The Prayer God Answers

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In all our self-examination let us not try ourselves by comparison with the standard of men. Let us look at nothing but the requirements of God. – JC Ryle

 

The act of prayer itself is a humbling experience. What is more humbling than coming to terms with the fact that you can’t help yourself?  Knowing this, we would expect all that come to God in prayer to come in humility, right?  But not so.  Some come arrogantly, demanding that God meet their needs on their own time and in their own way., some come pridefully, listing all their good deeds and accomplishments they have done “for God”.  But James reminds us that that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).

Knowing this, why would any Christian come arrogantly to the presence of God, demanding their rights, or singing their own praises? Our hearts are deceitful. In Luke 18:9 Jesus tells the parable of the pharisee and the tax collector because: “some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt”. Whether we want to believe it or not, we are all naturally self-righteous. It is part of our fallen nature. We think we are better than we really are. We flatter ourselves that we are not as bad as the woman next door. We compare ourselves, with ourselves.  This self-righteous attitude affects how we approach God.

What should our posture be when we come to God in prayer? What type of prayer does God answer? We learn that in the parable of the pharisee and tax collector. In this parable, we learn first what kind of prayer God NOT answer.  A prayer like that of the pharisee. What was his prayer like?  His prayer was full of praises for himself, telling God what a wonderful man he was! Here is what he said to God in prayer: Luke 18: 11-12 – The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.

JC Ryle commenting on this prayer said this:

One great defect stands out on the face of this prayer — a defect so glaring that even a child might mark it. It exhibits no sense of sin and need.

It contains no confession and no petition — no acknowledgment of guilt and emptiness — no supplication for mercy and grace. It is a mere boasting recital of fancied merits, accompanied by an uncharitable reflection on a brother sinner. It is a proud, high-minded profession, destitute alike of penitence, humility, and charity.

In short, it hardly deserves to be called a prayer at all.

 No state of soul can be conceived so dangerous as that of the Pharisee. Never are men’s bodies in such desperate plight, as when disease and insensibility set in. Never are men’s hearts in such a hopeless condition, as when they are not sensible of their own sins.

He that would not make shipwreck on this rock, must beware of measuring himself by his neighbors. What does it signify that we are more moral than “other men?” We are all vile and imperfect in the sight of God. “If we contend with Him, we cannot answer him one in a thousand.” (Job 9:3.) Let us remember this. In all our self-examination let us not try ourselves by comparison with the standard of men. Let us look at nothing but the requirements of God. He that acts on this principle will never be a Pharisee.

Wow! Secondly, we learn about the kind of prayer God answers. This is a prayer that comes from a humble heart. One that comes with reverence and fear before the almighty God – the tax collector’s prayer.

I conclude with JC Ryle:

The excellence of the Tax collector’s prayer consists in five points, each of which deserves attention.

  1. For one thing, it was a real petition. A prayer which only contains thanksgiving and profession, and asks nothing, is essentially defective. It may be suitable for an angel, but it is not suitable for a sinner.
  2. For another thing, it was a direct personal prayer. The tax-collector did not speak of his neighbors, but himself. Vagueness and generality are the great defects of most men’s religion. To get out of “we,” and “our,” and “us,” into “I,” and “my,” and “me,” is a great step toward heaven.
  3. For another thing, it was a humble prayer — a prayer which put self in the right place. The tax- collector confessed plainly that he was a sinner. This is the very “A B C” of saving Christianity. We never begin to be good until we can feel and say that we are bad.
  4. For another thing, it was a prayer in which mercy was the chief thing desired, and faith in God’s covenant mercy, however weak, displayed. Mercy is the first thing we must ask for in the day we begin to pray. Mercy and grace must be the subject of our daily petitions at the throne of grace until the day we die.
  5. Finally, the Tax-collector’s prayer was one which came from his heart. He was deeply moved in uttering it. He smote upon his breast, like one who felt more than be could express. Such prayers are the prayers which are God’s delight. A broken and a contrite heart He will not despise. (Psalm 51:17.)

Let these things sink down into our hearts. He that has learned to feel his sins has great reason to be thankful…….. One grace at least should adorn the poorest and most unlearned believer. That grace is humility.

 

 

 Soli Deo Gloria

It’s not about your feelings

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Help me to honour thee by believing before I feel,
  for great is the sin if I make feeling a
    cause of faith.

 

Sometimes we fall into the trap of waiting to “feel” before we believe. What I mean by this is, the Bible tells us in so many areas that God loves us, cares for us and promises never to leave nor forsake us. However, when we run into situations that cause us to be anxious or afraid what do we do?  Instead of taking God at His word and believing & trusting His word even when we don’t feel like it, we wait to “feel happy” before we stop being anxious, we wait to feel strong and courageous or the situation changes before we stop being fearful.

The Lord calls us to trust and obey, even when we don’t feel like it.  Waiting for our feelings to lead our faith is unbelief, which is a sin. Some of us have sometimes fallen into this sin of being led by our feelings instead of walking by faith. We need to repent. I pray that this puritan prayer will help focus our minds and guide us in seeking forgiveness for the sin of waiting to “feel” before believing.

This prayer is titled “The Divine Will”. It can be found on page 14 of the book “The Valley of Vision”

 

O LORD,

I hang on thee; I see, believe, live,
when thy will, not mine, is done;
I can plead nothing in myself
in regard of any worthiness and grace,
in regard of thy providence and promises,
but only thy good pleasure.

If thy mercy make me poor and vile, blessed be thou!
Prayers arising from my needs are preparations for
future mercies;
Help me to honour thee by believing before I feel,
for great is the sin if I make feeling a
cause of faith.

Show me what sins hide thee from me
and eclipse thy love;
Help me to humble myself for past evils,
to be resolved to walk with more care,
For if I do not walk holily before thee,
how can I be assured of my salvation?

It is the meek and humble who are shown
thy covenant,
know thy will, are pardoned and healed,
who by faith depend and rest upon grace,
who are sanctified and quickened,
who evidence thy love.

Help me to pray in faith and so find thy will,
by leaning hard on thy rich free mercy,
by believing thou wilt give what thou hast
promised;

Strengthen me to pray with the conviction
that whatever I receive is thy gift,
so that I may pray until prayer be granted;
Teach me to believe that all degrees of mercy arise
from several degrees of prayer,
that when faith is begun it is imperfect and
must grow,
as chapped ground opens wider and wider
until rain comes.

So shall I wait thy will, pray for it to be done,
and by thy grace become fully obedient.

 

– Amen

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Making God a liar

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Christians are not sinless, but they sin less. – Alistair Begg

 

Are you making God a liar? Some professing Christians do in fact make God a liar.  They might not mean to or think that is what they are doing, but they do.  Here is how, believe it or not, there are professing Christians out there who believe that since they have been born again and Christ has taken away their sins, they no longer sin, they just make mistakes.

Is this true? Is there anything in the Bible that supports this position? The Bible clearly teaches that believers do sin. As long we live on earth and are still human, we will sin.  The difference between the believer and the unbeliever is that the believers does not make a habit of sinning.  This means that sinning is NOT their lifestyle.

Here are a couple of Biblical references:

1 John 5:16

If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

“Brother” in this verse refers to a Christian. Here the Lord is showing us how to help a sister in Christ who sins. Another verse that speaks to the issue is

1John 1:8-10: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

In fact, 1John 1:10 says if we say we have no sin, we are calling God a liar and His word is not in us. Pretty serious. So, for those who believe Christians do not sin, nothing could be further from the truth.

When we became born again, we were saved from the penalty of sin because Christ’s righteousness has been imputed to us, we were justified, as believers walking with the Lord, sin no longer has any power over us, so as we daily walk with Christ, we are being saved from the power of sin (sanctification) When we get to heaven we will saved from the presence of sin – our glorification.

As Pastor Alistair Begg used to say, Christians are not sinless, but they sin less.

 

Soli Deo Gloria!

Reconciliation

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And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.  – 2 Corinthians 5:18

I have been burdened by a lot of things lately that relate to the body of Christ, but one that breaks my heart the most is the way some churches have chosen to deal with the problem of a specific sin in the church – the sin of ethnic hatred or as it is mostly referred to, the sin of racism. I don’t know all the reasons why some churches have chosen to handle the issue the way they have, but I believe part of the reason would be a failure to understand the purpose of the church.

Every human being on earth is made in the image of God, we are all image bearers. The Bible commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. When a lawyer asked Jesus in Luke 10:29 “who is my neighbor?”, Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan, thereby teaching us that our neighbor is anyone around us. When we don’t love those around us, we are sinning.  This love is not necessarily a warm and fuzzy feeling towards those around us, to love your neighbor as Jesus taught through the parable of the good Samaritan is to not refuse, belittle or reject anyone who needs our help when we are able to render it. We can say tat in a nutshell, when you boil it down, loving your neighbor is meting their need, when you have the resources (time, money, etc) to do so.  

Technically, every unsaved person in a local assembly is just a visitor – no matter how long they have been attending, they are not part of the building blocks that make up the household of God.

How should we as Christians deal with this sin of racism?  The same way the Bible calls us to deal with all sins – by calling the sinner to repentance. This is the mission of the Church. The Church is not a building, but a group of people who have been called by God Himself. According to Romans 8:28, the Church is made of people who have been “called according to His purpose”. While this refers to the body of Christ universal, it also applies to the local assembly of believers.

I am not by any means implying that the unsaved cannot come to the local assembly.  While we can and should encourage the unsaved to worship with us when we gather with the saints, we should be aware, however that they are not part of the body of Christ even if they regularly attend a local assembly. Technically, every unsaved person in a local assembly is just a visitor – no matter how long they have been attending, they are not part of the building blocks that make up the household of God.

Ephesians 4 11-15 tells us that God gave us pastors and church leaders to equip believers through the word so we become discerning Christians, able to share the truth of the gospel with others. Christians gather in local assemblies to be equipped, and then scatter into the world to share the gospel. The local assembly was designed by God not for the unbeliever, but for the believers. That is why Church membership is crucial. Most Biblically sound Churches require a salvation testimony from those who desire to be members.

Those who argue against Church membership usually say things like, “there is no church membership in the Bible”. That is true, but there was no need for membership in the early church. Christianity was a very small insignificant sect in the first century and the few believers knew each other. There was only one local assembly of believers in Jerusalem, in Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, etc. They did not need church membership; they were able to identify those who had made professions of faith. Not so today. Church membership enables the elders and the congregation to know those who profess to be believers. Knowing who the true believers in the church are is important in order to carry out Church discipline.

Church discipline purifies the Church and keeps believers in right relationship with God and each other. When a professing Christian offends another believer or is living in unrepentant sin, then it is the duty of other believers to remind them of who they are and to whom they belong by calling them to repentance. Matthew chapter 18 lays out how this should be done. Since the church is called by God Himself, holiness in conduct and life is required and expected of those who profess to be saved. Church discipline helps to maintain this.

What has all this got to do with the sin of racism? Everything. Anyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus Christ, but still harbors any type of hatred or ill will towards other fellow believers is either not saved or living in unrepentant sin. If the person is unsaved, then they need the gospel.  This is how the Bible commands us to deal with the unsaved – we give them the gospel and pray the respond in repentance. However, if the person is saved and is harboring or struggling with this sin, then it is the duty of other believers who are aware to call them to repentance so they can be restored to right relationship with the Lord. If one-on-one admonition fails, then it might be necessary to begin the Matthew 18 process.

It is impossible for any Church to “reconcile races” because as Virgil Walker, the co-host of the Just Thinking Podcast said, “races’ don’t reconcile, people do

It breaks my heart when I see some churches trying to “reconcile the races” through various unbiblical programs and methods. What does it mean to be reconciled? The Webster dictionary online defines the word “reconcile” as

1a: to restore to friendship or harmony reconciled the factions

b: SETTLE, RESOLVE reconcile differences

2: to make consistent or congruous reconcile an ideal with reality

3: to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant was reconciled to hardship

Most of the activities that have been centered around reconciliation usually assumes that people with different skin colors and ethnicities automatically have differences that need to be resolved or broken relationships that need to be restored. People base this assumption on the American history of slavery. No one would denying the evils of slavery or the Jim Crow laws that discriminated against blacks in horrible ways, but that does not automatically mean that there is some tension or differences that need to be resolved between believers of different ethnic backgrounds. Even if some tensions exist, the biblical solution is not some program, the Biblical solution is the gospel. The goal should be to change hearts and only the gospel can do that.

Any reconciliation that can and should happen in the Church can only happen among believers in Christ. All true believers are already reconciled to one another in Christ. This is made clear in 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 – And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

The mission of the Church (the redeemed people of God reconciled to Christ) is to take the message of reconciliation to the world so the unsaved might become reconciled to CHRIST. We have been called by God to reconcile people to Christ, not “races”. Virgil Walker, the co-host of the Just Thinking Podcast said it best when he said, “’races’ don’t reconcile, people do.” We are not saved as a group, we are saved alone, by faith alone, through Christ alone, for the glory of God alone.

Ethnic or racial reconciliation in the Church among believers is impossible apart from Christ.  It is true that even among Christians, we don’t always love our brothers and sister as ourselves, but that does not mean we abandon the Biblical way of reconciliation and come up with our own. In all matters of the Church, the Bible is not only sufficient, but authoritative as well.  Let us bring ourselves under the authority of the Bible even in the matters of race. If we know if a fellow believer who is not walking in love towards his brother/sister, let us seek to restore them back into fellowship through the word.

Soli Deo Gloria!