The Prayers of St. Paul – Part 3

In my last two posts I have been discussing the Prayers of St. Paul with specific regard to that which St. Augustine called the problem of our sin “Incurvatus in se.” This phrase translates as being curved in on ourselves. We live for ourselves, our lives are curved inward as opposed to the life God intended for us, which is life lived with an outward focus. A good test of whether our prayer live is turned in on ourselves is to compare our prayers with the prayers of St. Paul.

Paul’s prayer for this post comes from Ephesians 1: “I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power.” Ephesians 1: 15-19 (NRSV)

Much of our knowledge of what it means to be a Christian comes through our intellectual knowledge. Just as Paul prayed, the eyes of our hearts must be opened if we are to receive all that God has for us. Many Christians have a hard time with this and suffer with spiritual poverty. Their understanding of the Christian life is too limited and thus they miss an Encounter with the Living God. Maybe this old tale will help make this point.

In the 1930’s, during the Great Depression, Mr. Yates owned some land in Texas. However, because of the depression he was very poor – living in poverty and struggling just to feed his family. He was about to lose his land because he was unable to pay the taxes on it. Then an oil company approached him and said they believed there might be oil under his land. The oil company offered Mr. Yates a contract to allow them to drill for oil. He signed the contract and in a short time the company struck the biggest oil deposit discovered up until that time on North America. Overnight Mr. Yates became a billionaire. Or did he? The oil was there all the time.

Like Mr. Yates, many Christians just do not understand what God has done for them, and thus they live in spiritual poverty. In Christian bookstores there are as many “self help” books encouraging Christians to change their lives as there are in the secular bookstores. God does not call us to change our life. He calls us to Exchange our life. The Christian life is not a self-improvement program – it is about New Life in Christ. It is expressed in the terms of a total change in identity. The Christians in the Middle Ages understood this. When a person came for baptism they were given a new name – usually from the Bible – and thus came the tradition of referring to your first name as your Christian Name.

Jesus Christ identified Himself with us in his death in order that we might be identified with Him in His resurrection, and thus an Exchange takes place. We give God all that we are, -- spiritually dead, guilty sinners and Christ gives us all that He is. As I have noted on these posts before, the bed rock of the Christian life is in understanding that as a Christian what is true for Jesus is true for us as well. Jesus is the beloved child of God, with whom God is well pleased and upon whom God’s favor rests. So also for the followers of Jesus.

In this new identity Christ becomes our life. Because Christ is our life, God, our Father, declares that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. He further attests that this righteousness, since it was given to us as a gift, is not based on our behavior. We are not his righteousness or new creation because of what we did, or we are doing, or what we have refrained from doing. Rather it is because of what He has done in uniting us to Christ in death, burial, resurrection, and enthronement.

When we know who we are in Christ and we live out of that identity we are living the Christ life. The distinguishing characteristic of the Christ Life is that Jesus lives his life outwardly – he lived to be a blessing to others.

Live outwardly.

Selah,

Alex

The Prayers of St. Paul – Part 2

Christmas Eve.

In my last post I noted that St. Augustine called the problem of our sin “Incurvatus in se,” which basically translates as curved in on ourselves. We live for ourselves, our lives are curved inward as opposed to the life God intended for us, which is life lived with an outward focus.

I thought about that today as I was reflecting on our Christmas Eve Candle Light Service. Our Choir Anthem is “Do You Hear What I Hear?” The truth is 99% of the people in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago did not notice anything unusual. Foreigners noticed the Star in the sky, but the people of God, for whom the Star was a sign of the coming of their Messiah, did not notice. Some of the shepherds out in the fields noticed and went into town to see what was happening. Others didn’t notice anything. People from outside of Bethlehem noticed and came to town. Those in Bethlehem apparently didn’t notice anything unusual. They were too preoccupied with self to notice and offer assistance.

In this series we are looking at the prayers of St. Paul to guide us into a better understanding of our own prayer life. Do our prayers curve in to ourselves, or out to others.

The second of Paul’s prayer we’ll look at is in 2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 (NLT)

^“3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. ⁴ He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”

Are we looking to God as our comfort? When we received His comfort, are we seeking out others with whom we can share God’s comfort? This thought reminds me of a line in a benediction I like to use at weddings. As I pray a blessing over the newlyweds I say, “Bear witness to the love of God in this world so that those to whom God is a stranger will find in you generous friends.”

Live outwardly.

Selah,

Alex

The Prayers of St. Paul - Part One

The Prayers of St. Paul

For several months I have been thinking about prayer. I believe that prayer is the most misunderstood aspect of the Christian life.

On the one hand it is the one thing that Christians talk about the most. Christians are either asking for prayer or are promising to pray for others. Yet, if we are honest, I believe we have to admit that we see little evidence of answered prayers in the life of the church. Why?

I suspect the answer may be found in James 4:3 “And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.” (NLT)

James’ point is what St. Augustine called “Incurvatus in se,” which basically translates as curved in on ourselves. Augustine was trying to explain exactly what produces sin. He came up with incurvatus in se as a way of saying that we are essentially ego centric or self-centered. We live for ourselves, our lives are curved inward as opposed to the life God intended for us, which is life lived with an outward focus.

So, using Paul as an example, let’s look at his prayers and compare them to our own. Let’s see if Paul’s prayers are curving in or out. Then begin to listen to your own prayers, and to the prayer requests you receive. Are those requests curving in or out?

The first of Paul’s prayer we’ll look at is in Romans 15: 5-6, 13 (NLT)

“May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Selah,

Alex

Don't Give Up

A woman told the story on herself of the rainy day when she was stopped in the Yield lane trying to get onto I-4 in busy downtown Orlando. She heard a tap on her window and rolled it down. An angry man yelled, “For crying out loud lady, the sign says ‘Yield” not give up.”

We all have had experiences where we seem to lose hope of making it through the rainy days in our lives. While we may well have to Yield to the unavoidable circumstances of life, we never have to give up.

The Apostle Paul told his friends that he had learned he could do all things through the power of Jesus that strengthen him from within. And, Jesus said we would be amazed at the things we can do through faith, even faith as tiny as a mustard seed.

Maybe today is a good day to thank God for the faith that is helping you through life when things are going well and also to ask God to strengthen your faith when the difficult days of life come.

Faith Working in Love

Dr. Charles Allen, a preacher from Houston, Texas, shared, tongue in cheek, this survey about his church:

10% of the members cannot be found;

20% -- never attend;

25% -- never pray;

35% -- never read the Bible;

40% -- never give financially to the church;

70% -- never attend Sunday Evening Service;

75% -- never assume any church task;

85% -- never invite anyone to church;

95% -- never win a soul to Jesus;
100% -- expect to go to Heaven!

Dr. Allen’s survey reminds me of the story of the man who took a walk to eat his lunch. He strolled through a park and purchased a hot dog and a soft drink. As he walked, enjoying the view, two different street people approached him one by one. Each asked, "Can you help me, I am hungry?" Each time the man looked straight ahead and kept walking. After finishing his lunch he stopped and bought a chocolate éclair for dessert. As he was about to take the first bite, he was forced to jump out of the way as a young boy raced down the sidewalk on his skateboard. The éclair went flying and landed on the ground. The man picked it up and tried to clean it off, but it was no use. It was now a dirty éclair. Before discarding it, however, he had an idea. He strolled over to one of the beggars who had approached him and handing the man the éclair said, "Here you are my good man. This is something for your hunger." The man walked away smiling and returned to his office.

That night the man had a dream. He was sitting in a large and crowded cafe. Waitresses were scurrying about bringing customers delicious cakes and tortes. All the waitresses ignored the businessman, even though he was waving his hands at them continually. Finally he caught the eye of a young woman and asked for something to eat. She returned a few minutes later with a dirty piece of pastry. The man was outraged. "You can't treat me this way. I have a right to be served like all the others. I expect good service and food for my money." "You don't seem to understand," the waitress responded kindly. "You can't buy anything here. We don't accept money. You have just arrived in heaven and all you can order here is what you sent ahead while on earth. I just checked the records and the only thing we have for you is this dirty éclair."

Selah,
Alex

Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals

Gods and Generals is an historical novel by Jeff Shaara about the first few years of the Civil War. One particular passage in the book is quite compelling. Some time after the Battle of Manassas (Bull Run) where General Thomas Jackson is given the name “Stonewall Jackson” one of his aides is asking him how he could remain so serene during the battle. Jackson’s reply was he faith taught him to know he was as safe lying in bed as when he was doing his duty – he entrusted his life into the Hands of God. As a military officer Jackson’s life verse was:
Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed,
we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven,
not built by human hands. (2 Corinthians 5:1)

Throughout the book one is impressed with the deep faith of men like Generals Lee & Jackson of Virginia as well as Joshua Chamberlain of Maine.

How is it that with people of such faith they were drawn to resolve their difference through war? Remember the magnitude of the Civil War war. In our present war we learn of a few casualties on a daily basis:
In three days at Gettysburg there were twenty-three thousand casualties;
In two days at Shiloh, a battle that proved nothing, there were twenty-three thousand casualties;
In ONE DAY at Antietam there were twenty-four thousand casualties.
In just three battles over six days more than seventy thousand casualties.

I do realize that looking back at circumstances is all together different than living in our present circumstance. Even so, I am convinced that our only hope to not repeat the mistakes of the past is living the life in Christ.

It seems to me that the faith of the Generals was centered on the sovereignty of God. I agree that God is sovereign over all. However, the Apostle Paul says that it is at the name of Jesus that every knee will bend and every tongue will confess that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father. Paul said that “. . . in him (Christ) we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28)

I believe that a passion to live the Life in Christ will lead us to rightly order our lives to live to know Christ; to come to Him to celebrate His glory (not just to make our life better;) to trust His provision; to expect to become like Jesus; and to always affirm Thy will be done.

Selah,
Alex

The Simplicity of the Gospel of Grace

When I was attending a preaching conference earlier this year United Methodist Bishop Will Willimon was remembering a conversation he had while he was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He said he had been lamenting that despite all that he had tried, he could not increase student attendance at Chapel Services. One of his colleagues told him, “Will, you have to remember that Duke is an exclusive private university and the kids that come here are very smart – that’s why they don’t go to chapel.”

Bishop Willimon said he started to feel the sting of that comment until his friend continued, “They are smart enough to know that if they started to attend Chapel Services they would need to change they way they were living.”

I recalled Bishop Willimon’s comments this week as I thought about the simplicity of the Gospel of Grace. The essence of the new life in Christ the Apostle Paul continually affirms is quite simple. Dr. Larry Crabb in his book, The Pressure’s Off, summarized it by setting forth the foundational principals of life in Christ:

Core Passion: I live to know Christ
Core Experience: I come to Him to celebrate His glory
Core Strategy: I will trust His provision
Core Hope: I expect to become like Jesus
Core Attitude: Thy will be done

Admittedly, putting those principals into daily living is difficult because they are clearly counter cultural. There is much to ‘un-learn’ to make room for the new way of living. But, as G. K. Chesterton noted, "The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and left untried."
There’s the rub. For so many people it is not that they do not believe the Gospel message; it is that they do not want to believe it. They don’t need Bonhoeffer to tell them about cheap grace and the cost of discipleship. Intuitively, they know they would have to change the way they are living and they are not ready to do that.

Hopefully, prayerfully, there will be a remnant living the Life in Christ when they have ears to hear.

Selah,

Alex