Jesus' Teaching on Prayer—Part 2

Today I invite you to join me in spending a second blog entry as we work our way through this extremely important teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 6:1-18. Please take the time to pause and read this passage of Scripture.

Last blog entry, I suggested that you respond to the first portion of Jesus’ teaching by doing the following: “Get alone with God. Call Him “Father.” Sit quietly in His Presence. Acknowledge that He is Holy. And, submit your will to His. Ask Him to complete His will in your life here on earth.”

In a sentence, I attempted to share with you that “Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit uses our prayers to illuminate the pathway of obedience.”

You see, its all about “obedience.” The one and only “thing” God asks of us: obedience.

Jesus continues his teaching in this passage by instructing us to take the opportunity—while we wait quietly in God’s Presence and talk with Him—to ask Him to give us whatever we need for each day. “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Part of our acknowledgement of who God is—that He is our Father, that He has chosen us before the foundation of the earth to be His children—requires us to recognize that all that we are and all that we have comes from His mercy and grace. Nothing that we are—our accomplishments, our achievements, our successes, our reputations, our health—and nothing that we possess, comes as a result of our efforts. Everything we are and everything we have has come to us as a gift from God.

Every breath that we take, every beat of our hearts is a precious gift from God. Every bit of intelligence that we possess, every bit of cleverness that we exhibit, every bit of success that we enjoy, every sliver of recognition that we receive, everything we are and everything we have has come to us as a gift from God.

Last blog entry I suggested to you that “the very God of the Universe waits to welcome us into His Presence.” I suggested that “prayer is a fundamental, cohesive, and powerful component of our relationship with God. He is not only willing to have us talk with Him, He welcomes it. He expects it. He longs for it. He waits for it. He waits for us. He wants us to come and sit with Him a while and talk with Him. We have the authority of no one less than the Son of God, Himself, telling us to come into the Father’s Presence and sit a while with Him.

Along with His desire to have us call Him “Father,” He also wants us to act as if He is the “Giver of every good and perfect gift.” Time and time again, throughout the New Testament, Scripture tells us to sit in God’s Presence and present our needs to Him. Tell God what we need.

Just a few verses later in this very “Sermon on the Mount” we are looking at, Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:7-11:

⁷ Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find’ knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹ Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will given him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

So, as you sit quietly in God’s Presence, whatever you need for this day, ask your Father. He waits to grant you everything you need. Just remember, He gets to choose whether or not you really “need” it. And, also remember, you are asking for today. Not for yesterday, and certainly not for tomorrow, but for today. God expects His children to live very much in the present. We could talk about that at greater length, but that will have to wait for another warm August Sunday, because I need to press on to the hardest teaching of all.

In verses 12 and 13, Jesus instructs us to ask God to forgive our sins and to lead us away from temptation by delivering us from the clutches of satan, the evil one.


Peter tells us in Chapter 5 of his first epistle:

⁸ Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. ¹⁰ And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. ¹¹ To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.

Just as I shared with you last blog entry, when you first acknowledged that God had chosen you from the foundation of the world to belong to Him, when you responded to that gentle wooing (or not so gentle wooing) of the Holy Spirit and yielded your heart to God, He imbued you with His holiness.

When Jesus died on Calvary’s cruel cross and shed His precious blood to cover your sins, God took that blood and dipped you into it. He plunged you into that saving flood. And, when you emerged you were clean clear through. He sent His Holy Spirit to live inside your heart. And, you became a walking, talking vessel of God’s holiness.

And yet, until we pass from this life and enter God’s eternal kingdom—the process that Paul describes in Romans Chapter 8 as “glorification”—we remain “sinners.” Yes, our sins are covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. But, the sin nature that we inherited from Adam through our parents, grandparents and so forth, remains active in us, ever striving to drag us into the old patterns of sinful behavior. Our redemption comes through our relationship with God in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

As an indication of our obedience to God, He asks us to mirror the relationship we have with Him by the way we relate to each other. Frankly, I think this is the hardest part of obedience. I am expected to relate to each one of you in the same way that God has chosen to relate to me.

My offenses against God condemn me to eternal death. At the moment of my birth, because I inherited the sin nature passed down from Adam through my parents, I started this life condemned to eternal death, separated from God. And, my conscious and active behavior from that day forward has only served to exhibit the sin nature within me. Charge upon charge has been laid to my account; sin upon sin.

Praise God, that before the foundation of the earth, He chose me to belong to Him. He sent His Holy Spirit to convince me—or, “convict” me, if you will—of my sinfulness and give me the opportunity to receive His mercy and grace by acknowledging His gift of redemption through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a great mystery. Yes, it is! A very, very great mystery. But, its true, nonetheless.

So, God wants me to mirror His forgiveness by forgiving everyone who sins against me; every single, solitary person who offends me, who sins against me. He wants me to extend to them the same unconditional forgiveness that He has extended to me.

And, if that’s not enough of a challenge, He instructs me through the words of Jesus to comprehend the seriousness of this sign of obedience by reminding me that He has forgiven me first. Even though I did nothing to deserve His mercy, He has chosen to forgive me.

Not only did He choose to forgive me, He made the first move. He sent His Holy Spirit to speak to me through my conscience and draw me irresistibly into His mercy and grace.

Dear friends, this “forgive our debtors” requirement is serious business. God gets our attention by asking us, “How would you like it if I made my forgiveness conditional on whether or not you forgave those who sinned against you?”

“Wait a minute,” I hear you respond, “Isn’t that what Jesus did say? Didn’t He say that if I don’t forgive the one that sins against me, my sins won’t be forgiven?”

Well, if that is how you read this passage, let me ask you a question: “Why do you persist in bearing a grudge against those fellow members of the household of faith who have offended you?”

In Matthew 18:15-17, Jesus tells His followers:

¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. ¹⁶ But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”

Did you notice that Jesus expects the one sinned against to make the first move? Astounding! Jesus expects the one sinned against to go to the one who sinned and attempt to make it right. That’s a far cry from our normal pattern of waiting until the one who sinned comes to us to apologize before we extend forgiveness. You see, God expects us to forgive just like He forgives. Paul tells us in Romans 5:

⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Examine your own hearts right now. Do you bear a grudge against a brother or sister in Christ who you believe has sinned against you in the past. Oh, you may not call it “sin.” You may say that “so and so” offended you, or did something wrong, or spoke ill of you, or questioned your authority, or challenged your judgment, or (you insert your favorite euphemism for “sin.”). Do you still hold that fault against the person who perpetrated the fault? Well, then, Jesus calls you to obedience and instructs you to forgive.

“But I can’t forgive!” you may respond in exasperation. “The hurt is too deep. The offense is too enormous. Why what ‘so and so’ did tore me apart. He or she ruined my family, defamed my reputation, stole my inheritance. You don’t know the awful things he or she did to me. How can I possibly forgive?”

The truth is, you can’t.

Remember how we talked about God placing the Holy Spirit inside your heart? Part of the reason God did that was to give you the power to be obedient.

No. You can’t forgive. You don’t have the power by yourself. You are too weak, too frail, too mired in your sin nature. But, God can enable you to forgive by the power of the Holy Spirit within you. With the same mercy and grace that God extends His forgiveness to you for your sins—which, by the way, are ever so much more horrible than any sin that any person here on earth could commit against you—God will enable you to forgive. All you have to do is let Him.

In a sentence, what I have been trying to share with you from the second portion of this passage is “Jesus teaches us to show our love for God by trusting Him to meet our daily needs, including our need to forgive others.” Let me say that again. “Jesus teaches us to show our love for God by trusting Him to meet our daily needs, including our need to forgive others.”

Are you wondering what to do? Here’s my suggestion for the week ahead. As you sit in quietness with God—if you took my suggestion for last week, surely you will want to continue to meet with God each day—ask Him to bring to your mind the name of one of your brothers or sisters in Christ who you believe has sinned against you. Then ask Him to give you the power to forgive. Just say to Him: “Father, please give me the power to forgive ‘so and so.’” And, speak that person’s name aloud.

It may even help you to name the sin that you believe the person has committed against you. “Father, please give me the power to forgive ‘so and so’ for doing (and just name the sin that you believe the person has committed against you.)”

Be careful to understand that I am asking you to start with one of your brothers or sisters in Christ, rather than someone who may not be a believer. I’m doing this because I am asking you to follow the pattern in Matthew 18.

Next, whenever you think of that brother or sister during the week, see that one in your mind’s eye as someone God is helping you to forgive.

Then, in obedience to Scripture, go to that person and talk with him or her about what you believe he or she did to you. Go humbly, go quietly, go patiently, and share the offense that resides in your heart: “You know, I have been holding a grudge against you for a long time because you did (and name the sin). I am asking God to help me forgive you. And, I just want to let you know that as far as I am concerned, you are forgiven.”

This may be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life. And, be prepared to learn that the one who you believe has sinned against you feels that you actually provoked his or her behavior toward you. During your conversation with this brother or sister in Christ, you may even find that the Holy Spirit is convicting you of sin in the matter. In that case, you will both have to ask forgiveness from each other. So, when you approach the one who you believe has sinned against you, make sure you to do so in a spirit of humility seasoned with great grace.

Now, just a word of caution: If the person that God brings to mind is a brother or sister in Christ who is continuing to sin against you, when you approach that one to tell him or her that you are extending forgiveness, you should also tell him or her that you are asking him or her to please stop sinning against you. “You know, I have been holding a grudge against you for a long time because you did (and name the sin). I am asking God to help me forgive you. And, I just want to let you know that as far as I am concerned, you are forgiven. But, I also want to ask you to please stop doing what you’re doing to me. Please, stop sinning against me.”

If the brother or sister in Christ that you speak to in this way is also seeking to be obedient to God, the sinning will stop. If it doesn’t, then follow Matthew 18. and the next time you go to the one sinning against you, take along a reliable witness. Follow the pattern of Matthew 18 all the way through to the end, if need be. But, if my experience over a life time in the church is reliable, you will almost never have to move beyond step one.

God asks you to forgive. In fact, He asks you to forgive everyone, whether a particular person is a believer or not. But, He has a special interest in maintaining harmony among the members of His household.

At the same time, don’t expect the instruction in Matthew 18 to work for a non-believer. Someone who does not belong to God through the power of Christ’s blood, someone who does not have the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, cannot be expected to behave according to the patterns of those who belong to God. You still have to forgive. But, you have no reasonable expectation of repentance on the part of the non-believer who sins against you.

God asks one thing of us. And, its the hardest thing. He asks us to be obedient.

As I shared with you last week, “Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit uses our prayers to illuminate the pathway of obedience.”

Now, there is so much more to glean from this passage. I haven’t even written to you about “fasting.” Let me simply say that fasting energizes prayer by illustrating true self-denial. Perhaps we will have the opportunity to share that some other time.

In your moments of quiet alone with God this week, ask Him to bring to mind the name of one of your brothers or sisters in Christ who you believe has sinned against you. And then, ask Him to give you the power to forgive.

“Jesus teaches us to show our love for God by trusting Him to meet our daily needs, including our need to forgive others.”

_{Copyright © 2010 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

 

Jesus' Teaching on Prayer—Part 1

Do you know that Jesus was the very best teacher when it came to learning how to pray?

In order to understand the very familiar passage of Scripture that will form the basis of this blog entry, Matthew 6:1-18, we must first of all examine a bit about the writer who captured these important words of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Before you read on, please click on the link above and read the Scripture passage.)

Purely on the basis of human expectation, Levi Matthew represented a most unlikely disciple. If a popularity contest had been held in Matthew’s day, he would not have even registered on the scale.

When Matthew walked down the street, people would cross over to the other side to avoid passing him. Those that were bold enough to approach him would likely mutter a curse under their breath or even spit at his feet. You see Matthew had a most loathsome job. He was a publican or tax collector.

His fellow Jews considered Matthew a traitor. He had reached into his pocket and paid a significant sum of money to the Roman government to purchase the right to collect taxes from a segment of his fellow Jewish citizens. The whole purpose of the Roman occupation was to develop an ever-growing base of people from whom Rome could extract taxes to support the spendthrift policies of the ruler in Rome. Talk about diverting funds from one geographic area to support another. The Romans had elevated that political maneuver to an art form.

And here was Matthew: part of the problem rather than part of the solution. Scripture does not record any specific accusations against Matthew. But, we do know that most publicans made it a practice to double or even triple the amount of money for which Rome was actually asking. This gave them a 100% to 200% markup that they could pocket for their own. As long as Rome got its required per capita tax, it really didn’t care how the publicans wrangled the money out of the occupied citizens.

When Jesus called Levi Matthew to become a disciple, this act must have truly shocked the people following Jesus. Matthew, himself, chooses not to even mention his calling. Fortunately we have a record of this event in Mark Chapter 2 and Luke Chapter 5. Luke gives the fuller account in Luke 5:27-29:

²⁷ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, ²⁸ and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.

²⁹ Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

Did you notice the phrase “Levi got up, left everything and followed him?” Imagine that. So taken by Jesus simple invitation, Levi responded. And, it changed his life. Forever.

Based on the feelings of his fellow Jews, we could easily imagine that Levi Matthew might have become the first and most zealous missionary to the gentiles. After all, he had spent most of his life being despised by his fellow Jews.

Instead, Matthew becomes the disciple who specifically and intentionally reaches out to his Jewish brothers and sisters.

Some of you reading this may have heard me explain before that when God, in His mercy and grace, moved four writers to write the good news of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, He did so in order to create four very special points of view. Of the three “story” gospels, what Bible students call the synoptic gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke—Matthew writes specifically to the Jews. He portrays the Lord Jesus as “King of the Jews” and creates a word picture very much like an oil painting. Filled with subtle brush strokes and showing the effect of light and shadow, Matthew’s gospel has a rich texture that captivates his audience.

Mark writes to the Roman mind, portrays Jesus as a servant, and gives us a series of candid photographs. Some old timers, remembering the Dragnet television series from the 1950’s and 1960’s, refer to Mark’s gospel as the “Jack Webb gospel”—just the facts, only the facts.

Luke writes to the Greek mind, portrays Jesus as a man, and provides a motion picture or movie of Jesus’ life.

John writes to all mankind, portrays Jesus as the Son of God, or God the Son, and gives us an X-ray of the life and teachings of Jesus.

So, Matthew, despised by his Jewish brethren, aims his gospel squarely at the Jews. And, particularly, he wants to make certain that he provides a contrast with the haughty teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees of that day.

In Matthew Chapters 5, 6, and 7, we have a lengthy discourse of the Lord Jesus that Bible students often refer to as “The Sermon on the Mount.” In the 111 verses of these three chapters, Matthew lays out the fundamental teachings of Jesus on a wide variety of subjects. The common theme that threads its way throughout this discourse: “obedience.”

Matthew records Jesus’ teachings concerning some very difficult and touchy subjects. He deals with how to fulfill the Law of Moses, murder, adultery, oaths, retribution, love for enemies, giving to the needy, accumulating treasures, worry, judging others, what to do when you find yourself in need (asking-seeking-knocking), pathways, fruit inspection, and building wisely.

Smack dab in the middle of this very precise and very scary list of teachings that lead to obedience, Matthew records Jesus’ teaching on prayer.

Jesus tells us, first of all, to get alone with God. Go into a place where we can be quiet before Him. Set ourselves apart from the hectic traffic of the day. Sit quietly in His Presence. And, simply, talk to Him. Talk to God. Talk to the Father.

Begin by acknowledging that God is our Father. He has chosen to adopt us into His Eternal Kingdom. We are not mere creatures that He has created, but He has chosen us to be His children. As children, chosen before the foundation of the earth, we have the rights and privileges of children. We come into God’s presence as His children and we rightly may call Him “Father.” Not only do we call Him “Father,” but we acknowledge that He is. He is not someone who once was. Rather, He currently exists in all His power and glory. And, He waits to welcome us.

You know we really don’t understand this. We don’t get it. The God of the Universe, the One who spoke a word and all creation came into being, has chosen us as His children. And, He waits to welcome us to come and sit with Him and talk with Him.

Prayer is a fundamental, cohesive, and powerful component of our relationship with God. He is not only willing to have us talk with Him, He welcomes it. He expects it. He longs for it. He waits for it. He waits for us. He wants us to come and sit with Him a while and talk with Him. We have the authority of no one less than the Son of God, Himself, telling us to come into the Father’s Presence and sit a while with Him.

Next, in verse 9, Jesus continues His instruction by telling us to speak to God about His holiness: “hallowed be your name.” “May your Name be Holy.” As we sit quietly in His Presence, Jesus implores us to wrap a cloak of God’s holiness around us. By speaking to God of His holiness, we allow the Holy Spirit within us to latch on to that holiness and begin to weave God’s holiness into the very fabric of our beings.

Now I know that some of you reading this are getting more than a little uncomfortable at this point. “Wait a minute,” you say. “I’m not holy. And, I’m not really sure that I want to be holy. That sounds way too much like one of thosescary kind of Christians. I surely don’t want to be one of them!”

Well, in that case, I have bad news for you. When you first acknowledged that God had chosen you from the foundation of the world to belong to Him, when you responded to that gentle wooing (or not so gentle wooing) of the Holy Spirit and yielded your heart to God, He imbued you with His holiness.

When Jesus died on Calvary’s cruel cross and shed His precious blood to cover your sins, God took that blood and dipped you into it. He plunged you into that saving flood. And, when you emerged you were clean clear through. He sent His Holy Spirit to live inside your heart. And, you became a walking, talking vessel of God’s holiness.

Paul tells us in Titus 3:3-7:

³ At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. ⁴ But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, ⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, ⁷ so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.

So, Jesus teaches us to acknowledge the holiness of God, that we might acknowledge His holiness within us.

Then Jesus instructs us to ask God to bring His will to pass in both heaven and on earth. In this simple statement hangs the chief problem that you and I face each day in our lives. “Not my will, but Thine be done.” The trouble is, I want Mine, not Thine.

As I think about you magnificent people reading this blog entry, I know that every one of you represents the very embodiment of kindness, generosity, and good will. Right? Of course not!

Every one of you—and me, too—all of us are filthy, dirty, horrible, corrupt sinners. And, the worst part of it is that we cannot even take credit for this awful state we are in, for we inherited it from our parents. And, they inherited it from their parents. And, so forth, all the way back to Adam.

But, praise God, through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ we have been cleansed. Our sins are covered. The penalty paid. We have been redeemed. We have been adopted into God’s family as His precious children.

And, once again, we had no part in this salvation other than being the recipients of God’s grace. He redeemed us through the power of Christ’s death on the cross. He guaranteed our place with Him for all eternity through the power of Christ’s resurrection.

So, what’s left for us to do? Just one thing. And that “thing” is the hardest “thing” of all. God wants us to be obedient. He wants us to surrender our will to His. He wants us to do His bidding in this world. He wants us to reach out to those around us—not because we are really nice, kind people—but solely because of His love that He places in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

“Not my will but Thine be done.” That’s the watchword. And, Jesus asks us to say those words to God in prayer. He wants us to experience the power of sitting quietly in God’s Presence, surrounded by the solitude of our secret hideaway, and say those words of total submission. Jesus wants us to do that because He knows that out of obedience comes great joy.

In a sentence, what I’ve been trying to say to you concerning the first few verses of this passage is “Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit uses our prayers to illuminate the pathway of obedience.” Let me say that again. “Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit uses our prayers to illuminate the pathway of obedience.”

“Okay,” you might say. “I don’t like the fact that you called me a horrible, corrupt sinner, but I’m going to try to overlook that and ask you, ‘So, what?’ Exactly what do you want me to do about all this?”

Here’s my suggestion for the week ahead. First of all, start today, and find a time to get alone in absolute quietness with God. I know your lives are teeming with noise and busyness. In spite of all that, find a time when you can slip away to a place where you can get alone in total quiet to spend even a few minutes with God.

Then, talk with Him. Call Him “Father.” Just speak that word: “Father.” And then, wait a bit and just rest in His Presence. God has told us that He is everywhere present. So when you sit in quiet and speak His Name, you can be assured that He is there.

Next, acknowledge that He is holy. Tell Him that you realize that He is absolutely holy. “Hallowed be Thy Name.”

And, lastly, ask Him to make His will come to pass on earth, in your world, in your life, in your family, in your friends, in those you love and care about. Submit your will to God. Consciously. Quietly. Earnestly. Just submit your will to God.

That’s all I ask of you this week. Just those few things: Get alone with God. Call Him “Father.” Sit quietly in His Presence. Acknowledge that He is Holy. And, submit your will to His. Ask Him to complete His will in your life here on earth.

Once you do that, I will likely not have to convince you of the wisdom of doing it again. So, do it tomorrow, too. And, the next day. And, the next. All through the week. If you do, when we next meet back here on this blog, you will be a different person. And, so will I.

“Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit uses our prayers to illuminate the pathway of obedience.” That’s Lesson One from this passage.

_{Copyright © 2010 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}