O Praise the Name (Anástasis)

This Sunday at Grace was a great time of worship.  In Discipleship Class we talked about Galatians 3:1-14.  In the sermon we talked about Esther chapters 1 and 2 and learned to have God's eyes and not Xerxes' eyes.  We had tremendous Gospel centered music, Scriptures read that proclaimed the goodness and holiness of God and just a sweet time of corporate worship.  And on top of all that Christine's uncle Jerry from Missouri surprised us by joining us at church.

The song below was my favorite from our musical worship.  The song "O Praise the Name (Anástasis)" does a fantastic job of retelling the Gospel story.  Anástasis, by the way, is the plural of the word meaning to recover from a debilitating condition and experience rebirth.  Please take time to listen to it and pay close attention to the words today.

Fear That Stiffens Spines

I'm reading through the book of Mark with two guys at Wartburg.  The chapter we're going over for next week is chapter 15.  This chapter is about the trial, mocking, beating and crucifixion of Jesus.

One line jumped out to me as I read it today.

"Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them.  He had Jesus flogged, and handed Him over to be crucified."  Mark 15:15

"Wanting to satisfy the crowd."

See, Pilate was not convinced of Jesus' guilt; in fact, he was convinced of his innocence.  The elders, chief priest and teachers of the law brought Jesus to Pilate to be tried and put to death.  The only reason that Pilate would be involved in this sort of matter was to keep peace in his region.  Historical records tell us that Pilate had been warned about other uprisings that happened in the region.  So, Pilate was on high alert regarding uprisings and was, perhaps, afraid of Rome taking away his position. 

But Pilate was a fairly wise ruler.  Pilate offered up Barabbas and Jesus and asked which of them the people wanted released.  Some of us have been taught that Barabbas was seen as a low-down horrible murderer, but this simply isn't true.  Barabbas was a murderer as an insurrectionist.  Barabbaas murdered while part of an uprising against Rome.  Barabbas was to many a hero.  What Pilate did was shrewd.  The leaders claimed to be afraid of Jesus leading a rebellion for His Kingdom against Rome, so Pilate offered them a known rebel against Rome.  In choosing Barabbas the chief priests, elders and teachers of the law were showing their cards.  They didn't care about the people getting hurt in a rebellion.  No, they were not righteous worriers but instead they were jealous murderers.

Pilate showed shrewd wisdom but in the next moment he displayed cowardice.  Pilate gave in to the leaders of the people not because he was convinced of facts but because of the pressure of the crowd.  Pilate became an accomplice in the most egregious murder of all time because he wanted to satisfy the crowd.

How often have I caved in not out of knowledge or wisdom but out of my want to satisfy the crowd?

Fear the LORD.  This is the answer to my problem of people pleasing and your answer to it as well.  When I cave in to peer pressure I announce through my action that I fear people more than the Author of Truth. 

Fear the LORD.  Much of our cowardice can be remedied by a magnification of God in our hearts and minds.  If I rightly thought of God I would be unable to follow anyone else.  If I saw in my mind's eye Christ more closely as glorious as He really is then why would I fear any other?

Stiffen your spine through a healthy dose of fear.  Gaining a more proper awe of and more elevated view of God's holiness will embolden us in all circumstances.  Pilate gave in to satisfy the crowd, but when one sees God as He is he can only ever want to satisfy God.

Fear the LORD and lose all ability to fear anything else today.

Papa's Prayers

I really appreciate my grandpa's prayers.  I don't mean the prayers he prays for me, though I'm sure he does that, but I mean that I love listening to him pray.  I don't remember if he's always prayed this way but the way he prays is so good and so uplifting to me.

"We thank you and praise you for who you are."

This is one of the phrases that my grandpa, my Papa, uses a lot in his prayers.  This phrase is so good.  He often uses this phrase and then recounts attributes of God.  I'm not sure it's his intent to teach as he prays but I think he does and I hope people listen.  One of Papa's main source of praises is who God is.

Who God is must always be a bedrock of our praise and of our faith and therefore of our prayers.

"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty;
the whole earth is full of His glory."  Isaiah 6:3b

The prophet Isaiah tells us that in God's throne room are seraphim (angels) with six wings that praise God with the words above. 

And John says:

"Day and night they never stop saying:

Holy, holy holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come."  Revelation 4:8b

"You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being."  Revelation 4:11

In Heaven right now there is praise for God simply because of who He is.  Why should our prayers be any different?  Papa prays like this and it is a proclamation of the One trusts.

My grandpa also often recounts the salvation story in his prayers.  The last time we were with him and he prayed I listened closely as he spoke of Jesus' death and resurrection for us.  My grandpa praises God for what He has done on the cross.  In your prayer life rehearse the Gospel story because it will enrich your prayer time.

My grandpa's prayers have been a teaching tool to me and I know they have been a source of teaching to him as well.  Prayer is a way in which we preach to our own soul.  Recounting the Gospel story and declaring the good attributes of God (and all of them are good) grows our soul's muscles to trust in times of testing.

My grandma died at a younger age than I ever expected her to die.  Her funeral was a sad time for the family, to say the least.  I will never forget being at her visitation and standing next to her body with my wife and Papa.  There we were looking at her cold, lifeless body knowing it was empty of her soul for now.  The gravity of the knowledge of death that touching your loved one's body brings is heavy. 

As the three of us stood next to her body my grandpa turned our way and said with tears in his eyes, "He answered my prayers.  He healed her."

Yes, Jesus healed my grandma.  There is no more pain or suffering or shortness of breath in her today nor will there ever be.  Jesus healed my grandma even though it's not exactly the way I would have wanted or my grandpa wanted. 

In that sadness I was deeply encouraged by my grandpa's faith.  And I'm sure that time spent talking with his Savior and recounting His goodness and His attributes strengthened his faith to be able to rise to the occasion, even if that circumstance was the loss of his dear wife.

Do you recount the attributes of God in your prayers?  Do you rehearse the Gospel story in your prayers?  If not, I ask you to take the example of my grandpa to heart and put it into practice because it will bless you in the good times and in the times when we're led into the valley of the shadow of death.

Try praying like my grandpa today.

Our Father: A Sermon Jam

The last several days I wrote a handful of posts about The Lord's Prayer.  I also am teaching a series on The Lord's Prayer with the youth group.  Last night I taught about the phrase "Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name."

We talked last night about how the "who" of prayer is much more important than the "how" of prayer.  Not that how is unimportant, because why else would our Lord teach us how to pray if it wasn't, but the who of prayer is of upmost importance.

Last night I used a Francis Chan sermon jam in the lesson.  I highly encourage you to watch it today.

Billy Graham Dead at 99

This morning I learned that the most prolific evangelist of all time Billy Graham died in his home.  He was 99.

Billy Graham's death is not a sad time because he was a man that lived out the Great Commission with all vigor.  Today he is in the presence of his Lord and Savior and I'm willing to bet that he was greeted by the phrase, "Well done good and faithful servant.  Come and share in your master's happiness."

When I heard of his death I couldn't help but wonder if he was met in Heaven by the thousands, if not millions, that he introduced to Jesus as their Savior who were this morning excited to introduce him face to face to Jesus.  I wondered what sort of glory he saw this morning and what sort of glory awaits me on the other side of my last breath.

Billy is a man that I admired greatly.  He was a man that focused on the Gospel and on the mission that Christ had given him.  He was not a perfect man but he strived for Godly character and a reputation worthy of his calling.  He is a man worthy of imitation.

I leave you with some of the best Billy Graham quotes below today:

"Someday you will read or hear that Billy Graham is dead.  Don't believe a word of it.  I shall be more alive than I am now.  I will just have changed my address.  I will have gone into the presence of God."

"I haven't written my own epitaph, and I'm not sure I should.  Whatever it is, I hope it will be simple, and that it will point people not to me, but to the One I served."

"The most thrilling thing about Heaven is that Jesus Christ will be there.  I will see Him face to face.  Jesus Christ will meet us at the end of life's journey."

"Heaven doesn't make this life less important; it makes it more important."

"I am not going to Heaven not because I have preached to great crowds or read the Bible many times.  I'm going to Heaven just like the thief on the cross who said in that last moment: 'Lord remember me."

"The greatest legacy one can pass on to one's children and grandchildren is not money or other material things accumulated in one's life, but rather a legacy of character and faith."

"The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us."

"It is God's job to judge, the Spirit's job to convict, and our job to love."

"I have never known anyone to accept Christ's redemption and later regret it."

"God proved His love on the cross.  When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, 'I love you."

"Mountaintops are for views and inspiration, but fruit is grown in the valleys."

"A real Christian is the one who can give his pet parrot to the town gossip."

Our Holy Father

For four days on this blog I've spent time looking at and thinking about The Lord's Prayer.  We've look at the phrases: "your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven", "Give us today our daily bread", "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors" and "And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."  Today I want to focus on the opening line of Jesus' prayer as recorded in the book of Matthew.

"Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be your name," Matthew 6:9b

The most important thing about Christian prayer is to whom we pray.  Obviously what we pray is important or Jesus would not have taught His disciples how to pray and that prayer wouldn't have been recorded for us.  But to whom we pray is of upmost importance.

Remember the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal?  In 1 King 18:16-39 Elijah had a competition with the prophets of Baal.  They both put a bull on the altar and prayed for fire to come from Heaven and consume their bull.  The prophets of Baal went first and they yelled and prayed and danced from morning to noon.  Nothing happened and Elijah taunted them by saying maybe Baal was busy or sleeping or something else.  So the prophets shouted louder and cut themselves with spears and swords until the afternoon and even into the evening.  Nothing happened.  Then Elijah's turn was up and he made the competition harder on himself by dumping water on his bull. 

Then Elijah prayed one short prayer and fire from God fell from the sky and burned up the bull, the wood, the stones, the soil and evaporated the water that was drenched on all of it.

See, long prayers and fastings and dancing and even hurting oneself did nothing for the prophets of Baal.  The most powerful part of prayer is the one to whom we pray.

So, who does Jesus say that we pray to?

"Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be your name,"

Jesus says that the God of Heaven, the one true God is to whom we pray.  The most excellent part of any prayer is the destination of the prayer, the one on the other side of the line not the words said or the length of the prayer.

Also, Jesus teaches us that God, the One we pray to, is both hallowed and Father.

God is hallowed.  He is holy, holy, holy.  God is so other from us and all that exists in the universe.  There is an immense gap between all that we add up to and the infinitude of all that is good that is our great God.  Proverbs 1:7 says, "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge."  We must always begin with the fear of the Lord.  The prayer that Jesus taught us forces us to reckon with and remember the holiness of God.  When we pray we must have a magnified view of God.

God is Father.  This hallowed being is our Father.  God is not simply great, and He is beyond great; He is someone with whom we can have a Father-son or Father-daughter relationship.  We can approach God in prayer like we would approach the best of earthly dads.  We can come to God the way that my son comes to me with arms up begging to be held.  We can come to God without fear of harm knowing that He, as a good Father, wants what is best for us.

Our Holy Awesome Father is both capable to do what we need and willing to do what we need.  Good fathers don't always give what we ask for but good fathers have their child's best interest at heart. 

It is easy to get lost on either side of this coin.  We can be so struck by the holiness of God that we disbelieve a personal, intimate relationship with Him is possible or we can be so focused on the accessibility we have to our Father that we forget the magnitude of His holiness.  We must do neither and that, at least in part, is why Jesus teaches us to pray like this.

"Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one" today.

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

"When tempted, no one should say, 'God is tempting me.'  For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.  Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death."  James 1:13-15

"And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."  Matthew 6:13

Why on earth does Jesus teach us to pray about a situation that James tells us is impossible?  Why, if God cannot tempt, does Jesus teach us to pray that God not lead us into temptation?  Is Pope Francis right in saying that this prayer's wording should be changed?

Well, Matthew records that Jesus was lead into the wilderness to be tempted.

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."  Matthew 4:1

I don't believe that the Bible can contradict itself and I don't believe that is happening here.  There is some nuance in this passage, I believe.  God may lead us into places of testing where tempting may be present but He Himself is not the tempter.

"Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me."  Psalm 23:4

Following God closely may illicit a war of temptation from the evil one.  The Devil will not like it if you are following God closely.  My football coach used to say, "If you ain't getting blocked you're going the wrong way."

When we are the Shepherd's sheep the Wolf will come looking for us, especially if we are making a difference for the Kingdom.  What we pray is that God will lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, through the perils of sinful temptation and not let us go into temptation.

In the war for the Kingdom we may need to go through enemy lines.  Our prayer is that temptation would not grip us, but that instead we would pass through.  This is not license to live foolishly and rush into tempting situations claiming that God will keep you from temptation.  No, this is an invitation to follow Jesus even into hard places where the temptation to quit, the temptation to abandon the faith is shot at you like a fiery dart by Satan and to keep following King Jesus all while praying that He delivers you from Satan and all his doomed schemes.

Following Christ is not an easy task.  We must pray for the protection and the ability to pass through seasons and situations where temptation rears its head.

"And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one" today.