Jesus compared praying for the needs of others to a man coming to a friend's house at midnight. After waking the whole household with his knocking, he pleads for the loan of three loaves of bread to feed the visitor who has just arrived at his house. (Luke 11:5-8) If such audacity and persistence gets results on earth, says Jesus, you can be assured that it will be just as effective in heaven.
Our 'visitor' need not be aware of our midnight door-knocking. For instance, we might pray silently for the physical and spiritual needs of the people around us as we travel to work, as we meet people during our day, as we watch the news on television or read the newspaper. Such prayers can strengthen our faith when we see answers to our private prayers that can only come from God himself since no-one else knows about them. Even if we never get to know, this side of heaven, how our prayers were answered, bringing others' needs to God in prayer is a wonderful way of ministering to people. (Obviously, if we have the means to provide for their needs out of what God has already provided to us, we should do that too.)
Sometimes, though, we might let our 'visitor' know that we're off to get some bread for them. In other words, we will offer to pray for them. Saying "I'll pray for you" can sometimes be a cop-out from actually doing what's needed, whether that's providing a meal, spending time listening or whatever. But knowing that someone is praying for them is often a great encouragement to the person who is struggling. Even some non-believers appreciate such an offer, though we need to be aware that there are others who will be offended. (We can still pray privately for such people, of course.)
When should we invite our hungry 'visitor' to come with us to our generous friend's house to get bread? That is, when should we offer to pray with someone? In my experience, people are much more eager to have someone pray with them than we are to offer. If the other person is a Christian, asking "Would you like me to pray with you?" is unlikely to cause offense, even if the answer is "No, thanks." We need to be sensitive to the situation - not everyone wants their most intimate problems aired aloud in prayer in public. Some Christians are happy to be prayed for, but are not comfortable about praying out loud themselves. It's probably better not to offer to pray with a non-believer until we know them reasonably well, unless we're prompted by the Holy Spirit to do so.
The advantage of praying aloud with someone is that they hear what we're praying, and can then see how our prayer is answered. The words we use in prayer can be an encouragement, if they remind the person we're praying for of the goodness and faithfulness of God. The disadvantage is that we can slip into the temptation to move from genuine prayer to words as therapy or a form of intimacy. For this reason, it is better in some situations to invite another person to join you in praying for the person in need.
The more we're aware of our own dependence on God, the better we will be at praying for others. The man in Jesus story knew he had nothing to offer his visitor, but he knew he could depend on his friend to provide it. Jesus tells us to keep on knocking on God's door because it will be opened.
27 November 2009
10 November 2009
Falling short
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" writes Paul in Romans 3.23. But what does it mean to "fall short of the glory of God"?
The analogy often used is of people attempting to swim the Atlantic Ocean (or perhaps the Indian Ocean for those of us who live on Australia's west coast). Some will barely make it past the surf. Others will swim a few hundred yards. The great heroes of the faith may struggle for several kilometers (out to Rottnest Island perhaps). But no-one will come anywhere near reaching the other side of the ocean, which represents the standard which God requires of us.
Another analogy (used by Gordon Cheng, author of the The Free Gift of Life study guide to Romans 1-5) is of an exam. Everyone knows what's in the exam and has access to the material they need to pass. Some (the Jews) have been given extra tuition by the examiner. But in the end everyone fails. No-one pays enough attention or puts in enough effort to pass.
The problem with these analogies is that they make the standard which God sets seem rather arbitrary and impersonal. Who would ask us to swim across the ocean and what would that achieve? They could suggest that God is unreasonable or even cruel in the standards he demands. If every student fails an exam, it's usually the teacher who has some explaining to do. It seems to me that we need another way of explaining what God requires.
As Gordon Cheng points out, it is "the faithfulnesss of Jesus Christ" rather than "faith in Jesus Christ" which reveals God's righteousness, despite how most modern translations translate Romans 3:22. In Jesus we have not an analogy but a living demonstration of sinless obedience. He has literally "fleshed out" what it means to live life in such a way that humanity doesn't fall short of the glory of God.
I'm not suggesting that the primary purpose of Jesus' incarnation was to show us how to live. His primary purpose was to die for us so that we could be reconciled to God despite our failure to live his way. But Jesus death could only be effective for us because he was both human and sinless. His death was the ultimate expression of living in perfect obedience to God. We can point to his life and say "Look, this is what pleases God."
What we see in Jesus is not rigid adherence to a set of rules, but loving obedience to a person. That included obedience to what was revealed of God's will in scripture, but also obedience to God's moment-by-moment directions for his life. The Pharisees were scrupulous to obey God's written instructions, but deaf to his present word. Jesus lived constantly listening.
Jesus shows us that a life of sinless obedience doesn't mean a life of impassivity. He experienced and expressed all the human emotions but in a way that was attuned to God's view of things. He wept over the things that grieved his Father, he was angry at those things that angered his Father, he loved as his Father loved.
Jesus shows us that the life God call us to is an active life in which obedience will sometimes bring us into conflict with others. Sometimes it will require getting our hands and feet dirty and mixing with 'sinners'. God doesn't call us to be nice, but to be truly good. It is a life lived courageously.
Jesus shows us that weakness is not sin. He knew hunger and tiredness. At times he grew weary and needed to withdraw from the crowds to be alone with his Father. He knew what it was to be tempted, and to feel hesitant, even resistant, to obeying God's will for him. His perfect sinlessness came through overcoming rather than spurning weakness.
In Jesus we see sinless obedience expressed in a life that was attractive and winsome to those who were seeking God. When we look at him and how he lived we immediately recognise that we are not like him. We all fall well short of what is pleasing to God. But we long to be like him. He is "the glory of God" revealed.
The analogy often used is of people attempting to swim the Atlantic Ocean (or perhaps the Indian Ocean for those of us who live on Australia's west coast). Some will barely make it past the surf. Others will swim a few hundred yards. The great heroes of the faith may struggle for several kilometers (out to Rottnest Island perhaps). But no-one will come anywhere near reaching the other side of the ocean, which represents the standard which God requires of us.
Another analogy (used by Gordon Cheng, author of the The Free Gift of Life study guide to Romans 1-5) is of an exam. Everyone knows what's in the exam and has access to the material they need to pass. Some (the Jews) have been given extra tuition by the examiner. But in the end everyone fails. No-one pays enough attention or puts in enough effort to pass.
The problem with these analogies is that they make the standard which God sets seem rather arbitrary and impersonal. Who would ask us to swim across the ocean and what would that achieve? They could suggest that God is unreasonable or even cruel in the standards he demands. If every student fails an exam, it's usually the teacher who has some explaining to do. It seems to me that we need another way of explaining what God requires.
As Gordon Cheng points out, it is "the faithfulnesss of Jesus Christ" rather than "faith in Jesus Christ" which reveals God's righteousness, despite how most modern translations translate Romans 3:22. In Jesus we have not an analogy but a living demonstration of sinless obedience. He has literally "fleshed out" what it means to live life in such a way that humanity doesn't fall short of the glory of God.
I'm not suggesting that the primary purpose of Jesus' incarnation was to show us how to live. His primary purpose was to die for us so that we could be reconciled to God despite our failure to live his way. But Jesus death could only be effective for us because he was both human and sinless. His death was the ultimate expression of living in perfect obedience to God. We can point to his life and say "Look, this is what pleases God."
What we see in Jesus is not rigid adherence to a set of rules, but loving obedience to a person. That included obedience to what was revealed of God's will in scripture, but also obedience to God's moment-by-moment directions for his life. The Pharisees were scrupulous to obey God's written instructions, but deaf to his present word. Jesus lived constantly listening.
Jesus shows us that a life of sinless obedience doesn't mean a life of impassivity. He experienced and expressed all the human emotions but in a way that was attuned to God's view of things. He wept over the things that grieved his Father, he was angry at those things that angered his Father, he loved as his Father loved.
Jesus shows us that the life God call us to is an active life in which obedience will sometimes bring us into conflict with others. Sometimes it will require getting our hands and feet dirty and mixing with 'sinners'. God doesn't call us to be nice, but to be truly good. It is a life lived courageously.
Jesus shows us that weakness is not sin. He knew hunger and tiredness. At times he grew weary and needed to withdraw from the crowds to be alone with his Father. He knew what it was to be tempted, and to feel hesitant, even resistant, to obeying God's will for him. His perfect sinlessness came through overcoming rather than spurning weakness.
In Jesus we see sinless obedience expressed in a life that was attractive and winsome to those who were seeking God. When we look at him and how he lived we immediately recognise that we are not like him. We all fall well short of what is pleasing to God. But we long to be like him. He is "the glory of God" revealed.
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