Lesson on how to pray and parable of the bold friend

Lesson on how to pray and parable of the bold friend

Luke 11:1-13

In his commentary, Alexander Balmain Bruce suggested “that the parable of the Good Samaritan, the story of Martha and Mary, and the Lesson of Prayer form together a group having their common heading: “at school with Jesus”…”[1] The common lesson in each section has to do with life in the Kingdom…the kind of behaviour characteristic of those who live in submission to the King. Understanding the role of prayer, or the manner in which the believer communes with God, is of vital importance. The foundation for any good relationship is good communication.

Every Jew knew how to pray. Although the order of the Jewish Prayer Book, the Siddur, was only formalised soon after the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, standardised prayers date back at least to the time of Ezra. It is possible that Jesus’ prayers were so different from the formal prayers of the time that the disciples wanted Him to teach them His way of communicating with the Father. However, even John taught his followers how to pray, so it might not be totally clear as to the disciple’s motive for the request.

In reply, Jesus first gave them an outline, then an exposition of that outline, and ended with a hyperbolic application. The form of the prayer focuses on life in the Kingdom, first addressing the King with a pledge to live according to Kingdom principles, and then confessing the believer’s inability to live that life without Divine aid and Divine intervention and protection. As such, the “coming” of the Kingdom is a present reality revealed in and through the life of kingdom subjects. Dwight A. Pryor says that for Jesus, “the Kingdom of heaven is not some place in “the world to come” but the in-breaking activity of Someone in this world…It is not a political empire nor territorial domain, but God’s activity of supernaturally exercising dominion in the lives of those who receive Him as King”[2] In this light, the line usually translated and understood as a petition for future realisation of a spiritual or even physical entity, “May Your Kingdom Come”, is actually a request for God to rule and reign in the life of the petitioner and in the world through the petitioner. “Our chief duty, from Jesus’ point of view, is to sanctify or hallow God’s name (His person and character) in this world.”[3] In other words, the opening lines of the prayer is a request for God to be exalted through the petitioner so that His reign might be made evident through the petitioner’s manner of life which ought to reflect kingdom principles.

A summary of these principles follows with three requests: for provision (with obvious allusions to the provision of manna in the wilderness), for reconciliation (between the petitioner and God and the petitioner and others based upon an understanding of the mutual inadequacies of all kingdom subjects), and for protection or preservation (not to yield to the lifestyle of the old kingdom). It is interesting that the request for reconciliation (forgiveness) is conditional. The petitioner is actually asking the King to forgive him or her in the same way as he or she forgives others. The basic idea behind this condition is that the petitioner is to reflect the person and character of the King as part of hallowing God’s Name and of bringing the reality of Kingdom life into full relief as a contrast to the “dog eat dog” manner of the world. God is a forgiving God and His followers must reflect that quality.

Jesus then followed up on this teaching with a brief exposition of what the application of prayer would look like through the parable of the bold friend. What is often overlooked in modern day explanations of the meaning of this parable is the underlying Ancient Middle-Eastern custom of hospitality. Kenneth Bailey points out that the custom of the day would make the community at large responsible for the guest’s adequate entertainment. Neglecting to do so would reflect negatively on the whole village. “With this background in mind, verse 7 becomes clear. Verses 5 through 7 are together the extended question that expects an emphatic negative answer. Jesus is saying, “Can you imagine having a friend and going to him with the sacred request to help you entertain a guest, and then he offers silly excuses about sleeping children and a barred door?” The Oriental listener/reader knows the communal responsibility for the guest and responds, “No, we cannot imagine it.”[4]

The instruction to persevere or to persist in prayer is thus based upon the fact that God delights to answer the petitions of His subjects. That is His nature and it is the way of the kingdom.

In application, it seems Jesus was pointing out that God’s Name is hallowed and the realty of His Kingdom is made evident through answered prayer…especially for the life-directing indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, the one who enables us to live out kingdom principles. Just as Ancient Middle-Eastern custom demanded a positive response from the inconvenienced sleeping friend, as to refuse would go contrary to the understood manner of the village, so too Kingdom custom demands a positive response from the King, as to refuse would go contrary to God’s person and character.

Thus for the disciple, the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray is the backbone for daily life in the Kingdom. It is the King Who makes His Kingdom evident through our submission and dependence on Him. His Name is hallowed when His gracious nature is observed through answered prayer. Through answered prayer the reality of His rule and His Kingship is made evident. In this light, prayer is as much for us as it is for the watching world, as answered prayer is a testimony to God’s gracious and merciful rule and reign in our lives.

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[1] Bruce, Alexander Balmain, The Expositor’s Greek Testament, I The Synoptic Gospels, Hendrickson Publishers, 546.

[2] Pryor, Dwight A., Behold the Man! Discovering our Hebrew Lord, the Historical Jesus of Nazareth, Centre for Judaic-Christian Studies, Dayton, OH, 2005, 124.

[3] Pryor, Dwight A., Unveiling the Kingdom of Heaven: The Origins and Dimensions of the Kingdom Concept as taught by the Rabbi Jesus, Center of Judaic-Christian Studies, Dayton, OH, 2008, 14.

[4] Bailey, Kenneth E., Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parable in Luke, Combine Edition, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, MI, 1983, 124.

The Voice

1 Kings 19:1-15a    Psalms 42,43    Galatians 3:23-29    Luke 8:26-39

One of the most watched videos on YouTube is surely the audition of Susan Boyle on the Britain’s Got Talent show. The image of the woman that walked onto the stage looked like a bad practical joke…a sack of potatoes would have worn that dress better than she did. The judges and the audience unashamedly showed their dislike and their disbelief and everyone thought this was going to be a short but painful event. But when she opened her mouth to sing, the initial shock changed into a roar of applause as Susan Boyle gave voice to her dream…a dream that turned her into an instant global celebrity. Her physical image had fooled them all.

Some in the industry thought that this could be a problem…that the first impression gained from what was seen prior to what was heard could negatively influence the judges and that their reaction might negatively influence the performer…so they started a show that had the judges facing the audience with their backs to the performer. This way they would judge the voice, not the appearance. If they liked what they heard they would turn around to face the contestant for the first time. It was what they heard, not what they saw that had the greatest impact on them and they judged that accordingly.

There is a spiritual lesson in this for us. When we focus on what we see in life rather than on what we hear when we listen to the voice of God, we too tend to make an error in judgement.

The story of Elijah is a great example of how adverse circumstances can lead us astray. If we went back one chapter in 1 Kings, we would have seen Elijah at his best…hearkening to the voice of God and obeying without question and without fear of what the wicked king and queen could do to him. On Mount Carmel, the prophet challenged the false prophets of Baal to a spiritual duel, as it were…each party, Elijah and the false prophets, was to offer a bull of their choice as a sacrifice, but were not to set fire to it. The God who answered by sending fire to burn up the offering would be considered the true God.

Most of us know the story from Sunday School lessons…the false prophets of Baal did their thing, but to no avail. Elijah went out of his way to make sure no one could ever say he cheated…precious water (remember there had been a three year drought at the time) was poured over his sacrifice and the wood three times, once for every year of drought, until everything was drenched. Then as Elijah prayed, fire fell from heaven and consumed everything…not just the sacrifice, but also the water and the stones and the dust.

Elijah at his best…obedient…fearless…faithful…

But when the queen threatened to have him killed in the very next chapter, what happened to Elijah? Verse three says, “Elijah was afraid and fled for his life.” He had just stood alone against 850 false prophets as well as the king and no doubt his officials and guards and soldiers. But now? In verse 4 he whimpers, “I have had enough Lord. Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” So God sent him on a journey…on a retreat, as it were…to regain perspective. He had to travel all the way to Mount Sinai…the same mountain on which Moses had received the 10 commandments.

But there were quite a few differences between the time when Moses was there and this time with Elijah. When God spoke to Moses, He spoke like thunder so that the whole nation heard the voice of God. In both cases God sent wind, an earthquake, and fire…but unlike Moses, God’s voice came to Elijah in a whisper…a still, small voice…

Elijah had been witness to God’s power…he really didn’t need to see more miraculous manifestations…he had seen God send fire from heaven and consume the entire sacrifice and altar and all. No, what Elijah needed now more than anything was that inner conviction that God was present…that He cared…that He was personally involved in the prophet’s life. A still, small voice was what Elijah needed…a gentle reminder that he was not alone.

The descendants of Korah obviously also needed a gentle reminder of God’s character. In Psalms 42 and 43, the Psalmists asked a reflective question: “Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad?” The reason they were asking themselves these questions was because the answer was obvious. Why be cast down when your hope is in God? Circumstances were clouding their judgment. Their enemies taunted them, lied about them, and oppressed them. If they focused on these things, they would be discouraged and disheartened…but as they recounted the great things God had done in their past…as they reflected on the fact that He had never let them down before…that He had always been there for them when they had needed Him…they confidently answered their own question with a great statement of faith: “Why am I so discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my trust in God! I will praise Him again – my Saviour and my God!”

The still, small, inner voice of God gave them the ability to look past their dire and difficult present to see the Person of the one who was there through thick and thin, working out His great and wondrous purposes for His glory.

For Paul it was the voice of freedom through faith in the finished work of Christ that helped him face the Judaisers in Galatia…those who felt they needed to earn their salvation through obedience to the Law…and not only God’s Law, but the traditions of the elders that were put in place during and after the exile to ensure that no one could ever again provoke God to anger through disobedience…and in so doing they missed the whole point of the Law. The Law was only a custodian…a guardian that served to protect them until they had been put right with God. Since Jesus came and made us right with God by taking away the barrier of sin, the Law was no longer needed as a guardian. Trying to obey out of our own strength in an attempt to earn God’s favour could only lead to frustration and discouragement. It is only in Christ that we are able to be obedient in His strength…not ours.

We do not even approach His Table trusting in our own righteousness, but in His great and manifold mercies…that’s what we say every time prior to coming to meet with Jesus in and through the Eucharist, right? It is in the stillness of our hearts that we hear His voice of favour as we receive the symbols of His love and acceptance in Christ.

But there is another voice that we read about this morning…the voice of command…a stern and powerful voice…the voice Jesus uses when addressing our enemies. “Come out of him!” No argument, no compromise…a concession, perhaps, by allowing the demons to flee into the pigs, but still a voice of absolute authority. It is the same voice Jesus used to still the storm. “Peace! Be still!” It is the same voice Jesus used to stop Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the Church, in his tracks. “Saul! He thundered, “Why are you persecuting Me?”

When Jesus told His disciples that all authority in heaven and on earth had been given to Him, He was not engaging in idle chatter. He meant what He said. This is very comforting to us, as we know that when He speaks, He always has the final word. Just as He spoke creation into existence, so He speaks new life into those who confess faith in Him…and He promises that nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus…that no one will be able to snatch us out of His hand…that we are His and He is ours.

The voice that put the planets into orbit still speaks today. We hear Him clearly in His Word…and we hear Him in His Sacraments. His promises are true…He is not a human being that He should try to impress us with empty words or lies…no, He is the truth and when He says it He will do it. Humanity may have many plans in their hearts, but it is the Lord’s will alone that will be established.  

Our response to this depends on our focus…what are we looking at? Our circumstances? Our trials? Or struggles? Our sickness? The state of our fallen, broken world? If that is our focus we will be as negative as the judges and the audience at Britain’s Got Talent when Susan Boyle walked out on the stage…and we too will be proved wrong…when our Lord speaks…when His voice is heard.

The Eucharist reminds us that there is a cost to living holy lives in a sinful world. Wicked rulers may oppose us, our enemies may oppress us, demons may challenge us, and heretics may plague the Church…but the same still small voice, the unchanging Word, the authoritative command, is still heard…and we hear it here…at His banquet table. Can you hear it? It is finished! In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.

So as you come to our Lord’s Table once again this morning, lift up your hearts and be encouraged. God is not silent. The same voice that calmed the fearful heart of Elijah speaks to you today. Open your ears…and listen…

© Johannes W H van der Bijl 2019-06-18

Angola and Namibia Appeal

William Carey, the great missionary to India, once said, “I will go down if you will hold the ropes.”

Missionary work is a partnership. Louise and I cannot fulfil the Great Commission without going, and we cannot go unless y'all send us and support us. The Apostle Paul wrote, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent?” (Romans 10:14-15a).

As we mentioned in our recent newsletter, God willing, we will be going to southern Angola and Northern Namibia for five weeks in July, slightly overlapping into August. We need your help.

Our Training of select clergy in Windhoek, Namibia last year.

Our SAMS Missionary Account has three sections. The first is our Missionary Support Account...our salary, medical insurance, pensions, etc. The second is our Project Account. This is the account we use for scholarships for those who cannot afford the cost of our manuals. While we do not charge people for our training, we do ask them to pay for the cost of the manuals, which is R150 ($11). The third is our vehicle account...maintenance, repairs, diesel, etc.

While all three accounts could be better, it is the Project Account that is our present pressing concern. Without sufficient funds in this account, we are not able to help those who cannot afford the cost of the manuals. We believe that this disciple training material is an excellent Church (with a capital C) growth resource and want as many people, clergy and laity alike, to learn the basic principles Jesus used in the process of bringing followers either from unbelief or immaturity to maturity where they are able to do what He did.

Would you please prayerfully consider helping us to get this project account amount stable?

Giving is easy, either online or by mail.

To give online, simply click on this link and follow the instructions: https://give.sams-usa.org/missionary/johann-and-louise-vanderbijl/
To give by mail, please send your check to SAMS-USA, P O Box 399, Ambridge, PA, 15003.

In both cases, please clearly stipulate which account you wish to give towards, Missionary Account, Project Account, or Vehicle Account.

We are so thankful to you for your ongoing support. Y'all are our rope holders. Without y'all we simply could not fulfil our ministry. Bless you and thank you.

All our love
Johann and Louise

Persistence…

Genesis 11:1-9    Psalm 104:26-36    Acts 2:1-21    John 14:8-17

A story is told of a man from New York City who did not follow basic hiking rules: he left the trail and subsequently got lost in a desert somewhere in the south-western States of the US. After hours of frantically searching for the trail, he stumbled on a dry riverbed and remembered from his days in the scouts that if one digs deep enough you will find water…so he started to dig. But soon his city-slicker hands were chaffed, scratched, and bleeding and when he hit the river stones he gave up. This was just too much effort…it was just too hard. Had he persisted, he would have found water under the small boulders. But he gave up, sat down under the shade of a dry bush, and fell asleep.

A wise friend of mine recently sent me an email with an attachment that read: NOTHING IN THE WORLD CAN TAKE THE PLACE OF PERSISTENCE. TALENT WILL NOT; NOTHING IS MORE COMMON THAN UNSUCCESSFUL MEN WITH TALENT. GENIUS WILL NOT; UNREWARDED GENIUS IS ALMOST A PROVERB. EDUCATION WILL NOT; THE WORLD IS FULL OF EDUCATED DERELICTS. PERSISTENCE AND

DETERMINATION ALONE ARE INDISPENSIBLE.

This is true in any field…if one does not press on, you will not gain the prize…you will not gain the expertise…you will not receive the knowledge. In short, you will remain at best mediocre.

The same is true with regard to following Jesus. A half-hearted following will not bring joy, peace, and love…as soon as the troubles of this world press in the half-hearted follower gives up. Following Jesus means knowing Jesus and knowing Jesus means knowing the revelation of Himself in His Word…and knowing the Word means, reading, marking, and learning the Scriptures…the Bible. Ah, but there’s the rub…so many followers of Jesus will read soppy romance novels, or spy thrillers, or detective stories, or instruction manuals on whatever topic strikes their fancy, or they will spend hours playing silly games on their phones…but they struggle to read just one chapter in the Bible…and, like the man lost in the desert, they give up all too quickly when it gets tough…as a result, they miss out of the living water that could have been theirs if they only dug a bit deeper…if they only persisted.

But following Jesus is more than just reading the Word. The Scriptures tell us that we ought to be doers of the Word, not only hearers. It doesn’t help we know how to do something if we don’t actually do it, does it. “If you love Me,” Jesus said, “obey my commandments.” In other words, do what I tell you.

Take our Old Testament lesson for today as an example. When God created Adam and Eve He expected them to “fill the earth and govern it” as His vice-regents. If they had done what He had told them to do, they would not have been hanging out in the middle of the Garden – at base-camp, as it were – to be tempted to eat the fruit of the forbidden tree.

Keeping that in mind, what was the object of the building of the city and the tower in Genesis 11? Look at verse 4. “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” In Genesis 9, God had repeated the original creation command given to Adam and Eve to Noah and his descendants: “Fill the earth.” So, in building this city, the folks were in direct conflict with God’s clear and expressed will.

Now, let’s move to the New Testament. At the end of the Gospels and the beginning of the book of Acts, Jesus told His disciples that they ought to bear witness to Him before all nations even to the ends of the earth. True, they were to wait in Jerusalem until they were filled with the enabling power of the Holy Spirit but then they were to go out and make disciples of all people groups. In Acts 2 we read about the coming of the one who would help the disciples to obey Jesus…namely the Holy Spirit. But what is interesting is that even though the empowerment had been given, the church stayed in Jerusalem! Yes, they were very active and yes, they preached boldly in the Name of Jesus, but they had been told to be witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

It seems that like Adam and Eve and like the folks in Babel, they preferred to stay put and not to venture out of their proverbial comfort zones. And each time, this disobedience led to judgement. In Acts 8 we read that “a great wave of persecution began (on the day Stephen was stoned), sweeping over the church in Jerusalem; and all the believers except the Apostles were scattered through the regions of Judea and Samaria…and wherever they went they preached the Good News.” But wait! There’s more! I think it is simply mind boggling to find out later, that the very same person who was behind this “great wave of persecution”, who was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill all the Lord’s followers…this very same person became one of the first one to take the Good News to the ends of the earth. While it is true that Jewish converts from Cyprus and Cyrene were the first to preach to Gentiles in the largely Gentile city of Antioch, Paul was the first to take the Gospel to Gentiles further afield as a missionary.

I can’t help thinking of a man like Julius Malema with all his threats and hatred. Could you imagine how wonderful it would be if the Lord did to Julius what He did to Saul of Tarsus? That’s my prayer for Julius…that God would turn him into a great witness to the reconciling power of Jesus.

But I digress…

All the way from Adam and Eve to the present day, we humans tend not to do God’s expressed will…why? Why do we find it so hard to follow Jesus? Why do we fail to read, mark, learn, and obey (inwardly digest) His Word? Why do we prefer the shallow waters of mediocrity when there is an ocean to be circumnavigated? I’ll tell you why…besides rebellion…we lack persistence. To press on requires effort and may mean that we will have to live life as if it is not all about us!

Can you imagine if Jesus had decided the price of our atonement was just too high…it was just too much to ask…it was just too hard…and so He chose not to be obedient to God even to death on the cross? Where would we be today? We wouldn’t be here, that’s for sure! We would still be lost in our trespasses and sins!

To press on…to be persistent…may not be easy, but it will be worthwhile!

To the Jewish believers who were thinking about giving up following Jesus because of persecution, the author of Hebrews wrote: “Think of all the hostility (Jesus) endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.”

Dearest beloved brethren, as you come to feast at His table once more today…as you take the symbols of His persistence…ask Him to once more fill you with the One who was sent to help us (we who are the Church) to forget what is past…to let go of that which is of no eternal value…and to press on towards the goal, the end of the race, so that we might receive the prize for which God, through Jesus Christ, is calling us.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened to the chap lost in the desert…he was found and he did recover…and he never went hiking in the desert again.

© Johannes W H van der Bijl III 2019-06-04