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November 22 - December 30, 2019
Jesus keeps in tension wariness about evil with a robust confidence in the goodness of his Father.
“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (10:31).
Jesus calls us to be wary, yet confident in our heavenly Father.
We are to combine a robust trust in the Good Shepherd with a vigilance about the presence of evil in our own hearts and in the hearts of others.
caution because of the Fall, optimism because of redemption.
Jesus’ childlike faith delighted his Father, and on Easter morning his Father acted on Jesus’ dead body, bringing him to life. He trusted in God; God delivered him. Evil did not have the last word. Hope was born.
Learn to Hope Again
Jesus brings hope before he heals.
Cultivate a Childlike Spirit
Cry out for grace like a hungry child.
The cynic focuses on the darkness; the child focuses on the Shepherd.
Cultivating a Thankful Spirit
Not surprisingly, thanklessness is the first sin to emerge from our ancient rebellion against God. Paul writes, “For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him” (Romans 1:21).
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you. (Romans 1:8) I give thanks to my God always for you. (1 Corinthians 1:4) I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. (Ephesians 1:16) I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine. (Philippians 1:3-4) We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. (Colossians 1:3)
We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers. (1 Thessalonians 1:2) We also thank God constantly. (1 Thessalonians 2:13) For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you? (1 Thessalonians 3:9) We ought always to give thanks to God for you. (2 Thessalonians 1:3) But we ought always to give thanks to God for you. (2 Thessalonians 2:13) I thank God . . . as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day. (2 Timothy 1:3) I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers. (Philemon 1:4)
In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6) Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving. (Colossians 4:2) Pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances. (1 Thessalonians 5:17-18)
Cynicism looks reality in the face, calls it phony, and prides itself on its insight as it pulls back. Thanksgiving looks reality in the face and rejoices at God’s care. It replaces a bitter spirit with a generous one.
5. Cultivating Repentance
Repentance brings the split personality together and thus restores integrity to the life. The real self is made public.
When the proud person is humbled, the elevated self is united with the true self.
Eliab also sees himself incorrectly. He has a false, elevated view of himself.
“I give thanks to my God always for you” (1 Corinthians 1:4). Then he addresses their permitting of incest, suing one another in court, and getting drunk at the Lord’s Supper! Because he keeps his eye on the present work of Jesus, Paul is not overcome by evil but overcomes evil with good.
Author Nancy Pearcey summarized this split between facts and feelings, saying, “The lower story became the realm of publicly verifiable facts while the upper story became the realm of socially constructed values.”[4]
Secularism is a religious belief that grew out of the pride of human achievement, particularly scientific achievement. It masquerades as science or reality, opposed to religion, which it calls opinion.
claims to have given us the gift of science when, in fact, Christianity gave us the gift of science.
The Modern Roots of Cynicism The Enlightenment doesn’t say that religion is not real. It defines it as not real.
Secularism is a cynical view of reality.
It is my Father’s world.
The persistent widow and the friend at midnight get access, not because they are strong but because they are desperate. Learned desperation is at the heart of a praying life.
“The LORD [infinite] is my shepherd [personal].”
Solomon’s wonder in his prayer of dedication for the temple as he contemplates the infinite God dwelling personally with us. “Will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18). Because God is both infinite and personal, he will “[listen] to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays” (6:19).
Isaiah is also in awe that God “[dwells] in the high and holy place [infinite], and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit [personal]” (Isaiah 57:15). Majesty
A praying life opens itself to an infinite, searching God. As we shall see, we can’t do that without releasing control, without constantly surrendering our will to God. “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10) is actually scary.
Overspiritualizing prayer suppresses our natural desire that our house not be burning. When we stop being ourselves with God, we are no longer in real conversation with God.
Neoplatonism, the ancient Greek philosophy that de-emphasized the physical world.
By discounting the spiritual and physical worlds, Neoplatonism did exactly what the Enlightenment did.
The only difference was Neoplatonism valued the spiritual while the Enlightenment valued the physical.
So the church is influenced by Neoplatonism (the physical isn’t important), and the world is shaped by the Enlightenment (the spiritual isn’t important). Both perspectives stifle...
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prayer was mainly about us being with God and not about God answering our prayers.
What do I lose when I have a praying life? Control. Independence. What do I gain? Friendship with God. A quiet heart. The living work of God in the hearts of those I love. The ability to roll back the tide of evil. Essentially, I lose my kingdom and get his.
I move from being an independent player to a dependent lover. I move from being an orphan to a child of God.
Suffering is God’s gift to make us aware of our contingent existence. It creates an environment where we see the true nature of our existence—dependent on the living God. And yet how God actually works in prayer is largely a mystery.
“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me” (Psalm 131:1).
Prayer is strikingly intimate. As soon as you take a specific answer to prayer and try to figure out what caused it, you lose God.
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”
“If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it”
“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you”
“so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you”
Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full”
Jesus’ brother James comes to the rescue and balances out Jesus’ extravagant promises. James describes two dangers in asking. The first danger, on the left side of the following chart, is Not Asking. James writes, “You do not have, because you do not ask.” The second danger is Asking Selfishly: “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions” (James 4:2-3). We can fall off either cliff.
