If God Is Always Present, Why Pray for His Presence?

Do we need to offer prayers which invoke God's presence, asking him to be present when he already is?

This touches on a pretty interesting dynamic actually when it comes to discipleship, sanctification, and living by faith.  We have all the blessings in the heavenly places in Christ, so why do we pray for God to bless us?  I’ve been thinking about this concept and how we communicate it in ministry for 18 years. 

Easiest biblical example of this is Ephesians 1.  In v3-14, Paul describes all the blessings that we have in Christ.  These blessings are ours.  In v15-23, he then prays that we would understand these blessings.  “I pray that God would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him… that you would KNOW the hope of your calling, the riches of his inheritance in the saints, and the power that works in you—it’s the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.” 

You have these blessings, but Paul is compelled to pray that you would understand them.  I think this is a clear model that we apply to this situation.  God is present, yet we pray that we would know his presence.  I like Genesis 28:14—“Surely the Lord is in this place, AND I DID NOT KNOW IT.”  May our prayers of invocation help us not to make this same mistake!

The other place in Scripture that directly relates to sanctification is Romans 6:6 and Romans 6:11. 

V6—For we know that our old self was crucified with him… that we should no longer be enslaved to sin.
V11—Therefore consider yourself to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Again, Paul is saying that though we have the blessing of being crucified and risen with Jesus, we have an obligation to “consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God…”

To me, this has been the most powerful impetus for personal growth in my Christian life.  Some theologians call it the relationship between the indicatives and imperatives in Scriptures.  All the imperatives are based on the indicatives.  God calls us to walk in holiness because he has made us holy in Christ.

Big issue:  how do we close the gap that exists between what God says we are in Christ and our daily experience?

I think it’s faith:  Faith that drives us to believe we are what God says we are, faith that drives us to practice what God has called us to do because he’s given us all his blessings and power.

How do we grow this faith?  Prayers which invoke God’s presence and bring us into greater awareness of who we are in him.

Love for Work as Evangelism

I've often said regarding how to think about Christians sharing their faith with their friends, "We should love people so much that they would understand and be blessed by our faith."  Thinking this way helps us avoid both extremes of (1) being obnoxious and (2) of never talking about our spirituality.

With the passing of Coach John Wooden, it's made me wonder if his example might help us apply this statement to our work.  "He loved his job so much that people understood and were blessed by his faith."  

This may not be something everyone can connect with.  I know many people hate their work, and others are learning how to love it.  But for those who can learn to love their work, or who already do, let your love move you to thankfulness and a vigor to do it well.  Realize that in your work you are imaging God who creates, maintains, and restores the world and let that realization prompt  you to do your work in his name and so that others might see how he does what you do.

This would bless Christians in the church to follow suit.  It would also bless folks who aren't Christians, enabling them to understand and be influenced by Christianity's ability to see that work can be a wonderful gift and blessing.

No Cross or Resurrection?!!?

2 Thessalonians has no explicit mention of the cross or resurrection of Jesus. 

Why doesn't Paul fit into the paradigms that we have created from his writings?

Variations in Paul's Writing

Having been so deeply encouraged by Paul's Christ-centered, gospel-centered exhortations to husbands and wives in Ephesians 5:22-33, I was surprised this morning to see that Paul gives the same exhortation to the church in the city of Colossae WITHOUT the Christ-centered, gospel-centered backdrop in Colossians 3:18-19.  It's true that Colossians is full of wonderful descriptions of the impact of the death and resurrection of Jesus (and Colossians 3:1-17 does have a wonderful explanation of the implications of the death and resurrection of Jesus for our personal growth).  But it was startling to read Paul's "bare exhortations" in this all important area of life when I've been so used to being moved by the image of Christ's relationship with the church.

The implications of this are either:

1.  Maybe Paul doesn't feel compelled to offer the gospel after EVERY SINGLE exhortation that he makes (though he does seem to do this in Ephesians 4-6).

2.  Maybe we need to learn to read the letters of Paul as entire letters, not cutting out verses as though they are not connected to what Paul says earlier or later.

U2 as a Model for Pre-Evangelism: Reflections on a Lecture from Steve Turner

Steve Turner, author of U2:  Rattle and Hum and Hungry for Heaven:  Rock and Roll and the Search for Redemption, gave a lecture on U2 where he analyzed the band's popularity and said many things that would teach us how U2 is an example of how we ought to engage the world around us.

Reasons for U2's popularity:

1. They accurately describe the good and bad in life. Joy and pain, frustration and healing, suffering and salvation, discord and love.
2. When they describe the problems of life, they describe themselves as being part of the problem, not separated from it.  
3. They deal with issues that are human, not just Christian, so ALL people can relate to them--both Christians and non-Christians.  
4. They spend most of their lyrics identifying with experiences, and are not compelled to offer simplistic solutions too quickly.  

Combine this with the following quote by CS Lewis:

"There is a distinction between communicating with a society that hears the gospel for the first time and one that has embraced and then largely rejected it. A person must court a virgin differently than a divorcee. One welcomes the charming words; the other needs a demonstration of love to overcome inbuilt skepticism."

This approach to our world is very informative. U2 does what many call "pre-evangelism." They are able to stand in the world and express empathy with pain, suffering, and frustration. This builds credibility with non-Christians and gives them a platform to be heard in matters of the gospel. Many Christians tend to forget this step.

In our zeal to announce the good news of the gospel, we sometimes over-emphasize the blessings we receive in this life without being honest about the difficulties we continue to face. We sometimes describe ourselves as above or unaffected by the difficulties of life. This keeps people from taking our message seriously, and they conclude that they simply cannot relate to us because we are living in a world drastically different from theirs.

The U2 song, "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," does not describe an unbeliever seeking to find what only Jesus can deliver. Rather, this is a song describing Christians who are lamenting that even as believers, this life is not all there is. They are crying out for the perfection of the New Heavens and New Earth and are crying out for the everlasting happiness that cannot be found in this life, no matter how hard or how wide someone looks. Again, this is something that both Christians and non-Christians can identify with. This is an example of how in connecting with the non-believing world, U2 emphasizes what we have in common with the world (dissatisfaction with the fallenness of this life) instead of where we are different. I think this is wise.

In saying this, I thought about the New Testament's presentation of the gospel. When you read it, it seems very much to focus on the amazing, cataclysmic blessings that have come in because of the resurrection of Jesus. Because of the resurrection, stars have fallen from the sky, the sun has been darkened, the moon has turned to blood (read Acts 2:16-21). World powers have been overthrown, Satan has been bound, he's no longer deceiving the nations (Rev 20:1-3). The gospel is discipling the nations:  people from every tribe, tongue, and nation are being brought into God's kingdom! Jesus is now Lord, Caesar isn't (Phil 2:5-11). All earthly powers are being subjected to the one who is seated at God's right hand. Believers have been set free from slavery to sin, they have been freed, they too have died and been raised with Jesus (Rom 6:1-14), and they are now new creation (2Cor 5:17)--new creatures who live like Jesus himself. This is tremendously positive. It's a strong dose of the present reality of the kingdom. Yes, there are even more blessings to come, but what has come is revolutionary and universally powerful.

So does U2's emphasis on the "human" experience of frustration rather than the "Christian" experience of triumph contradict NT teaching? No, for two reasons:

1. U2 is "ministering" to a world that has heard the gospel and largely rejected it, whereas the apostles and first century church were preaching the gospel to people who had never heard the good news. The emphases employed by both wisely fit their respective audiences as CS Lewis describes in his explanation of the difference between the virgin and the divorcee.  
2. The Scripture writers held a decidedly realistic view that the cosmic and cataclysmic and rennovative language of the New Testament is going to be applied in the world incrementally. It is true that sin, Satan, and the kingdom of darkness have been overthrown, but the church has the responsibility to implement these blessings by faith, and that takes time to grow and to be worked out in individual lives, in the community of believers, and in the world. The Scripture writers are well aware of the struggles of believers, but they also know that it is the strong and powerful teaching of the results of the resurrection that will enable believers to work these things into their lives.

Here are some implications for us:
1.We must enter into the pain of the world and be honest about its existence and the struggle that comes with experiencing it.

2.We must do much to understand the specific struggles of life of the people around us. Only if we demonstrate loving understanding of the pain of others will they listen to us if we get the opportunity to offer them an answer.

3.We must work hard against giving "Christian pat answers." Pat answers are belittling and often reflect a heart that doesn't understand the person we're talking to. Pat answers are typically overgeneralizations and usually don't specifically apply to the person's problems. It's like offering a message to someone who has an itch they can't reach.

4.When we've done the hard work of truly understanding what people are dealing with, we can then apply the specific blessings of the gospel to them in a way that demonstrates specifically how God has solved the problem and how he applies the healing balm of the gospel to us in this life.

Work In the New Heavens and Earth?

Will God create a world where all these things are perfect and jobs aren’t needed? Maybe. Or maybe God will have us doing it forever, and it’ll be the joy of our hearts.

Either way... I'm in.

The Whole Bible Points to Jesus

Trying to imagine what it may have been like walking the 7 miles from Jerusalem to Emmaus...

Luke 24:26-27
"Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

This could have been part of what Jesus shared:

Genesis 3:15 points to Jesus as the seed of the woman, coming to destroy the work of the devil but to suffer as he conquers him.

Genesis 22 points to Jesus in the life of Abraham, as the ram who would be our substitute, offering himself up in death to God.

Exodus 33 Moses points to Jesus as he intercedes for God’s people, offering to sacrifice himself if God won’t forgive them.

Leviticus as a whole points to Jesus as our high priest and our sacrifice, making us acceptable to God and mediating with God on our behalf.

In Numbers, we recognize that Jesus suffered so that God’s people could enter the ultimate, heavenly promised land. He is also the bronze serpent, raised up in death, to which if anyone looks, he or she is healed of their sins.

In Deuteronomy, we recognize that Jesus’ takes on the punishment we deserved and his life grants us the blessings of God.

Joshua pictures Jesus, who leads us in the discipling of not just one nation, but all the nations of the world.

In Judges, we recognize that Jesus redeems us through his death and resurrection when we are being oppressed by our sins and enemies.

In Ruth, Jesus is pictured as our kinsman redeemer, giving us an inheritance through his death and resurrection when we have lost ours.

In 1-2 Samuel, David points to Jesus as the king after God’s own heart, whose faith leads him in triumph and who leads us to be faithful.

In 1-2 Kings, Jesus brings unity, not division through his blood, making one united family out of all the nations of the earth (Eph 2:11-22).

In 1-2Chronicles, we see that because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, God’s love continues even after we’ve experienced his discipline and correction.

Ezra pictures Jesus whose death and resurrection makes his people holy and extends the holiness of God into all the nations of the earth.

In Nehemiah, we see that Jesus through his death and resurrection is rebuilding the people of God to serve and worship him and bless the nations.

Esther points to Jesus as the one who received the death penalty for pleading for the life of his people.

Job points to Jesus who was the ultimate undeserving sufferer, yet trusted God in his suffering and blessed his friends.

In the Psalms, we see the prayer life of Jesus, and we see him taking the punishment due to the wicked so that the blessings of the righteous might be given to sinners like us.

Proverbs shows us Jesus, the embodiment of wisdom, taking the punishment of the fools so that they might become wise and receive the blessings that accompany wisdom.

In Ecclesiastes, we see Jesus as the one who worships God and keeps his commandments, which gives us meaning and purpose in a life that often seems meaningless. His life shows there is meaning, his death and resurrection show that God will restore and redeem life under the sun.

In the Song of Solomon we see that marriage, love and sex honor God, and this points to the greater love that Jesus showed us by dying for us on the cross to make us his beloved.

Isaiah shows us Jesus as God with us, who comes to rescue his people by suffering for their sins.

Jeremiah shows us that Jesus keeps the New Covenant for us, guaranteeing blessings to us by removing our sins and restoring us to fellowship with God.

Lamentations shows us the heart of Jesus, who weeps over our brokenness and whose death and resurrection replaces our mourning with joyful song.

Ezekiel shows us that Jesus offers himself in death so God could bring us back to life and strengthen us by his Spirit to be his people filling the world.

Daniel shows Jesus as the king who suffers and is vindicated by God to reign over a kingdom that ends up filing the whole earth.

Hosea shows that Jesus’ death and resurrection redeems us from spiritual slavery and prostitution.

Joel shows that Jesus’ death and resurrection brings the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to strengthen the church.

Amos shows Jesus confronts hypocrites and dies to forgive all who return to God.

Obadiah shows that God will love his people and free them from oppression through Jesus death and resurrection.

Jonah shows that Jesus has to pass through death and resurrection to save us from our self-righteousness, so we can bless the nations around us.

Micah points to Jesus as the descendant of king David, who would come forth from Bethlehem and through his death and resurrection would re-establish the kingdom of God to bless the nations.

Nahum points to Jesus as the coming judge of all the earth, whose death and resurrection seals the judgment against all of his enemies.

Habakkuk shows us Jesus’ death and resurrection guarantees God’s blessings no matter what life’s circumstances.

Zephaniah pictures Jesus as the coming Lord who, in the midst of judging the nations and the hypocrites of Israel, will undergo death and resurrection to restore his people to blessing.

Haggai pictures Jesus as the head of the church who calls and empowers his people to build up the church, so that the blessing of God’s presence might be seen and experienced by all.

Zechariah shows Jesus, our high priest, was pierced for our sake, taking our filthy stained garments of sin and giving us a spotless robes of righteousness.

Malachi shows us that Jesus is coming, and in his death and resurrection he opens heaven to let the blessings flow.