It's Ok to not be Ok

(audio can be found here)

Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Preaching is often a balancing act and it can be easy for any preacher to "bury the lead" in a sermon. It's easy to dive into the text or present wonderful illustrations or share challenging applications but neglect to emphasize the main point of the passage. I don't want to do that today. I believe the message of this text and the implications that flow from it are too important. So, I want to sum up this text and its implications with one phrase that you will hear me say multiple times this morning and I've been praying that it's truth will resonate in our hearts long after we've left this building. The phrase is this: "It's Ok to not be Ok"

My goal this morning is two fold. The first thing I'm trusting God to do in our time together is to establish the truth of the reality that it's Ok to not be Ok. We will look closely at Jesus' words recorded in Mt 11 to determine that Jesus invites us in, even when (or maybe especially when) we are not ok. It's important to see this directly in God's word so that you know that I'm not making this up. My second goal is to consider at least some of the implications of this truth. How does owning it affect our view of God, of Jesus and of ourselves? How do we relate within the body of Christ? How do we pray? And more.

Since our text this morning stands in the flow of a discourse Jesus is having with the people who have been following him around the Galilean countryside, it is important for us to know what has gone before. The chapter starts with an exchange between Jesus and some followers of John the Baptist. Jesus basic response is "Look at the prophecies in the Old Testament and look at me. What else would you expect from the Son of Man?" Then he compares the crowds to fickle children who ask for one thing but are then unhappy when they receive that thing. In turn they ask for exactly the opposite. Following this exchange he rebukes the Jewish cities where he has done a majority of his preaching and miracles. They have been blessed with the Old Testament scriptures plus the preaching and the miracles of Jesus. And yet they don't believe. 

This is the very point our text takes an amazing turn. The progression so far has been downward: questioning, followed by fickleness, followed by out right rejection. Can there possibly be any hope for any one of us? The answer lays in Jesus' response to this impossible dilemma. He doesn't call down fire from heaven nor does he walk away wringing his hands. Instead, he prays. 

Jesus thanks his Father (our Father) that he has hidden the truth of the reality of the gospel from wise and learned people and he's given that insight to people who have the faith of little children. In Jesus' culture, as well as our own, this statement is upside down. Children, especially little children, don't have any authority. Doesn't might make right? Aren't the smartest people usually CEOs and presidents? Aren't the wisest ones those who shape culture and aspire to the Supreme Court? How then can Jesus say the Father has decided to reveal his truth, The Truth, to those with a child like faith? Interestingly, Jesus doesn't defend his statement. Instead, as he does so often in the book of Matthew, he simply appeals to the authority that God has given him.

In fact, Jesus' divinely given authority is the point in the first part of verse 27. This one idea should both fill us with awe and draw us in like a magnet. Jesus is not just an ordinary carpenter. He is not simply a good, moral teacher. He has been given all things by God our Father. Because of this Jesus is worthy of our worship. In addition, since he has been given all things, he is able to hear and respond to our deepest needs. We don't (we can't) bring him anything. We come empty. And that's ok. 

Jesus' other point in this verse is less about his authority and more about his people. We are part of the all things that have been given to Jesus. And he is the one whom reveals the Father to us.  Consider this: any wisdom you have, any insight you may possess, and faith you lean upon, it all is a gracious gift of Jesus. It has been said we tremendously underestimate what Jesus does for us on a daily basis and simultaneously overestimate what we bring to the table. 

This leads Jesus to offer his stunning invitation in v28. "Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." In one sense, this is just a continuation of Jesus' flow of upside down thought. Not the wise, but the child like; not the self sufficient, but those dependent on Christ. And now it is not those who have it all together but those who are toiling, and struggling that Jesus invites to find rest in Him.

What's stunning, at least to me, is the imagery of exchange. We understand and accept the idea of exchange when it comes to our sins: Jesus bearing our sins on the cross while giving us his own rigtheousness in which we can stand before our Father. However, here we have that idea laid before us with our burdens and struggles.  Jesus is inviting each of us to exchange the things that grip us, that weigh us down and exchange them for rest and refreshment.

The two descriptive words here may help us get the idea Jesus is trying to communicate. The word "labor" conveys the intensity of fatigue, laboring to exhaustion. Picture a marathoner who has run in high humidity, against the wind and up hill. This is not "I carried a box of books up a flight of stairs and I'm winded." Rather, this is "I can barely stand, every muscle is screaming, my mind is in a blind whirl, my emotions are all over the map and I simply want to quit." The other word is "heavy laden" This carries with it the idea of improper over loading.  Imagine a large pack loaded on your back that is too heavy for you and it unevenly packed so that you are constantly leaning to one side or another. Together we have the perfect storm for despair and disillusionment. 

What's interesting, encouraging and freeing is that Jesus doesn't look at our weariness and say try harder or call us wimps for being fatigued. He is not like the coaches at the Olympics. They are very much into and concerned for their athlete's performance, yet powerless to affect the outcome of the event. Nor does he condem us when we find ourselves in this state of exhaustion. Instead, he opens the floodgates of his mercy and invites everyone to come to him for rest. And the rest he offers is a rest that conveys both a break in the action but also a recharging and refreshing for the journey ahead.

Notice the rest and refuge that Jesus offers to his disciples is not completely unconditional. He is asking something of us in return. Now, I realize most of us are used a quid pro quo in our own personal relationships. A favor granted in expectation of a favor returned. But that's not how Jesus operates. As usual, Jesus' condition is paradoxical. He seeks out the weary and the burdened and offers them rest and a load that is light, which also fresh and nimble. Instead of a task master, he offers to teach us as one who is both gentle and humble.

And, there is one other item to point out. What Jesus is inviting us into is not simply physical rest or relief from our emotional loads. I think these are a part of what he is getting at, but in verse 29 he makes it clear that the main emphasis is a rest for our souls. Along the same lines as Heb 4:9-10, Jesus is offering us rest from the exhausting work of trying to save our souls. And in this setting, the soul is the essence of who we are. Jesus is saying that we can have rest physically, emotionally and spiritually when we allow him to carry the load we could never carry. 

So, here's the question that has been rolling around in my mind and pressing on my heart for the past several weeks as I've thought about the realities of this passage: What difference does it make? Just because we know a few more facts about Jesus and what he taught doesn't automatically mean that it will impact our lives. These truths and their implications need to sink from our heads to hearts. We need to own them and they need to own us. 

Let's look at the vertical implications first. If it's ok to not be ok and if Jesus is inviting us to come to him for rest and if everything has been given to Jesus by the Father, then how should this impact our relationship with God. First of all, it should impact how we pray. It means we can be honest and candid with God. If we're hurting, we can tell Him. If we're angry, we can let Him know. If we have deep, faith-testing questions, we can ask Him. Maybe all we can do is groan because we are too tired or stressed or guilt ridden to say or think anything. Then just groan. Nothing in your heart or mind is a surpirse to Jesus. He knows the blackest, bleakest corner of our hearts. And know this: he loves us anyway! Dear brother and sister in Christ, Rom 5:8 is always and forever true. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The next implication is that it should affect our worship. As the the song goes, oh the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free. Layered on top of saving us, layered on top of giving us his righteousness, layered on top of adopting us and bringing us back into the family of God, all of which are gracious gifts that defy our imaginations. Layered on top of all of that, these verses tell us that Jesus wants to give us even more. He wants to pile on and graciously give us the rest and relief we so desperately need. 

For a moment, for even a split second, have you considered what it cost Jesus to give us this rest? If we no longer need to bear the load, who's bearing it? If we no longer need to worry or fret, who's taking care of the issue? If we are allowed to sleep all night (either literally of figuratively), who is staying up all night? The answer to each of these questions is Jesus. What an additional cause for us to worhsip. To adore Christ our Savior and Lord, Redeemer and Friend. And to say thank you to our good, good Father who has given Jesus to us but has also given us to Jesus.

And, a third vertical implication is a deepening of our faith. Much, if not all, of Christian faith is paradoxical. For example: "the only way to save your life is to loose it". Or "what has happened to me (jail) has served to advance the gospel". Or "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" Each one of the statements and the myriads of others throughout God's word require faith. And so it is with the rest that Jesus provides. Will we trust him for it? Do we really believe that Jesus loves us that much and that his authority is so extensive that he can actually do what he promised he would do. This passage is calling us to exercise our faith and take Jesus at his word.

Now, I want to move to a few of the horizontal implications of our text. How do these verses impact our relationships within the church and our own families? The first implication that jumped out at me is that if we are all weak and wounded, sick and sore, then we are all equal in our need for the rest and relief that only Jesus can bring. And since we are all needy in some way or burdened in some way or just exhausted in some way, there is no ground for boasting. Instead, we are invited to see our brothers and sisters, each one of us, as people who need to pointed (or maybe carried) to Jesus.

Another horizontal implication is one of freedom. If it's ok to be not ok, if Jesus is really inviting us to come with our weariness and struggles and guilt and shame and we are all in this together, then we no longer need to pretend that we've got it altogether. Since we have been freed up to be honest with God, we are now freed up to be honest with each other. If our prayer life has become anemic, it's ok to share that. If our marriage has hit a prolonged dry patch, it's ok to admit it. If we are stressed at work or our kids are off the rails, we can be honest with each other. If our aging body or atrophying minds are causing anxiety, if doubts about our salvation plauge us, if we are sitting here and want to raise our fist to God, we can be open to these struggles. We really are in this together. Together as a body and together with our Savior. 

I want to pause here for just a moment to be really candid with you. You are my friends. You are my family. I want so much for this sermon to not simply be a theoretical exercise. I've prayed and pleaded that this sermon would be real for each one of you. As a result, the strong conviction I have is that if this sermon is going to be real for you, it has to be real for me. In other words, I need to be ok with not being ok.

So, I could spend the precious time we have together and say things like, I struggle just like you (which I do) or that I need the rest and relief only Jesus can provide just like you (which I do). But I don't think that models these implications very well. Instead, because Jesus is beckoning all of us, including me, to come to him for rest and because that rest and relief gives me the freedom to be open with God and with all of you, I want to share with you just one way the Spirit has brought the reality of this text home to me.

As many of you know, I have the honor as serving you as the Chairman of the Elder Council. In that role, I've come to the point where I've realized I'm weary, fatigued to the point of exhaustion and heavy laden, carrying too big of a load and doing so improperly. My response to date has been: try harder, do it differently, bury my head or simply get frustrated. And then along comes Mt 11:28 and Jesus' sweet invitation to come to him for rest. So there I was, less than a week ago, well into crafting this sermon and not really owning it for myself. The invitation is sitting right in front of me and I hesitate to take it. You see, there is a very proud man standing up here this morning. And sometimes instead of having childlike faith, I have childish tantrums. Like the proverbial two year old, I basically tell God: I can do it myself. 

But, this reality in me, and I think in some form, in each of us leads me to my final implication and it really ties this all together. Since Jesus is calling us to rest in him, to trust in him and take up his yoke and since we are now free to be honest with him and honest with each other, we have both the privilege and responsibility to pray for one another. You see, I don't simply need your high level, generic prayers. I also need street level, tear stained prayers. 

As we make use of our freedom to express when we are not ok, we have this privilege of  carrying each other's burdens before the throne of God's grace. Its a privilege because God has designed so much of the spiritual reality to work by the means of prayer. But it's a responsibility because we are family, true family. I've got your back. And you've mine. And it's a responsibility because we are all in this together. Our struggles may be different. What drags us down and burdens us may be a unique as our fingerprints, but each one of us is still battling against sin, battling against self and battling against an enemy that seeks to devour us.

Here at LEFC, we are attempting to put tools in place for us to fulfill this responsibility and to engage in this privilege.  The first tool, which has been around for nearly a year is our post service prayer right up front each week. We are here to pray with you, not as people who have figured it out, but as people who are also weary and are seeking find our rest in Jesus.

The second tool we inaurated a few months ago is our faith family prayer time. As the name implies, this is for us as a family. Brothers and sisters who are in the fight together and are desirous to lift each other and the needs of this body before the Father. On the 2nd Sunday of each month, including today, we can gather and pray of our common needs, both physical and spiritual 

The third tool that we are developing and refining in this regard is our small group ministry. Ryan will have much more to say about small groups in September. But one of the key components of our small groups will be a venue where we can share with a closer group of folks the deep aches of our hearts. In a small group is probably the best place to begin realizing and practicing that it is ok to not be ok.

So, as we prepare to continue to worship via music, I want you to consider what load you might be under. What spiritual weight are you struggling to carry all by yourself? I would ask you to take seriously the invitation of Jesus: Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden. He will give you rest. I would encourage you to own the reality that the Father has given all things to Jesus and that includes each one of us. And I would invite you join us for prayer, whether at the end of service or at our faith family prayer time or in a small group. Worship. Trust. Pray. 

Recommended Posts v4

Prayers For Christ's increase And Our decrease - Bloom - 2/4/2016

Fifteen Prayers For God's Power - Piper - 2/1/2016

Group Prayer Participants You Don't Want To Be - Burchett - 1/22/2016

When Abortion Suddenly Stopped Making Sense - Mathewes-Green - 1/22/2016

A Prayer For God's Blessing On Our Corporate Worship - S Smith - 1/10/2016

Three Questions To Ask Before Listening To Any Sermon - Reinke - 1/9/2016

What Are You Waiting For?

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing (Ezra 1:1)

It struck me as I read Ezra 1 that the exiles had been waiting a long time for the declaration that had just been uttered by Cyrus. Jeremiah's prophecy was that the exile would last 70 years. 70 years? There is nothing that I have waited for that has been delayed for 70 years. What was their mindset? What was the state of their faith?

But the question that is pressing on my heart and mind today is this: "What am I waiting for?" So much of life, so much of Bible study, so much of prayer is focused on here and now things. My perspective is rarely, if ever, focused on long range, big picture things. Thus my longing and expectation for what God's going to do is often muted, limited and perhaps short sighted.

Thankfully, the testimony of the Bible continually lifts my gaze, my hopes and my prayers toward what God has promised to accomplish through the work of his Spirit. What better to have goal for the new year than to look forward to what God will bring about and lean into that hope through devoted prayer and earnest expectation.

Recommended Posts - v3

A Prayer For The First Day Of 2016 - S Smith - 1/1/2016

Yesterday - Chambers - 12/31/2015

Reading The Whole Bible In 2016 - Taylor - 12/29/2015

Be Devoted To Prayer - Piper - 12/27/2015

A Christmas Poem: Come To The Manger - Kruger - 12/23/2015

A Prayer For Marveling At The Tenderness And Humility Of Jesus Incarnation - S Smith - 12/22/2015

We Lepers - An Unusual Christmas Meditation - Wax - 12/22/2015

Striving For A More Intentional Life Of Prayer - Raymond - 12/15/2015

I Am The Elder Brother - Guthrie - 12/11/2015

A Prayer Of Hope For Our Kids And Grand Kids - S Smith - 12/10/2015

A Prayer For Our Worship To Be Filled With The Presence Of God - S Smith - 11/15/2015

Calvin's Advice For Right Prayer - Qaoud - 10/12/2015

Advent 2015 - Day 13

"What can we do to employ our time to a more noble purpose than reading of what our dear Redeemer has done and suffered; to read that the King of kings and the Lord of lords came from his throne and took upon him the form of the meanest of his servants; and what great things he underwent. This, this is a history worth reading, this is worth employing our time about: and surely, when we read of the sufferings of our Savior, it should excite us to prayer, that we might have an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ;" (George Whitefield)

Prior posts:

Day 12 | Day 11 | Day 10 | Day 9 | Day 8 | Day 7 | Day 6 | Day 5 | Day 4 | Day 3 | Day 2 | Day 1

Recomended Posts v2

Three Ways Movies Are Searching For The Gospel - G Ortlund - 12/8/2015

O Come Again Emmanuel - Wax - 12/3/2015

Why Celebrate Advent? - Boswell - 11/29/2015

A Prayer For The First Sunday Of Advent - S Smith - 11/29/2015

Prepare Him Room - Bloom - 11/29/2015

Only One Black Friday - Tripp - 11/27/2015

A Prayer For Thanksgiving Day - S Smith - 11/26/2015

Alone With God - Chan - 11/24/2015

A Prayer For Marinating In The "In All Things Goodness Of Jesus - S Smith - 11/21/2015

It Is Finished - Chambers - 11/21/2015

We All Need Help - Piper - 11/19/2015

Four Reasons Why Some Preachers Get Better And Others Dont - York - 11/18/2015

A Prayer Of Lament - S Smith - 11/14/2015

Recommended Posts

You Are Meant To Move Mountains - Bloom - 11/12/2015

That Vital Moment In Every Preachers Week - Raymond - 11/8/2015

Intimate Theology - Chambers - 11/6/2015

Grace Driven Effort - Carson - 11/4/2015

Contemporary America And A Call To Prayer - Piper - added 11/3/2015

Give Me The Doubly Offensive Jesus Please - Wax - added 11/1/2015

Take Full Possession Of My Heart - J Wesley - added 11/1/2015

Has Authenticity Trumped Holiness? - McCracken - added 10/31/2015

5 Ways To Deepen Your Preaching - G Ortlund - added 10/30/2015

Justification By Faith - Chambers - added 10/28/2015

Prayer Teaches Us Our Unworthiness - Spurgeon - added 10/11/2015

Reliant on God through Prayer

(link to audio here)

Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

In his book "Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God", Pastor Tim Keller states, "[Prayer] is the way we know God, the way we finally treat God as God. Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life. We must learn to pray. We have to." Elsewhere Keller says: "To pray is to accept that we are, and always will be, wholly dependent on God for everything." 

Both of these statements by Tim Keller expand, to some degree, LEFC's value statement: We are reliant on God through prayer. However, if you're like me you a statement like this probably leads to some questions. What does this look like in real life? Does this apply to all things or just the "big" things? Does this affect us all the time or just on Sundays, at meals and when the in-laws visit?

But, perhaps your questions go a little deeper. How should I approach an all-knowing, all-powerful, perfectly holy God? Can my prayers really be effective if God is truely sovereign over all things and knows the end from the beginning? Does God really care about my small time needs when there are so many bigger issues around the world (and even in this congregation)?  The questions go on and on.

As you can probably sense, these are just a few of the prayer related questions I have wrestled with over the past 24 years. And, I have to admit that I'm still wrestling. I'm still learning and growing especially in regard to prayer. It seems every book I read on prayer or sermon I heard about prayer, while they may answer one question, the usually raise 2 or 3 more. But, what I've come to realize and rest upon, is that there is a foundation for prayer presented in Scriputre that we can rely upon despite our questions. This is the beginning. This is where we need to start. So, my singular goal for today to describe this foundation to you.

The text God has for us this monring is Eph 3:14-21. While there may be a few other passages that help lay the scriptural foundation of prayer, I was drawn to Paul's prayer in Ephesians for a couple of reasons. First of all, Ephesians is a fairly concise book. Paul has 3 chapters of theology followed by 3 chapters of application. This prayer sits at the hinge point between the theology and the application.  Because of this, Paul is fairly clear that both our doctrine and our practice are dependent on prayer. That theme plays out in the prayer itself.

On top of this, and perhaps more importantly, is the nature of Paul's prayer here in Ephesians 3. He doesn't dance around. He doesn't even worry about specific issues. He goes right to the bedrock reality of our true spiritual need. So I want to help us lay a foundation for prayer based Paul's approach here in Ephesians 3.

As we dive into the text this morning, I think it will be helpful if we break it down into 4 basic elements. While each of these aspects may not be present with each and every prayer we pray, upon reflection we should be able at least identify how their presence could improve our prayer lives.  The four facets of prayer that flow out of this passage are 1) the reason for our prayers, 2) the one to whom we are submitting our prayers 3) the nature of our prayers and 4) the anticipated result of our prayers.

The first aspect of any prayer is the reason it is offered. We can see this clearly in verse 14. Paul is not offering this prayer in a vacuum. He is looking back at what he has just described in verses 7-13. Consider for a moment what Paul has on his plate. He is called to preach to the Gentiles. He is called to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. He is called to proclaim the now revealed plan of God. He is called to help the church display the manifold, multifaceted wisdom of God. Just one of these assignments would probably drive any of us to despair, but all four? Are any of us surprised that Paul is focused on prayer?

However I don't believe the lesson here is to say "Oh look how profound Paul's ministry was, no wonder he needed to be reliant on God through prayer" Rather it should be "Look how profound our ministry could be, if we were reliant on God through prayer" And, perhaps more importantly, "In God's hands all ministry is profound, therefore we must be reliant on God through prayer"

Paul's reason for praying is also intimately tied what makes our prayers possible in the first place. Our access to God and our confidence that our prayers are heard and responded to are grounded in Christ. Think of Isa 6. How could Isaiah stand before a holy God? Because his sins were atoned for. And the same is true of us.

And yet, the reason we pray can easily slip from our grasp. I won't ask for a show of hands, but I want you to consider whether you fall into a similar trap to the one I can fall into. God calls me to do something out of my confort zone, perhaps even out of my real skill set. Because this is out of my zone, I pray. I seriously, fervently, relentlessly pray. God blesses both the obedience and the prayer. Because of this blessing, I'm asked to continue in the ministry, but now I have experience and knowledge. My prayer wanes. And slowly my fruitfulness does as well. Finally I put the ministry "on the shelf", because I feel that I am no longer called or gifted. 

Does this sound familiar? What's happened? Did my calling or gifting change? No. What changed was my reliance on God through prayer, because the reason I was praying changed. I started praying because I was desperate. But once I gained some self-confidence, I prayed because I wanted God's blessing and perhaps this even devolved into simply praying because that's what good Christians do. But what I've found, and perhaps you've found as well, is that Jm 4:3 is true. We ask and don't receive because we ask with wrong motives.

So, the first aspect of building a good foundation for prayer is getting our motives right, that we're desperate and dependent on Christ. But Paul doesn't stop there. He moves on in verses 14-16 to identify the one to whom he is praying. Consider these descriptors: God as Father, God as the originator of every human family and God as the one who has the riches of glory. These three descriptions are not meant to be an exhaustive portriat of God. But each one has a key element in solidifying our prayers.

The whole image of God as Father is especially powerful and helpful in how we approach God in our prayers. You see, we are not bartering with God when we pray. And we are not badgering God when we are in prayer. Rather we are coming to our loving, compassionate Father who wants what is best for us and for all his children. Add to this reality that God is not just our Father in a relational sense. He is also our Father in the creational sense. You see, Christians we have all been adopted into God's family. But that's not all. We've also been created and designed to be in God's family. That means we were meant to be here. Because of this, all that our Father has is ours.

And, the stunning thing about our praying to God is that his riches proceed from his glory. God's riches aren't something he posses, like you or me. I own a car. If I give that car away to some one, it is no longer mine. My riches have been depleted. God is different. His riches are part of who he is. As such he can give super abundantly and never dent his reserves. He is as rich today as he ever was or ever will be.

There is one final item related to this aspect of prayer that I think is important to draw out. Tim Keller points this out in the book I referenced earlier. It is the fact that we are praying to an actual person. We need to be careful, I need to be careful, to not slide into the trap of thinking of God as the Force, or that because he is spirit that somehow he is not a relational person. No, we are praying to a real person, a person who knows us and loves us and enjoys (yes enjoys) spending time conversing with us.

What we've seen so far from Paul is the importance of our reasons for praying that we  are desperate and dependant on Christ and the significance of knowing that we are praying to a loving Father whose riches never end. He moves from laying these planks in the floorboards of our prayers to the third plank which is the prayer request itself. Paul's prayer request has multiple layers, each of which depend upon and feed off one another. 

The initial prayer request is for strength in verse 16. This is not a prayer for physical strength but rather spiritual strength. In fact, this is strength that only the Holy Spirit can provide. Specifically he is praying on behalf of the Ephesians that they would have the spiritual strength so that Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith (verse 17). We'll come back to this in a minute, but notice how the next layer flows from this one.

Paul almost presupposes the answer to the first aspect of his request as he makes the second. Since the Ephesians are rooted and grounded in love, presumably because Jesus is dwelling in their hearts through faith, Paul now asks for more spiritual strength. This time the use spiritual strength is two fold. First is to be able to grasp the length and the breadth and the depth and the height (verse 18). The second is to know the unknowable love of Christ (verse 19).

At this point you're probably asking "what was Paul actually praying for?" or "how in the world could Paul's prayers ever correlate to my prayers?" Well, I'm glad you asked since those are the sorts of questions we should be asking every time we read or study our Bibles.

First, we need to remember that the Ephesians were already believers. The first two chapters make this abundantly clear. Thus, Paul is not praying for their salvation in the first part of verse 17.  But, if not salvation, then what? Paul is asking for the strength for us to continue on in our Christian walk. You see Paul knows what we sometimes forget. Salvation is not just a point in time event. 

For those of us who are Christians, there was a moment when the Holy Spirit broke into our lives, our need for Christ became suddenly real to us and we cried out in desperate need. But that was just the beginning. From that moment on, God the Holy Spirit has been working with us and working on us to be more and more conformed to the image of Christ. Call this sanctification, if you'd like. And even though the Sprit is doing all the heavy lifting, our growth in Christ doesn't happen without our cooperation. This requires faith and this requires strength.

But, how does this help us in our own prayers? I would submit there are at least three ways Paul's prayer requests can positively influence our own. The first would be via simple imitation. How do we learn to talk? We imitate the sound we hear around us. How do we learn walk? We imitate the people we see around us? How did my kids learn to love dogs and swimming? They saw Sally and me enjoying these things and imitated us.

How do we learn to pray? We imitate that prayers we read in Scripture.

Additionally, I think Paul is continuing his theme of our incredible dependence on God to accomplish anything of kingdom value. It is possible that our prayers need to reflect less  asking of God and more leaning on God. And that is what Paul is doing here.

One other lesson for us is one of priorities. As important as our present moment needs may be, Paul reminds us there are other, more pressing priorities, spiritual priorities, kingdom priorities. Perhaps the foundation of our prayers can be strengthened as we consider, remember and imitate not only Paul's style, but also his requests.

Interestingly however, as Paul moves into a second part of his prayer for spiritual strength, He basically assumes God's favorable answer from his prior request. Based on this, the next portion of his prayer is to ask for strength for the Ephesians to comprehend the length, the height, the breadth (verse 18).  Now if you're reading the ESV, the NASB or the NKJV you will notice that these translations don't have an object to the four dimensions.  The simple reason why is because there is no object recorded in the best manuscripts.

So what do we do? To what is Paul refering? The NIV takes the tact of most commentators and inserts the love of Christ. This is certainly a legitimate assumption to make since the 2nd part of this request also has to do with the love of Christ.  However, I personally like the ambiguity and here's why. Is the love of Christ multi-dimensional? Absolutely. And we need spiritual strength to even begin to grasp it. But what about the grace of Christ? Isn't it equally boundless? Don't we need the same quantity of spiritual strength to plunge all of its dimensions? And then there is the mercy of Christ and the compassion of Christ and faithfulness of Christ. We need spiritual strength to simply begin to comprehend each of these attributes of Jesus.

Notice also that Paul inserts the reality that we cannot fully comprehend much of anything about Christ or the gospel in isolation. Paul prays for the Ephesians that they would come to this comprehension together with all the saints. And not just the saints in Ephesus, but with the saints in Jerusalem and in Rome as well.  

How are we doing in this regard, La Crescent? I'm not asking about corporate prayer or our willingness to share our prayer needs at a bible study or small group, as important as those are. I'm wondering how often do we allow our prayers to grow beyond ourselves? Beyond our families? Beyond our close friends? Beyond our church? Beyond our gender, race, political party and tax bracket? I don't know about you, I still have a long way to go.

And then there's Paul's prayer request that the Ephesians would know the unknowable love of Christ. How do we process such a request? Is this even possible? According  to Phil 3 the answer would be yes. Its there that Paul states that he wants to know Christ and the power of his resurrection. In one sense then, this is Paul offering a supreme prayer request for the Ephesians. You see, if we know the multi-dimensional, boundless love of Christ and by this knowledge are filled with all the fullness of God, what else is left? And yet, in another sense, Paul continues to demonstrate our complete and utter need to be reliant on God through prayer.

Thus far we have seen how the bedrock of our prayer needs to be formed by a right motive (our desperate need and complete dependence on Christ), a true sense to whom we are praying (our loving Father who has boundless riches) and the biblical nature of the requests themselves (we need spiritual strength to really know the unknowable love of Christ). That brings us to the result. What is the biblical model for waiting on God? We could go elsewhere in Scripture and find different authors who approached this aspect of prayer somewhat differently. The most notable of these are David, Job and Jeremiah. But all things considered, verses 20 and 21 are a stellar example of how our hearts are to be tuned toward an expectant answer from God.

Let me read these verses slowly again and allow the words and the thoughts to soak into your hearts and minds.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Consider with me what Paul is stating in these verses:

First: Not only can God answer our prayers, not only can he answer all prayers, not only can he answer all prayers that are simply unexpressable groans, he can do so beyond our ability to ask or even ponder. You see Paul's theology of a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient God didn't thwart his prayers; his view of God energized his prayers.

Next: The answer to our prayers will primarily come through the Holy Spirit working in the midst of the people of God. Think about that brothers and sisters. We are the instrument, via the power of the Holy Spirit, by which God provides answers to most of our prayers. Shouldn't this affect how we pray?  Shouldn't this affect why we pray? Shouldn't this affect for what we pray?

Finally: Perhaps it goes without saying, but I always seem to need the reminder, that the end goal of prayer actually isn't us. Even though we are the recipents of the answers and we are blessed as the pray-ers, God's glory is the end goal. But notice how Paul frames this statement of God's glory. It is his glory both in Christ and in the church. As we pray, and as we offer our requests, let's keep this end goal in mind. If we have a need or a burden, Scripture is clear, we are to lay them before the throne of grace. But let's do so with a heart attitude that wants not just the answer, but the glory of the God who graciously gives the answer.

------

I want to close with a prayer of Charles Spurgeon because we can all learn from those who are ahead of us in the school of prayer:

"O Lord, that we would cling to you more firmly than ever we have done. We trust that we can say we love you Lord, but Oh that we would love you more! Let this blessed flame feed on the very marrow of our bones. May the zeal of your house consume us; may we feel that we love you Lord with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, with all our strength, and hence may there be about our life a special consecration, an immovable dedication unto you O Lord alone...

"O Lord Jesus, deepen in us our knowledge of you. We would that the Word of God were more sweet to us, more intensely precious, that we had a deeper hunger and thirst after it. Oh that our knowledge of the truth were more clear and our grip of it more steadfast. Teach us, O Lord, to know the reason for the hope that is in us, and to be able to defend the faith against all comers. Plough deep in us, great Lord, and let the roots of your grace strike into the roots of our being, until it shall be no longer we who live, but 'Christ who lives in us' "

The Blessing of the Blank Slate

This may seem like a pointless question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Have you ever felt like you were just going through the motions? Do you know what I mean? Just a robot or computer simply doing the task you were assigned, and nothing more.

Well, whether you've ever felt this way or not, that is the state I found myself in this morning as I approached my routine morning prayer time. Usually this prayer time is not dramatic, focusing God's wisdom for Bible reading, teaching or the like. Sometimes it will expand to cover other things that are pressing, but most of the time the prayers are meant to get my heart and mind in tune with God and his Word.

This morning, however, when I sat down to pray there was nothing. No thoughts of what to seek from God. No words of praise to God. Not even a "hey I can't do this without you, God" type prayer.

My "blank slate" moment was followed by a sickening realization that I can so easily simply go through the motions. Prayer time? Check. Bible reading? Check. Devotional reading? Check. Sunday morning worship? Check? Home group study? Check. And on it goes? But when there really is a "blank slate" moment, dare I proceed? What good is it for me (or anyone I may minister to) if I move forward when God, by his grace, has given me a "blank slate"?

Thankfully, graciously, mercifully, God, by the Spirit, has actually been preparing me for this moment. As others have said, the kindling was being piled up long before today. So, it was as the "blank slate" moment exposed the veritable ease with which I can simply move into other activities like a car on an assembly line, that I began to pray. This was not a "hey I can't do this without you" prayer. Nor was it me seeking God's wisdom to understand and apply his Word to my life and the lives of those around me. Both of these are good and appropriate prayers, but today those prayers wouldn't flow.

Instead the prayer was something to this effect: "Father, I know you are good, even when I can't really grasp it. I know your love is not conditioned on my loving response. I know that even in my "blank slate" moments and in times of empty robotic spiritual rituals, your grace and mercy are alive and active and real and unchanging and unending. Would you take this "blank slate" and use it for your glory. I don't get it. I don't like it. I don't want it. But I know you ordain things just like this to demonstrate all the more that the treasure we have been given in Jesus has nothing to do with us and everything to do with you. Thank you God for my "blank slate" moment. In Jesus' name, Amen."

I share this, not as a boast (except maybe in Christ), but rather as an encouragement to any who may also encounter dry times of prayer, Bible study, or hearing from God. We must always, always, always remember that God is our good, good Father. And even though the path he has us on may not be straight or easy, it is the right path that will eventually lead us to him.  May God help us to believe this and trust this, and live this each day of our lives.

To God alone be the glory.

An Open Confession To My Brothers And Sisters In Christ

Yesterday I read the following blog post by John Piper.

We Know They Are Killing Children-All Of Us Know

This morning as I was praying I was convicted that Piper's words were not simply a generic "you guys should have known better" but a specific "John Young, you do know better". Put succinctly, I have sinned by omission. I have let human life perish while I have stood idly by.

God is a God of mercy and grace. Christ has paid for this sin, along with the multitude of my other sins. But today this one sin and its ramifications demands a change.

I must turn from the cowardice of the crowd and turn toward the strength that God provides to speak for those with no voice.

I must turn from the laziness of thinking someone else can carry this burden and turn to the Spirit wrought reality that this may be my burden to bare.

I must turn from the fuzzy thinking that says politics and logical reasoning alone will stem the tide and turn to a prayer driven knowledge that hearts and minds must be changed by Christ.

I must turn from viewing people who disagree in this area as enemies or as ignorant or as something worse and turn to a Biblical, grace drenched view that would weep over sin and plead with God for true heart change and repentance.

Finally (at least for now) I must turn from being content with an occasional blog post or Facebook status and turn to a Christ empowered response that brings the full weight of the gospel to bare on this issue and others like it.

Please pray, not just for me but for the countless people affected by abortion. We don't know their names or stories, but God does.

To God Alone be the Glory

In Rememberance of Jesus

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” - Luke 22:19

What do you do to remember Jesus?

Most may ask, how could I possible forget Jesus? It may be true that we may not forget Jesus the way we forget many of the people we graduated kindergarten with. However, I am convinced there are other more subtle ways that we can forget Jesus.

We can forget his deity. In this mode of forgetfulness Jesus can become the every man, the friend and brother to us all. And while he is the friend of sinners and brother to those who believe, it is only because he was also fully God that we are able to call him brother and friend.

We can forget his humanity. Here we forget that Jesus really did live for 30+ years on this earth, enduring all that trials and temptations and simple inconveniences that we do. And we can also forget that he walked through those 30+ years without sinning, not because he was God, but because he was a man who relied fully on the Holy Spirit.

We can forget his ground-level compassion. I think its easy, at least for me, to take a high-level, fulfillment of God's plan view of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. And while this perspective is true, it is not all of what he was about. He took time to touch people, to talk with people, to celebrate with people and to weep with people. He came not only as a ransom, but also as a servant.

We can forget that he is praying for us. Whether it is Romans 8 or Luke 22 or John 17, Jesus' prayers for his people are the reason we are sustained in our faith. We may think we are spiritually mature, but the only reason this could possibly be the case is due to Jesus intercession on our behalf. Without that, we would be nothing.

So, what do you do to remember Jesus?

I could list several things, such as Bible reading, prayer, devotions, worship and communion that may help us. All of these and many others serve a vital role in aiding us in remembering Jesus. However, all of them can be empty and shallow if done simply as a means to an end. Bible reading isn't simply learning more about Jesus. Praying isn't simply getting our list in front of God. Devotions aren't simply collecting other people's opinions on Christianity. Worship is simply singing songs with adoring lyrics. Communion isn't simply eating a cracker and drinking grape juice with our like minded saints.

In each of these things there is an attitude of mind and heart that allows them to be the Holy Spirit's tool for us to remember Jesus. He can repurpose our Bible reading and help us to see Jesus in ways we may have forgotten. He can reshape our prayers so that we listen more than talk and come to remember that all of God's promises are Yes in Christ. He can realign our devotions in ways that bring out the reality that Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us, even in our forgetfulness. He can renew our worship, engaging our hearts and minds, allowing us to really adore the Father who loves us and the Son who died for us. And, He can reorient our communion. He can bring us to the point of knowing that we really are proclaiming something much bigger than ourselves and that while Jesus' death did save us, it accomplished and continues to accomplish so much more.

Now, what will you do to remember Jesus?

To God Alone be the Glory.

Five Lessons From Luke 5 - part 1

Luke 5 is sectioned off in most bibles into 5 glimpses into the life and ministry of Jesus. Its a "day in the life of Christ" as it were. But as I read through Luke 5 recently, I realized that each section has a punch all its own and that reality can get lost if we (or at least I) don't slow down and at least reflect for a moment on what the Holy Spirit is trying to communicate.

(To read the second post for lessons 3-4 click here)

(To read about the lesson 5 go here)

Luke 5:1-11. The main thrust of this section is the calling of Peter. On top of that, the statement of Jesus in verse 10 is profound, both for Peter and for us. However what struck me was that in the midst of Peter's call there is this rare moment of insight stated in verse 8: 'But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus 'knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ' At the moment, on that boat, Peter "saw" Jesus for who he was. Not the baby in the manger, not the carpenter, not the itinerant preacher, not a religious zealot. No, Peter saw with the eyes of his heart that Jesus was God. And, this vision changed the rest of his life. Oh God, for that vision, that moment of clarity when we can see who Jesus really is. It would change our lives.

Lk 5:12-16. These few verses describe a healing, showing Jesus authority and also his desire of keep this aspect of his ministry on the down low. But the punch here comes in verse 16: "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." I could spend the remainder of this post discussing prayer, but I think Luke's point here is to show at least two things. One, Jesus' source of strength, contentment and direction were not coming from the crowds, friends or even disciples. No, he overcame all of those distractions and the temptations to short cut or short change the plan of redemption by spending significant time in prayer. Here is a lesson I have yet to learn well: prayer time is not a waste, it is not an optional extra, it is not a tack-on to the beginning of study time, devotional time or class time. It is as crucial (or even more so) to any prep I may do or any words I may speak and its power cannot be underestimated and dare not be neglected. If Jesus needed and depended upon prayer, how much more do I need it and should be depending upon it?

(My time and my words got away from me. Lord willing, I will post the next three lessons tomorrow. Feel free to read through Luke 5 and allow the Spirit to do his work.)

To God Alone Be The Glory

We Return, But Not Upward

They do not cry to me from the heart,
   but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
   they rebel against me.
Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
   yet they devise evil against me.
They return, but not upward;
   they are like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
   because of the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt. - Hos 7:14-16

As I reflectively read Hos 7 the other day, I was struck by how similar my heart is to the people Hosea was writing to over 2 millennia ago. How often do I "cry on my bed" but not from a love for God or compelled by the love of Christ, but simply because something's not working the way I want it to? How often do I "return, but not upward", not so much repenting from my sin but rather being sad at getting caught in my sin?

Now, I realize this is a warning / rebuke delivered back in the OT days to a specific people in a particular circumstance. Yet, I can't help but see the universality of fallen men and women in the heart attitude this rebuke calls out. When God afflicts us, how do we respond? Maybe more to the heart of the matter, do we love God or his stuff? I'm guessing the good old Sunday School type answer is that certainly we love God more, but do our prayers and our passions actually display this?

The good news, of course, is that God is the God of 2nd, 3rd, and 99th chances. And, if we take seriously his promises, perhaps our first task could be to ask him to reveal to us how often we "do not cry to him from the heart" and ask him to move us toward the point where our the joys and the aches of our hearts are more in alignment with his.

To God Alone Be The Glory.

That Christ May Dwell In Our Heart Through Faith

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith - Eph 3:14-17a

At least two things have conspired  together to motivate me to write this post. The first is that as I scanned my blog for a previous post, I was reminded that I hadn't posted a new entry in over 6 months. This served as a poignant reminder that there are no time vacuums. Any margin I had for blog writing was gone.

The second thing that called me forth to write this post was not just reading but praying through Eph 3:14-21. As I did so, I was convinced and convicted again of a few realities that I felt a compulsion to share. These realities are not new by any stretch of the imagination. However, I you're like my, they are easily lost in the business and distractions of day to day life.

First:  Earnest, heart-level, prayer is essential to the Christian life. In Eph 1 & 3, Paul prays from is heart in a way that transparently shows he aches for the Ephesians to really, really, really know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the depth of his love. This cannot nor will not happen without prayer.

Second:  There is a bigger reality that is outside of us that the Holy Spirit will give us incredible glimpses into if we actually seek them. That is part of Paul's prayers "let them see with the eyes of their heart" "to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge". We all live quite myopically on our own. But God can give us the corrective lens of the Spirit if we simply, continuously ask him.

So here are the questions the Holy Spirit is pressing in my heart and mind right now. Why does Paul think I need strength to have Christ dwell in my heart through faith? Doesn't Jesus just do it? Maybe there is more to having Jesus dwell in my heart by faith than I realize?

Why does it take strength to comprehend the dimensions of Christ's love? Is it, perhaps, because Jesus' love isn't just ooey-gooey Valentine's Day love, but gritty and transformative? Is it, perhaps, that Jesus' love has implications to me, to my love both for God and others and how I respond to the gospel?

How can I, or anyone, know a love that surpasses knowledge? Is this part of the onion like reality of God, Jesus and the gospel? The more when press in, the more the Spirit reveals, the more we know and press in. Can a God who is infinite ever be fully known? Maybe the amazing, gracious thing is that a God who is holy can even be known at all.

How can I, or anyone, ever be filled with all the fullness of God? Would this take some renovation, some reconstruction, some demolition within my own heart? Would this take some strengthening and some shoring up of any love that I have? Wouldn't this require that Jesus really live in my heart through faith?

After listing these questions--and there probably are more--I can see why Paul concludes with his mini doxology. So that is how I will end as well.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. - Eph 3:20-21

To God Alone Be The Glory

Oh, to see Jesus!

I think we have the Christmas gift thing mixed up. Its not that I'm against giving (or receiving) gifts, but when we actually stop and ask, what is Christmas is all about, we seem to go in one of two directions.

First, we might ask "what could I give Jesus for Christmas?" Presumptuous, I know, but the heart is one of devotion, seeking to honor Christ with our lives, our gifts and our heart.

Or, we might ask "what would I receive from Jesus this Christmas?" Perhaps this just a more focused, seasonally heightened prayer request, but if its anything like mine, its focus, aim and goal usually falls way short.

Well, what if we crumpled all of the above like so much old Christmas wrapping paper? What if we found our guidance in the Holy Spirit and in the ebb and flow of God's Word?

For instance, consider Luke 18. While there is a lot in this chapter, I think Luke uses a great, subtle teaching technique by repeating overlapping truths in various parables and narrative accounts so that if one section doesn't hit us, the next one might. So, in one chapter we have God giving justice, a tax collector calling for mercy, the disciples learning that all things are possible with God, that Jesus journey to Jerusalem will result not in glorious, messianic victory, but painful, ignominious defeat, and that seeking the mercy of Jesus is worth more than any social custom or anyone's opinion of us.

Beyond this, Luke 18, like other sections of this book, is a study in contrasts. God vs the judge. Tax collector vs Pharisee.  Child-like faith vs "grown-up" faith. A love for Christ himself vs a love for all that Christ can (and does) give us. A vision to do God's will God's way vs a desire to do God's will my way. A willingness to defy all conventions to see (really see) Jesus vs obeying all conventions and missing (really missing) Jesus although he is right in front of us.

So, whether I zero in on the tax collector, who really grasped his position before God and his desperate need for God's mercy and grace or the blind man who defied all social and religious customs because he too desperately knew he was both helpless and hopeless without Jesus, my prayer and my plea this Christmas is that I want to see Jesus. This prayer is not just to see him in passages like Luke 18, but to see him as Paul says in Eph 1, with the eyes of my heart. To see him in his fullness, in his deity, in his humanity, as prophet, priest and king, as redeemer, as intercessor, as brother and as friend. Along with this, I need God's gracious reminder that on my own I am desperate, helpless and hopeless. The only reason to tenacious cling to Christ by faith is a firm knowledge that letting go results in ruin.

After nearly fifty years I think it is starting to sink in that while Christmas may be a great time to discipline our selfish hearts and actually be generous (not just pretend or talk about it), the reality is that we are never truly the giver. Christmas is about a gift given. A life lived. A death died. A price paid. A relationship restored. A victory won. 

May Jesus invade your Christmas this year in a great, glorious and perhaps unexpected way so that the focus is not so much on us but on Him. And not just Him in the manger, but on the cross and at the right hand of the Father and on the cusp of His return.

I pray that we each may take some time this year to consider not what we can give to Jesus, but what we so desperately need from Him and then have the humility and child-like faith to plead for it.

To God Alone be the Glory

Pummeled by Prayer

Please notice that the title of this post is not "Pummeled in Prayer". That reality is actually part of the pummeling. The sad fact of the matter is that I would much rather read about and contemplate prayer than simply bowing my head and praying. Yet my growing conviction is even now asking "Why are you writing? Why aren't you praying?"

Over the past week or so, I've run across several blog posts, devotionals etc., that have highlighted the significance and the primacy of prayer in the life of a believer. And, while I've included excerpts from a few different sources below, there is really very little that is new, especially if you've tracked with my posts on prayer in the past. However, what is different for me, at least at this point in the game, is the Spirit-wrought conviction that I spend too little time actually praying. For me the concern has shifted from quality to quantity.

Yet, even as I write this and prayerfully consider my next words, a self-debate is raging. The quality of our prayers is important, isn't it? Isn't that why the Bible gives us multiple models, including Jesus himself? Aren't the motives and the directions of our hearts important as we approach the throne of God? I would answer yes to both of these and a dozen other considerations on getting the focus of our prayers right. Yet, if that focus some how debilitates our praying, we've lost the forest for the trees.

Another objection that is raising its head even now, is the fact that Jesus seems to discourage frequent, extended prayer (Mt 6:7). His model prayer is very short and compact. Maybe this is because he was in such deep communion with his father that a long diary of praises and requests was not needed. If Jesus (and us too) prayed regularly and frequently, then he (and we too) wouldn't need a "data dump". We would simply lift each prayer and praise to God as they came along.

It should be noted that of all the bible characters, the one who would appear to need prayer the least, it would have been Jesus. And yet, he is the one we see doing it the most, followed closely by the post resurrection disciples. For me, this highlights some of the most mind bending aspects of prayer. It is both simple and complex. It comprises both a moment and a season. It reflects both child-like faith and deep communion. I displays a complete dependence and a desire to petition the sovereign God of the universe. It is both humiliating and incredibly arrogant.

As I stated earlier, I wanted to share some of what I've read over the past few days that have conspired to shake me out of my prayer lethargy.

But, alas; how seldom can he do [prayer] as he would! How often does he find this privilege a mere task, which he would be glad of a just excuse to omit! and the chief pleasure he derives from the performance, is to think that his task is finished: he has been drawing near to God with his lips, while his heart was far from him. Surely this is not doing as he would when (to borrow the expression of an old woman here,) he is dragged before God like a slave, and comes away like a thief. - John Newton

Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying in fervency. Cold prayers ask the Lord not to hear them. Those who do not plead with fervency, plead not at all. As well speak of lukewarm fire as of lukewarm prayer-it is essential that it be red hot. It is praying perseveringly. The true suppliant gathers force as he proceeds, and grows more fervent when God delays to answer. The longer the gate is closed, the more vehemently does he use the knocker, and the longer the angel lingers the more resolved is he that he will never let him go without the blessing. Beautiful in God's sight is tearful, agonizing, unconquerable importunity. It means praying humbly, for the Holy Spirit never puffs us up with pride. It is his office to convince of sin, and so to bow us down in contrition and brokenness of spirit. We shall never sing Gloria in excelsis except we pray to God De profundis: out of the depths must we cry, or we shall never behold glory in the highest. It is loving prayer. Prayer should be perfumed with love, saturated with love-love to our fellow saints, and love to Christ. Moreover, it must be a prayer full of faith. A man prevails only as he believes. The Holy Spirit is the author of faith, and strengthens it, so that we pray believing God's promise. O that this blessed combination of excellent graces, priceless and sweet as the spices of the merchant, might be fragrant within us because the Holy Ghost is in our hearts! Most blessed Comforter, exert thy mighty power within us, helping our infirmities in prayer. - CH Spurgeon

But the hard truth is that most Christians don’t pray very much. They pray at meals—unless they’re still stuck in the adolescent stage of calling good habits legalism. They whisper prayers before tough meetings. They say something brief as they crawl into bed. But very few set aside set times to pray alone—and fewer still think it is worth it to meet with others to pray. And we wonder why our faith is weak. And our hope is feeble. And our passion for Christ is small. 

Is it true that intentional, regular, disciplined, earnest, Christ-dependent, God-glorifying, joyful prayer is a duty? Is it a discipline? You can call it that. It’s a duty the way it’s the duty of a scuba diver to put on his air tank before he goes underwater. It’s a duty the way pilots listen to air traffic controllers. It’s a duty the way soldiers in combat clean their rifles and load their guns. It’s a duty the way hungry people eat food. It’s a duty the way thirsty people drink water. It’s a duty the way a deaf man puts in his hearing aid. It’s a duty the way a diabetic takes his insulin. It’s a duty the way Pooh Bear looks for honey. It’s a duty the way pirates look for gold.

I hate the devil, and the way he is killing some of you by persuading you it is legalistic to be as regular in your prayers as you are in your eating and sleeping and Internet use. Do you not see what a sucker he his making out of you? He is laughing up his sleeve at how easy it is to deceive Christians about the importance of prayer. - John Piper

I do not deny that a man may pray without heart and without sincerity. I do not for a moment pretend to say that the mere fact of a person praying proves everything about his soul. As in every other part of religion, so also in this: there is plenty of deception and hypocrisy. But this I do say—that not praying is a clear proof that a man is not yet a true Christian. He cannot really feel his sins. He cannot love God. He cannot feel himself a debtor to Christ. He cannot long after holiness. He cannot desire heaven. He has yet to be born again. He has yet to be made a new creature. He may boast confidently of election, grace, faith, hope, and knowledge, and deceive ignorant people. But you may rest assured, it is all vain talk if he does not pray. - JC Ryle

I will stop here, in part, to pray. At this moment, that prayer is that the Spirit may use my words, the words of men much wiser and more prayerful than me and most of all the very words of God to bring us all into a deeper, more prayer dependent communion with Father through the grace and mercy of His Son, our Savior Jesus.

To God Alone be the Glory

An Application to Divine Wealth

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. - Phi 4:6

Any who know me, know that I have grappled with prayer most of my Christian life. Its not that I have devalued it or questioned it. Its more that as I sought to grasp it so I could rightly practice it, I've continually realized that prayer is much bigger, much more dynamic, and much more intrinsic to our walk with Christ than I realized. And this "unfolding mystery" of prayer simply keeps coming at me.

A few days ago, I was blessed to read in CH Spurgeon's Morning by Morning devotional the following:

The act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is a very salutary lesson for such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favours without constraining us to pray for them we should never know how poor we are, but a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalogue of necessities, a revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to divine wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. The most healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty in self and constantly depending upon the Lord for supplies; to be always poor in self and rich in Jesus; weak as water personally, but mighty through God to do great exploits; and hence the use of prayer, because, while it adores God, it lays the creature where it should be, in the very dust.

This perspective on prayer, while maybe not new, is certainly not what is usually in the forefront of my mind. It is great reminder and prayer is a great reminder, that we are the utterly dependent ones and that God is the only sufficient One. Oh, how I need this reminder, day after day!

To God Alone be the Glory

Simply a test

In my attempt to be modern, I am trying to post from a tablet. We'll see how it works...

As I read Ezk 34 and Eph 1 this morning, I had twin, Spirit directed thoughts. One was, despite the quality of our earthly shepherds (or our ability as shepherds), God himself will always be the Shepherd of his people (See Jn 10)

The other was this: we have been given so much more when we were saved, rescued, redeemed, adopted in Christ than we can possibly grasp that any (and every prayer should really be at least 99% praise, worship, thanksgiving and awe. I'm not there yet, but God is working on me.

To God Alone be the Glory

Too Small A Thing

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
   to raise up the tribes of Jacob
      and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
   that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.  -  Isa 49:6

Update 9/24

A few weeks ago I heard a sermon by Kevin DeYoung that caused me to look at Isa 49:6 and thus spur the blog post below. This weekend, DeYoung published an excerpt from that sermon on his blog. By the grace of God, it was the very portion that dealt that referenced Isa 49:6. So, if the implications of the words below or more likely the verse above cause your heart to stir, I would encourage you to reflect on DeYoung's thoughts here.

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Honestly, I had to let the implications of this verse sink into my soul.

I am growing more and more enthralled with the book of Isaiah each time I read a portion of it. So, when I heard a reference to Isa 49:6 in a sermon I listened to this weekend, I had to look it up. But as I prayerfully read it this morning, I was struck some uncomfortable realities.

Reality 1:  God (Father, Son & Spirit) is really beyond me.

This was the point in the sermon I heard as well, but reading Isa 49 just served to solidify that thought in my mind. We probably all give lip service to the verse that says God's ways are not our ways, but that is often the reality. But consider this: our service to our neighbor, our kindness to a waitress or barista, our integrity at work or school, our faithfulness to spouse or girl/boy friend or a thousand other things can be used by God to push His glory to the ends of the earth. Do we really believe that the Word of God never returns void, but always accomplishes what God intends for it?

What is so cool about this, at least for me, is that it means God is constrained by me and my conceptions of Him. He really is at work 24x7 and not just in America. Not just in middle class white people. Not just in people how had a reasonably "good" upbringing. Any of these categories is too small for God.

Reality #2:  My prayers are not too much for God.

I'm not saying stop praying for a Honda and start praying for a BMW. I'm saying why just pray for the salvation of one neighbor? Why not the neighborhood? Seriously! Why are my prayers so timid and iffy? Isn't this the God who delights to bless His children? Isn't this the Christ who said you will receive everything you ask in my name? What else could be more in the name of Christ than the salvation of lost souls? Remember Lk 19 or Mt 9? This Jesus wept and had compassion on the lost. All of the lost.

Maybe we should try pushing the boundaries of prayer. Not for more stuff to waste on ourselves (see Jm 4). Instead asking God to demonstrate in our day the reality of Isa 49:6. I, for one, am willing (the flesh may be weak) to give it a try.

Reality #3: Our God is glorious, really glorious.

Read through the remainder of Isa 49. It is like wave after wave of God declaring His expansive saving plan. I may not know how to craft my next sermon or blog post, but God knows how He is going to engrave his people on the palms of His hand and how He will put us on like an ornament. I may be worried about speaking to a friend about the gospel while God knows how He will cause the heavens to sing and the mountains exult. Some, actually most, of this causes me to simply want to stand back and say wow!

I will wrap it up here but I think there is more. The allusions to Jesus in Isa 49 are the biggest. God's non-dependence on us is another. Maybe I'll touch on those another day. For now let's just rejoice that verses like Isa 49:6 have been given to us to set our hearts on fire and call us out of our own spiritual lethargy and into glorious service of the One whose salvation will reach the ends of the earth.

To God Alone be the Glory

Have We Become Functional Atheists?

Then he said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of blood, and the city full of injustice. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see.’ (Ezk 9:9)

Here's a personal note: It is always risky to pray before opening God's word something to the effect of "Open my eyes to see You in your word, even in obscure passages like Ezekiel." The Holy Spirit may just honor such a request.

It is interesting to peel back some of the layers in Ezekiel 8 & 9. These chapters contain a great expression of God's displeasure with his people and help us understand why he dealt so severely with them at the end of  run the of kings. It is also helpful to remember that God's expectations haven't changed. Do we have a better understanding of grace than Israel did? Sure. Do we have the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. But if our lives are not marked by a trajectory that is leading toward God and toward Christlikeness, one has to wonder whether we are revealing the heart attitudes found in Ezk 8-9.

For me, the telling phrase found in each chapter is when God repeats what he hears the people saying "The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see." It is easy to read this in the sense of "The cat's away so the mice can play." I'm confident that is a large part of what was happening in Israel and what is happening in our day. Throw away any conception of God, abandon any moral code that He might impose and what your left with is an ever decreasing cycle of sinfulness and depravity. I imagine taking 10 year snapshots of our culture even for the past 100 years would show not just a decline but one that is accelerating.

And yet, I think there is another layer in these chapters. When God repeats what he's heard "The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see." he is quoting in one instance the elders and in another instance the houses of Israel and Judah. In effect, He's addressing the church. And why this is pressing so hard on me today is not from the morality perspective (as real and profound as that is), but rather from the perspective of Christians, both individually and corporately, who have functionally abandoned God.

Consider your own lives or the life of your church. How much is done that totally depends on God? Not just sitting on the banks of the Jordan and waiting for the water to part, but to actively stepping into river expecting something only God can do? Not simply standing in the crowd around Jesus thinking "He could heal me if He wants to", but actively pushing through the throng and grabbing the hem of His robe? I see a lot of methodology in my own life and in the churches I've been a part of. I see much less abandonment to the Holy Spirit.

Perhaps the question comes down to this: If the Holy Spirit left you, your family, your church, would you even notice? The leaders of Israel couldn't even see Him while He was still in their midst, so when He did leave there was no change from their perspective. Are we in the same boat? Do we have everything scripted so well that we have functionally removed our need for God?

I don't know that I have all (or any) of the the answers, but one thing I do know that needs to change in my own life is more God dependent, Spirit pleading prayer. I know its not the quantity of prayer that makes a difference, but there is some correlation between how often we come utterly dependent and bankrupt before God and our true vision of our own abilities.

In conclusion, maybe the picture of the church of Laodicea from Rev 3:14-22 is apt. In their self assessment, they needed nothing. In Jesus' assessment, they needed everything, The solution: "I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see."

To God Alone be the Glory