Sharing the Keys

 

“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.”

—Matthew 16:19

“You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it.”

—John 14:14

Do you remember, perhaps many years ago when you had just earned your driver’s license, how very grown up you felt? You likely felt care-free and in charge. Whenever your dad or mom handed you the keys to the family car, you knew you were trusted with great responsibility. You knew that you now must be especially careful because of the tremendous confidence your parent had placed in you.

To those us whom God has called to Himself and redeemed through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God has handed us the “keys” to His kingdom. One of those keys He has given us is His precious Name that He has given us to use in prayer.

I like what Andrew Murray wrote in his little book, With Christ in the School of Prayer:¹

What is a person’s name? That word or expression in which the person is called up or represented to us. When I mention or hear a name, it calls up before me the whole man, what I know of him, and also the impression he has made on me. The name of a king includes his honor, his power, his kingdom. His name is the symbol of his power. And so each name of God embodies and represents some part of the glory of the Unseen One… Jesus solemnly gives to all His disciples a general and unlimited power of the free use of His Name at all times for all they desire. He could not do this if He did not know that He could trust us with His interests, that His honor would be safe in our hands. The free use of the name of another is always the token of great confidence or close union.

When I took my father’s car out for a drive or to attend a meeting, I knew that nearly everyone in our small town knew to whom that car belonged. Would I want people to see me driving recklessly, or parking in a no-parking zone, or parking in front of an establishment my father himself wouldn’t frequent? Of course not!

Again, here’s Andrew Murray:¹

When the Lord Jesus went to heaven, He left His work, the management of His kingdom on earth, in the hands of His servants. He could not do otherwise than also give them His Name to draw all the supplies they needed for the due conduct of His business… The use of the Name always supposes the surrender of our interests to Him whom we represent.

If my father needed a part for a broken piece of farm equipment, since I was his oldest child, he would often ask me to go to town for that part. Since we lived several miles from town, it would have been useless for him to have asked me and not allowed me the use of his car. Likewise, Jesus gives us His work to do in the world. When He ascended to heaven, He equipped us with His Holy Spirit and the power of prayer, using His Name, to do His work.

Once my father asked me to go on an errand, I never decided to take his car and, rather than doing that errand, chose instead to hang out with my friends. No! I knew the purpose for which I had been given the keys. Likewise, we should clearly know the purposes for which God has given us His Name. We need to stay in constant touch with our Father and, relying on the Holy Spirit, ascertain truthfully His will in our prayers. The more we understand God’s purposes, the more readily we will pray for that which He wills.

Let us intentionally remember the responsibility of “the keys” that God has given us. And, let us take that memory to heart every time we go to God in prayer. We should ask ourselves:

• Am I praying for that which my Father would have me pray?
  
  
• Do I represent my Father in this prayer?
  
  
• As led by the Holy Spirit, have I determined that what I am asking matches His divine will in this situation?

As God’s grown up children, we need to understand the grave nature of prayer. And, we must use that power to do His work in the world to the glory of His matchless Name.

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1 Murray, Andrew. With Christ in the School of Prayer. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming Revell Co., 1953. Pp. 133-134.

 

 

Widely Separated

 

When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his own work. From that day on half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!” So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and workmen by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.

—Nehemiah 4:15-23

I like the story of Nehemiah. He had leadership capabilities, though he had spent his time in Persia as cupbearer for the king. He had an important role in keeping the king safe. But, God had better things for him and used his reputation with the king for the greater purpose of gaining permission to return to Jerusalem for a new project.

As Nehemiah prayed, planned, and began the great work of rebuilding the ruined walls of Jerusalem, he gathered hundreds of people around him to help. The people spread out all around the city. Widely separated from each other, they toiled determinedly to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

That plan worked well at first. But not too long after, the Jews faced great opposition from surrounding tribes and their leaders. In spite of this opposition, Nehemiah knew that God had called him and his people to this work. So, Nehemiah arranged to keep them safe from their enemies, even as the building progressed.

What a resolute leader! Nehemiah not only saw God’s plan for Jerusalem and his role in it, he also had the kind of courage and spiritual discernment to recognize the strength of his enemies.

In our present day, what can we learn from this story? We surely also feel “widely separated” from those in our church bodies. Has God called us to a work for Him? We would all surely say that He has. If we have a wise pastoral staff, a discerning lay leadership, and an ambitious church membership, praise God for that! Many cannot say the same.

As we celebrate the talents and abilities that God has given our churches, we must also recognize the nearness of our enemies and the cleverness of their plans against us. I’m not so much talking about enemies outside the doors of our churches, such as our political leaders, various secular groups and institutions, and the large crowds of people aligned against the cause of Christ—although their actions should create in us a watchfulness, as we exist within this changing culture. I am much more concerned about the spiritual battles that go on, in subtle and dangerous ways, within the minds and hearts of our fellow believers, including myself.

God has not left us in a weak position—one in which we have no power against the enemy. Just as Nehemiah knew that his people needed to be vigilant and prepared against the onslaught of opposing forces, so we should keep our weapons of prayer and our knowledge of Scripture at the ready for every attack on the fellowship of believers to which God has called us.

In Ephesians 6:10-18, the Apostle Paul warns us of the battle. He tells the Ephesians to put on the full armor of God and stand against the devil’s schemes. In the day of Nehemiah, those schemes would have stopped the rebuilding of the wall and sent Nehemiah packing back to Persia.

We need to continue to ask ourselves: “In the coming days, what do we believe God wants our churches to build?” Once we determine our goal, can we say: “It is worth the work and the battle”?

In these days, has God given the Church a mission among the confused, hurting, angry, and weary in our culture? I would suggest that we need to not only take up the work of spreading the Gospel. We also need, at the same time, to engage in the work of a battle against evil influences.

God has called us to pray in faith and in the power given to us by His Holy Spirit, standing in His Name and with His mighty power. When we hear the trumpet call to assemble, let us come alongside each other once again—remembering how God so graciously called and empowered Nehemiah and those who worked with him—and know the powerful work of prayer together against the opposition forces. With our minds and hearts set in a single direction, we can move forward and accomplish the task before us.

May God strengthen His church for this hour!

 

 

Wake Up!

 

“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”

—Revelation 3:2

Does your church need a new alarm clock? Does mine? Have we become so accustomed to dozing that we think we can live in our present culture just as we always have? What do you see as the biggest challenges to our faith and practice? Do we have the strength for a struggle we didn’t see coming? Do we even see the dangers of sin in us and in our culture, as we stare with drowsy eyes? Do we see the lostness? The despair?

When we look at the churches across our world today, we often hear about vibrant places across the globe where God is doing amazing things in and through His people. Unfortunately, many we would look at in our own land may appear awake, but they are merely sleep-walking. Surely, Jesus, our Bridegroom, would say to us, “Wake up!”

Even one of the churches in the Apostle John’s time had fallen into the sleep-walking pattern. When he wrote letters to seven of the congregations in his time, he told the church in Sardis that their heavy-eyed, lethargic patterns would lead to death—unless they would repent and wake up.

We know from Scripture that sleep in a Christian, and in a Christian church, can lead to death. As Puritan writer William Gurnall writes: ¹

Samson was asleep and Delilah cut his locks. Saul was asleep, and his spear was taken from his side. Noah was asleep, and his graceless son had opportunity to discover his father’s nakedness. Eutychus was asleep, and fell from the third loft…Sleep creeps in upon the soul, just as it does upon the body.

We need to awaken to the sin that is silently creeping into our lives and into our churches. We need to awaken to the needs God wants us to see in the world around us. And, we need to awaken to the ways God wants to use us. When we sleep, our enemy Satan can come in unawares and take advantage of us. We can be near spiritual death and not know it.

Will Jesus find us awake when He comes back? If He visited us today, would He find us sleeping or wide awake?

Will you please join me in this prayer: ²

Lord, Your church appears asleep, or at best, very drowsy. We have allowed our eyelids to become heavy, rather than wide open so we can promptly move at Your command. Send us watchmen to warn us. Sound “Reveille” and reawaken Your church. Alert us to dangers that have intruded into our spiritual bed chambers and wait to kill us in our sleep. Stir us up. As You awakened our churches in times past, come again, and reawaken Your people for Your glory. Amen.

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1 From “The Christian in Complete Armour” by William Gurnall, as quoted in Rushing, Richard, editor. Voices from the Past. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. p. 358.

2 From Wilson, Shirley W. “Re”wording Our Prayers for Spiritual Change. Erie, PA: Wilson Publishing, 2011. p. 7.

 

 

Wrestling

 

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.

—Luke 18:1

I know very little about the sport of wrestling. I do know, however, that wrestlers struggle from beginning to end. In another sport, as when a basketball team has 30 points more than the opponent, wrestlers can’t ever say, “OK. I’m ahead now, so the rest should be easy.” Until the very end of the match, wrestling requires persistence, perseverance, use of every muscle, and the application of every tactic that a wrestler knows.

In Genesis 32:24-32 we read the story of Jacob, terrified of the danger that lay ahead for its effect on him and his family. First, Jacob prayed and asked God to protect him and his family. Then, he strategized a way to approach his estranged brother, Esau, with humility, represented by various gifts borne by Jacob’s servants.

The text then tells us that having sent his servants and family on ahead, Jacob remained where he was, waiting on an answer to his prayer. The answer came in the middle of the night.

Suddenly, Jacob found himself wrestling with a man that he later learned was actually an angel of God. They wrestled all night in answer to Jacob’s prayer. In fact, even after daybreak came and the angel suggested they end the struggle, Jacob said to him, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Jacob wouldn’t stop until his adversary dislocated Jacob’s hip. Jacob strained every muscle until he received the blessing for which he had prayed.

In a New Testament passage found in Luke 18:1-8, Jesus took up a similar theme. He told the parable of a woman who kept coming to a judge who could care less about her case. She bothered him and struggled against his apathy until he gave in and gave her the justice for which she was asking.

The accounts of these kinds of prayer strengthens our faith and encourages us that in our persistence we, too, will receive victory from God in response to our prayers. God, unlike the apathetic judge, is not unjust, nor bothered by our persistence in coming to Him in prayer. But, sometimes, God withholds His blessing until we learn to how to wrestle with all that constrains us.

Andrew Murray, in his book, With Christ in the School of Prayer, dedicates a chapter to this parable of the Persistent Widow. He writes the following:¹

The husbandman does indeed long for his harvest, but knows that it must have its full time of sunshine and rain, and has long patience… And it is the Father, in whose hands are the times and seasons, who alone knows the moment when the soul or the Church is ripened to that fulness of faith in which it can really take and keep the blessing. As a father who longs to have his only child home from school, and yet waits patiently till the time of training is completed, so it is with God and His children.

When we compare this kind of waiting to wrestling, we begin to see how we need the exercise of the struggle, the straining of every muscle, and the perseverance of all our human modalities—heart, soul, mind, and strength—to win the victory.

When we pray, we often must wait for an answer much longer than we at first expected. But, in response, we must take Jesus’s admonition to “pray and not give up!” If we do, He will come and will come “quickly” in accordance with His perfect will for us.

______________________

1 Murray, Andrew. With Christ in the School of Prayer, Old Tappan N.J.: Fleming Revell Company, 1953. Pp.88-89.

 

 

"Crib-Note Christians"

 

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.

—Luke 9:23

The graduate student with whom I was walking to the library to work on a project we had just been assigned bragged, “I hardly ever made it to the library as an undergrad.” To me, that seemed like an atrocious comment because the internet was barely accessible at the time. But, I suppose some could “get by” reading CliffsNotes^®1 and studying off other people’s work.

Enhanced Box Meals, a cookbook which takes a “mix,” or prepared box dinner, may give semi-cooks ideas for meals and desserts. But, using this trick rarely fools anyone into believing the meal was “made from scratch.”

Similarly, a piano instructional method learned on-line just doesn’t come close to teaching a “wanna-be musician” how to use good technique and offer sight reading experience. Proper technique and an exposure to the many pieces that make up an appropriate repertoire takes in-person learning methods and critiques.

Into this category of relying on “Crib-Notes,” I would also place what some call the “two-fers”—those individuals who only attend church on Christmas and Easter. They would rarely be called “disciples” by anyone who knows Christ’s expectations, as clearly expressed in His written Word. Somehow, the “fun” of going to church on big Sundays, wearing new clothes, sitting with family members before a big meal, and claiming membership in a church when one writes his or her obituary seems like enough. They have believed the lie that merely “identifying” with a local church in some way makes them upstanding Christians.

Instead, we know that following Christ does, indeed, extract a price from all who are serious about their faith. Life in Him carries suffering and sometimes death. In Nazi Germany, faithful Lutheran minister, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, author of the famous book, The Cost of Discipleship, was hanged for his opposition to Hitler’s policies of euthanasia and torture of the Jews. Bonhoeffer wrote:

“When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

These words form quite a contrast to those “Crib-Note Christians,” who take the easy way out and smugly and self-righteously do as little as possible to serve God and their fellow humans. True discipleship is costly.

And, even if we attend worship services every Sunday, each day we weakly struggle to live as Christ has asked us to live. We realize that, the longer we go onward in the Christian life, we do not have the strength, the wisdom, the grace, the love, or anything else to make a faithful life on our own. We need the daily “feeding” that takes place when we pour over God’s written Word and seek His will. Whenever we try to serve Christ on our own, we open ourselves up to the charge of also becoming “Crib-Note Christians.”

Anne Cetas, the managing editor of Our Daily Bread, writes this: ²

Being a “disciple” calls for giving up our lives for Him. It’s about living as Jesus calls us to live, daily giving up our plans and purposes for His. A relationship with Him causes us to be concerned with our thoughts, decisions, attitudes, and actions—all to make our life joy-filled for us and pleasing to God.

Lord, please have mercy on all of us “Crib-Note Christians”!

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1 The term CliffsNotes® is a registered trademark of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The use of this term within this blog post is not intended to imply any connection, any endorsement, or any involvement whatsoever with the content of this blog post by the trademark holder. More information is available at the following: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/discover-about

2 Cetas, Anne. “A Convenient Christianity” appearing in Our Daily Bread Devotional Journal. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Radio Bible Class Ministries, 2010. Devotional for November 29th.

 

 

In Unison

 

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

—James 15:5-6

Harmony—voices on two or more blending pitches—can thrill us with its beauty. What does it take to sing in harmony well? Each person must have enough confidence in his or her own ability to commit to notes that others around may not be singing. Attention to each other makes harmony singing possible. Listening, in order to blend the sounds, takes much practice. It is interesting to note that singing rounds in elementary school introduced many of us to harmony singing.

In contrast, singing in unison has a power that singing in harmony does not. Just as unison speech seems more powerful to us and even gives us the ability to hear the words more plainly, to truly sound like one voice, people have significant power when they sing in unison. While singing in unison, the weak and under-confident vocalists get a boost from the group and become encouraged to sing out. Those listening to unison singing can clearly hear the notes and text coming toward them in a strong manner.

I like the story found in 2 Chronicles 5, where the ark was brought into the newly built temple on the dedication day. What a day of rejoicing this was. The Scripture passage from verses 12-14 reveals what happened. Just imagine this:

All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals, and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

What power that music must have had in uniting the people of God. Likewise, the singing in our churches should sound out that strongly, whether we sing in harmony or in unison. Others, who hear our singing, should clearly be moved by the power of the Holy Spirit. And, God should unmistakably hear the glory given to Him through the singing.

Our pastor likes to say—and I agree—that when we gather as a congregation of God to worship, the Holy Spirit is “thickest”—that’s the power of unison singing. Our singing, our prayers, and our careful attention to preaching all pierce their way into our ears, minds, and hearts. No one should leave church the same way he or she came into the church. The more we live and worship in unison, the stronger our witness will be to the world!

 

 

We're Too Smart

 

It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.

—Psalm 118:8-9

You’ve heard them—the talking heads on television telling about the scientific breakthroughs and solid progress that they see streaming forth and conquering COVID-19. We hear how the “greatest nation in the world” with the “greatest scientific minds” will have a cure in no time at all. I don’t disagree that we live in the greatest nation and have the best minds, but, the boasting and reliance on these assessments causes me concern.

After discussing with some people the fact that, in early 1918, a great uncle of mine died during Army basic training in World War I, they queried if he had the H1N1 virus pandemic known as the “Spanish Flu.” The family has always asserted, and even his death certificate stated, that he died of pneumonia. I wonder though?

In a podcast from “Defense One Radio,”¹ I heard this information:

Social distancing, Quarantines, Improvised masks. These are not just the facts of American life today. They were also common for American soldiers in 1918. 675,000 Americans died, including 45,000 Army soldiers. More American soldiers died from the flu in 1918 than died in combat in World War I and more Americans died from that 1918 flu pandemic than died from all the wars in the last century. The Navy Surgeon General at the outset of the war boasted, “Infectious diseases that formerly carried off their thousands, such as yellow fever, typhus, cholera and typhoid have all yielded to our modern knowledge of their causes and our consequent logical measures taken for their prevention.”

In fact, these 1918 “modern” researchers were looking through their microscopes for germs—that is, for bacteria. Viruses were not even discovered and seen under a microscope until 1933. The idea that modern science could conquer anything, could keep the country safe, could stop a “war” of this kind, proved that this so-called Spanish Flu would not “yield” to a human’s expertise.

I certainly pray that our 21st century researchers and doctors will find a vaccine in record time for this present COVID-19 pandemic. However, as a Christian, I know that human wisdom has a limit. What haven’t we discovered yet? Humans only know as much as our Sovereign God reveals to them. Again and again in Scripture, we read that God is a jealous God. He will have no other god before Him—including the “god” of human knowledge.

Every time I hear that our leaders have stopped for prayer, or asked for the nation to pray, my heart thrills. Bowing in prayer symbolizes our neediness before a powerful God. I continue to pray that these same leaders will actually rely on the living God and not on the keenness of humans’ minds to bring an answer to this deadly disease.

We need to heed the advice of the writer of Proverbs 3:5-6, when he wrote about God and urged us to:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Then, when this COVID-19 pandemic no longer poses the threat it now does, we can quote the Non Nobis, Domine from Psalm 115:1:

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

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1 Podcast—“Defense One Radio”: The 1918 Flu and the U.S. Military. Episode 66, April 11, 2020.