Why Pray?

One person describes prayer as a learning experience. He loved listening to an orchestra on the radio so he bought a violin with the intention of playing along with it. At first his ‘music’ was screechy and off key. However, with practice he was able to play in harmony with the music. He said prayer is like that; it is the way we learn the will of God. 

That said, some might argue why bother praying then, for the music will continue whether I pray for it or not. To me, this is missing the point. Prayer is conversation with the Lord and if I don’t pray, eventually I don’t hear the music. In other words, I do not sense what God is doing and may even not recognize that He is taking care of me. I become oblivious to His goodness.

A small example. In our new house there is a stairway with a midway landing. The wall on one side of it is high, but was a perfect place to hang a painting we own. No way could we put a ladder on the stair steps to do it and I did not pray for a solution. But God knew what to do. A window treatment sales person heard me wonder about that problem and said, “I am a fireman. I can do ladders and hang it for you.” And he did.

No doubt in my mind that was a God-thing. Just because I didn’t ask does not mean He ceased His music. However, because I do ask for many things, I know what He sounds like, at least for some things.

Piper thinks differently. He gives this example: Jesus promised with absolute certainty, that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations; and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14). In other words, the great commission will be completed. There is no doubt. Yet Jesus commanded us to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19) and to “pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers” (Matthew 9:38).

Piper says this means is that God appoints prayer as the means of finishing a mission that he has promised will certainly be finished. Therefore we pray, not because the outcome is uncertain, but because God has promised and cannot fail. Our prayers are the means God has appointed to do what he most certainly will do—finish the great commission and establish his kingdom. Then he says “Those who pray for the kingdom to come will receive the kingdom, but those who don’t love the kingdom and the appearing of the Lord probably will not bother themselves with this prayer. 

Piper goes on to Paul’s ominous words in 2 Timothy 4:8: ‘In the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.’ And he says to love the appearing of the Lord (that is, not to pray passionately, ‘Thy kingdom come’) means that some will not receive the crown of righteousness.”

If he means those who are saved will be praying, then I agree. That is, if a person never talks to God, then they are not in a saving relationship with Him. If he means our salvation depends on passionate prayer, then I disagree. I cannot earn it or keep it by my efforts. The NT descriptions of how Christians should live should not be used as threats. God saves me apart from works, and God works in me to do His will.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)

PRAY: Jesus, knowing You care about even the little details of life convinces me that the bigger ones are also under Your care. Your promises cover almost everything I pray about, often specifically and sometimes as a surprise for a need that I didn’t pray about. Your mercy and grace show me that even when I fail to pray, You are at work. My actions or inactions cannot nullify or limit Your will, nor are You a puppet and I hold the strings. That would be terrible. As Psalm 16:2 says, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.” Whether I am striking a triangle or playing a tuba, You are still the orchestra leader. 

By grace through faith!

The Bible says salvation is by grace through faith. Both are gifts from God. Faith is easier to define, grace not so much. Some say it is a “free gift” which is redundant — all gifts are free. Some say it is God’s riches at Christ’s expense. That describes the motivation and what Jesus did, but falls short in describing what happens at salvation.

One definition sticks in my mind. I cannot quote it exactly and haven’t seen it often, but it fits with my experience of grace both in salvation and in walking with the Lord. This definition says that grace is a personal revelation of Jesus Christ that changes our lives to become like His. This is the reason why we cannot save ourselves. God must do it and He does it by allowing us to see what we will become through faith in Jesus.

“(God) who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began . . . .”  (2 Timothy 1:9)

It is true that humans become like that which they focus on. We’ve seen funny photos of husbands and wives who have picked up each other’s mannerisms and expressions, even dog owners and their dogs. My children picked up the local accents of their friends in the places we lived. When I spend time with my friends, I talk like them afterward, at least for a day or two. Imagine being given a good look at the Son of God — and God continuing to give that vision. Add to that His entrance into your very heart and life and this is grace. As the song writer says, it is amazing grace.

Of course, there are theological explanations of how grace works, and why it had to happen. Grace is God’s solution for sin. Sin blinds the mind to God because sin separates us from Him. The Bible says we are “dead in sin” much the same as physical death separates us from everything else. A dead man cannot see anything.

This passage describes this issue, but needs to be read several times to get the gist of it. Note how the writer used the redundancy of “free gift” to put great emphasis on God’s grace:

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned — for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 5:12–21)

Can it be said in a simple way? I’ll try. Adam sinned by disobeying God. That sin nature was passed down to his offspring and to every person born. This sin means separation from God and spiritual death. That is, no one can see God or obey Him. We are dead in sin and our capacity for God was lost because of sin. Out sin was not the same as Adam’s and expresses itself in other ways, but because of it, we cannot please God.

However, God did not wash His hands of us. He promised a Savior (see Genesis 3) and told His people to trust Him to bring that Savior. By grace, Jesus came, God’s gracious revelation of Himself to us. By His obedience in taking the punishment for sin upon Himself, we are justified; sin no longer has any power to hold us in blindness to God and in the deadly grip of sin.

This gift needs to be received, just as any gift. If I hold out a Christmas present to someone and they cross their arms and refuse it, they do not get that gift. It is there for them, but they must take it. God’s gift of forgiveness must be received for us to be set free and to have His righteousness and eternal life imputed to us.

^^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, there is nothing more to say than thank You. You are my righteousness and my life. Because of grace, I am set free to love and follow You.

Who or what saves me?

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31–36)

In today’s devotional reading, Chambers differentiates between the Savior and the Son, who happen to be the same person. He says one saves us from sin and the other saves us from our “individuality” or propensity to “do” apart from faith in Christ. He says that God delivers us from sin and we have to deliver ourselves from individuality by “presenting our natural life to God” and sacrificing it until it is transformed by our obedience. He also says God will not discipline us; we must do it ourselves.

In other words, the Savior saves me from sin’s penalty and I must save myself from sin’s power? I strongly disagree. If I could do that, once I became a Christian I would no longer need Jesus. Even in the above passage, Jesus said that I need to abide in His Word and by knowing the truth I am set free. He identifies those who do not abide in the Word and who practice sin are slaves to sin that can only be set free from that sin by the Son of God. His role is Savior, not a man wearing different hats.

That said, my experience with my “natural life” is this: I’ve struggled for many years with wandering thoughts, the example Chambers uses and says I must simply stop it and get set free from my “individuality” and become the free “personality” that God created me to be. However, in my struggle with this, the only freedom I received was by saying to God, “Lord, You are the Savior; I am not. Save me” and repeat, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

In great grace, the Son of God and my Savior set me free from the thought problems I was having. Yes, obedience was involved, but without relying totally on Him to save me, I could not do it no matter how much I wanted to or tried. I cannot save myself from anything, nor can I obey God apart from the power of the Holy Spirit at work in me.

Chambers says, “If there is any remnant of individual conceit left, it always says—‘I can’t.’ Personality never says—‘I can’t,’ but simply absorbs and absorbs. Personality always wants more and more. It is the way we are built. We are designed with a great capacity for God; and sin and our individuality are the things that keep us from getting at God.”

Is what he calls ‘individuality’ what the Bible calls our sin nature? I’m not certain why Chambers uses these terms. I do know that God saves me from that old nature by putting it to death. I have been crucified with Christ. The Bible tells me to reckon myself dead to sin and alive to God. I am to put on the new nature and rejoice that I am a new creation.

As for what Chambers calls ‘personality’ the Bible says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20) I am a new creation, His workmanship, set free by the blood of Christ to live for God instead of for me.

Colossians 2:6-7 says, “Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.” 

I received Christ by admitting that “I can’t do it” and He came in to deliver me. I am supposed to walk in that same way, always aware that Jesus the Son of God is my Savior from sin. I need Him, I need to abide in Him, because I can’t even obey Him apart from His gracious saving power.

How God saves . . .

Today’s devotional reading from Chambers’ book, “My Utmost for His Highest” is deep and profound. Some might respond to it by saying this is the notion of Calvinists, but it is true to the Scriptures and to the belief of millions. It leaves me with nothing more to say than ‘amen’ and to rewrite it slightly so it is personal, including those verses that Chambers used.

God shows his love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. Since, therefore, I have now been justified by his blood, much more shall I be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while I was an enemy I was reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that I am reconciled, shall I be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8–10)

Martin Luther said we have everything we need — except the faith to believe it. I thank God for what Chambers says, “I am not saved by believing; I realize I am saved by believing.”

Repentance did not save me; repentance is the sign that I realize what God has done in Christ Jesus. I cannot put the emphasis on the effect instead of on the cause. It is not my obedience that puts me right with God or my consecration, or anything else I have done.

I am put right with God because prior to even being born, Christ died. When I turned to God and by faith accepted what God revealed that I can accept, the stupendous Atonement of Jesus Christ instantly rushed me into a right relationship with God. Then, by the supernatural miracle of God’s grace, I stood justified.

This did not happen because of my sorrow for sin, or because I repented, but because of what Jesus has done. The spirit of God brought this reality into my mind and heart with light — literally. I know, though I do not know how, that I am saved. As a friend said, it takes an instant to become a child of God, and then you will spend the rest of your life trying to figure out what happened!

This amazing salvation of God does not stand on human logic or rationale. It stands on the sacrificial death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I was born again because of what He has done, changed into a new creation by the marvelous work of God in Christ Jesus, prior to all experience.

The impregnable safety of justification and sanctification is God Himself. I do not have to work out these things myself. For one thing, that is impossible. My salvation is worked out by the Atonement and in it the supernatural becomes natural by the miracle of God — who caused me to realize what Jesus Christ has already done — and filled my heart with the faith needed to believe that, “It is finished.”

As Luther said, I have everything in Christ — and because of God’s grace, I also have the faith to believe it!

Innocence?

Genesis 3–5, Luke 18:17, Romans 16:19, Philippians 2:15, Revelation 12:10-11

One of our family members questions why people choose evil. She rejects sin as the reason because that diagnosis comes from the Bible, and in her mind, the Bible is irrelevant. However, after considering all the options, God’s Word is the most rational (even though sin is not rational at all).

Genesis describes how sin entered our world, but the focus is more on the consequences. The list is long. It includes such things as hiding from God in shame and in fear. When the Lord called, “Where are you?” Adam said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”

As God questioned him, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the woman. Sin makes us shift the blame and less likely to take responsibility for our actions.

God asked the woman about what she had done. She answered, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:8–13) Sin brings a sense of guilt, but this also points to the deception that is at the root of it. Every time we sin, it is the result of believing a lie.

Sin leads to death. In Eden, it started the process of physical death, but it also separates humanity from God which is spiritual death. It also resulted in the death of an animal when God made garments of skin to cover Adam and his wife. This became a visual aid pointing to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God at Calvary.

Sin also introduced human effort to please God. Cain offered the results of his labor instead of what God asked for. This typifies the core of all religions that teach we must earn God’s favor rather than accept His salvation by faith.

Eve was lured by the idea that she would be more like God, but she was already made in His image. Instead, sin gave her a knowledge of good and evil, soon to be experienced when one of her sons murdered the other one.

Another consequence was the resistance of the earth in human efforts to make a living. God told both Eve and Cain that sin’s desire is for us (to own us), yet also against us (to harm us). But we are to rule over it. (Genesis 4:7) Thus began the battle between our desire to do the will of God, and the conflicting desire to do whatever we please.

There are more consequences of sin, but today I’m thinking about lost innocence. Because of sin, I cannot imagine pure innocence, pure ignorance of good vs. evil. Perhaps a baby might know it better, but even a child is self-centered and wants what it wants.

When Jesus said, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it,” (Luke 18:17) was He referring to the relative innocence of a child? Or was He talking about the transformation that happens to those who experience the new birth, the regeneration and new life that comes to all who put their faith in Jesus Christ? Could it be that a Christian ought to experience at least a taste of what it would be like to not know sin, to be innocent?

Another NT verse says God wants His people “to be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (Romans 16:19). We are not to grumble or quarrel that we might be “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15)

I cannot imagine being completely innocent, not so much in the sense of never doing anything wrong, but being like a child who is oblivious to bad stuff. Now that sin is here, I can only cling to the faith that Eve abandoned. I must affirm what God says, and continually remind myself that His standards are not intended to deny me pleasure but to protect me from harm. I cannot allow that serpent to dupe me into assuming God does not love me and sin will have no consequences.

The Bible refers to the spiritual battle Christians fight, but Revelation 12:10-11 tells me how to win it. I need to remember that “the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down.” He is already defeated, even though he still works day and night to accuse me before God, and try to convince me that God does not want the best for me. His lies are designed to draw me away from the truth and into sin. He promises all sorts of desirable things, but God says he has been conquered by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of my testimony, and by being willing to die for what I believe.

Total innocence will not be experienced in this life, but Jesus has defeated the power of sin. He lived a perfect life for me. He died to pay sin’s price for me. He defeated sin and death for me. Because of Jesus, one day I will stand before Him in totally innocence.