What Do We Bring to the Word of God?

Saints,

 

We are greatly impacted by the culture (let’s define culture as a combination of our national and family heritage) we live in. It is only natural for us to view the Word of God through our cultural lenses. For example, we could ask ourselves…

 

Where was I raised?

What type of religion have I experienced?

What kind of world-view do I embrace?

What work ethic do I follow?

Who do I model my life after?

 

What is interesting to me is the incredible diversity each of us would answer these questions. How would my Iranian friend Babak answer them? How about Tim raised in Arizona? What about “Maria” from Russia or “Gustavo” from Brazil, Bic from Viet Nam, "Mo" from Saudi Arabia, or Luke who was raised in Cameron? How about you and your friends—how would they answer these questions?

 

Just in case we’re thinking that our cultural bent doesn’t really make a difference, let me share an example which would help at least American culture readers see how we might view God’s Word with a cultural bent. If you are not from America, please try to think of a similar situation in your culture. This is an example from Grasping God’s Word by Duvall and Hays, p 92-93.

 

First, carefully read Romans 13:1-7, then read the following excerpt from Duvall and Hays.

 

With this passage in mind would it have been wrong for you to participate in the Boston Tea Party of 1773? In protest to a new tax on tea, American “patriots” dumped tons of someone else’s tea into the Boston Harbor. Was that a Christian thing to do? Or suppose you were one of the Minutemen on the route between Concorde and Boston on April 19, 1775. Should a Christian aim, fire, and kill the soldiers that represent the government? Does this not conflict with Romans 13? Or perhaps the larger question should be asked: Was the American Revolution undertaken in disobedience to Romans 13:1-7? Keep in mind that the revolution was more about economics than religious freedom. Remember too that when Paul wrote Romans, the government in Rome was much more oppressive and tyrannical than the British government under King George III ever was. What do you think?

 

If you are like me, your American heart is “stirred” by words like these. Even so, I share this only to illustrate that we bring as Duvall and Hays call it, “Preunderstanding” to God’s Word.

 

So, take a deep breath and please continue reading—there is a point today. I believe the rugged individualistic mentality embedded in the “Western-culture” psyche can lead us to approach our faith in Christ along these lines:

 

1)     I am a sinner, I need Jesus’ blood to wash away my sins

2)     I receive the forgiveness of Jesus and my sins our forgiven

3)     Now, out of gratitude and love I will serve Jesus and seek to improve myself

4)     Thank you God for helping me to be a better person, I will now do my best to serve and love you

 

At first glance this may seem logical, but there is a problem. Notice the emphasis on “I” and “me.” This line of thinking might reduce our Lord Jesus to merely some kind of “self-improvement” method. The truth is, however, there is nothing in our self—our flesh which pleases God (Romans 6:23). In the beginning, yes God saw that His creation was good. Even so, After Adam and Eve chose self and pride and consequently “set” us all on the same path of pride. We all became broken. We all need to be fixed.

 

As part of this fixing, the death of Christ washes away our sin—please see Romans 6: 1-11. However, a deeper truth follows. The cross of Christ kills our old self. We cannot come to Jesus and in our hearts say, “Thank you Jesus for cleansing me from sin—for clearing my record, for helping me out. I’ll take it from here. I got it.” No, Jesus’ work is so much better—it is complete.

 

These are very “churchy” words. What do they really mean? Well, if you are like me, you see that the father wants to take you deeper in knowing and following Christ. Yes, a walk that begins with a cleansing from sin, but then a deeper walk—a life of truly living in Christ, not living absorbed with self. We become new creatures—Christ-infused, love-propelled, Spirit-driven, Bible-absorbing, people-loving, God’s kingdom-obsessed worshipers. The problem is that we cannot make this change, the Father does.  The Father implants both the desire and the power to live this way—in Him, in His Holy Spirit (Gal 2:20).

 

Let’s look at this truth another way. As we read the Old Testament, we understand God is faithful and we are not. As we read the New Testament, we understand that yes, God is faithful, however, we have become new--faithful in and through Jesus Christ. This change is illustrated in the life of Peter. Peter as a determined man of action, pledged not to deny Christ. But, he denied Jesus three times as he struggled to follow Jesus empowered by self. Even so, see the difference in Peter in Acts 2—the old Peter “died on the cross” with Jesus and the new Peter was infused with the power of the Holy Spirit. The new Peter preaches a powerful sermon--God saves thousands. The new Peter cures a crippled man in the name of Jesus.

 

So what do we do? Dear friends it is time for us to ask the Father to take us deeper. The disciples lived for Christ. So now, we live for Christ. It is time for a true Holy Spirit empowered
Western-culture church to rise up and follow Jesus. We live for His kingdom, not our own.

 

Let’s consider this line of thinking instead…

 

1)     I am a sinner I need Jesus blood to wash away my sins

2)     I receive the forgiveness of Jesus and my sins are forgiven

3)     Jesus now completely transforms me into a new person—He lives in me

4)     Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh, I live in faith in Christ who loved me and gave Himself up for me.”

5)     Romans 6: 6-8, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.” 

 

In other words, we need God. We need Jesus. Let’s pray for ourselves and one another—for the faith-family of Christ…

 

Father, take us deeper. Forgive us for our self-oriented approach to serving you. Forgive us for in essence saying to you, “Thank you for helping me a little, I’ll take it from here.” Help us to understand true consecration—that yes our sin is washed away, but also along with that, You took away our nature of sin. We are new in Jesus. We want to live in complete surrender to this truth. Spirit, live in us, and truly take over. Jesus, have your way--Your will lived out in us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

 

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve          

If Jesus Prayed…?

Saints,

If Jesus was fully man and fully God when he walked this earth, why did He spend so much time alone with the heavenly Father? Why did He make time for prayer? Wasn’t He already “very connected” to the Father? Wasn’t He already one with the heavenly Father? Why would He pray all night?

Please review the following passages which describe Jesus’ prayer life while He was on earth.

Hebrews 5:7 (ESV) “ In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”

John 17:20-21(ESV) “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”

Luke 6:12 (ESV) “In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God.”

Luke 9:18 (ESV) “Now it happened that as he was praying alone, the disciples were with him. And he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?””

Mark 1:35 (ESV) “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.”

The truth is that Jesus went to a mountain for an entire evening to pray. He slipped away from the crowd and His disciples to pray. He got up early to spend time with His Father. Jesus needed and desired time alone with the heavenly Father.

So, at this point we could review these Bible passages which describe Jesus’ desire for the Father and His prayer life and put ourselves on a shameful guilt trip—or worse, we could point our fingers at others and try to shame them for their prayerlessness.

I don’t believe this is the best response to these truths.

Yes, Jesus spent much time alone with God the father. Yes, if we are truly honest with ourselves—we would have to admit that we don’t spend the kind of time alone with God the Father that Jesus did when He walked this earth. But saints, our response is not to shame ourselves or others to pray more. No, the best response to this apparent “prayer-discrepancy” is to ask the Father for the same desire that Jesus had to intimately connect with Him. Whatever compelled, or drew, or pushed, or encouraged Jesus to seek undistracted time with God alone—that is what we want. That is what we need.

Let’s pray for ourselves and one another…

Father, please give us the same desire to be with You that Jesus had. If Jesus needed time with you, we need time with you. Help us to want you more. Help us to want to be with you as much as you want to be with us. We ask this from You so that your name would be more glorified and Your kingdom would be more impacted in and through us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve