Then there is the question of “what does it mean to be “righteous” in the sight of God?”  It is an important question for each of us to answer because as the verse indicates, it has an impact upon both the power and effectiveness of our prayers.  And no one signs up for an ineffective prayer life. 

So how do we understand what it means to be righteous?  The International Bible Encyclopedia offers a helpful definition for righteous and informs us that the root word is normally used to “connote behavior that is in keeping with the covenant relationship between God and His people; thus, the righteous person fulfills the covenant law in regard to God and others” (ISBE, Vol. 4, 192).  In short, it is a person who loves God and others in accordance with the teaching of the Word of God.  We would all do well to occasionally spend time asking the Holy Spirit to reveal those thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, and actions that do not reflect our covenant relationship with Jesus Christ so that we might repent and be restored to a place of power and effectiveness in prayer. Again, it is not about doing all the right things but in a response of love we align our hearts with His and hear Him more clearly.  The result is our prayers are more powerful and effective.

In this last month of the year, it is a good time to step back and reflect, especially as we set ourselves up for 2019.  We are of course celebrating the Lord Jesus coming to earth to accomplish our salvation.  It was an incredible act that demonstrates both the humility and love of God in a concrete way.  Self-sacrificing, others-oriented, agape love as Jesus set aside His divine attributes and became the God-man.  Jesus would go on to model what it means to believe in prayer, as He spent time each day in prayer with His heavenly Father.  His, and our, heavenly Father would speak to Him as He prayed and then Jesus did what the Father showed Him.  It is the same life the Father has for you and me.

Would you pray for the ministry of God’s Living Stones as we prepare to enter the New Year, a year filled with opportunity and promise?  It is our heart’s desire to hear the Father’s voice and walk in obedience to what He reveals.  We pray for the return of the King but until then we seek to be ambassadors of His Kingdom.  Thank you for partnership and God bless your Christmas and New Year celebrations.

Some of the best known but maybe least understood, verses in the Bible are the Lord’s prayer, Matthew 6:9-13.  Many have memorized these verses and some actually say these words as a part of their weekly corporate worship services.  We pray “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”  But do we really know, much less believe, what we are asking Father God to do?  In short, we are asking God the Father to send His kingdom, that His rule and reign would be made manifest in the earth, beginning with us.  But our asking seldom gets connected with our believing and little happens in response to our prayers.

One way of addressing this is to return to the forgotten truths of the creation account in Genesis 1 and 2, where we find we have been given “dominion” over all the earth.  We were in fact commanded to “subdue it, and rule over…every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).  Likewise, Jesus has called us to be His ambassadors, and by His authority, we are to represent Him to the world around us.  It is an authority that comes to us by virtue of our being “in Christ” and finds its expression as we seek to accomplish God’s will and purposes upon the earth.

Believing this truth impacts the way that we pray.  In his book, Authority in Prayer: Praying with Power and Purpose, Dutch Sheets walks us through the Biblical foundation for our authority and then applies this truth to several areas of life.  The book is intensely practical, well illustrated and will definitely bring you into a place where you can pray with greater authority for your spouse, children, un-churched neighbors and the challenging circumstances of life.  You will be encouraged to pray more and with more authority.  I highly recommend you check it out for yourself.

This month we begin our preparations to honor the King of kings and the Lord of lords, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the Advent and Christmas seasons.  As we do so let’s remember to connect faith with our asking and pray expectantly.  Prayer is one of the highest privileges of the Christian life.  It is also a vehicle whereby we can change the events of our world.  Let’s grow together as people of prayer and experience the authority and power that is ours by virtue of our being in “Christ.”  I can think of no better way to practice thankfulness and usher in the season of Advent.    

Sometimes we are like that “obedient” mule.  We desire to live in submission to God’s will but He often has to get our attention first through a crisis, a painful event or another form of discipline before we become teachable (Hebrews 12:6).  The old nature likes to be in charge and our culture promotes as one of its highest values, the autonomy of the individual. For most, the highest authority is self, and all activity is judged by whether it is pleasurable, profitable or supportive of individual life goals.  But there is a better way to live, it is to live as Jesus did, in total submission to His Father’s will.

Submission is a Biblical principle that leads to genuine freedom in the Spirit.  Consider the following verses from the New Testament.  “And He (Jesus) was saying to them all, ‘If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it” (Luke 9:23-24).  The apostles James and Paul extend Jesus’ teaching in their letters to the churches when they remind their readers that they are to “submit therefore to God” (James 4:7a) and “be subject to one another in the fear (reverence) of Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).  We begin by submitting to God and His Word and then by living in submission to one another, following the higher value of love.

Because we have been lied to by our culture submission is generally considered to be an outdated idea that is foolish and maybe even dangerous.  In reality, submission actually is another of those paradoxical truths that runs counter to our natural sense and the teaching of our culture.  Yet to faithfully embrace the discipline of submission, toward God and others, we must dispel any inaccuracies in our understanding.  True, Biblical submission cannot be forced or coerced but remains the choice of the one submitting.  The following discussion comes from International Standard Bible Encyclopedia and it highlights the voluntary nature of Biblical submission.

The primary meaning of both “subject” and “submit” has to do with subordination, ie. being placed under the control or authority  of another.  Subordination can be either voluntary or enforced…The most common NT term rendered by “subject” and “submit” is Greek hypatasso.  The active voice (usually rendered “subject” or “put in subjection”) means “place under” and denotes an enforced subordination….the situation is different, however, where the middle or passive of hypatasso is used to describe the attitude that Christ has toward God (1 Corinthians 15:28) or that Christians are to have toward God (Hebrews 12:9; James 4:7), toward civil authorities (Romans 13:1, 5; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13), toward church leaders (1 Corinthians 16:16; 1 Peter 5:5), and toward one another in general (Ephesians 5:21)…As many exegetes have observed, such subordination is an action of free agents.  It does not involve a breaking of the will or servile submission to another’s rule; rather, the verb “describes a voluntary attitude of giving in, cooperating, assuming responsibility and carrying a burden (bolding mine).

As Christians, we recognize that we have the freedom to follow the example of Christ and live for the will of the Father, or live like the farmer’s mule.  The first brings God’s blessing and the latter is to invite His correction.  We also recognize that true tests of the discipline of submission do not come in the normal seasons of life but when God’s ways and purposes are hidden.  Consider John Milton, author of Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained and considered to be one the great writers of the English language.  His driving passion was to become an epic poet given completely to God’s service.  He was schooled in the classics, competent in Latin, Greek and Hebrew and a skilled orator but his eyesight began to fail as he entered the prime of life.  He would be completely blind by age 43.  All he wanted was to do something great for God, what he learned was God does not need our work or gifts.  We are valued because we are His.

In coming to understand the discipline of submission I have found praying the Serenity Prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr to be helpful.  Each petition highlights a different aspect of the discipline of submission. You may want to make it your prayer over the next month(s), as you ask the Lord to help you cultivate the discipline of submission.

God, grant me the grace to accept with serenity things that cannot be changed; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.  Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next.  Amen. 

Several years ago just before Christmas the topic of conversation was a local church that was raffling off the front pews for their very busy Christmas Eve service.  For a donation of $1,000 you and your family were not only guaranteed a place to sit but front row seats without the inconvenience of having to arrive early.  As you might imagine the practice was causing quite the stir in the congregation and the community at large.

Much of the conversation was predictable with many noting that the money was going to support the school that was associated with the church and therefore the ends justified the means.  Others pointed out that the church should be the one place where money shouldn’t be able to buy privilege.  Still others didn’t see any distinction between this and other forms of fundraising done by the church such as bake sales, bingo and church bazaars.  Opinions abounded.  Some were outrageous, others were well thought out and carefully presented but virtually all missed the significance of what was taking place.

None of this is news, of course, but I was struck with a particular point in the program.  A female listener called in and informed the radio hosts that they need not wonder about the correctness of such a practice or what God would think because the Bible had specifically addressed this very circumstance.  She then read from James chapter 2, verses 2-6a,

For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘You sit here in a good place’ and you say to the poor man, ‘You stand over there or sit down by my footstool,’ have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil motives?  Listen my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?  But you have dishonored the poor man.’

No sooner had she read these words and the host responded with, “You don’t think the pastor has read the book of James?  He obviously has a different interpretation.”  The point was discredited, dismissed and the discussion moved on to more of the same.

The incident had several points of application for me.  The first was the reminder that the majority of the world does not share our world-view or our understanding of the Bible as God’s Word given to us for our instruction.  And they certainly would not afford the Bible the same level of authority that we give it, that it is the final authority in all matters of life and faith.

This reality holds tremendous implications for our interactions with those outside the faith, especially as it relates to evangelism.  We need first of all to inform people of what the Bible says about God, the fall of mankind and of the person of Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Then we need to show them why they should believe the Bible is true.  And finally we need to convince them that all of this applies to them and invite them to respond in repentance and faith.  There is much work to be done before presenting the Good News of Jesus’ love and forgiveness.

A second, and more personal, application was to consider what level of authority the Bible carries in my own life.  Normally, this is understood in a negative sense such as applying to the commandments of God to inform our behavior.  While this is a proper application, it is only half of the story.  We must also declare the truthfulness of those statements that are made about the unconditional love, the extravagant grace, the abounding mercy and the unending forgiveness of the God of the Scriptures.  These truths rightly define God’s character and His disposition toward us as His creatures.  Our ability to think and act correctly in the myriad of life circumstances that will come our way depends upon our understanding and really believing the promises of God.  When life doesn’t make sense and circumstances are pressing in against us, tempting us to doubt and unbelief, we must stand firm on the truthfulness of God’s Word and the character of God.

As a response today you might ask yourself some questions.  First, what is God saying to me right now?  Is He bringing a word of comfort or a word of challenge?  Am I allowing the Word of God to be the final authority in every area of my life?  Or only those areas that are comfortable for me?  Second, what is calling me to do about what He is saying to me?  What specific actions do I need to take in order to walk in obedience to His revealed will?  To do nothing invites a hardening of our hearts that will ultimately undo us spiritually.

As people we want our lives to count for something, that in the end we would know that we had made a difference with the life that we lived.  As our culture continues its drift into increasing levels of lawlessness and rebellion it is our opportunity to make a difference.  To take a stand in a graceful way and declare both the errors of the general culture but more importantly the goodness of God that will lead people to repentance.  It is a high calling to be salt and light in a world that walks in darkness.  Are you standing on the promises of God?  

Beginning Sunday morning November 16 at 9:30 am in the Heritage Sanctuary I will begin a four week study on the Bible.  We will be looking at issues like, where did the Bible come from? Can I really trust the Bible?  Why should I listen to what the Bible says about anything?  How do I make any sense of the Bible and more importantly make application to my life?  If you struggle to know what to do or what to say about many of life’s challenges this will be a great opportunity for you.  Hope to see you there.