7The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: 11whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Observations:
Peter is living with an expectation that “the end” is close.
For that reason: be self-controlled and sober minded
For the sake of your prayers.
Application:
Peter is aware of how desperately followers of Jesus require conversation with God. I recently read that men are particularly prayer-challenged because they do not put their imagination to great use. I’m not so sure of that. But you know, having a conversation with God does require the intuitive, imaginative side of me. I trust that Someone is listening.
Peter knew what it was to physically walk with Jesus and to have conversations about life and the Kingdom of God. Now after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus he knows what it is to have a conversation with God that is empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Any conversation becomes difficult when we lack self-control and when our mind is running fast with the desire to fulfill or deal with the consequences of our passions. Prayer is a conversation that requires us to be still and listen. I don’t mean you have to be sitting down for this conversation. I mean that you have to get below the noise in our mind. To talk with God is to have a conversation about real life: all the issues we are happy, sad, angry or afraid of. I think sober-mindedness means that we are adjusting our expectations about life and God. The Gospel lets us look forward to the end of all of suffering and pain when we are with Him in heaven. So now our hope is that a measure of the Kingdom of God will come as we pray:
Prayer:
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. AMEN.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day. I invite you to take some time and pray with this missionary to Ireland. The prayer below is traditionally associated with Patrick and is called Patrick’s Breastplate.
I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to secure me—
against snares of devils,
against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of
nature,
against everyone who shall
wish me ill, afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.
Christ to protect me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the
invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness towards the Creator.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. AMEN.
Well tomorrow is St. Patrick’s day but the festive attitude seems to already abound on the campus this evening. Tomorrow I will be recalling this famous prayer from St. Patrick, the missionary to Ireland.
I invite you to pray it with me and walk with Jesus on the campus by praying “with Patrick” a portion of his famous Breastplate prayer. I have included the prayer below.
I arise today through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to secure me—
against snares of devils,
against temptations of vices,
against inclinations of
nature,
against everyone who shall
wish me ill, afar and anear,
alone and in a crowd.
Christ to protect me today.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today through a mighty strength, the
invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the Threeness, through confession of the Oneness towards the Creator.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation is of Christ.
May Thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us. AMEN.
This prayer is part of the Breastplate of St. Patrick, missionary to Ireland. Born 385 AD in England. Enslaved in Ireland at age 16. Escaped but returned to Ireland to proclaim the way of Jesus. Died March 17, 461.
In the last of the Integrity Test series, we considered what happens when there is a clash of wills. Human life under the creative hand of God means that we live with the power to choose the attitudes and actions of our lives. Jesus had a share in this trait as well. In Luke 22:39-46, Luke presents his audience with Jesus’ conflict of will between what he wanted and what he understood his Heavenly Father wanted. In the journey to the cross we must understand that Jesus did not have a death wish nor a desire to enter into the anguish of humanity’s sin and guilt–the very product of our lack of integrity with God. However, Jesus did intend to live in union and obedience with His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit. Like Jesus, I find myself in a clash of wills when my intention to join God in what He is doing in the world conflicts with my natural inclination to preserve myself, to avoid pain, suffering, and discomfort by holding onto comfort, ease, the familiar, the safe, and the secure. Here are few examples of when you might experience this kind of clash of wills: when you know honesty with a parent or spouse will transform the relationship, when you are going to have to give away or sell your stuff in order to give to another, when you need to change your career path to pursue a passion and opportunity to serve that God has shown you, when you must parent with patience a child who is struggling, when you need to tell him or her “no,” when you are going to intervene in a conflicted and angry situation as a peacemaker, when you have to use your holiday to go on a mission trip, when you must wake-up every day and enter into routines with love, when you must keep investing in a covenantal relationship when you don’t feel like you are getting anything out of it, when you need to add a new discipline to your life in order to pursue God.
Now it is a different thing when the clash of wills is because of what I am doing in the world as an act of rebellion or even thoughtlessness of what God wants. This message is really concerned with what happens when we have the good intentions required to join God in what He is doing in the world. Jesus shows us that the clash of wills is resolved in prayer. (You can listen to the audio of this message, When you have a clash of wills, later in the week from Cityview.)
Text:Luke 22:39-46
Big Idea:The clash of wills is resolved in prayer.
Unpacking the Text:
1.Jesus lived his life in communion with the Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit and in the company of those He called.
“Jesus went as usual to the Mount of Olives and his disciples followed him.”Luke 22:39
2.Jesus’ conflict with the will of the Father arises from His Trinitarian communion and from His intention to do the will of the Father in the face of painful and terrifying realities.
“Father if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”Luke 22:42
Jesus has already made reference to His Father’s will on this very evening by casting a look back to the Old Testament. Here, Luke 22:42, “this cup” brings to mind the prophetic announcements of God’s cup of judgment for sin. It is now finding its fulfillment in Jesus and the cross. In Luke 22:37, Jesus quotes Isaiah 53 and identifies himself as The Suffering Servant, “It is written: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors;’ and I tell you that this must be fulfilled in me. Yes, what is written about me is reaching its fulfillment.”
We must beware the path of least resistance.
On Sunday I did not mention Alex and Brett Harris. However I include their material here as a good resource to anyone who would like to explore further the idea of “doing the hard thing.” Though they are writing and targeting their message for a generation of teenagers, I have been inspired and encouraged by the revebelution they envision. Check out their website & blog, read their book–Do Hard Things, and watch the following video to get the gest of their message.
3.Jesus knows the disciples lack the resources in themselves aloneto be victorious in the clash of wills and commands them to pray.
“Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”Luke 22:46
4.If you intend to join God in what He is doing to love the world and restore people into fellowship with Him, you will have to do the hard thing.If you intend to do the hard thing, you will have to constantly realign your will with His through the communion, conversation and cry of prayer.
In the preservice count down at Cityview we showed a video featuring Steven Curtis Chapman’s redition of Matt Redman’s song “Yours.” In it he includes a verse written after the devasting loss of his adopted daughter Maria, when she was struck and killed when his 17 year old son was backing the family car out of the driveway. After much prayer and counsel Chapman returned to his tour to promote his newest album.
Notice how Chapman found resolution to his clash of wills. How could he join God in what He was doing in the world when his own heart was so grieved and torn? Elizabeth Diffin, a reporter who attended one of Chapman’s concerts writes:
“Blessed be your name” was the first song Chapman sang May 21, the day of Maria’s death, when he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to sing again. Inspired by the story of Job, at one point the lyrics repeat, “He gives and takes away.” “As I sang this song…it wasn’t a song, it was a cry, a scream, a prayer,” Chapman explained to the audience. “I found an amazing confort and peace that surpasses all understanding.”
Chapman also shared that after Maria’s death, he’d reconsidered the words to all his songs and whether he could still sing–and believe–them. Instead, losing his little girl brought the meaning of some of those songs into sharper focus. One example was “your” which addresses how everything in the world belongs to God. “In this song in particular, I had to come to a new realization” he said. “There’s not an inch of creation that God doesn’t look at and say ‘all that’s mine.” As a result of that realization in conjunction with Maria’s death, Chapman added a new verse to “Yours”:
I’ve walked the valley of death’s shadow
so deep and dark that I could barely breath.
I’ve had to let go of more than I could bear and
I’ve questioned everything that I believe.
Still even here in this great darkness
a comfort and a hope comes breaking through
as I can say in life or death
God we belong to you.
Steven Curtis Chapman Explains the new verse
“Yours” as seen Sunday
The clash of wills is resolved in prayer.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
Last night Ellen and I watched Tony Campolo on DVD from his Sunday talk at Mission Fest 2009. Just as I was moved at his Friday night talk I was moved in this one on the topic of prayer and missions. Tony spoke of a return to “ancient prayer” models that had been developed and taught in the Catholic stream. Centering prayer has been most helpful to him. In an article for Beliefnet he writes:
Today, some of the most spiritual people I know claim to be without religion.
I relate to their problem. I have experienced an unspoken dissatisfaction with own my spiritual life that has only been allayed over the past few years as my prayer life began to change. Believing the gospel was never a problem for me, but during times of reflection I sensed that believing in Jesus and living out His teachings just wasn’t enough. There was a yearning for something more, and I found that I was increasingly spiritually gratified as I adopted older ways of praying–ways that have largely been ignored by those of us in the Protestant tradition. Counter-Reformation saints like Ignatius of Loyola have become important sources of help as I have begun to learn from them modes of contemplative prayer. I practice what is known as “centering prayer,” in which a sacred word is repeated as a way to be in God’s presence.
If you would like to know more continue reading his article or listen to Thomas Keating teach on the topic. I have found that some songs helpful to me in centering prayer and I have posted, Jesus-be the centre, below. Meeting with Jesus, sitting with Jesus, is often hard for the activist bent I live with. While working on my Dmin, Dr. Nelson said that Baptists must learn to be “active contemplatives.” I’m still learning.
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