace – His mercy.

The pharisee and tax collector

Which brings us to Jesus’ second parable of the pharisee and the tax collector. From Luke 18, verse 9 we read…

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?

This parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector shares a number of things in common with the parable of the persistent widow. Both parables are about prayer and both are about who God vindicates or accepts.

In the first parable, the widow asks for justice and gets it. In the second parable, the pharisee asks for nothing and gets nothing, while the tax collector asks for mercy and goes home justified before God.    

Verse 9 tells us that Jesus told this parable to some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else.

In the Bible a righteous person is someone who has been given a special relationship of acceptance in the presence of God. This acceptance is a gift, it is unearned. The relationship is then maintained by acting in loyalty to God.

Righteousness, in this sense, is sort of like getting an invitation to a royal wedding. You cannot buy an invitation, you must be asked by the royal couple. But once you have received the invitation you have a special relationship of acceptance in the presence of the royal family. And you maintain that relationship by acting in loyalty to your hosts.

There were some people in Jesus’ day (and indeed in our day as well) who got things around the wrong way. They thought they had earned righteousness (or acceptance with God) by fulfilling a certain ethical code. It is to these people that Jesus directs his parable.

Jesus’ parable contrasts two people who go to the temple to pray. A Pharisee and a tax collector. The temple is a place of worship and prayer. It is also a place of reconciliation, where people go to make their peace with God.  

The Pharisees were a religious sect that focused on the Law of Moses. In their zealousness for the Law, they added a whole lot of their own rules to stop people breaking Moses’ rules. This of course made life more difficult.

Jesus wasn’t picking on the Pharisees here. They weren’t all bad. The Pharisee in this parable represents anyone who looks down on others in self-righteous contempt. So, if we look down on the Pharisee in this parable we are behaving just like him and the parable is meant for us.

Anyway, this pharisee stands apart from others because he thinks he is better than everyone else. And then he prays; except his words are not really a prayer, they are more of an advertisement, a self-promotion.

Prayer isn’t just the words we say. It can be the tears we shed and the groans and sighs from deep within our spirit. Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire. Said another way, prayer is our yearning for God. In prayer we are basically asking God to be God and provide for us and others in accordance with his will. Prayer is an attitude of dependence on God.

But the pharisee in Jesus’ parable does not ask anything of God. He is self-possessed and self-satisfied. This pharisee does not have his hands on the steering wheel of prayer. He is looking at himself in the rear vision mirror. 

The pharisee compares himself to other people who he considers to be bad.

If we must measure ourselves then it should not be against other people but alongside God’s standard.

And what is God’s standard? That we love him and love our neighbour.  

It appears the Pharisee in this parable did not do either, although he did do things that God did not require, like fasting twice a week for example. God does not ask us to do that.

The Pharisee in Jesus’ parable went away without being justified by God because he did not think he needed God.  

But the tax collector approached God with an entirely different attitude.

Tax collectors had a bad reputation in Jesus’ day. They were hated by their own people because they sided with the Romans for personal gain.

They were considered dishonest, taking more than was necessary in order to line their own pockets. Not all tax collectors were like this, but many were. 

In any case, the tax collector in this parable represents anyone who is aware of their need for God and approaches Him with a contrite and broken heart.  

Like the Pharisee, the tax collector also stands apart but not because he thinks he is better than anyone else. The tax collector does not compare himself with others at all. He measures himself alongside God’s standard. He stands at a distance because he knows he has failed miserably to meet God’s law of love.

Unlike the Pharisee, the tax collector’s prayer is not an exercise in self-promotion. The tax collector’s soul sincerely desires God’s grace and so he prays: God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

The tax collector is clinging to the steering wheel of prayer, desperately aware of his need for God. He is deeply grieved by his own sins and wants to have his relationship with God restored and made right again. He is seeking atonement.

For this reason, the tax collector (and not the Pharisee) goes away justified (or accepted) by God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

At some point we have all taken our hands off the steering wheel of prayer.

We have all done things in our lives that we are not proud of, things we know don’t measure up to God’s standard. The good news is that Jesus went to the cross for our atonement. We are justified or made right with God, not by what we have done, but by trusting in what Jesus has done on our behalf.

Conclusion:

In both of today’s parables, the heroes pray for themselves. It’s okay to pray for yourself. But this week, while we carry the Pou Karakia, we are encouraging you to take the steering wheel of prayer for others. Let me finish then with a little story about praying for others…

Two men were travelling by sea when their boat was hit by a storm and wrecked on a deserted island. To increase their chances of being found, they decided to stay on opposite sides of the island looking out for passing ships. But before leaving each other, they agreed to pray to God for help every day.

After relocating to the far side of the island and waking up hungry, the first man prayed saying, “O Lord, let fruit trees and vegetables grow on this side of the island, so I can satisfy my hunger.” God heard his prayer and the next day food bearing plants appeared. It was a miracle.

After eating his fill, he sat down and prayed again, “Lord, I need a house to live in, please give me house.” Soon, a shipping container washed ashore with all the tools and materials needed to build a modest shelter.

When the man realised his prayers were being answered, he thought, why not ask God for a way off this island. So he prayed, “Lord, please give me a boat with a GPS so I can find my way back to the mainland.”

The next day he saw a boat floating in his bay. He boarded the boat and found it abandoned but seaworthy. Having become accustomed to using prayer like a spare tyre, the man decided to leave the island right away. He had lost his sense of spiritual direction.

Just then he heard a voice from heaven, “Will you not take your friend with you?”

The man replied, “My blessings are mine alone since I was the one who prayed for them. His prayers were unanswered so he must not deserve to be saved.”

The voice said, “You are mistaken. Your friend had only one prayer. Without his prayer you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me”, the man asked, “what did he pray for that I should owe him anything?”

And the voice from heaven replied, “He prayed that all your prayers would be answered.” [4]

May the Lord bless you as you intercede for others this week.

Questions for discussion or reflection:

  1. What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
  2. When do you pray? Why do you pray? How do you pray? Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?
  3. Why did Jesus give his disciples the parable of the persistent widow? What is the main point of the story?
  4. Have there been times in your life when God seemed slow to answer your prayers? Conversely, have there been times when God was quick to answer your prayers? Either way, what affect did this have on you? How has God shaped your soul and spirit through prayer?
  5. Why did Jesus tell the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector? What is the main point of the story?
  6. What is the heart of prayer? How does the tax collector exemplify genuine prayer?
  7. Compare and contrast the two parables in Luke 18:1-14. How are they similar? How are they different?
  8. Make time this week to pray for others.

[1] Liu Shikun story references: Wikipedia and ‘A Bundle of Laughs’ by J. John and Mark Stibbe, page 142.

[2] Refer Darrell Bock’s NIVAC on Luke, page 455.

[3] Refer Fred Craddock’s Interpretation commentary on Luke, pages 209-210.

[4] (Adapted from J. John and Mark Stibbe’s book, ‘A Bundle of Laughs’, page 159.)