How Authentic Is Our Love and Leadership in Prayer?

Good Morning Friends,

Today’s lectionary has the Lord’s prayer and a passage that is from 2 Corinthians about the seduction of the church akin to the seduction of Eve. It flirts with the reality of selfish and possessive love in leaders that can lead to strife and a devouring passion that destroys happiness and kindles hatred. It is about being led astray by false lovers. But it is also about a type of jealousy that is a safeguard to love.
The topic is serious and prompts today’s question. How Authentic Is Our Love and Leadership in Prayer?

Scripture: You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,

Exodus 20:5 (NRSV)

I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! I feel a divine jealousy for you, for I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by its cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you submit to it readily enough. I think that I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. I may be untrained in speech, but not in knowledge; certainly in every way and in all things we have made this evident to you. Did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed God’s good news to you free of charge? I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. And when I was with you and was in need, I did not burden anyone, for my needs were supplied by the friends who came from Macedonia. So I refrained and will continue to refrain from burdening you in any way. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boast of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. And why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

2 Corinthians 11:1-11 (NRSV)

When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way: 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 do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Matthew 6:7-15 (NRSV)

Message: Perhaps God’s jealousy is perfect love. It is certainly not the green-eyed monster that Shakespeare wrote about, nor the sin of jealousy that we are more familiar with. Convincing people that they are loved takes time. Convincing people that God can be jealous takes time too. A lot of emotions get in the way of Christian love. However, with time you can convince people that you are authentic in your caring, if your leadership points to Christ. Paul’s approach was to compare himself to a father caring for his children for whom he wanted God’s best. Paul paints the scene of a father walking his beloved daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. He is a father who lovingly and caringly seeks to nurture and mature his daughter to someday present her as a faithful, pure and undefiled virgin to a husband (Christ). But for the Corinthians this would not be easily accomplished because of the immoral religiously pagan society in which they lived and the false teaching they are receiving. The Corinthians were in danger of being seduced by persons who would lure them away from the gospel and thus from their original commitment to Christ. They were in peril. The church’s precarious situation is compared to that of Eve’s down fall. Authentic leadership therefor loves other souls into a marriage covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ. Authentic leadership promotes this marriage relation between Christ and his people where there is a giving one to another that sustains community. Here Christ gives himself to our souls and our souls are in turn given to Christ. This is what God desires for us because it is the best protection we can have. This is God’s plan. This is the role of true servant leadership.

And So, true authority will always put God at the center of influence not worldly wisdom. A person wrapped in God’s will and trusting in this is the measure that gives authentic spiritual leaders a following. It takes one who knows how to follow God to lead the hearts of people in a way that honors the Sovereignty of God. Fortitude and unity can only take a person so far. To go the distance Christ must reign in us in prayer and in ministry. Friends, when we look to others for the love and security and provision we need but which is provided by God for us we are unfaithful. If we do not resist, we are in grave danger of being seduced. Like the serpent that enticed Eve through cunning, false teachers were beguiling the minds of believers in Corinth. These people cast doubt on God’s promises. The focus was an attack on the mind with an attempt to lure them away from God and accept the lies of the false teachers. Perhaps we face the same challenges of the Corinthians. Our hope though is to keep a focus on a new covenant relation with Christ. This is what lies at the foundation of all authentic happiness, both in time and eternity. Without it we are not Christians. Without this we cannot lead others to acts of glorifying God.

Pray we take time to be in God’s presence. Pray we realize that it is not the repetition of the words or the elegance of speech that brings authenticity but a personalization and internalization of the Holy Spirit’s presence in relationship with Christ. Pray therefor we be helped to pray by the Spirit of God. Pray we desire to commune with God through the life of Jesus. Pray the intensity of our prayers grow with time in a Trinitarian love that lasts. Pray our conversations with God are not one sided. Pray our prayers are more in the listening than in the talking. Pray we let God have the last word. Pray we have a mountain moving faith. Pray our acts of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication are filled with the Holy Spirit. Pray our prayers focus on how to serve in the kingdom of God. Pray our prayers are truly powerful because we no longer look at the size of the mountain that must be moved but on the sufficiency of the Mountain Mover, the creator of all things seen and unseen. Pray we realize that the very act of prayer is a blessing from God. Pray we realize that God’s jealousy is not the same as our envy. Pray therefor we remain simple and pure in our relationship with God. Pray we keep Christ first in our lives. Pray we never leave our first love. Pray we not fall for smooth talk and messages that sounded good and seem to make sense but just are not backed up by scripture and tradition. Pray we be skilled in the knowledge of scripture. Pray our religious life exhibits characteristics that we are betrothed to Christ. Pray we realize that we do not need human approval so much that we offend divine love. Pray we put God above ourselves. Pray we offer our soul to God in a relationship of love that saves us and makes us happy with all the riches and treasures of the Kingdom. Pray we are fully and forever married to God. Pray we realize that our soul is for God and not for any other. Pray we are never too busy to pray.

Blessings,

John Lawson