Examining the Example

"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 is into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]"

Matthew 6:9-13

Last week, we discussed Christ's words leading up to this, the Model Prayer. His command was not to pray as the hypocrites; in other words, our prayer does not need to put on a show for God. Instead, we need to come honestly before Him.

In order to set an example, Jesus offered us these words. It's brevity and simplicity stand in direct contrast to that prayer of the hypocrites which Christ had previously described. Saint Cyprian (AD 200-258) left to us an excellent commentary on the Lord's Prayer, noting early on that "it [the Lord's Prayer] is a friendly and intimate prayer to beseech God with His own words, for the prayer of Christ to ascend to His ears" (chapter 3).

Notice, first, the familiarity of the Lord's prayer. Beginning with the words "Our Father," it assumes a close relationship between both the pray-er and God. Cyprian notes that we can only use these words because we have been adopted as sons through the work of Christ Himself; as such, we "ought to remember and to know that, when we speak of God, we ought to act as sons of God" (chapter 11). What a great privilege that we have to approach God in this manner, having been restored to relationship with Him. With this relationship in mind, we entreat "hallowed be Thy name." This can be interpreted both in general (let Your name be glorified) and specifically (let Your name be glorified in me), although the personal nature of the prayer does tend more towards the second.

"Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The heaven/earth language that has been used thus far provides excellent imagery for us showing that, while we have a close relationship with the Father, we have not arrived. Instead, we are still struggling with sin, both internal and external. Addressing this struggle, Cyprian notes that "We seek also that God's kingdom be manifested in us" (chapter 13) and "That we may be able to do what God wishes" (chapter 14). What we seek through this is that our lives may reflect God in every way.

"Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." This bread, Cyprian notes, is both spiritual and carnal (chapter 18). He also offers a connection to the second sentence of this phrase: "After the subsistence of food the pardon of sin is also asked so that he who is fed by God may live in God, and so that not only the present and temporal life may be provided for but also the eternal" (chapter 22, emphasis mine). Carson recognizes this as well, acknowledging that these phrases "are linked in Greek by 'ands,' almost to say that life sustained by food is not enough" (172). This continues into the final petition: "And do not lead is into temptation, but deliver us from evil."¹

In summation, this prayer is about reconciliation. It is, as the apostle Paul would say, about being "transformed by the renewing of your mind, [so] that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect" (Romans 12:2). Jesus gives us this model because He is the example. As the Incarnate God, He shows exactly what it means for us to live in right relationship to God the Father.

^{---------------------------------------------------}

¹ I have chosen not to address the concluding Doxology in this discussion, as it was a later addition. For reference, see Carson (174): "The doxology- 'for yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen'- is found in various forms in many MSS. The diversity of what parts are attested is itself suspicious (for full discussion, cf. Metzger, Textual Commentary, pp. 16-7; cf. Hendriksen, pp. 337f); and the MS evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of omission- a point conceded by Davies (Setting, pp. 451-3), whose liturgical arguments for inclusion are not convincing."

Bibliography

"Cyprianus: The Lord's Prayer." Documenta Catholica Omnia. N.p., 2006. Web. 27 Oct 2014.

Gaebelein, Frank E., J. D. Douglas, D. A. Carson, Walter W. Wessel, and Walter L. Liefeld. The Expositor's Bible Commentary: With the New International Version of the Holy Bible. Vol. 8. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1984. Print.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

The Rev. William Hugh Clifford Frend. "Saint Cyprian (Christian Theologian and Bishop [died 258])." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.

Setting an Example

"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 is into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]"

Matthew 6:9-13

Much has been said and written about the Model Prayer. Often referred to as the Lord's Prayer, this passage is deservedly so a staple of the Church's understanding of prayer. For our purposes, we will refer to it as the Model Prayer to distinguish it from the Lord's Prayer found in John 17, which will be our focus in an upcoming post.

Before we get to the meet of the prayer itself, let's turn our eyes to the preceding verses. In Matthew 6:5, Jesus commands His followers not to pray "as the hypocrites." Merriam-Webster defines a hypocrite as "a person who claims or pretends to have certain beliefs about what is right but who behaves in a way that disagrees with those beliefs." I include this definition simply to give us a frame of reference; we all have our own definitions of hypocrisy, and we all know people that, according to our personal definitions, fit into this category.

To understand exactly what Jesus meant, we need to look into the historical context. Does Jesus tell us anything about who He defines as hypocrites? It just so happens that He does: "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 6:1). Paul later expands on this in his letter to Titus, saying "For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach, for the sake of sordid gain... They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed" (Titus 1:10-11, 16).

So who does Jesus call a hypocrite? Men who put on a show of their righteousness before men, but who are filthy before God. In some instances during His earthly ministry, He directly calls out the Pharisees on this point. In his own time, Paul calls out those who claim to be part of the body of Christ but by their actions they hurt hurt that same body.

I have grown up and lived in the Bible belt my whole life. In all of the churches which I have been a part of, hypocrisy has been present. Thankfully, in some cases, it was a very small influence; in others, it was a dominating force. Truthfully, hypocrisy seems to be a staple feature of the church in America of which all participants, myself included, have been guilty at one point or another.

In preparing for this post, I am trying to hold myself accountable in the same way that I encourage you: as we seek to be honest with God in prayer, we need to acknowledge our own hypocrisy. God sees through my charade. Before God, the masks which we use to hide the real us from men and women are transparent. In many cases, we have worn these masks for so long that we ourselves are deceived; perhaps that needs to be where our prayer begins.

This is not to say that we need to fix ourselves before we come to God. We cannot fix ourselves. However, we can learn a lesson from Jesus' parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14:

And He also told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: "Two men went up into the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer. The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank Thee that I am not like other-people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!' I tell you that this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who humbles himself shall be exalted." (emphasis mine)

Next week we will examine the Model Prayer itself. Until then, as we seek to approach the throne of God in prayer, we need to realize who we are. We also need to realize Whom we approach.

Bibliography

"Hypocrite." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2014.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

Valleys, Mountains, and Caves

It had been a long week, full of ups and downs. What had started out as an incredible, undeniable victory had turned into chaos faster than he could have ever expected. Now, he was on the run for his life. This is not the way things should have gone. After running for a whole day, he cried out, "Lord, take my life!" Then, exhaustion having taken its toll, he stretched out beneath a tree and fell asleep.

While he slept, an angel of the Lord came twice, giving him food and water, saying, "Eat and drink, for this journey is too great for you." Refreshed he arose; strengthened by this, he traveled forty days and forty nights until he came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

Taking refuge in a cave, he heard the Word of the Lord asking, "What are you doing  here?" And he responded, declaring his own accomplishments in ministry, his terror because of his persecutors, and his ensuing depression. Then God told him to step out of the cave. When he did, the glory and power of the sovereign Lord was put on display: a wind which rent the mountains, an earthquake shaking the foundations, and a blazing fire. Then, silence; and in the stillness, God spoke again.

This event, a page from the life of Elijah, can be found in 1 Kings 19:1-18. While the word prayer may never be mentioned in this passage, I could think of no clearer example of the conversational nature of prayer. In the midst of his ordeal, Elijah cried out to God; he was honest before the Lord about everything. He was real about his struggles; then, he listened.

Jefferson Bethke writes that he believes silence is the thing which terrifies our generation the most. I tend to agree with him. He notes that "We fear silence like it's an invisible monster, gnawing at us, ripping us open, and showing us our dissatisfaction. Silence is terrifying" (5). We are uncomfortable with silence. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that we feel we need to talk so much when we pray: we fear that if we stop speaking, we may face only the silence. That, or we will hear what God has to say- a loving voice of discipline which can easily be more overwhelming than the silence itself.

This has been a busy week, and particularly morning, for me. I feel fairly certain that I am not alone in this. Our challenge, however great the chaos, whether in moments of definitive success and accomplishment or falling under the destructive weight of defeat, is to listen. We need to learn to hear as God speaks into our situations.

Bibliography

Bethke, Jefferson. Jesus>Religion: Why He is So Much Better than Trying Harder, Doing More, and Being Good Enough. Nashville, TN: Nelson, 2013. Kindle.

New American Standard Bible. La Habra, CA: Lockman Foundation, 1977. Kindle.

Let's Talk

I recently drove to a conference with a friend. Though we work together, our schedules are both incredibly full; therefore we do not get to visit very often. So as we were driving, we got to talk: we talked about life, our classes, things coming up in both our department and on campus, trips, goals, and more. It was a thoroughly enjoyable time.

At the conference, I saw other colleagues and friends. It was fun getting to catch up and talk shop with those I haven't seen in quite a while. I also met some people for the first time. It's interesting to note how the pace of conversation changes between catching up with an old friend and meeting someone for the first time. The conversation moves, both people involved in a verbal give and take, each one listening and contributing.

As we start a new month, I do not want to begin by overcomplicating things. Prayer, you see, is a conversation. It is a dialogue between us- individually or corporately- and the Creator of the universe. It is opportunity for us to talk, but more importantly for us to listen. We need to hear His voice and be able to respond to Him.

At the same time, prayer is a vast subject in theory and in practice. This is the reason why we will be spending several weeks looking further at it. In his book A Short Method of Prayer, Guyon opens by saying that "Prayer is nothing else but the application of the heart to God, and the interior exercise of love" (107/788). A bit further in the text he says that it "alone can bring you into His presence, and keep you there continually. What we need, then, is an attitude of prayer, in which we can constantly abide, and out of which exterior occupations cannot draw us..." (129/778). 

It is my hope that, as we work in coming weeks, we could learn to truly converse with God. I am no expert, but am still striving alongside you to know Him better through prayer. Next week we will look at prayer in the Old Testament era. Until we meet again, our challenge is to pray. Let's converse with God and let those conversations change us.

Bibliography

J. M. B. de La Mothe Guyon, A Short Method of Prayer and Spiritual Torrents. London: Sampson Low, Marston, Low, & Searle, 1875. Kindle.