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Mistaken Faithful Prayer

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INTRODUCTION

As many of you know, it is our custom to have a “state of the church” message around the beginning of each new year, and that message will be coming next week. But, if you like, you may consider this message to a preamble to that state of the church sermon. How so?

The year behind us, 2020, has been quite a year, and it may have occurred to some of you that when 20 turns 21, it might start drinking, and then what shall we do? Of course, we shall pray about it, but there is a particular kind of prayer that we need to understand in times like these.

THE TEXT

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:1–8)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This parable goes by various names. For some, it is the parable of the unjust judge. For others, it is called the parable of the importunate widow, or perhaps the persistent widow. With this parable, Jesus gives us the meaning of it right at the front end. He told the parable to a particular purpose, which is that men ought to pray constantly and not to get discouraged (v. 1). In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God, and he did not have any regard for man (v. 2). We should start paying attention at this point because we have that kind of judge in our time, believe it or not. Now there was a widow in that same city who wanted to have her case heard against her adversary (v. 3). She wanted to have the judge grant the justice of her case. For a time, this godless judge just put her off, but after a bit he changed his mind. He acknowledged to himself that even though he did not fear God or regard man (v. 4), he was still able to determine that this widow was going to be a royal pain in the neck (v. 5). The only way he was going to get rid of her was through doing some justice, however little it suited him. And Jesus says that we should pay attention to the lesson of this unjust judge (v. 6). How is it possible that God will not grant justice to His own elect, those who cry to Him day and night, even though He puts them off for a time (v. 7)? This is a “how much more” argument. God will vindicate them later, and when it happens it will happen suddenly (v. 8). God loves the eucatastrophe. But at the same time, why might the Son of man not find faith on the earth when He comes? It would be because the lesson of this parable had not been learned, and people, in the position of that widow, quit coming.

THE NATURE OF PERSISTENCE

Now one of the things we need to do is look straight at this parable, contemplating what Jesus is actually calling us to do. He is actually calling us to be wrong in our prayers, and to be wrong most of the time.

Suppose you have a trouble, and coming out of this last year, who doesn’t? And suppose this trouble weighs on you heavily, and it has come to the point where you are bringing it before the Lord daily. It could be a health problem, or a financial challenge, or a wayward child, or the caliber of the people running our civilization. It weighs on you, and so as required, you bring it to God. To illustrate, suppose you are praying for a significant amount of money, and it is not so that you might spend it on various fripperies. It is a real need. Let us say you bring it before the Lord daily, as this parable requires, and you do so for years.

This means that every day, you believe that today would be a wonderful time for this needed deliverance to appear. You wouldn’t be praying about it if you didn’t feel that way. But every new day that you pray about it, the repetition entails a recognition that your assessment of the situation yesterday was wrong. That wasn’t the best day for the deliverance. Not only were you wrong, but it was an error that the Lord Jesus—by requiring your persistence in this kind of prayer—required you to make. So Jesus wants us to be obediently mistaken.

EMBODIED LIFE IN TIME            

Perhaps some of you women who are mothers know what this is like. Those who just identify as women have no idea. But perhaps you have had this experience. You are six months along, and some well-meaning stranger asks you what it feels like to be past due. You feel like you are, and it is also apparently the case that you look like you are. In this scenario, you know that it is not time yet. But suppose that you were the first woman ever to give birth, and so nobody knew how long a pregnancy was supposed to go. Now pray about it. That is what delayed answer to prayer is like. The gestation times for answered prayer vary considerably.

But when the answer comes, it comes suddenly. It comes in a rush. Is this not what the Lord explicitly says? He will “avenge them speedily” (v. 8).

ON THE MOUNT OF THE LORD

God wants us to walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). We are to live our lives walking in the will of God, but this is not the same thing as living off a pre-printed agenda. Once in a blue moon God directs His servants explicitly and in unmistakable ways. But most of the time, we are to simply trust Him. Our lives are a mist (Jas. 4:14). We are a wispy bit of fog off the river that you sometimes drive by, and in a moment it is gone.

We should have the humility befitting small wisps of fog, and so we should pray in the way we are instructed to pray. Not only will God answer us suddenly when He answers, but He loves to do it at the moment when we believe that all is lost. He waits until Abraham has the knife upraised over his son. On the mount of the Lord it will be provided (Gen. 22:14). God waited until the Israelites were close enough to the Red Sea to get their sandals wet in it before He told Moses to extend his rod. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord (Ex. 14:13). Jehoshaphat was told the same thing. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord (2 Chron. 20:17).

So we can be confident that there is one thing that the misbegotten year 2020 did not do, and that was to shorten the arm of Jehovah (Num. 11:23).

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Sola Fide | Reformed Basics #4

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So if you put your faith on a slide for a microscope, and stare at it for hours, perhaps muttering exhortations to it, the one thing you can be sure of is that it will not grow. But if you learn to look away, if you learn to look to Christ, and if you turn to Scripture, you will find that your faith-precisely because you weren’t paying attention to it—has been quietly growing.

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Advent and Angels

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INTRODUCTION

One of the more obvious things about the Christmas story as Scripture records it would be prevalence of angels in it. The angel Gabriel appears to Zechariah to tell him about the birth of the forerunner of the Christ (Luke 1:11). Six months later Gabriel again appears to Mary, to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of the Highest (Luke 1:26-27). An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream in order to tell him that Mary had not been unfaithful to him (Matt. 1:20). The angel of the Lord appeared to the shepherds, and then the entire heavenly host appeared as well (Luke 2:9,13). An angel in the form of a star summons the wise men to come to Jerusalem in the first place, and that same angel identifies the right house in Bethlehem for them (Matt. 2:2,10). And Joseph was warned in a dream by an angel to flee down to Egypt, in order to escape from Herod’s wrath (Matt. 2:13). Angels all over the place. What is the significance of this for us?

THE TEXT

“And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:26–35).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel, who had appeared to Zechariah, also came to Mary, who was in Nazareth at the time (v. 26). She was betrothed to a man named Joseph, who was of the line of David (v. 27). He greets her with a general blessing, but one that was also very high (v. 28). She was troubled by it, and tried to figure it out (v. 29). Gabriel reassures her, telling her that she had found favor with God (v. 30). He then said she was going to conceive a son, and He would be named Jesus (v. 31). He was going to be very great, the Son of the Highest, and He was going to inherit the throne of His father David (v. 32). He was going to reign over the house of Jacob, and His kingdom would be a never-ending one (v. 33). Mary asked, reasonably enough, how this was possible, given that she was a virgin (v. 34). Gabriel answered that it would be because the Holy Spirit would come upon her, that the power of the Highest would cover her, such that her Son would be called the Son of God (v. 35).

A FEW RANDOM THINGS

In the next verse, Elizabeth is called Mary’s cousin (v. 36), but the word might better be rendered as kinswoman. This is interesting because Elizabeth and Zechariah were both from the tribe of Levi, but the Lord was from the line of Judah. There are different ways this could work, but it is suggestive. Because Elizabeth was elderly and Mary was not, I think it is likely that she was something like Mary’s aunt.

Second, in the Old Testament, angels do not go by their names. In fact, when the father of Samson asks an angel’s name, he is rebuffed. “And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret?” (Judges 13:18). But in the inter-testamental period, it became more common to identify angels by their various names. But still, in the Scriptures, we are given the names of only two angels, Gabriel and Michael.

And then third, what are we to make of all these angels? Remember that the primary job description of angels is that they are messengers. The word angelosmeans messenger, and does not necessarily entail a celestial being. Humans are called angels at various times, depending on the task they have. John the Baptist is called an angel (Mark 1:2). He was a messenger, preparing the way of the Lord. And the pastors of the seven churches of Asia are called angels (Rev. 2:1,8,12,18;3:1,7,14). They had a message to deliver.

SIGNS AND MESSAGES

Now throughout Scripture, angels do remarkable things. But they are not called wonder-workers. They are called messengers. The signs that they give are the seal on the message. The contents of their messages are the important thing; the seal on the letter simply says that the message is authentic. “But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him” (John 10:38).

It was the same way with the prophets. Foretelling the future was not their main vocation. That was simply their authentication for what was their main purpose, which was forthtelling the truth.

“And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lordhath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him” (Deut. 18:21–22).

“Shew the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods: Yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together” (Isaiah 41:23).

The main thing is to believe the message, as Mary did and Zechariah did not.

It is noteworthy that in Scripture, there are three periods of clustered miracles—the time of Moses, the time of Elijah/Elisha, and the time of Christ and the apostles. This is because these were also times when revelation was being given in bulk (law, prophets, gospel). We should note the miracles because we are bent on accepting the message they authenticate—whether the law, the prophets, or the gospel.

BECOMING HIS MESSENGERS

The angels declared the message to astonished shepherds. The shepherds declared the message to astonished passers-by. This is a metaphor that can indicate to us how that particular torch has been passed from angels to men.

“For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels” (Hebrews 2:5, NKJV).

No, that world has been given to the sons of men, those who are in Christ, and so we have been charged to be the central messengers of this peace on earth, good will to men (Matt. 28:18-20). We are the angels being sent out to gather God’s elect from the four corners of the world (Matt. 24:31).

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Advent and Astonishment

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INTRODUCTION

We sometimes glide over the stupefying doctrines that are entailed by the Christmas miracle. We are accustomed to the story, and so we simply nod our heads at the familiar words and phrases. But if we are listening, actually listening, the whole thing should bring us up short. “Wait, what?”

THE TEXT

“And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Beth-lehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:15–20).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

This story is one of the familiar ones, and so we all could probably tell it again ourselves without any prompting. But there are a few things that perhaps we have not noticed.

The shepherds at Bethlehem were keeping watch over their flocks by night (v. 8). One of the things that Bethlehem was known for was as the place where sacrificial sheep were raised. The Temple was only a few miles away, and all the sheep that were sacrificed there had to come from somewhere, and one of those places was Bethlehem. And how fitting it was for the Lamb of God (John 1:29), slain before the foundations of the world (Rev. 13:8), to be born there in Bethlehem—the place where sacrifices came into the world.

When the angels appeared, the shepherds were terrified (v. 9). After the angels had delivered their glorious message, the shepherds looked at one another and said that they needed to go and see this thing (v. 15). And then it says that they came with haste (v. 16). They hurried, they ran, like disciples running toward an empty tomb. They found Mary, and Joseph, and the baby in a manger (v. 16), and then went out telling everybody what the angels had told them (v. 17). Everyone who heard their account wondered (v. 18). They marveled. They were astonished (thaumazo). Mary pondered on all of it (v. 19), and the shepherds returned to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all of it (v. 20).

So consider the emotional tilt-a-whirl that the shepherds experienced that night. First terror, which is why they had to be told not to fear (v. 10). Then whatever emotion accompanies excitement and haste (v. 16). Then they told everybody about it (v. 17), and the recipients of their news were astonished (v. 18). And then the finale for the shepherds was giving glory and praise to God (v. 20).

THE CENTRAL MIRACLE

But angels in the sky, as remarkable as that is, were nothing compared to what dawned on the people of God later on. The signs and portents that accompanied the birth of the Christ were of course appropriate, which is why God sent them. But they were all pointing to the central miracle of all history, which was the miracle of the Incarnation.

FULLY GOD, FULLY MAN

When we talk about this miracle, we cannot draw pictures of it, or reduce it to a formula that we can understand. We can describe what the exact miracle is, but we cannot do the math, we cannot “show our work.”

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see,
Hail the incarnate Deity . . .

Jesus was born into the world, just like the rest of us. He was a baby boy, who needed to be carried down into Egypt. All the faithful accounts we have of Him include descriptions of his genuine humanity. He was no apparition. He had fingernails. Jesus walked places (John 1:36). Jesus got exhausted (Matt. 8:24). Jesus ate meals (Mk. 14:18). Jesus put clothes on in the morning (Matt. 9:20). Jesus sang songs (Matt. 26:30).

Jesus lived this manifestly human life among the Jews, who were the most fiercely monotheistic people ever. But after His ministry was apparently ended by His agonizing death on the cross, He was declared, with power, to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4).

And so this band of faithful Jews began worshiping their late rabbi as if He were God. But this is not a distortion of the Lord’s teaching because He plainly anticipated it. “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Thomas confesses it when his doubts were removed. “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). The fundamental Christian confession is that Jesus is Lord (Rom. 10:9), and so we are to call upon Him. And why? Because, Paul says, quoting Joel 2:32, whoever calls on the name of Jehovah, YHWH, shall be saved. That is why we call upon Jesus.

Two natures, human and divine, united in one person, Jesus of Nazareth. What is predicated of either nature can be predicated of the person also, but what is predicated of one nature cannot be predicated of the other. And they are brought together in what theologians call the hypostatic union, which is the great miracle.

If seeing the miracle of the fish made Peter sink in fear (Luke 5:8), what should contemplation of this miracle do in us?

CHRISTMAS FEAR AND ASTONISHMENT

We all know that there is a kind of religious fear that is negative. It holds people captive to the devil through fear of death (Heb. 2:15). We know that perfect love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment (1 John 4:18).

But there is a kind of fear that is wholesome, and which is the clean source of many graces. “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; And let him be your fear, and let him be your dread” (Isaiah 8:13). Jesus Himself feared, and this is why His prayers were answered (Heb. 5:7). The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever (Ps. 19:9). We are told to work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12). It is the grace of God which enables us to fear Him (Heb. 12:28). The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him (Ps. 147:11). We are forgiven by the Lord, so that we might fear Him (Ps. 130:4). It was the fear of the Lord that made Cornelius so generous (Acts 10:22, 31). The fear of the Lord, in other words, is the source of all kinds of goodness.

Like the wise men, kings shall come to the brightness of our rising (Is. 60:3). And we will see, and flow together, and our hearts will fear and be enlarged (Is. 60:5).

If you are thinking rightly, you should want this season to be filled with forgiveness and generosity. You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matt. 1:21). And God so loved the world that He gave . . . (John 3:16). This is the God we love, serve, and fear. Imitate the shepherds. Make haste.

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Advent and Abundance

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INTRODUCTION

A genuine biblical faith is one that knows how to climb mountains, and how to not get lost in the valleys. In the flesh we know how to get used to what happens to us all the time. But it takes a true spirit of Christian character to deal with the fluctuations.

THE TEXT

“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Philippians 4:11–13).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The apostle Paul has come to the point in the letter where he thanks the Philippians for their financial support. He really is grateful, but he wants them to know that he had learned the secret of being contented either way. He did not bring up his thanks because he was falling short in any way (v. 11). He knows how to be abased, and how to abound (v. 12), how to full and how to be hungry, how to overflow and how to fall short. The “all things” of v. 13 refers to contentment in all things.

DRIVE TO CONTENTMENT

The Advent season also happens to be the season of shopping and sales, and so it is the time when a great deal of material stuff is paraded in front of us. This means that it is the season when a lot of people start lamenting how commercial the whole thing has gotten, what a racket it all is, and so forth.

Now when someone is abased, hungry, and suffering need, the carnal response is to drive toward abundance. If only I had more, if only I could get out of this place, if only . . .

But by the same token, when someone is abounding, is full, and has both hands full, there is a strong temptation (and it is a temptation) to drive toward some kind of minimalism. If only we could simplify. If only we could off-load some of these responsibilities . . .

The directive given to us in this passage is that we are not to try to fix our discontents with stuff, whether by accumulating more of it, or unloading all of it. You can’t fix the problem by getting more money, and you can’t fix the problem by getting less of it either. We are charged to drive toward contentment, which is not determined by how much money is in the bank. Rather, it is a matter of how much trust is in the heart.

HOW FAITH HANDLES THIS WORLD

Faith knows how to play it as it lays. There are those who tell us that the true Christians are the ones who scarcely have a dime to their name, while others tell us that the health and wealth message means that God wants you to have loads of stuff. The Scriptures are not so simplistic.

“And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets: Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again [remarkable tone shift here]: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth” (Heb. 11:32–38).

The Bible teaches us that when the godly win, they win by faith. The Scriptures teach us that when the godly lose, they lose by faith, thereby winning something much greater. The real winners are not those who have millions. Nor are the winners those who have a measly mite. God’s champions are those who have true contentment.

WHAT OUR TEMPTATIONS ARE LIKELY TO BE

C. S. Lewis once said that when confronted with a flood, we break out the fire extinguishers. We tend to resist the temptations we were least likely to succumb to anyhow. For this congregation, what are our temptations likely to be over the coming generation? We do not know this sort of thing for certain, but my strong suspicion is that we are going to face the temptations that come with being a hard-working and wealthy community. And the Scriptures have a great deal to say about that.

And as Christmas is the time of year when a lot of stuff passes through a lot of hands, we should use this annual boot camp time as a live fire exercise. We are handling the goods. We give a lot away, and we receive a lot. Learn how to do it. This is like a catechism class. These are your exercises. Embrace them.

CULTIVATING CONTENTMENT

Remember that we noted earlier that we are to drive toward contentment, and we are to do it with what we currently have. We must not think that my contentment would magically arrive if only. Banish those words if only.

“Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee: And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever. Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things; Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee” (Deut. 28:45–48).

There are two stages here, two things to do. Hearken to the voice of the Lord your God. Obey His commandments. Put away the porn. Stop complaining. Work hard. Love your family. Husband your resources. That is the first thing. And the second is this. Rejoice. Celebrate. Set the table. Why did severe judgment fall upon Israel? Because they did not worship the LORD their God with joy, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything.

Christmas is coming. Throw yourself into it.

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