Good Morning Friends,
“Why?” My grandchildren ask that question a lot as a means of continuing the conversation when they are not sure what to say. This simple question is loaded with assumptions about what philosophers call “teleology.” Teleology, which comes from the Greek word for “goal” or “end” (telos), is the study of purpose. The “why” questions are purpose questions. The lectionary scriptures for today are about Jesus’ prayer for his disciples just before the crucifixion, and Paul’s prayer meeting with his friends in Ephesus just before he goes to Jerusalem and then is packed up on a ship for Rome to have his head chopped off. There are some obvious similarities to the events and we can ask why if we want. But what comes to my mind this morning is the drama of the servant lives both Jesus and Paul led and whether we measure up with a thankfulness for what God has already done in ours when we approach God’s throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. So, Do Our Prayers Glorify God’s Purpose?
Scripture: After Jesus had spoken these words, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth by finishing the work that you gave me to do. So now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had in your presence before the world existed. “I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.
John 17:1-11a (NRSV)
From Miletus he sent a message to Ephesus, asking the elders of the church to meet him. When they came to him, he said to them: “You yourselves know how I lived among you the entire time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears, enduring the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews. I did not shrink from doing anything helpful, proclaiming the message to you and teaching you publicly and from house to house, as I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus. And now, as a captive to the Spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and persecutions are waiting for me. But I do not count my life of any value to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the good news of God’s grace. “And now I know that none of you, among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom, will ever see my face again. Therefore I declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God
Acts 20:17-27 (NRSV)
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28 (NRSV)
Message: If Jesus is praying as recorded in John 17 on our behalf for us to attain a higher, more lofty sense of togetherness, we sure have not listened very well. Neither were the disciples. And when I see what is happening in Israel today after 2000 years, I see a miracle but also the reality that we are more pathetic than we think. So, what is going on here in Jesus’ prayer for unity and in the Acts of the Apostles and more specifically of Paul in response? We need hope that our heartfelt prayers will be heard and fulfilled, and it is very difficult for me to see what is going on. What did it mean for his disciples then and for us now when our prayers do not get the desired result? Maybe our prayers are unreasonable but certainly not Jesus’. Maybe I just do not get it. We all bleed the same but are in such disunity. Maybe God is still patiently waiting on us to commit. Maybe God is waiting for us to become one in the giving of our time, talent, and treasure. Then maybe it is just a once and done deal at Pentecost but I would like to think we still have hope of revival today in the power of the Holy Spirit to pray more with thankfulness for others more than ourselves. Still, we are to know and encounter God personally and too few do. I do hope your life has a message that grips your heart and that of others with a focus that it is not about our list of wants. Paul’s message was one for the strategic mission field. For Jesus, it was laying the groundwork for the salvation of the world. In today’s context, both were leaving, as we all must eventually leave. And they both were going to be missed. Both believed that what they were doing was going to make a difference. But the question remains whether our lives, after we go, will make a difference, and have an impact for a better world. Friends, when the world grades a person, the world considers their brain, beauty, brawn, or bucks. But when you are facing death, what counts and what matters? What do you consider success and significance? So, as we look back this last season, we might well ask how one measures one life in the way we pray? And today’s scripture would guide us to the conclusion that it is more the manner of one’s life that should be the test. So, by this reasoning the ultimate question will be if we love others with humility. For the Bible says that we are to love others as we love ourselves and that we are to love God and make disciples. Friends, when God measures a life, it is not by how many servants one has, but by how many people a person serves. So, we need to be a people who know how to sympathize, a people who know how to empathize, a people who have the compassion of the Lord Jesus in our hearts that can withstand hardship. That is the way to have a great prayer life. And that is how we are to live together as Christians in an unjust world. Today’s passage from Romans gives us guidance in this regard by addressing the remote rather than the proximate goal. Note that he doesn’t say all things are good but that they work together for good—for a final and ultimate goal. The Apostle insists that the proximate must always be seen in light of the remote. So too with our prayers if they are to have a purpose that glorifies God.The difficulty we face is that we do not yet possess the full light of the remote. On this side of heaven, we see through a glass darkly and what a new heaven and a new earth will be like are beyond our comprehension. Yet, we are not utterly devoid of light. We know enough about God to know He has a good purpose for all things even when that good purpose eludes us.
And So, God is glorified whether we pray or not. Our prayers do not typically change God, if ever, but can change us. Certainly, we believe that there is nothing that God cannot do and may wonder why Jesus’ prayer has not been fully answered after 2000 years. But the problem lies with our thinking not with God. We know that God does not force us to do anything. Even in prayer we have freedom. If we love, He leads us, prompts us, convicts us, challenges us to follow Him, all in. But if we do not listen to our prayers and the prayers of others, if we do not follow Him actively in love, a part of God’s good plan for us remains unfulfilled. I believe that God gets what God wants. Think of the life of Joseph.The most famous Old Testament illustration of the relation between remote and proximate purposes is found in the story of Joseph. At the story’s end, Joseph’s brothers express their fear that he will take revenge on them for all that they had done to him. Joseph’s response shows us a remarkable concurrence at work between proximate and remote purposes. He said, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. Here, the proximate and the remote seemed to be mutually exclusive. The divine intention was the exact opposite of the human intention. Joseph’s brothers had one goal; God had a different one. The astounding reality here is that the proximate purpose served the remote purpose. So, God must be wanting, in His divine patience, for us to respond in a way we have yet to collectively do. Jesus is not just asking God for something. He is asking us for something too. Jesus is praying to us, pleading with us also to be one with each other, as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. Unity and love in the body of Christ is far more important than personal pride. Friends, without love there can be no unity. But with love we remember the best of feelings and that is a good place to begin when the time comes for God’s purpose to be exacted in our lives to honor God’s glory in the prayers we offer. We can draw near to the throne of grace with confidence. We can come before our Creator and speak from our hearts, plainly and boldly and honestly, without fear because God loves us and is teaching us to love too.
Pray that our prayers are purposeful. Pray that our prayers like a football team have immediate goals like getting a first down and longer term goals of getting the next touchdown and of course winning the game but also an ultimate goal of winning the Super Bowl. Pray we are faithful and humble and compassionate. Pray we count the cost and still withstand the hardship. Pray we have courage. Pray we are willing to run the course. Pray that God’s will be done, and we are thankful for it. Pray we stay focused on the immediate goal…as well as God’s goal and purpose. Pray the model, methods, message, and mottos of our lives glorify God. Pray that our lives make a difference. Pray we realize that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Pray we are bound in the Spirit of God for a purpose that honors God and brings unity to believers. Pray that we make people feel loved, wanted, believed in, and hoped for. Pray we bring out the best in one another rather than the worst in each other. Pray we spend less time praying about being right and more time praying about being united. Pray we spend more time praying for grace to love those who are difficult to love. Pray we spend more time praying for opportunities to show God’s love to others, and not just in random acts of kindness but also in collective acts of service. Pray God be glorified in us. Pray we experience eternal life in a love relationship with an eternal God. Pray we be one as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. Pray Christ’s prayer be answered in our own lives. Pray we are blessed to know God’s love and to have compassion for those who would run from it. Pray we realize that prayer is more about changing our thinking to realize all that God has already done is enough for now.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 