No, this isn’t a post about the 1962 hit by Anthony Newley. It is about the existential question the book of Proverbs begs us to consider in nearly every chapter. For the Bible has a LOT to say about being a fool. The first mention of which appears in vs. 7 of chapter 1: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Newley’s song, co-written with Leslie Bricusse, is a lament about the loneliness, emptiness and self-doubt that plagues a person who never risked the kind of vulnerability that loving another deeply requires.
Proverbs on the other hand, often appeals to the wretched condition of one who never trusted themselves to the revelation of God in His Word, and ends up too in loneliness, emptiness and self-doubt.
Even worse.
Newley’s song never gives an answer as to why he remained that way.
Proverbs does: “Fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
In a nutshell, the Fool, is the one who takes the very notion of God lightly (the idea behind the word “despise” here), and takes true wisdom and instruction lightly. He or she does not know that one cannot understand the universe and the meaning of human life, apart from fearing the God who made it all.
If He is not in His rightful place in our thoughts, we can know nothing of the truth, only uncontextualized facts.
Fools do not want a sovereign God.
An untamable God.
A demanding God.
A holy God.
A judging God.
A God with absolute rights.
A God who is to be feared on any level.
One who imposes Himself in any aspect of life – and who cannot be quantified and harnessed to their own wills.
This is what makes a fool.
The Fool wants fantasy above reality.
I pray this is not you.
Flee to Him today.
Own the self-evident reality of this God. Believe the Gospel and be saved. For this God, so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that all who believe in Him would not die, lost as they are, but have everlasting life.
Only a fool, would refuse the obvious and heralded truth.
About 20 years ago, I had the joy of teaching some classes in a Christian school on Worldview. I really had fun. Along with my classes – which were mostly seniors – I got to speak in chapel from time to time to the entire student body. One of those times was especially memorable to me.
I chose as my topic for that chapel, how to “Cult-proof” yourself. Five things which if you stick to, will keep one from being sucked into actual cults (i.e. Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormonism, Children of God, etc.); cultish or cult like Christian Churches or ministries; and all false religions to boot.
A pretty high claim I know. But I still stand by it.
What were those 5 things? The simple and so-called “Five Solas” of the Reformation. I didn’t invent them. But they have stood the test of time, and are as relevant now as ever. Maybe more so in an age of the wild proliferation of religious sects, and organizations like NXIVM, Scientology, Multi-level-marketing schemes, extreme breast-feeding (yes, it’s a real thing), separatists and Preppers, on and on.
1 – Sola Scriptura: Standing on the Word of God as the final authority in all matters of life and faith, especially in opposition to dreams, visions, experiences teachings and writings as located in one’s self, or another’s person or personality.
Sola Scriptura does not mean we ignore Church history, nor the teachers and preachers God has gifted His Church with throughout the ages. But it does mean we sift everything through the careful, systematic sieve of the Bible’s teaching. That we and those we listen to are held to the scrutiny of sound principles of Biblical interpretation. Requiring that doctrines and teachings are neither contrary to “the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3) Note – already in place by the closing of the New Testament canon; nor invented out of whole cloth, privately interpreted or dependent upon wild or unique applications of obscure passages.
All those claiming to have some new or secret revelation are to be dismissed out of hand. “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.” (Isa. 8:20)
It is in the Scriptures alone, that we find that we are saved by –
2 – Sola Gratia – grace alone.
Every false group, EVERY false group, no matter how seemingly orthodox, will make salvation and reconciliation to God, dependent in some way on receiving their unique teaching or brand and some form of human merit as prescribed by them. Performance in their eyes. Not the reception of free grace. Do this, don’t do that, in order to make yourself worthy as they imagine it.
Run! You can do NOTHING to make yourself worthy of salvation in the least bit. As Luther once said, we bring absolutely nothing to the table but the sin that makes our salvation necessary. Salvation has nothing to do with our worthiness, but of Christ’s. He saves the unworthy. Only the unworthy. When we inject any personal worthiness into the equation – we either say that Jesus’ righteousness imputed to us is not enough, or that we can somehow do something He couldn’t. It is a lie. Eph. 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
3 – Sola Fide – by Faith alone. The Bible also teaches us that salvation and right standing with God is received by faith alone, apart from any human effort. We always receive it as opposed to making it happen. We can never do enough. But every aberrant group will have you jumping through hoops – and never answering the question “how much is enough?”
As the passage just quoted says – “by grace you have been saved through faith.” Believing what God has said in His Word is true, and obeying the Gospel by believing and resting upon Christ and His finished work on our behalf. When those in John 6 asked Jesus what they must be doing to do the works of God – He answered: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
On the “mount of transfiguration”, the voice of the Father was heard as Jesus stood with Moses (representative of the Old Testament Law) and Elijah (representative of the Old Testament prophets), the text says: “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Matt. 17:5) He is the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets, so that Paul can write: “Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” Phil. 3:8-9.
4 – Solus Christus – We are saved by Christ alone. We are not saved by a doctrine, a creed, nor an association with any group or person other than being found in Christ by faith. He alone saves us from the wrath to come on all human sin.
He is the one who died in the place of sinners. He alone atoned for human sin. He alone was God incarnate. He alone fulfilled all the Law required. He alone fulfilled the Scriptures. He alone died, was buried, rose again and stands at the right hand of the Father on high. He alone has the power to forgive sins. He alone will come to mete out final judgment on those who remain in their rebellion against Him, and reward the saints who have put their trust in Him. He alone will raise us from the dead.
5 – Soli Deo Gloria – All of this is to the glory of God alone.
Nothing was more important to Christ Jesus than that the cosmos would come to honor, love and revere the Father as He did. So it is when teaching us to pray, the first thing on His mind is that we seek that His name be hallowed, be restored to its rightful place. God has done all things for His own glory.
And what is this glory? Is it some sort of divine ego trip? No! God can bless us with nothing greater than revelations of Himself – for He is the source of all goodness, beauty, justice, glory, sweetness, wonder, pleasure and holiness. He can give us nothing higher than Himself. And all He needs to be glorified, is to be revealed. And where is He best revealed? “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Cor. 4:6.
After the chapel where I shared this, a young man, dressed in all black, complete with a full-length leather coat and stegosaurus spiked hair came up to me, holding up his hand with the five fingers splayed said “Cool!” He had written one sola on each finger in permanent marker. Then, make up and all he said: “I’ll bet you sing hymns in your church, don’t you.” I said yes. And he said: “I wish they did at my church.” Then he turned and walked away. He was so hungry. But he was not being fed this kind of truth in his home Church.
We’ve been examining the Lord’s Prayer of Matthew 6, under the picture of tuning a six stringed instrument – the heart. And we’ve seen how these all resonate with one another so that the whole man is brought into harmony with God’s glorious nature, plans and purposes. Nothing is of greater use in this regard. It is the epitome of being “godly minded”. As Romans 8:6 tells us – “to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.” This is the most wonderful means of setting the mind on the Spirit, leading to life and peace.
In this last installment – let me play off of the tuning metaphor just a bit more. For at the very beginning of the prayer are 2 words, that act (if you will) as the two prongs of the tuning fork to serve as our key reference point. 2 words of such power, grace and wonder, that sometimes, having prayed just these – one has prayed astonishingly: “Our Father.”
Our Father.
Can there be anything more amazing to the Believer (and make no mistake, these words can only be uttered in truth by one who has been born again by the power of the Spirit) than these two realities in framing prayer?
First, “Our.”
As you’ve no doubt noted, every pronoun but those specific to the Father in this prayer is in the plural. Our, Father, not just “my” Father. Give “us” this day. Forgive “us” our debts as “we” forgive. Lead “us” not into temptation. Deliver “us” from evil.
Prayer is never a wholly solitary thing, because we have been joined together with all those in Christ by faith into one body. We are a mystically unified whole. I cannot sin without it impacting the whole, nor can you. And I cannot pray or grow in Christ’s likeness without it impacting the whole. We are part of one another, and what affects and impacts us singly, reverberates throughout. It is why we pray with one another in mind: Romans 12:5 “so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”
When we pray these things beloved, we are entering into ministry to all our brothers and sisters in Christ. Never alone. This is a most sweet and wonderful reality. It will change all of your praying forever.
But secondly in this first word, is not only that we are one with each other in Christ – the “our” here includes Jesus Himself! Think on this for a moment. By virtue of the new birth, and the wonder of adoption into the family of God, Jesus teaches us to pray “Our Father” – His and mine. His and yours. His and ours. We pray as true children of the living God, with as much right of access and guaranteed as much a hearing as the very Son of God Himself.
Prayer isn’t some mere earthly religious activity – it is cosmic glory!
O that we could just soak in that for a while, but I must press to finish.
The second prong of the tuning fork then, as already hinted at is bound up in the word “Father.”
Our – Father.
There is no need to heap up multiple adjectives to try and butter up a distant deity. In Romans 8, Paul tells us that we have been given the Spirit of sonship. Romans 8:12–21 “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”
When we pray, we come to a loving, gentle, kind, merciful, patient, perfect Father. Creator God indeed, but also our true Father.
As Sinclair Ferguson writes in his book “The Holy Spirit”: “The fact is that the Christian’s own spirit does display an awareness of sonship, as the rest of the New Testament makes clear (e.g. 1 Jn. 3:1ff.), amazing though this is. The problem is that this awareness is often weakened, and God’s children may even find themselves doubting their gracious status and privileges. What Paul is saying, however, is that even in the darkest hour there is a co-operative and affirmative testimony given by the Spirit. It is found in the very fact that, although he may be broken and bruised, tossed about with fears and doubts, the child of God nevertheless in his need cries out, ‘Father!’ as instinctively as a child who has fallen and been hurt calls out in similar language, ‘Daddy, help me!’ Assurance of sonship is not reserved for the highly sanctified Christian; it is the birthright of even the weakest and most oppressed believer. This is its glory.”
Our, Father.
This is the bedrock of all true prayer. Children coming to the one they know loves them best, who cannot err in judgement, who binds up all their wounds, who gave His own Son to die in their place that He might purchase them back from their slavery to sin, whose compassion and patience and love are beyond all knowing.
Just sit and meditate on those two words for a minute or two before seeking Him for anything else, and see if your heart is not melted, and if you are not assured that He already knows you deepest cares and concerns – and has designed to meet them with infallible wisdom and in perfect time.
If, as a true believer, the only thing you can gasp out is “Our Father” – you have prayed well, in that you have looked to Him and trusted Him with all, in true relationship – because of Christ.
The Lord’s Prayer. It is no mere side-note that Jesus includes this section in His “sermon on the mount.” The entire sermon is built around the essentials, the foundations of The Kingdom. We could outline it one way like this:
1 – 5:1-12 / The Citizens of the Kingdom – Blessed
2 – 5:13-16 / The Role of the Citizens of the Kingdom in this present age – Salt and Light
3 – 5:17-48 / The Character of the Kingdom and its Citizens – The Righteousness of God (not their own)
4 – 6:1-24 / The Life of Service in the Kingdom – Living unto the Father, not men
Alms / Fasting / Prayer / Treasure in Heaven
5 – 6:25-34 / The Sufficiency of the Kingdom – Delivered from the anxiety of this present age
6 – 7: 1-5 / The Humility of the Kingdom – Uncritically, Brother with brother
7 – 7:6 / The Otherness of the Kingdom – Preciousness and Contrariness
8 – 7:7-12 / The Privilege of the Kingdom – Access to the Father
9 – 7:13, 14 / The Entrance to the Kingdom – The Narrow Way & Gate – Christ
10 – 7:15-27 / The Integrity of the Kingdom – Doers and Hearers
Prayer then is an integral and necessary part of living the Christian life as unto God – while in the World. We are to be people of compassion regarding the needs of those around us (alms); seeking the Lord in our being burdened over sin’s destructive impact, and exercising the self-control of The Spirit (fasting); and bringing the whole of our hearts and minds into harmony with the purposes and plans of God – prayer.
And in fleshing out a fully orbed prayer life, we consider the greatest of cosmic needs – the restoration of the Father’s name and dignity; the desire for His rule and reign in Christ over all to be manifest; His will to be done as the sweetest of all possible outcomes; utter dependency upon Him; continual cleansing from the defilements of sin so as to maintain the closest, unimpeded fellowship with Him and others in our own forgiveness; and seeking to be led only in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.
It is this last petition we consider today: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
While some have read this as a guard against the possibility that He might lead us into sin if we do not pray so – that is certainly not the thought here. We know this due to passages like James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”
What then is this petition about? It is about mistrust of self. Of recognizing that we are weak, and that we stumble so easily into sin, that we need His constant watchfulness and deliverance, or we will be given over to our sins in a moment. For as Proverbs 21:2 reminds us – “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes.”
Even Believers tend to trust our own impulses and judgments. We seldom are very thoughtful in examining our own motives and perspectives. We tend to always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. The benefit we tend to deny others.
Unfortunately, in present day American Evangelicalism, the “God wants you to achieve your dreams” mentality has crept in so that He has almost become an assistant to us, and not we His servants. If I have a dream, a desire, an aspiration, it is automatically baptized as good and right, and it is only fitting that God should help me get there. Whether or not that dream is best for me, more – best for His Kingdom, plans and purposes – seems at best, incidental. What it might have to do with conforming me to the image of Christ is not even considered.
But here, at the end of this majestic and glorious way of praying, Christ enjoins us to stop and consider our weaknesses, shortsightedness and sin-impacted reasoning. To submit all to Him that we might walk only in what is in perfect harmony with His own righteousness. To come again to the foot of the Cross, boasting in nothing but His mercy and grace, and recognizing the tendency so aptly put in the 3rd stanza of Come Thou Fount:
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it;
Prone to leave the God I love:
Take my heart, oh, take and seal it
With Thy Spirit from above.
Rescued thus from sin and danger,
Purchased by the Savior’s blood,
May I walk on earth a stranger,
As a son and heir of God.
For we are never more in tune with our God, than when we live in the reality of: “Nothing in my hands I bring; simply to thy cross I cling.”
From: Matthew 6:12 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” and 6:14–15 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Forgiveness isn’t a simple matter.
No one who has ever been truly hurt by another or betrayed knows this well. Hurts remain. Sometimes they are but bruises which heal in time, and sometimes they are deep wounds which leave big, ugly scars. How do we forgive the unrepentant? DO we forgive the unrepentant? What do either of those look like? Does forgiveness remove all personal responsibility? Does forgiveness mean we just ignore the past? Does forgiveness mean we extend unexamined trust in the future?
Like I said, forgiveness isn’t a simple matter.
All that needs to be said about forgiveness isn’t unpacked in these few verses either. But what is here, we need to consider carefully. Because as Jesus’ words indicate, for the Believer, our experiences of forgiveness and of being forgiven are tied together in some capacity.
Let’s consider some of the implications laid out for us here.
1 – Note first in context, that this need for forgiveness of others is directly connected to being led out of temptation.
The petition to be spared from temptation in vs. 13 comes directly on the heels of asking for forgiveness. That’s not an accident.
I don’t know about you, but if there is any place where I am weak and fall so easily into temptation, it is in the area of letting offenses go – of forgiving others.
If the truth be told, many of us like to hold on to our grievances. We want to stay hurt – and to hold something against those who sin against us. In our twisted sinfulness, it gives us a perverse sense of power over the other. They hurt us and we had no power to defend ourselves – so we’ll hang on to their guilt and not let them off the hook for anything.
It makes no sense. Our lack of forgiving them doesn’t actually hurt them back. It doesn’t even the score. It just makes us miserable and bitter. But it deceives us into thinking we have some sort of power over those who injured us. It is a lie.
And what comes along with our unforgiveness is this: Nothing kills the true spirit of prayer more than a hard heart toward others while we are seeking God’s tenderheartedness toward us. Such is the heart of hypocrisy.
As J.C. Ryle noted so rightly on this point: “The plain object of it is, to remind us that we must not expect our prayers for forgiveness to be heard, if we pray with malice and spite in our hearts towards others. To pray in such a frame of mind is mere formality and hypocrisy. It is even worse than hypocrisy. It is as much as saying, “Do not forgive me at all.” Our prayer is nothing without charity. We must not expect to be forgiven, if we cannot forgive.” (Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on Matthew, 6:9-15)
How often, we’d rather hang on to our hurt than be disabused of our hypocrisy. We’d rather muse on their sins against us, than wonder at the glory of our sins forgiven in Christ. We’d rather lick our wounds, than feast at the table of His abundant grace.
Stupid. But then, sin always is.
2 – Second, law cannot forgive, law can only mete out justice.
At times the law may pardon, but it cannot forgive, because forgiveness is personal. Jesus is calling us to forgiveness, not just pardon.
In a pardon, the perpetrator walks free, but there is no concern for personal reconciliation. You go your way and I’ll go mine, and never the twain shall meet.
Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes true reconciliation can’t be accomplished. Rom. 9 calls us to live at peace with others, as much as it depends upon us. But some do not want to live at peace with us. So be it. We’re not responsible for how others respond. But there is always a desire in the heart of the Believer that a true peace between us can be reached, even if there are extenuating circumstances which will not allow for things to go back the way they were. An abandoning spouse who goes and marries another, can never return to the one they left at first. But there can be peace between them.
3 – Forgiveness is not forgetfulness.
This is so often misconstrued by absolutizing a verse like Isaiah 43:25 ““I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” – as though God is possessed of some form of divine amnesia.
We know that isn’t what the passage is saying, when we consider that it is part of a pronouncement where God is recounting Israel’s sins! The sins of many of the saints fill the pages of Scripture.
The idea here is that in reconciliation, He no longer remembers our past sins against us. That He remits His right of recompense. For He was recompensed for our sins, fully, in Jesus.
Two parties may pardon one another but still not be reconciled. But in forgiveness, personal reconciliation is the goal. And in absolute justice, a declaration of innocence is indispensable.
In Christ, all of these are met. He takes our sin and we His righteousness. The Father personally forgives. In His sovereign authority He pardons. And in grace He imputes righteousness that we may be rewarded.
3 – Third, we must be aware that God does not forgive at the expense of justice, and thus He does not require us to do more than that and forgive without regard to justice either. When He forgives, He does so on the basis of the atonement made in Christ where justice is meted out in full.
So it is, when we forgive, we give up our right to prosecute the matter on our own behalf, surrendering the justice needed into the hands of the Father. We do not deny justice altogether but willingly suffer a particular loss in treating the individual as no longer an offender, while committing justice into the Father’s hands.
Yet, while forgiving sets aside any personal vengeance, it does not ignore what might be needed in loving our neighbors as ourselves and protecting them, and, if needed, getting the authorities involved.
Forgiveness only has reference to my right and requirement to be made whole in the aftermath of being sinned against. But I cannot forgive for others. I have no right to leave my neighbor in danger if the perpetrator I’ve forgiven is still at large and still poses a danger to them. My love for my neighbor requires I act in their best interest.
4 – Fourth, note too as above, that some offenses are purely personal – and others have several dimensions to to them.
Some offenses cross over into crimes and are sins against the State or others as well. I have no right to usurp the State’s, nor anyone else’s authority and forgive on either’s behalf. The offender may well still need to face that reality beyond my sphere of forgiveness.
Overstating forgiveness is as dangerous as understating it.
I must forgive when it is in my power and within my sphere, but I cannot and must not usurp that issue on behalf of any other entity. I can only forgive for myself alone. And I do so, committing it all to the Father’s just disposal.
On the cross, Jesus can forgive His tormentors for Himself, but note how He prays that the Father would forgive them. For He cannot overstep in the issue of His Father’s offense. This, He appeals to the Father for. And when we forgive, we do well to follow suit. We too can pray – “Father, lay nothing to the charge of their account on my behalf.” How He may deal otherwise is up to Him.
5 – Fifth, note too how Jesus cannot and will not usurp the Spirit’s own sphere and pretend to forgive blasphemy against Him.
The unpardonable sin as it is called – is against the Holy Spirit. And Jesus simply says it will not be forgiven. Ever. He does not say it cannot, but that it will not. God refuses.
6 – Lastly, note how there is a difference between forgiveness in restoring relationship, vs. simple offenses from strangers where there is no relationship to restore. And how it is Christ does all of this in regard to our sins against Him. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
We must always remember that Believers forgive out of the boundless ocean of the forgiveness we have received in Christ.
Ps. 103:8-14 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.”
Matthew 6:12 “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
If you have ever thought much about this verse, no doubt you’ve wrestled with whether or not Jesus is saying that the Believer’s being forgiven of our sins, is dependent upon our forgiveness of other’s sins. That forgiveness with God is at least in part a form of quid pro quo. And that in the end, our salvation is works based and not grace based.
Given the balance of New Testament teaching, we would be faced with a true contradiction if this is the case. So we do need to sort out what is really being taught here. We especially need to see it in terms of our overall theme of how the elements of this prayer together are calculated to re-tune the Believer’s heart with the heart of God each time we enter into it.
Forgiveness is a huge category in Scripture. The entire Old Testament sacrificial system is built upon it, and as Peter and Paul make it central to all the preaching in Acts and in their letters: Acts 10:43 “To him (Jesus) all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Mankind’s greatest need is that we be forgiven of our sins in order to be reconciled back to the Father. We share the universal condemnation that we want the right of supremacy over our own lives and goods, rather than being submitted to the rightful Lordship of the God who created us for Himself. We want to say what is right and what is wrong for ourselves without His imposition. We want to justify ourselves for all of our actions, words, thoughts and attitudes irrespective of God’s requirements. We want to be god unto ourselves, being responsible to no one else but ourselves. And as a result, every other sin we commit flows from this central corruption.
So it is, the plain teaching of the Bible is that we can only be forgiven for this cosmic rebellion, through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross who died in our place. Thus the resurrected Jesus Himself told the Disciples in Luke 24:46–47 “[A]nd (He) said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
So what are we to make of this? First and foremost (and I plan to come back to this topic again next time) – that an unforgiving, grudge-bearing, bitter spirit is so irreconcilable with the Spirit of Christ, that as long as we entertain such, we cannot live in harmony with the Triune God we claim to love and serve. We cannot be tuned to Him. For such an heart-set is in direct opposition to the Gospel of grace we claim to have been saved by. That a spirit or attitude of unforgiveness is wholly antithetical to the Spirit of God, and to the message and work of the Cross.
No wonder then, that Jesus, in teaching us to pray so as to be tuned to His own heart and mind, directs us not only to seek forgiveness regularly in recognition of our own ongoing battle against indwelling sin and our constant failures in that regard – but that as the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit overflow so as to provide forgiveness for all who believe in the Cross of Christ – so being ourselves forgiven of cosmic crimes, forgive others out of the abundance of our having been forgiven. We do not forgive others out of our own largess, but out of that which we have received.
Do you remember Jesus’ encounter at the Pharisee’s house in Luke 7? A woman with a bad reputation made her way into the gathering, and anointed Jesus with perfume, weeping, kissing His feet and wiping them with her hair. The Pharisee was indignant at her garish display. But Jesus rebuked the man by pointing out that she acted out of love, knowing the forgiveness of her many sins. The Pharisee, thinking he had little to be forgiven of, didn’t love much either, and even ignored some common courtesies toward Jesus.
The more we try to view ourselves as not needing forgiveness, the more we will need to harp on other’s sins, and in direct proportion, will fail to love Christ.
What a Savior He is. He gave His very life, that we might have the full and free forgiveness of God Himself. In comparison, what microscopically little I have ever had to give in forgiving others.
Father forgive me.
As right now, I ask you to lay nothing to the charge of anyone else on my account. For my sins have been many, perpetual and truly evil against you. Their’s, have been so little against me.
“And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matt. 6:7-13.
We have been considering “The Lord’s Prayer” under the idea of using it to regularly re-tune the heart, not as a mere rote religious exercise. To go to this prayer and consider the massive implications of each phrase, as a means each time to re-tune the soul to God’s priorities; to those things He knows are best for us. So that we think with this scheme always in our minds – framing how we see reality.
It begins by calling us to consider how holy, glorious and magnificent He is first, so that we have some sense of who it is we are praying to, before we even begin. And that in recognizing Him as He is afresh, seeing that the greatest cosmic need of all is that every knee bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord – to the praise and glory of the Father (Phil. 2″11). That His glory and reputation be restored among all sentient beings. And indeed, can we truly pray until WE are seeing Him as He is first?
Secondly, Jesus tells us that the final answer to all the prayers of the saints culminate in this one grand petition – that His Kingdom would at last come. That all human and angelic rebellion against His perfect rule would at last be vanquished, and that Christ would rule unopposed both in our hearts and minds, and manifestly on earth – globally and cosmically.
And thirdly, reframing our desires to coincide with His will in all things. For we so often do not even know what to pray for. So, the Believer, humbly submits his or her requests to Him for the review of His perfect wisdom and love. We trust Him to veto foolish things, grant better than we ask, answer when it is most advantageous and base His answers on what is best for our souls and growth in Christ – long term.
Fourth, Jesus shows us that we need to look to the Father both for our simplest, basic needs, but above all that Christ would be the ultimately satisfying Bread of Life for our souls. That Christ would be broken afresh to us. That we would be satisfied in Him, above all earthly things.
And it isn’t until this point – that He leads to treat the ideas of sin and forgiveness. I find that both curious and glorious.
How often do our prayer lives begin with the confession of sin? That our starting point is far from His? That as Believers, justified by faith in Christ and His atoning work on our behalf, He is not as fixated on the sin problem as we still tend to be. We are this side of the Cross. Christ has died. He has paid the price for our sins. We come to The Father as children already, and not as groveling beggars. Not to do so is to come to Him as though Jesus’ work hasn’t already made the way. As though by obsequious shamefacedness, we now pave a new way to Him ourselves. It is as if having fallen, WE now have to do the re-set. Jesus made an initial way, but it is up to us to keep it or restore it. It is the opposite of grace, wherein we trust Christ’s righteousness as imputed to us, even as our sin was imputed to Him at Calvary.
What does this do then? It frees us to confess freely and without having to deny any of our wickedness, nor to come to Him sheepishly. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:15 & 16) We can fully agree with Him regarding our failures and guilt, while at the same time pleading for a repentant heart, and all with the confidence that we are already fully accepted in Christ and face repentance, not man-crafted penance. We cast all of it on Him.
“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us” tunes us most keenly to the Gospel wherein we stand. And, it fills us with the wherewithal to forgive others out of the abundance of what we’ve already received. It reminds us that no one has ever sinned against us as greatly as we have sinned against Him – and gives us a bottomless reservoir out of which to draw our own forgiveness for others.
Of what a glorious salvation is ours in Christ Jesus – the Lamb slain for sin.
One of the things which commonly happens with Christians, is that we take a verse – like this one – and toss it around as a general maxim without really considering it well in context. I hear this verse quoted all the time as a stand-alone. But when we do that, we can miss the real point of the portion when taken as a whole. Does God give wisdom in general? Sure. But is that what James is after here? I don’t think so.
The context here is asking God for wisdom, regarding how to count it “all joy” when as Believers, we encounter all sorts of “trials of various kinds.” The application is intentionally narrow. And the caveat appended to it is that if we do not do so, we will find our faith quite unstable. How those fit together is essential in understanding James’ point.
Note first then that James is after helping Believers grow in steadfastness. Steadfastness is remaining the same in regard to living rightly before God, irrespective of outward circumstances. It means having a frame of mind in trusting God, no matter what changes around us externally, or even how we feel.
That being the case, the wisdom referred to here isn’t generic wisdom, but specifically related to facing trials – not only courageously, but profitably, by trusting in God’s providential care over His children. It is wisdom to take advantage of our trials in confidence that God will use them to help us mature and become complete, mature spiritually.
If we do not have faith in His care and providential appointments in our trials, then we will have no real faith at all, and as a result will be unstable in everything we encounter in life. We will always be knocked off kilter by difficulties. We must trust our God, His care, power and good will toward us in Christ.
That means then, that to “ask in faith” is to ask:
1- Trusting God’s character.
2- Trusting God’s love.
3- Trusting His wisdom in bringing us to and through our trials.
4- Trusting His sovereign appointments and care.
5- Trusting The promises in His Word.
Faith, true Biblical faith is ALWAYS rooted in His trustworthiness.
If I have no faith in that, in His trustworthiness regarding His sovereignty over my life, I will never be stable, never gain endurance, and never grow in spiritual maturity.
So today fellow Christian, if you are truly His, and you are enduring a hard place right now, He is saying to you – that if you will ask for wisdom as to how to use this trial, to co-opt it for steadfastness and growth in the image of Christ – He WILL, give it. He is faithful to do so. You can trust Him. And knowing our weakness here, He promises that He will not think little of us for needing more wisdom, but will freely, lovingly and joyfully grant it. He will not chide us for our lack. For He loves to be our great supply in such circumstances. He loves to have us call upon Him in our time of need. To know, that we are to keep coming back to Him over and over and over as the One on whom we truly rely.
Oh what precious things such as these are ours because of Christ!
The title to this post is not my own. It is a near constant reminder from my internet friend, scholar and Bible teacher – Mark Ward.
When the Apostle Paul is giving corrective instructions to the Corinthian Church, he has to address the issue that even though the Holy Spirit may supernaturally enable someone to speak in a language unknown to them – nevertheless, unless that language is translated for the assembly. So he writes in 1 Cor. 14:7-12 “If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.”
Edification – building up – requires intelligibility.
Or consider the example in Nehemiah 8 with those returning to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity. Many, did not even know their native Hebrew anymore. So we read that Ezra enlisted a group of men in the endeavor to restore the Word of God to the people. We read: “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.” The word “clearly” there implying they gave an interpretation, paragraph by paragraph – and gave the sense too, not just the words.
Edification requires intelligibility.
Because we know this, and because we also know that most of us know neither Biblical Hebrew nor Greek, God has gifted men and women throughout the ages to study and translate the original languages into those spoken by others around the world. How grateful we must be for this.
But even when that work is done, we recognize that languages themself change over time. Due to this reality, new and new Bible translations are needed, even in the very same language over time – to be sure the message of the Bible is not lost due to the way language morphs. A good example is the graphic above showing how The Lord’s Prayer would have looked to English readers around 100 A.D. And below, are several more examples.
Thirteenth Century – Manuscript in the Library of Cambridge University: Fader oure that art in heve, i-halgeed be thi nome, i-cume thi kinereiche, y-worthe thi wylle also is in hevene so be an erthe, oure iche-dayes-bred gif us today, and forgif us our gultes, also we forgifet oure gultare, and ne led ows nowth into fondingge, auth ales ows of harme.
Fifteenth Century – Manuscript in the Library of Oxford University: Fader oure that art in heuene, halewed be thy name: thy kyngedom come to thee: thy wille be do in erthe as in heuen: oure eche dayes brede geue us to daye: and forgeue us oure dettes as we forgeue to oure dettoures: and lede us nogte into temptacion: bot delyver us from yvel.
Seventeenth Century – The King James Version of 1611: Our father which art in heauen, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdome come. Thy will be done, in earth, as it is in heauen. Giue vs this day our daily bread. And forgiue vs our debts, as we forgiue our debters. And lead vs not into temptation, but deliuer vs from euill: For thine is the kingdome, and the power, and the glory, for euer.
Now a while back, a gal came to attend our congregation, with virtually no Bible background. She needed to be brought up to speed with Biblical language for sure, and especially the nomenclature which we – as Bible-believing Christians take for granted. We use a lot of unique words. We throw around words like regeneration, justification, sanctification and the like – but seldom take the time to define those terms for the uninitiated. Even a phrase as basic as “born again” needs to be unpacked for those who have had no previous exposure, or very limited familiarity.
Coming back to the gal I just referenced – this issue popped up in a way I hadn’t remotely thought about before – even while trying to explain terms in my preaching and using a newer translation of the Scriptures like the ESV.
The problem? My beloved hymns. Take for example vs. 2 of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, and its “Here I raise my Ebeneezer.” What in the world does that mean? Even to many raised in the Church today.
Let me make it even more basic. For this gal, the simple “thees” and “thous” of Elizabethan English in the hymns proved to be a stumbling block to intelligibility. And this, from a college educated professional. Imagine what this might mean to those doing inner-city or far rural missions! The problem is compounded.
Now for me as both a hack poet, and a child of the manse (who even knows what that means any more?) I am truly loath to give up the music and cadence of the words of sacred hymnody, let alone the melodies. I love the amazing turns of phrase and linguistic beauty of so many of the hymns that have fed my soul for all of my life.
That said, if I want the truths which were meant to be communicated in those grand “songs of Zion” (does that phrase mean anything to anyone anymore?) to still serve the souls of those coming after – we may need to rethink, and re-work these sacred works of Gospel art.
I offer up a modest attempt below. I’d love to know what you think. I labored to keep the intent of the lyrics while trying to remove anything which might hinder anyone, and yet retain memorability as well as intelligibility. May God raise up a number in our day who can take on such a project – that what can be preserved, is, and what can be modified rightly, may be, for the edification of many others in days to come.
This, from “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee”. The original appears at the bottom.
I. Joyful, joyful, we adore You,
God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts when warmed responding to you
Turn to see the Son above
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness,
Drive our darkest doubts away;
You Who give eternal gladness,
Fill us with Christ’s light today
II. All your works with joy surround You,
Earth and Heaven reflect your rays,
Stars and angels sing around You,
Center of our highest praise.
Fields and forests, valleys and mountains,
Beautiful meadows, flashing seas,
Singing birds and river fountains
All sing of your majesty
III. You are giving and forgiving,
Always blessing, always blessed,
Source of all the joy of living,
Boundless sea of happy rest!
God our Father, Christ our brother,
All who abide in You are mine,
Teach us how to love each other,
Sharing in your joy divine
IV. Come and join the happy chorus
Angels long ago began;
God the Father loving, saving,
Sent in love the Son of Man.
Always singing, marching to Heaven
Spirit empowered to conquer strife,
Joyful music leads us homeward
By the power of Christ – our life.
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee, Op’ning to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day!
All Thy works with joy surround Thee, Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays, Stars and angels sing around Thee, Center of unbroken praise. Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea, Singing bird and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in Thee.
Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest, Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest! Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, All who live in love are Thine; Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine.
Mortals, join the happy chorus, Which the morning stars began; Father love is reigning o’er us, Brother love binds man to man. Ever singing, march we onward, Victors in the midst of strife, Joyful music leads us Sunward In the triumph song of life.
Thanks to the largess of a friend, I am currently reading through the autobiography of William Jay. Jay (1769-1853) was a non-Conformist (Independent) preacher and pastor in Bath, England – where he pastored Argyle Chapel for over 50 years. He was a friend of John Newton.
The autobiography is unusual in that it consists in 4 parts.
Part one is comprised of 18 letters to his children, recounting his life, ministry and reflections on a whole host of associated issues.
Part 2 is a supplement to part 1 regarding events of interest, celebrations, various personages with whom he interacted and other miscellanies.
Part 3 contains 23 “Reminiscenses of Distinguished Contemporaries.” These range from the well-known John Newton, John Ryland, William Wilberforce and others of the like, to many whose names are wholly unfamiliar to me excepting in this volume.
Part 4 is a wide-ranging selection of his voluminous correspondence.
Of particular delight to me (so far) was letter 17 to his children. It contains some of his most useful reflections in my opinion. And of particular note are the few excepts I am about to give you. I hope they will whet your appetite to seek out and read this refreshing, informative and soul-useful volume. It really is quite a delight. Of particular interest will be his reflections on leaving churches for other churches, and why different denominations is not a negative. There is food for thought there both for pastors and congregants.
Let me give you a few excerpts from the closing section in particular.
Pg. 166 – “Divinity cannot be taught at the college without system, but, in preaching, it is better that many things should be assumed than technically discussed. It is better for the preacher to give way to his holy and fervent feelings, than to be chilled and checked by the apprehension of some supposed inconsistency. It is better to let the text speak its own language, naturally and glowingly, than to use coercive measures, and torture out the meaning, or bombard it into submission.”
Pg. 166 – “In my considerable acquaintance with the religious world, some of the most exemplary individuals I have met with have been Calvinists. Of this persuasion were the two most extraordinary Christian characters I ever knew — John Newton, and Cornelius Winter. They held its leading sentiments with firmness; but their Calvinism, like that of Bunyan, was rendered, by their temper, milder than that of some of their brethren ; and they were candid towards those who differed from them; and esteemed and loved them as fellow-heirs together of the grace of life.”
Pg. 167 – “Two grand truths have always seemed to me to pervade the whole Bible, and not to be confined to a few particular phrases, viz., that if we are saved, it is entirely of God’s grace ; and if we are lost, it will be entirely from ourselves. I know full well, a man may easily force me into a corner with things seemingly or really related to the truth of either of these affirmations ; but he will not shake my confidence in either, while I can read, ” O Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself : but in me is thy help.” The connexion is like a chain across the river; I can see the two ends, but not the middle ; not because there is no real union, but because it is under water. Lower the water, or raise the links, and I shall see the centre as well as the extremes.”
Pg. 167 – “Paley observes that we should never suffer what we know to be disturbed by what we know not.”
This last quotation spans the bottom of Pg. 167 and the top of 168. With it, he ends this letter. He notes that he had written this in the fly-leaf of the Bible he most studied from. I find it a gold-mine in miniature.
“In reading this Book let me guard against four things —
1 – The mysticism of the Allegorizer :
2 – The contractedness of the Systematic:
3 – The Dogmatism of the Bigot :
4 – The presumption of the Rationalist.
Let me tremble at God’s word, and let me in reading it keep three purposes in view :
1 – To aid devotion rather than dispute.
2 – To collect facts rather than form opinions :
3 – To regulate practice rather than encourage speculation :”
ResponsiveReiding 