“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” Matt 9:37
LORD, open our eyes to see the harvest of lost people around us. May we be your vessel to share the Gospel with them.
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain…” John 15:16
May we recognize God’s choosing of each of us to go and bear fruit in the lives of those around us.
“If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.” 1 John 4:20,21
Pray that we will understand and live out God’s love for others as an expression of our love for God.
“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
Love is a verb. Pray that we would be vessels for God’s love to saturate us and overflow through our lives to others, that they may know Him and His love.
“…let us love one another, for love comes from God…Whoever who does not love does not know God…This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins…. Since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:7-11
Pray that we would learn to love one another as God loves us.
“ …rather serve one another in love…’Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Gal 5:13,14
Pray that we would truly be about God’s ministry-loving our neighbors as we love ourselves.
“For Christ’s love compels us…And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Cor 5:14,15
We were made to live for things bigger than ourselves. Pray that we would live outside our world of SELF.
“For we wanted to come to you-…but Satan stopped us.” 1 Thess 2:18.
Pray against the thwarting of missions and good works.
“The god of age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Cor 4:4.
Pray that we would not be blind to spiritual truths.
“Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11.
Pray against the scheming that goes on to oppose the works of God.
“For our struggle…is against the powers of this dark world…Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:12, 13.
War is being waged on the people of God. Pray fervently that our efforts to further the Gospel would not be hindered.
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” 1 John 5:19.
We will receive opposition in our efforts to minister to others. Expect it and be in fervent prayer against it.
“…your words were heard, and I have come in response to them….I was detained…” Daniel 10:12,13.
Do not give up praying for the evil one can interfere with our spiritual messengers.
This is a week late, but still worth your time…
As Christians we sit through a lot of sermons. The preaching ministry is one of God’s greatest means of grace to us, the means by which he teaches us truth, by which he calls us to pursue truth and to live out of it. And yet many of us are passive listeners, people who expect great preaching skill from the pastor but demand no listening skill from ourselves.
Lately I have come across a few resources dedicated to helping Christians be better listeners, to help them emphasize active listening. Here are three of them, each with a few words of description and an overview of the contents. If you have never read a book on how to listen to a sermon, I’d encourage you to do that. Take full advantage of the privilege you have of sitting under the ministry of the Word!
Helping Johnny Listen
Helping Johnny Listen by Thadeus Bergmeier. “The preaching of God’s Word happens tens of thousands of times each week across the world. As these sermons are given, when the preacher is faithful to the text of the Scripture, it is as if God is speaking to the people of that given congregation. The question is, are people listening? Listening to preaching is more than showing up, sitting still or even nodding one’s head. It is taking that which is preached and applying it to life. Helping Johnny Listen is a book designed to help the average person who sits in the average church on the average Sunday take full advantage of the sermons they hear so that they are able to live what they hear.”
Thad’s book is written from a pastoral perspective and is applicable to any level of listener. I was glad to see that he included a section on the difficulties of being a preacher and a listener in the Internet age—when better sermons by better preachers are available in the millions online. He focuses on the importance of being a faithful listener within the long context of a single local church.
Here is how he structures the book:
- The Preaching Intersection
- Receive the Preaching of God’s Word
- Examine the Preaching of God’s Word
- Live the Preaching of God’s Word
- Persevere the Preaching of God’s Word
($20 at Amazon)
Expository Listening
Expository Listening: A Handbook for Hearing and Doing God’s Word by Ken Ramey. “In many people’s mind, if they don’t get anything out of the sermon, it’s the preacher’s fault. But that’s only half true. The Bible teaches that listeners must partner with the preacher so that the Word of God accomplishes its intended purpose of transforming their life.Expository Listening is your handbook on biblical listening. It is designed to equip you not only to understand what true, biblical preaching sounds like, but also how to receive it, and ultimately, what to do about it. You need to know how to look for the Word of God, to love the Word of God, and to live the Word of God. In this way, God and His Word will be honored and glorified through your life.”
Ken’s book is also written at a popular level and, with just 110 pages of text, is quite a manageable read. It comes endorsed by John MacArthur, Joel Beeke, Jay Adams, Lance Quinn, Thabiti Anyabwile and yours truly.
He follows this structure:
- Welcoming the Word
- A Theology of Listening
- Hearing with Your Heart
- Harrowing Your Heart to Hear
- The Itching Ear Epidemic
- The Discerning Listener
- Practice What You Hear
- Listening Like Your Life Depends on It
($10.19 at Amazon | $10.07 at Westminster Books)
Listen Up
Listen Up by Christopher Ash. “Why on earth does anyone need a guide on how to listen to sermons? Don’t we simply need to ‘be there’ and stay awake? Yet Jesus said: ‘Consider carefully how you listen.’ The fact is, much more is involved in truly listening to Bible teaching than just sitting and staring at the preacher. Christopher Ash outlines seven ingredients for healthy listening. He then deals with how to respond to bad sermons – ones that are dull, or inadequate, or heretical. And finally, he challenges us with ideas for helping and encouraging our Bible teachers to give sermons that will really help us to grow as Christians.”
Ash’s book is actually just a booklet, weighing in at only 31 pages. The beauty of this one is that very thing—its brevity. This is the kind of booklet you can buy in bulk and distribute widely. Many churches hand it out to all of their members as a reminder of their duty to listen. In those 31 pages, Ash packs in quite a lot of value. The book is an an attractive, fun, easy-to-read format that will make people want to read it.
Here is the way he breaks down the subject:
- Expect God to Speak
- Admit God Knows Better Than You
- Check the Preacher Says What the Passage Says
- Hear the Sermon in Church
- Be There Week by Week
- Do What the Bible Says
- Do What the Bible Says Today—and Rejoice!
- How to Listen to Bad Sermons
- Suggestions for Encouraging Good Preaching
($2.39 at Westminster Books, discounts for bulk purchasing)
This post was originally found on www.challies.com
Here is a video worth your time. Abortion is a horrible act. This short film should break our heart for the unborn.
The following is the tenth part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13
We’ve meditated our way through the Model Prayer and arrived now at the final phrase. Today we meditate on “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.” Not every ancient manuscript of the Gospel of Matthew contains this phrase. For that reason, not every modern translation will contain it. Your Bible may not. It is, however, found in the King James Version, and as such is part of what almost all of us accept as the full text of Jesus’ prayer. And there’s certainly nothing unscriptural or unbiblical about it, so I accept it as part of the text of the prayer, and therefore fitting for our meditations.
At first glance this sentence seems to be almost banal. I think that may be because if we’ve been in church much, we’ve probably heard it several times, which means it’s probably starting to seem routine. I’m becoming more and more convinced that one of Satan’s favorite ploys to disarm Christians is to make vital and important teachings seem routine, because once something slides into the “Routine” column in our lives and our busy schedules, the less likely we are to really think about it and the more likely we are to simply go through the motions.
Back to the topic at hand. No, this sentence is not at all banal, or superficial, or routine, or anything like that. I can’t say that it is the most important sentence in the prayer, because each sentence and phrase as crafted and pronounced by Jesus is incredibly important in guiding us. I will say that it provides a fitting climax and ending to the prayer.
Why?
Well, first of all, it is fitting because it is a doxology—a statement of worship and praise—for God is always worthy of worship. Worship should be a part of our prayer life. In the modern church, all too often we seem to think that worship is always some kind of music. In fact, one of the recent trends is to segregate church-related music into categories, one of which is called “Praise Music”. That’s a trap.
Why?
It’s a trap because it emphasizes praise at the expense of worship. It gives the impression that in order to worship you must first praise. And I wonder sometimes if the traditional order of service in most churches, where we sing our hymns and psalms and spiritual songs/praise choruses before the sermon doesn’t reinforce that impression. What would happen in church if we had the sermon first, and only sang praises after God’s word and will had been proclaimed; if we only sang praises after we had been reminded of just what God has done for all of us? Just a thought.
But I digress. We were talking about the observation that modern thinking seems to be leaning toward the idea that worship grows out of praise. But that’s not how it works, according to scripture. Let’s look at an event in the future to understand this.
…the twenty-four elders will fall down before Him who sits on the throne, and will worship Him who lives forever and ever, and will cast their crowns before the throne, saying, “Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will they existed, and were created.” Revelation 4:10-11
Worship comes first in this scene; then comes the praise. The principle is true today: true praise grows out of true worship, not the other way around. And that is how it should be, because if we do not have worship in our hearts, then any praise we speak or sing is just noise.
And the topic of worship leads us to the second reason why this sentence is a fitting conclusion for the prayer. The Greek word translated as “worship” is a form of the word proskuneo, which literally means to fall on your face before someone or something. For example, look at the following passage:
Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory; and he said to Him, “All these things will I give You, if You fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.'” Matthew 4:8-10
This is, of course, the third of the three great temptations Jesus suffered between His baptism and the beginning of His active ministry. Here we see Satan at his subtlest. He’s trying to distract Jesus from His purpose. He’s trying to derail Jesus before He even gets started. I believe it is significant that Satan saves his last and greatest effort to convince Jesus to worship him. You see, although Satan is the Father of Lies, he knew a great truth: that which is worshipped will ultimately be what is served. Jesus underlines that truth in His response.
How does that apply to what we are meditating on? Well, look again at what Satan tempts Jesus to do: to fall down and proskuneo. Now, think about the physical position of the proskuneo, on your face on the ground. This is a position that a subject assumed before his lord, before his king. This is a position like Joseph assumed before Potiphar, and later before Pharaoh. It’s a position of helplessness, because there is no way you can strike at someone when you’re on your face in the dirt. It’s a position of utter and abject submission. And that is really what Satan was trying to get Jesus to do; submit to his authority, rather than God’s.
Now, let’s look back at the prayer. Remember, in the last meditation we had arrived at the conclusion that “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” was an admission of helplessness and a plea for God to protect and sustain us. It is not accidental that that phrase was the lead-in to the “For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever”.
Why?
Well, let’s break this final sentence down a little bit. What is it saying?
- For Thine is the kingdom
- For Thine is the power
- For Thine is the glory
That’s okay as far as it goes, but it’s still not as explicit as it could be. Try this:
- For Thine—not mine—is the kingdom
- For Thine—not mine—is the power
- For Thine—not mine—is the glory
Does that make it clearer?
You see, in every human life since Adam and Eve (with the exception of Jesus) sin has occurred and will continue to occur until God ends Time. All sin breaks down into one of three categories: lust of the flesh (gluttony), lust of the eyes (greed), and the pride of life (arrogance). Those are the three temptations to which Eve and Adam succumbed, those are the three temptations which Jesus successfully repulsed, and those are the three temptations to which you and I are subject on a daily basis. But when viewed from another direction, each of those three temptations is really just one sin: substituting our own judgment for that of God. At the root of every sin is the rejection of God’s will.
So this prayer concludes with a three-fold submission of our wills to that of God in an act of worship. Before and to the very God and King of the universe we set aside our own desires and subordinate them to His will. We willingly acknowledge His authority. And we give to Him the glory that is His by right; the glory that was never rightfully ours. We do this because only when we have truly worshipped can we begin to truly serve Him.
Father, You, not I, are King of the Universe; You, not I, have all authority and power; and to You alone, never me, is all glory and honor due. May it ever be so. Amen and amen.
But as with every other aspect of this prayer, this is something that must be done day after day, one day at a time. Never let this prayer or its principles become rote to you. This is too serious a matter to let lapse into routine. Your relationship with God, your relationship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and your ability to properly serve Jesus are all dependent on what Jesus teaches here. Take these teachings in to your heart, meditate on them as David instructs in Psalm 119:11, knowing that as you do so you are submitting yourself to God’s word and God’s will.
Grace and peace to you.
David
Just the other day I received a letter in the mail from a medical doctor whom I have never met before. Having told me how he had benefited from some of my sermons and articles, he went on to tell me, “I pray for you. I will be able to do so on a very regular basis now and trust that you will be helped and strengthened in your ministry and family.” This was an enormous comfort and encouragement to me. Contrary to what some might suppose, ministers of the gospel desperately need the prayers of the saints. One of my seminary professors used to tell the student body, “Pastors have a bull’s eye on their back and footprints up their chest.” This is quite an appropriate description of the hardships that God’s servants are called to endure for the sake of the gospel. The flaming arrows of the evil one are persistently being shot at pastors. In addition, the world is eager to run them over at any opportunity. This is, sadly, also a reality with regard to some in the church.
With so much opposition and difficulty within and without, pastors constantly need the people of God to be praying for them. The shepherd needs the prayers of the sheep as much as they need his prayers. He also is one of Christ’s sheep, and is susceptible to the same weaknesses. While there are many things one could pray for pastors, here are five straightforward Scriptural categories:
1. Pray for their spiritual protection from the world, the flesh and the Devil.
Whether it was Moses’ sinful anger leading to his striking of the rock (Num. 20:7-12), David’s adultery and murder (2 Sam. 11), or Simon Peter’s denial of the Lord (Matt. 26:69-75) and practical denial of justification by faith alone (Gal. 2:11-21), ministers are faced with the reality of the weakness of the flesh, the assaults of the world and the rage of the devil (see this article). There have been a plethora of ministers who have fallen into sinful practices in the history of the church and so brought disgrace to the name of Christ. Since Satan has ministers of the gospel (and their families) locked in his sight—and since God’s honor is at stake in a heightened sense with any public ministry of the word, members of the church should pray that their pastor and their pastor’s family would not fall prey to the world, the flesh, or the Devil.
2. Pray for their deliverance from the physical attacks of the world and the Devil.
While under prison guard in Rome, the apostle Paul encouraged the believers in Philippi to pray for his release when he wrote, “I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:19). (See also 2 Cor. 1:9-11).
When Herod imprisoned Simon Peter we learn that “constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church” (Acts 12:5). After an exodus-like deliverance from prison, Luke tells us that Peter showed up at the home where the disciples were continuing to pray for his deliverance. This is yet another example of the minister being delivered from harm due, in part, to the prayers of the saints.
3. Pray for doors to be opened to them for the spread of the gospel.
In his letter to the Colossians Paul asked the church to be praying “that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains” (Col. 4:3). The success of the spread of the gospel is dependant in part on the prayers of the people of God. In this way, the church shares in the gospel ministry with the pastor. Though he is not the only one in the body who is called to spread the word, he has a unique calling to “do the work of an evangelist.” The saints help him fulfill this work by praying that the Lord would open doors “for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ.”
4. Pray that they might have boldness and power to preach the gospel.
In addition to praying for open doors for the ministry of the word, the people of God should pray that ministers would have Spirit-wrought boldness. When writing to the church in Ephesus, the apostle Paul asked them to pray for him “that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19). There is a well-known story of several college students going to visit the Metropolitan Tabernacle in order to hear Charles Spurgeon preach. As the story goes, Spurgeon met them at the door and offered to show them around. At one point he asked if they wanted to see the church’s heater plant (boiler room). He took them downstairs where they saw hundreds of people praying for God’s blessings on the service and on Spurgeon’s preaching. The gathering of the people of God to pray for the ministry of the word is what he called “the heating plant!” Believers can help ministers by praying that they would be given boldness and power in preaching the gospel.
5. Pray that they might have a spirit of wisdom and understanding.
One of the most pressing needs for a minister of the gospel is that he would be given the necessary wisdom to counsel, to know when to confront, to mediate and to discern the particular pastoral needs of a congregation. This is an all-encompassing and a recurring need. The minister is daily faced with particular challenges for which he desperately needs the wisdom of Christ. It is said of Jesus that “the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge, and of counsel and might” was upon Him (Is. 11:2). The servants of Christ need that same Spirit. Much harm is done to the church as a whole if the minister does not proceed with the wisdom commensurate to the challenges with which he is faced. Those who benefit from this wisdom can help the minister by calling down this divine blessing from heaven upon him.
This article was written by Nicholas Batzig and can be found here.
Well, it’s that season once again. It’s the fodder for blogs, newspaper articles, TV magazine shows and way too many Twitter posts. It’s the time for the annual ritual of dramatic New Year’s resolutions fueled by the hope of immediate and significant personal life change.
But the reality is that few smokers actually quit because of a single moment of resolve, few obese people have become slim and healthy because of one dramatic moment of commitment, few people who were deeply in debt have changed their financial lifestyle because they resolved to do so as the old year gave way to the new, and few marriages have been changed by the means of one dramatic resolution.
Is change important? Yes, it is for all of us in some way. Is commitment essential? Of course! There’s a way in which all of our lives are shaped by the commitments we make. But biblical Christianity – which has the gospel of Jesus Christ at its heart – simply doesn’t rest its hope in big, dramatic moments of change.
Living in the Utterly Mundane
The fact of the matter is that the transforming work of grace is more of a mundane process than it is a series of a few dramatic events. Personal heart and life change is always a process. And where does that process take place? It takes place where you and I live everyday. And where do we live? Well, we all have the same address. Our lives don’t careen from big moment to big moment. No, we all live in the utterly mundane.
Most of us won’t be written up in history books. Most of us only make three or four momentous decisions in our lives, and several decades after we die, the people we leave behind will struggle to remember the events of our lives. You and I live in little moments, and if God doesn’t rule our little moments and doesn’t work to recreate us in the middle of them, then there is no hope for us, because that’s where you and I live.
The little moments of life are profoundly important precisely because they’re the little moments that we live in and that form us. This is where I think “Big Drama Christianity” gets us into trouble. It can cause us to devalue the significance of the little moments of life and the “small-change” grace that meets us there. And because we devalue the little moments where we live, we don’t tend to notice the sin that gets exposed there. We fail to seek the grace that is offered to us.
10,000 Little Moments
You see, the character of a life is not set in two or three dramatic moments, but in 10,000 little moments. The character that was formed in those little moments is what shapes how you respond to the big moments of life.
What leads to significant personal change?
- • 10,000 moments of personal insight and conviction
- • 10,000 moments of humble submission
- • 10,000 moments of foolishness exposed and wisdom gained
- • 10,000 moments of sin confessed and sin forsaken
- • 10,000 moments of courageous faith
- • 10,000 choice points of obedience
- • 10,000 times of forsaking the kingdom of self and running toward the kingdom of God
- • 10,000 moments where we abandon worship of the creation and give ourselves to worship of the Creator.
And what makes all of this possible? Relentless, transforming, little-moment grace. You see, Jesus is Emmanuel not just because he came to earth, but because he makes you the place where he dwells. This means he is present and active in all the mundane moments of your daily life.
His Work to Rescue and Transform
And what is he doing? In these small moments he is delivering every redemptive promise he has made to you. In these unremarkable moments, he is working to rescue you from you and transform you into his likeness. By sovereign grace he places you in daily little moments that are designed to take you beyond your character, wisdom and grace so that you will seek the help and hope that can only be found in him. In a lifelong process of change, he is undoing you and rebuilding you again – exactly what each one of us needs!
Yes, you and I need to be committed to change, but not in a way that hopes for a big event of transformation, but in a way that finds joy in and is faithful to a day-by-day, step-by-step process of insight, confession, repentance and faith. And in those little moments we commit ourselves to remember the words of Paul in Romans 8:32
“He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us, how will he not also with him freely give us all things.”
So, we wake up each day committed to live in the small moments of our daily lives with open eyes and humbly expectant hearts.
This article was written by Paul Tripp and can be found on his blog, here.
“We must remind ourselves that God loves us, not because we are lovable, but because we are in Christ, and the love which the Father has for him flows over to us because we are in him.” – Jerry Bridges, Who am I?
God doesn’t love us because we are lovable.
In fact, in and of ourselves we are very much unlovable. But Mark, you ask, aren’t I good enough, smart enough and doggone it don’t people like me? Yes people may like you. Yes, you may be smart enough. But you’re not loveable enough to merit God’s blazing holy love that burns up all impurities in its presence.
The Bible gives us pretty rough assessment of our “lovableness”.
…as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
(Romans 3:10-18)
Observe how lovable we are: we’re unrighteous, have no interest in or understanding of God. We’re worthless. Our throats are open graves – what a lovely stench! And the the venom of asps under our lips makes us doubly attractive to God, as well as our mouths full of curses and bitterness.
Can you imagine a husband saying to his wife, “I love you honey. Your mouth reminds me of an open grave. And your lips are like the venom dripping from a Gaboon Viper.” Somehow I don’t think that wife would feel particularly lovable.
Though our sin renders us repellent to God, when he saves us he not only washes our sins away, but he plunges us into Christ. We become so organically and intimately one with Christ that when God looks on Jesus he sees us, and when he looks on us he sees Jesus. When God loves Jesus, he loves us in him and when God loves us he loves his Son in us.
The Father doesn’t love believers because we are lovable, but because Jesus is infinitely lovable and God has made us one with Jesus. And because we are one with him, when the Father pours out his love on his Son, that love washes over us as well.
Let this truth fill you with joy today. No matter what kinds of trials you’re facing, remember the Father loves you with the love he has for his own Son. And nothing can separate you from that love. Ever.
This was written by MARK ALTROGGE at www.theblazingcenter.com.
The following is the ninth part of a series written by one of our members, David Carrico. Previous parts can be found at the links below:
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8
“Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy 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 do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13a
We’re almost done with our meditations on the Model Prayer. Today we meditate on the last of the petitions, and the meditation is the longest one we’ve done. Let’s consider “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.”
This portion of verse tends to confuse new Christians—and probably some older ones as well—for it certainly seems to imply that God is actively involved in some way in tempting us to sin. Literally nothing is farther from the truth than that thought. James deals with that in his short epistle.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. James 1:13
God does not tempt anyone to do evil. No one. None. Has never happened. Will never happen. That is a fact that is just as solid as the fact of Christ’s resurrection upon which our very salvation rests. Believe it. It is totally contrary to His holy nature, and it will never occur. So we can dismiss that from our thoughts about this verse.
Part of the problem in reading this portion of verse is that “temptation” in English carries with it a strong connotation of sin and evil, but it is not the most accurate translation of the Greek word involved. The Greek word is a form of the word peirazó, which is really a morally neutral word. Whether it should be translated with a good connotation or an evil one depends on the context of the passage it’s used in. What peirazó literally means is to put to the test, to prove, to assay (like a mineral ore).
So the verse should more accurately read something like “And do not put us to the test, but deliver us from evil.” It’s not as elegant a translation as the traditional one seen in the NAS and most other English translations, but I think it does a better job of communicating the true meaning of the passage.
Being tested . . . None of us like to be tested. None of us like to be put under pressure, squeezed like a toothpaste tube. None of us like the stress, or the headaches, or the bad feelings of things going wrong. Yet we should not be surprised when those things come on us, for didn’t Jesus say:
“Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.” Matthew 10:34-38
Jesus was pretty direct with the first disciples that following Him would not be an easy time; that even in their own families, which ought to be their greatest support, there would be division, dissension, and turmoil.
Yes, none of us like to be put to the test. Why? Well, among other things is the fact that it is when we are squeezed that we demonstrate what we really are. It is when the world is trying to hammer us, it is when our bodies agonize and deteriorate, it is when our friends abandon us that we show whether or not we really are disciples of Jesus Christ.
It’s a bit of an icky analogy, perhaps, but I really like the picture of the toothpaste tube. When you squeeze a toothpaste tube, when you put pressure on it, what comes out? Toothpaste. That’s because a toothpaste tube is created to hold toothpaste, and to give that toothpaste to everyone around it when it is squeezed.
Consider whether we should be like that toothpaste tube.
Are we created?
Twice so
Physically (Psalm 139:13)
Spiritually (Ephesians 2:8-10a)
Should we be filled with something?
With the Spirit of God (Ephesians 5:18)
Do we have a purpose?
A double purpose:
To spread the gospel of Christ (Matthew 28:19-20)
To show the agape of God to the world (Matthew 22:35-40)
So when we are put to the test, what should come oozing out of us is the agape of God constantly replenished by the presence of the Spirit of God. Is that what happens?
All too often, no.
Why?
Because we haven’t been tested enough.
And now you’re going “Huh? What does being put to the test have to do with what we show when we’re tested?”
Yes, I know it sounds nuts, but listen to James again:
Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4
It sounds like James is saying that our trials and tests have a purpose, doesn’t it? Well, since we’ve already established that God is sovereign, and that He does in fact have a will and a plan at work in His creation, it’s pretty safe to assume that what James is saying is the case. There is indeed a divine purpose behind our tests: to build our endurance in our faith. To make our faith stronger. Which in turn is part of what is needed to sanctify us, to make us more like Christ.
I’m going to use another physical world analogy here. Take the case of a body-builder, a guy who wants to win the Mr. Universe competition. At the beginning of his career, does he walk into the gym, pick up a set of barbells, pump them up and down a couple of times, then pronounce, “That’s it, I’m good to go . . .”? Of course not. He goes to the gym regularly, and he works hard at the weights, following a disciplined approach that tears down existing muscle mass to replace it with larger, stronger, greater muscle mass, until he arrives at (what he believes is) the ideal physique. It is a long, grueling, and often painful process.
In much the same manner, it is the trials and tests of our lives—health, marriages, children, jobs, etc.—that allow us to build and develop our faith into something that is muscular, that is strong. It is the learning to walk with God through the valley of the shadow of death that strengthens us. It is the facing of cancer or other dread diseases in our bodies, or even worse, in the bodies of our loved ones, that builds in us that 2 a.m. in the morning faith that allows us to trust God even in the darkest hours.
So yes, we should consider it a joy to know that God finds us worthy of growing more like Christ.
We’ve been focusing on the testing part of the phrase; now let’s consider the rest of the phrase: but deliver us from evil.
This reference to evil is probably why most translators use the word temptation in translating the first part of the phrase. But the Greek actually reads literally like “rescue us from the evil.” Because of this, some translations read something like “deliver us from the evil one.” So one way it looks like the prayer is referring to a generic evil or sin; the other way it looks like the prayer is referring to Satan. I lean to the second, myself. The malice and evil of Satan are focused on each of us in a very personal way, and I have no trouble at all in seeing him involved in this.
You see, every trial, every test, every assaying has two sides to it. It’s a pass/fail situation. You’re either going to choose to perform what God’s prescriptive will directs (responsibility of man, remember?), or you’re not. So while God considers it a test, Satan considers it an opportunity to tempt you. And he is very subtle, and very wily, and very very very well aware of our weaknesses. Here’s James again:
But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. James 1:14-16
Because of our human nature, despite our relationship with Jesus, Satan can find all the tools he needs to tempt us to do something other that what God prescribes.
So you see, what we see in this phrase of the prayer is an acknowledgement of our weakness. Left to our own devices, we will succumb to the evil one every time.
But we have a promise to cling to in our tests.
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13
First: Paul warns us against thinking that we can stand on our own two feet; that we will fall if we do so. Second, note that we are not unique: every test and trial we face has been faced by other believers during the ages, and will be faced by more believers in the times to come. But third, see the promise: God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to bear.
And finally, we have the example of Jesus himself:
And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Matthew 26:39
Even Jesus, at the moment of His greatest test, asked God if He really had to go through with God’s plan. To me, that is the greatest proof in Scripture that He was fully human, because that is what every human asks in times of test: variations of “Why me?” or “Why do I have to go through this?”.
But His final response is also to me the greatest proof in Scripture that He was fully divine: “Let Your will be done.” That moment of supreme obedience could only be performed by the sinless Christ. Not one of us could have done it if we had been in His place.
So today, following the model of Jesus, when we are faced with tests, what should our response be? Obedience. Pure and simple obedience to the prescriptive will of God. And so this prayer is a prayer that God will work in us every day in such a way that we are not so overwhelmed with the pressure squeezing us that we lose sight of the need for our obedience, that we will be submissive to His will, and that we will be dependent on Him.
In a very real way, this little phrase is the tip of the spear. Everything else in this prayer leads to this part of the prayer. All of the praise, the honor, the confession, the forgiveness, the petitions, they all serve to bring us to this point where we tell God in our weakness that we cannot act as He would have us act without His hand of strength, protection, and provision on our lives. We cannot show agape to the world when we’re being squeezed without God. We cannot even be obedient to God without His help.
God, in Your will, do not let us be tested beyond our ability to cling to You in obedience. Amen.
It is at once perhaps the most honest and yet most liberating prayer we can pray.
Grace and peace to you.
David
