Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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On delayed answers to prayer

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Delay
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Prayer is an integral part of the Christian life. One cannot be a Christian without prayer. But even for those who have been Christians for a long time, there is mystery in prayer. One form of mystery is why sometimes the answer to prayer doesn’t come in a satisfactory time frame.

In his book, Faith Tried and Triumphant, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones writes:

“If God were unkind enough to answer some of our prayers at once, and in our way, we should be very impoverished Christians. Fortunately, God sometimes delays his answer in order to deal with selfishness or things in our lives which should not be there.”

Two things in this statement jump out at me:

  1. God’s timing may not be our timing. We want a response now but God may determine that we are not yet ready for the answer.
  2. We may have an idea of how God should answer our prayer, but he will give the perfect answer in the perfect time whether it lines up with our expectation or not.

If God is who he has revealed himself to be, then we should approach prayer with humility. While we are encouraged to be persistent in prayer and we are encouraged to expect an answer, we should be open to the idea that God’s answer may be different and better than what we expect.

Some Reflections Concerning Thanksgiving

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Thanksgiving – Copyright: vikayatskina / 123RF Stock Photo

As I sit and reflect on the value of a day dedicated to giving thanks many thoughts come to mind. Here is a sampling in no particular order:

  • I have many things for which I should be thankful. The very fact that I have the ability to write this post in the comfort of my home is just one of the many.
  • I am thankful that I have someone to whom I can give the thanks.
  • I find it interesting that on the day set aside for giving thanks, I will be bombarded with advertisements intended to increase my discontent. All this is an effort to get me to spend money on stuff I don’t really need.
  • It seems that gratitude is an antidote to pride. I cannot be grateful for what has been given to me while at the same time thinking that I did it all myself. Paul asked the Corinthians, “what do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:6)
  • Being thankful for what I have should lessen my anxiety about the future.
  • For Christians, being thankful should be our daily experience. Peter tells us that God has given us “everything pertaining to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). For this we should be thankful.
  • While it is certainly good to give thanks for material prosperity, giving thanks for spiritual prosperity should take precedence.
  • Others may take away my material blessings, but no-one can take away my peace if it is grounded in my relationship with God.
  • I am especially thankful for those who have encouraged me through the years to become the man that God intended me to be (a work in slow progress).

Perhaps Paul’s words from the end of Chapter 8 of his Letter to the Romans is the best reminder of our reason to be thankful today:

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38–39, ESV)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Old error in a new setting

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Predicting the future
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“New news is old news happening to new people” is a quote that I have heard attributed to Malcolm Muggeridge. This is also true with regard to error in the church. A new error is usually an old error dressed up with new language and slick slogans.

These reflections were prompted by a statement that was recently brought to my attention. Someone recently used 1 Corinthians 14:1 as a springboard to declare that bringing prophetic words to people is the best gift to have. Prophetic words being in the form of “God told me that . . . ” The “that” is usually something that the listener needs to do in response to what the speaker thinks is beneficial.

If you define prophecy in the narrow sense of declaring what will happen in the future, I see how you could come away with this interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:1 which says,

“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.” (ESV)

But is this what Paul is saying? Is Paul telling us that we should all desire the gift of telling people what to do? Both my head and my heart tell me that this is a false and harmful understanding of this verse.

First, the verbal form of the word prophesy (almost a direct transliteration from the Greek), has the meaning of proclaiming a message. So the pertinent question is, “what message is to be proclaimed?” We should look at how the Apostle Paul applied this verse to his own life before jumping to conclusions about what it means for us.

A quick search using my Bible study software indicates that in the ESV, there are 39 times where both the words “preach” and “gospel” are used by Paul in the same verse. For example:

“So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.” (Romans 1:15, ESV)

“and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel . . .” (Romans 15:20, ESV)

“For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” (1 Corinthians 1:17, ESV)

Furthermore, Paul wrote this earlier in the First Letter to the Corinthians:

“And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5, ESV)

The message that Paul consistently “prophesied” was the good news about the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Paul proclaimed the good news that our standing before God is not based on our obedience but on Christ’s (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).

I do not recall any instance of Paul displaying the gift of predicting the future or of telling others “God told me to tell you . . .” We should not apply Paul’s words to ourselves differently than he applied them to himself.

Can God give people a special word of wisdom to be shared with others? I am certainly not in a position to say that he can’t. But I am in a position to say that you are on thin ice if you are going to use 1 Corinthians 14:1 as a pretext for:

  1. Declaring that a “prophetic” gift is superior to other gifts
  2. Declaring that this gift should be sought because it is a superior gift

I should also mention that the central message of Chapters 12-14 of I Corinthians is that we should not seek the “supernatural” gifts at all. If God blesses someone with a “supernatural” gift, so be it. But Paul’s whole point is that faith, hope and love are superior to any of the “supernatural” gifts, with love being at the top of the pile. So work hard at learning to love and be happy with any gift that you receive along the way.

In summary, there are two things that I recommend:

  1. Think long and hard before telling someone, “God told me . . .”
  2. Spend a lot of time reading Scripture and praying before acting on anything that is prefaced by, “God told me . . .”

The error of over valuing “supernatural” gifts was destroying the Corinthian church and it is just as harmful today. Our Enemy knows well the most enticing ways to lead us off track.

Three goals of church discipline

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Three
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Today I had a reason to spend some time reading the Book of Church Order (BCO) for the Presbyterian Church in America. While it’s not exactly a page-turner, I found something very helpful in the section on church discipline. The BCO states that there are three objectives to be kept in mind when considering church discipline. They are:

  1. The glory of God
  2. The purity of His Church
  3. The keeping and reclaiming of disobedient sinners.

The BCO goes on to state, “Discipline is for the purpose of godliness (1 Timothy 4:7); therefore, it demands a self-examination under Scripture.”

In addition to applying these goals to church discipline, it would be beneficial for us, as Christians, to apply them in other areas of our lives.

It is so easy, in this hair-trigger, social media age, to fire off opinions and condemnations of others for all the world to see. Not that character assassination by social media is any worse than by one-on-one gossip. But it is too easy to grab a device and post unhelpful opinions to our favorite social media app(s).

Those of us who are Christians would do well to keep the three goals above in mind in all of our conversations, on-line or otherwise.

Does what I say reflect well on the God I claim to worship? Does what I say contribute to or demonstrate the purity of the church? Does what I say help toward steering those who are moving away from relationship with God on a better trajectory?

We are fallen people in a fallen world and there are bound to be disagreements along the way. There is nothing inherently wrong with dialog about issues, whether the dialog be public or private. But we would do well to keep these three goals in mind as the dialog progresses.

I sometimes wonder how Christians would be viewed if every interaction would be restrained by these three goals. I would think that fewer people would think the church to be a bunch of judgmental hypocrites if these were followed.

Also as the BCO encourages us, as we think about confronting others to apply correction, it would be good for us to examine our own behavior and be open about where we also need correction. Remember that beam and speck story that Jesus related (Matthew 7:3–5)?

As I re-read this post, I am reminded of some other areas of my life, besides my speech, that would be different if I kept these principles in mind. For example, I certainly could be more courteous behind the wheel during my morning commute.

Can you think of other areas where application of these three principles should affect our behavior? Please share your thoughts in the comment area below.

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