“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”-Philippians 4:6-7
The Apostle Paul makes it clear that in all we do we should seek God first, even in the midst of circumstances that are filled with anxiety. Too often we put our anxiety ahead of prayer and in effect our anxiety becomes our god. The anxious moments and stressors in our lives become the moments we bow down to in worship, they command our time, our money and emotions.
In stark contrast when we pause first to pray, we acknowledge that God is ultimately in control of every aspect of our lives. As O. Hardman comments on the lives of individuals who face a challenging world with a desire to pray, in Dallas Willard’s book The Spirit of the Disciplines:
“Continuing instant in prayer…he will set himself to undertake every legitimate risk, to do the right without fear of consequences, and to embrace in loving purpose those who are opposed to him no less than those who are in agreement with him, in the attempt to relies the vision and to exercise the sympathy with which prayer has endowed him…he is caught up to God and filled with the joy of union. Economic, social, political, national, and racial antagonisms are waiting for this sole solution of the deadlock which they present. There is no other way.”
Indeed, prayer is the only way to commune with the God of the universe. He awaits our cry, because it is He, the omniscient ruler who commands the ends as well as the means. God desires that we pray, not in order that He may act, but it is He who will act when we pray.
As the Epistle of James points out, “…the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” (James 5:16 NIV) Prayer is effective, precisely because God has ordained it so! It is not the anxious moments which rule our lives, but a loving, powerful, and good God in the Lord Jesus Christ, who invites us to speak to him about every detail, and promises that His peace will be ever present. This is the power of prayer.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Key to the Vending Machine
Matthew 7: 7-11
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh recieveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
“If God gave us every good gift beside himself would we be satisfied?” -John Piper
Have you ever been disappointed by a vending machine? I have and you have to. We approach the candy machine with the understanding that if I put in the correct change I will be rewarded with the candy of my choosing. Unfortunately, we learn early on that sometimes the vending machine doesn’t work, or that our candy gets stuck, or what we wanted is empty. How do we then respond to the candy machine? We kick it, beat it, shake it and otherwise accost it. We do all of this in an effort to manipulate out of the machine what we want. The problem is that too many bring to church a “vending machine philosophy” as they approach God. Somewhere along the way we have bought into the idea, “I’ll get out of it, what I put in it” the problem with that idea is that it places the emphasis on what I do, rather than on what God does for me and to me. But the Bible describes salvation not as something we earn, but as a gift.
John 14:26-27 “But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
Acts 2:1-2; 4 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting…. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
John 3:5-8 “Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, you should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Sprit.”
Notice that in all three of these instances the scripture makes it clear that salvation in general, and the empowerment of the Spirit in particular is not a product of what the recipients do…notice words like give, and leave, and that “you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” And what did they do in the Acts of the Apostles? Hard things like waiting and being together…in essence they showed up! There are too many of us who have become convinced that showing up is not enough. We’ve got to shake the machine; we’ve got to invest our money, time, effort, and ability if we want the candy. Wrong, Christ is the candy maker and he has promised us the key to the vending machine.
Matthew 16:13-19
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you, he asked. Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
In answer to Jesus’ question the disciples responded with the names of prophets, the candy distributors of God. But Peter correctly identified Christ as not just another candy distributor, but as the candy maker himself. The link of relationship to the key was firmly established. Those who have a key to my home, to my vehicles, unlimited access to my refrigerator is a very small number and they are all related to me. They have access because of their relationship to me.
This is what the lost son discovered in Luke 15, in verse 11 Jesus begins the story, “There was a man who had two sons, the younger one said to his father, Father give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them.” The young man was more interested in the “blessing” than he was in the “blesser”. In the end of the story when all the candy had been devoured with wild living verse 17 reports “When he came to his senses, he said how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.” The lost son realized that the key to eating was being in relationship with the father. What was the father’s response to his returning son? Verse 22 tells us “But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” The key to everything the son desired was discovered not in performance but in relationship. The key to everything in God is not in performance but in relationship. We always focus on the younger brother in this story, but even the older brother had performance issues when it came to his father. Look at verse 28, “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, Look all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him! My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours.” In other words, it’s not about the candy, it’s about the relationship. The elder brother’s attitude was, I’ve put in my money, my time, my effort, and I’ve earned a fatted calf. Our attitude is the same as we so often approach Christ with manipulation and performance, when Christ says just come to me, be mine and I will be yours and you can have everything you need.
It’s not about the candy it’s about the relationship. Have you discovered the gift of God? Have you discovered a relationship with him?
Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
“Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh recieveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
“If God gave us every good gift beside himself would we be satisfied?” -John Piper
Have you ever been disappointed by a vending machine? I have and you have to. We approach the candy machine with the understanding that if I put in the correct change I will be rewarded with the candy of my choosing. Unfortunately, we learn early on that sometimes the vending machine doesn’t work, or that our candy gets stuck, or what we wanted is empty. How do we then respond to the candy machine? We kick it, beat it, shake it and otherwise accost it. We do all of this in an effort to manipulate out of the machine what we want. The problem is that too many bring to church a “vending machine philosophy” as they approach God. Somewhere along the way we have bought into the idea, “I’ll get out of it, what I put in it” the problem with that idea is that it places the emphasis on what I do, rather than on what God does for me and to me. But the Bible describes salvation not as something we earn, but as a gift.
John 14:26-27 “But the counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.”
Acts 2:1-2; 4 “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting…. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”
John 3:5-8 “Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, you should not be surprised at my saying, you must be born again. The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Sprit.”
Notice that in all three of these instances the scripture makes it clear that salvation in general, and the empowerment of the Spirit in particular is not a product of what the recipients do…notice words like give, and leave, and that “you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.” And what did they do in the Acts of the Apostles? Hard things like waiting and being together…in essence they showed up! There are too many of us who have become convinced that showing up is not enough. We’ve got to shake the machine; we’ve got to invest our money, time, effort, and ability if we want the candy. Wrong, Christ is the candy maker and he has promised us the key to the vending machine.
Matthew 16:13-19
“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is? They replied, some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets. But what about you, he asked. Who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus replied, blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
In answer to Jesus’ question the disciples responded with the names of prophets, the candy distributors of God. But Peter correctly identified Christ as not just another candy distributor, but as the candy maker himself. The link of relationship to the key was firmly established. Those who have a key to my home, to my vehicles, unlimited access to my refrigerator is a very small number and they are all related to me. They have access because of their relationship to me.
This is what the lost son discovered in Luke 15, in verse 11 Jesus begins the story, “There was a man who had two sons, the younger one said to his father, Father give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them.” The young man was more interested in the “blessing” than he was in the “blesser”. In the end of the story when all the candy had been devoured with wild living verse 17 reports “When he came to his senses, he said how many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.” The lost son realized that the key to eating was being in relationship with the father. What was the father’s response to his returning son? Verse 22 tells us “But the father said to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fatted calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” The key to everything the son desired was discovered not in performance but in relationship. The key to everything in God is not in performance but in relationship. We always focus on the younger brother in this story, but even the older brother had performance issues when it came to his father. Look at verse 28, “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, Look all these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fatted calf for him! My son, the father said, you are always with me and everything I have is yours.” In other words, it’s not about the candy, it’s about the relationship. The elder brother’s attitude was, I’ve put in my money, my time, my effort, and I’ve earned a fatted calf. Our attitude is the same as we so often approach Christ with manipulation and performance, when Christ says just come to me, be mine and I will be yours and you can have everything you need.
It’s not about the candy it’s about the relationship. Have you discovered the gift of God? Have you discovered a relationship with him?
Ephesians 2:8
“For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.”
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