Healing the Bent Over

HEALING THE BENT OVER

Luke 13:10-17

Introduction: This past week I was in New York attending the Emotionally Healthy Discipleship Summit. It has been a long time since I’ve been to a conference where I was emotionally and spiritually challenged and enriched at the same time. How many of you have either heard or did the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Course? Though I have been teaching and applying the principles of Emotionally Healthy Spirituality for the past twelve years God has challenged me a fresh in three areas of silence, solitude and Sabbath keeping. Learned a few skills of incarnational listening (listening with empathy) and Incarnational presence (being fully present in a conversation or with someone) and many more.

            Here are a few pictures from the Summit: Peter and Geri Scazzero who are the architects of this whole movement called Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. They would say, “It is impossible to be spiritually mature while remaining emotionally Immature.” Let’s hear more about why every Christian in particular need to pay attention to our Emotional and Spiritual Health. Video Presentation.

            In the future I hope to talk more about Emotionally Healthy Discipleship, which I believe help Hope Church to fulfill its mission that says, “Glorifying God by becoming devoted followers (Disciples) of Christ. Today I am talking a slight detour from my series of teachings on The Lord’s Prayer.” Let’s look at the passage we read and see what principles we can learn.          During his ministry on the earth Jesus performed many miracles of healing. And he is still performing miracles by his Holy Spirit. In the passage we read, we see three main characters. We see Jesus teaching in a Synagogue, a bent over woman and a synagogue leader. What was the response of Jesus to this bent over woman? How did the woman respond to her healing? How did the officials react to the healing?

I BENT OVER WOMAN

            Vs 11 “and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all.” We don’t know much about this woman, all we know that she has been crippled for eighteen years and could hardly stand up straight. Jesus healed several people who were physically sick: like the blind man, leper, paralytic, etc. But this woman’s situation seems to be somewhat different. It was more spiritual and physical.

            Can you imagine what this woman had to endure for eighteen years? Being bent over means, probably she couldn’t work hence she must have come under heavy financial burden. She couldn’t stand up straight means she had to forgo all the things that many of us take them for granted. Such as enjoying the moon and star lit sky, the delightful nature, and the pure joys of playing with children and hearing their laughter etc.  She must have been living in isolation.          Being bent over also means that her vision was narrowly focused. In spite of all that this woman was perhaps a regular attendee of a Synagogue on a Sabbath day. When I read this story I cannot help but wonder, whether this woman ever sought for healing prayers from a Rabbi? Because she was a woman, and crippled was she only allowed in the outer court, hence restricted access? Or did she retire thinking this is my lot in life, and no one can set me free?           

II. JESUS: SAW, CALLED, AND TOUCHED THE WOMAN

            Vs 12-13, “When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. “Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” What do we see in these two verses? Jesus took note of this woman’s embarrassing situation. But he didn’t stop there he called for to come forward. Then he said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” In other words, “Woman you are free from your sin. Then he laid his hands on the woman and healed her.

            Immediately this woman was straightened up and praised God. Let’s see how many social customs that broke inorder to set this bent over woman free. Firstly, when Jews conveniently avoided the sick, crippled and women in general Jesus saw this woman and reached out to her. Secondly, men did not talk to the women openly in the public let alone a crippled woman. Jesus called her to come forward in front of every one. Can you imagine what would that mean for that woman?  She would be breaking a custom and enter into the male section of the Synagogue and go to Jesus, but she didn’t care. Thirdly, Jesus gently spoke to her saying, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity. Fourthly, He put his hands on her and healed her.”  Immediately the woman straightened up and praised God.

            We know that this miracle did not go down well for the Pharisees, they began to say to people, if you want to be healed come during the six days but not on the Sabbath, (we are to hear and meditate upon our scriptures). Jesus challenged their rational with these questions, ““You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” With those words, Jesus put the Pharisees in their place and placed the woman right back where she belonged in the community as a daughter of Abraham. Jesus restored her dignity.

            What an amazing story of God’s power at work.  Let me bring this into our context. Before I gave my life to Jesus, I went to Church every Sunday, read the Bible, said my prayers regularly. Though I was maturing chronologically, I was spiritually and emotionally an infant. All I was concerned was with my own sinful desires. In a way I was like this woman who was bound by Satan and bent over for eighteen years. I was not truly enjoying the abundant life and freedom that God has promised and desires to give to anyone freely who would seek him.

            But thank God one day Jesus saw my bent over state, called me to come forward and as I went forward he touched me and healed me. All of a sudden, I became straight and began to praise God, that was the day of my salvation. After that there were many other times I was bent over by my own fears, and my inability to manage my own emotions. But God is committed to straighten up my bent over state so that I would continue to enjoy his abundant life.

            Just like the woman in the story many are bent over and bound by Satan. We see them everywhere. Satan is crippling people physically, emotionally and spiritually. Over the years I noticed many sincere Christians who attend church regularly, get involved in ministry yet bent over with heavy loads of guilt and shame. They are unable to lift their head up and praise and thank God for all the wonders around them. How are you bent over and constricted today?

            Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever. He doesn’t change. He is the same today as he was all those years ago in that Synagogue. He wants the same for us as he wanted for that poor long-suffering bent over woman.  Jesus saw her, Jesus called her forward, Jesus said to her, Jesus put his hand on her and healed her and Jesus restored her dignity. Similarly, Jesus sees you. He is calling you by your name to come forward to him. He is saying to you “Woman, and man you are set free from all that binds you today” So that your dignity will be restored.

            Jesus wants to set you free from all that is bending you over and robbing your peace, joy and wholeness. You don’t have remain bent over, you can be healed and be made whole today. The wounded healer Jesus is longing to touch and heal you from everything that is bending you over. But you need to hear his voice and respond to his invitation. Will you listen to his voice and come to Him, so that you can be mad whole and walk away into freedom? Or would you ignore it and remain bent-over all of your life?  The choice is yours. Let us pray now, and if you would like more prayer please meet me in the front. Amen!

Let Your Will be Done ( The Lord's Prayer Part III)

LET YOUR WILL BE DONE…

(Matthew 6:9-13) 

           We all face difficult decisions in life, how can we know the decisions we make are in God’s will? As a young Christian one aspect of Christian living petrified me more than anything else was, knowing and doing God’s will.  I was fearful to make decisions thinking that I might do something out of God’s will and miss the boat altogether. It was in 1985, I was seeking the Lord to find out what was his will for me once I completed my bachelors in science.

            As I prayed and sought the scriptures God spoke to me through a passage in Ecclesiastics, which altered my own plans, and helped me to make a career decision of going in to Missions. From that moment on I made it a point to seek God’s will whenever I am faced with bigger challenges and difficult decisions. It is not to say that I always got it right, but as I grew older in my faith, as I continue to study his word, I have a fair sense of what God’s will is for my life.

            Paul Little, in Affirming the Will of God notes, “Has it ever struck you that the vast majority of the will of God for your life has already been revealed in the Bible? That is a crucial thing to grasp.” If we desire to seek and know what God’s will is for us individually and corporately as church we need not to go anywhere but diligently search and do the will of God revealed in the scriptures. We have been studying the Lord’s Prayer that our Lord Jesus Christ taught his disciples.  The prayer began by establishing a relationship between us and God as our heavenly father. We learned that God’s name is Holy therefore it is to be regarded Holy. We also learned that we are to pray and work for God’s Kingdom to be established on Earth.

            Today we will look at another aspect: “Your Will be Done.” Matthew 6:10, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” This prayer has two parts to it, God’s kingdom and God’s will. When we pray, “your kingdom come.” We are not praying in the sense of God’s kingdom to “come” into existence. Because it has already come and it is here.           According to, Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” The gospel writer Luke makes it more personal, in Luke 17:21, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst. “So, our prayer now is, for that kingdom of God which is in our hearts and manifested in the world through His church, to be realized more and more today and every day on the earth. The second part, “Your will be done” logically follows, “your kingdom come.” Where do we want to see God’s kingdom come, and his will to be done? The later part of the prayer suggests, it should be on the earth as it is in heaven.” That brings us to a couple of questions: What is the will of God? How can we know and do the will of God?    

I. WHAT IS GOD'S WILL?

            When it comes to talk about the will of God we make it so mysterious and complicated. Many books have been written about how to find God’s will for our personal lives. But no amount of knowledge or information can outweigh the power of the outcome of a single act of obedience to God’s will. As I study God’s word I find two aspects to God’s will. First, the sovereign will of God, and the second is the will of God’s command.  

A.  God's Sovereign Will

            God is sovereign over all things, which means he can do any, every and all things.  He governs the universe by his own counsel, authority and power. He created all things so he has the right over all things. He causes all things to work together to accomplish his purposes. In other words, nothing and no one can stop God’s plans from coming to pass. Jesus while he was on the earth always reiterated that he came not to do his will but his father’s will.  He spoke about that sovereign will of God in his prayer in the Garden of gethsemane.  Matthew 26:39 “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

            It was not the Roman governor who handed Jesus over to be crucified, or the guards who pierced nails into the feet and the hands of Jesus that put Jesus to death on the cross, no doubt God used all of them but in the end, it was the sovereign will of God. The Apostle Peter in his address on the day of Pentecost attests Jesus’ crucifixion to the sovereign will of God. Acts, 4:27-28, “Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.”

            Paul reaffirms in Ephesians 1:11, “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” Daniel nails down this truth that God’s sovereign will is not only extended to the heaven above but also to the earth below. Daniel 4:3-5 All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: “What have you done?” Can anyone counsel God?

            More can be said of God’s sovereign will, but for now, it is sufficient to know that God has a sovereign will, and it will come to pass no matter what. When Jesus taught his disciples to pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, his concern was not so much about God’s sovereign will, but much about the will of his command, which largely depended on the obedience of his disciples and his subsequent followers. Let’s look at the will of his command.

B. God's Will of Command:

            His will is what he commands us to do. The sovereign will of God we do whether we believe in it or not. But the will of his command is what we often fail to do. For example, in Matthew chapter 7 Jesus said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

            Why? Because not everyone will do the will of God. Do you want to know what is the will of his command? The Apostle Paul lays out some specific commands writing to the Thessalonian Church.  I Thess 4:3, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality.” Here we have a specific instance of what God’s command for us is: holiness, sanctification and sexual purity. Here are a few more scriptures on God’s will.

            We are to: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances.” I Thess 5:16-18. Wise living. Ephe 5:15-21. Doing good. I Pet 2:15. Loving one another. John 13:34-35. Loving our enemies and praying for those who persecute us. Matthew 5:43-48. Suffering for being a Christian. I Peter 4:12-19. All these commands are directed towards us personally. There is one command I believe is given corporately for us as a church. Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

            This will of God’s command we must take it to heart seriously, because more than our personal sanctification God is interested in saving all people everywhere in the world. “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” II Pet 3:9.

            That is the reason why we support missionaries who are spreading the good news. That is why we want everyone to get involved in the outreach to the homeless, or other activities in the community, because God loves everybody and he does not want anyone to perish. The sovereign will of God, will be accomplished whether we believe in it or not. But the will of his command to reach out to the world with the gospel is left to us His Church. Therefore, we are taught to pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

II. HOW CAN WE KNOW AND DO GOD’S WILL?

            Let me illustrate. Our children in our home we hope that they know our biblical values, our prayers, wishes and desires for them. Whether or not they would live up to them is yet to be seen. But how do they know what we want from them? It is because of our love for one another, and regular communication. That is how it works in knowing and doing God’s will. Look at the logical order of the Lord’s prayer. Jesus first affirmed our relationship with God. He is our father and we are his children. Then he taught us to pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. “God our heavenly father loves to reveal his will for us.

            It also takes effort from us to want to know His will. The only way we will get to know him is by spending time with him, in prayer and reading His word. The more we dig into God’s word, the more of his will we will discover. For example, you have discovered a command by reading Matthew 5: 13,14, “You are the salt of the earth…. You are the light of the world.” You ask yourselves, how can I be the salt and the light in the world today?

            Dallas Willard, in Divine Conspiracy notes, “Speaking to these common people, “the multitudes,” who through him had found blessing in the kingdom, Jesus tells them it is they, not the “best and brightest” on the human scale, who are to make life on earth manageable as they live from the kingdom. God gives them “light” truth, love, and power that they might be the light for their surroundings. He makes them “salt” to cleanse, preserve, and flavor the times through which they live.” Our heavenly father longs for his church to be the salt and the light in our communities. When we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, let’s believe that it will happen, because God is able and willing and more than ready to answer that prayer. We may be that answer. May the Holy Spirit empower us and give us the grace to not only pray, but also to work so that his will, will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Amen!

Let Your Kingdom Come: (The Lord's Prayer Part II)

LET YOUR KINGDOM COME!

(The Lord’s Prayer- Part II) Matthew 6:5-13 

            I want to start our time with a quote from someone who had known a thing or two about prayer. Edward McKendree Bounds better known as E.M Bounds (1835-1913) was described as a slender man, only five feet five inches tall. He was born on the American frontier, had little formal schooling to speak of, lived through and served in a war that would scar a nation for generations, owned no property or wealth, held no church office, and died in relative obscurity. Yet he lived a powerful life of Prayer. Here is a quote from “The Power of Prayer.”

            “To pray is the greatest thing we can do: and to do it well there must be calmness, time, and deliberation; otherwise it is degraded into the littlest and meanest of things. True praying has the largest results for good; and poor praying, the least. We must learn anew the worth of prayer, enter anew the school of prayer. There is nothing which it takes more time to learn.”[1]

            No doubt, E.M Bound has spent a lot of time in the school of prayer taught by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. When I read books on prayer I am personally challenged about my own personal prayer life. Last week we began to unpack a well-known prayer called the Lord’s Prayer. This prayer has six petitions, three directed towards God and three towards the needs of human beings. We looked at the first of the three that targeted towards God.

            We learned that God is our heavenly father who is a Holy God and His name is to be regarded Holy by all people. Today, we will look at the second petition, LET YOUR KINGDOM COME! What does it mean to pray, “Let your Kingdom Come? What would that look like when that prayer is answered? These lead us to other broader question What is the Kingdom of God? When will it come? What must I do to get into the Kingdom of God?

I. WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?

            For a moment I want us to look at the redemptive plan of God which began with the call of Abraham in Genesis 12. This call included, that God would bless Abraham in turn Abraham would be a blessing to all nations.  Out of Abraham God formed a nation called Israel, with the intentions of being their King and leading them by his laws. Unfortunately, those intentions were briefly disrupted when Israel rejected God’s rulership and disobeyed his laws.

            In their rebellion at one point they came to prophet Samuel and demanded him to give them a king. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so, he prayed to the Lord. And the Lord told him:             “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” I Samuel 8:5-7. One wonders, how could they so easily deviate and forget God after seeing all the powerful things that God did for them? How could they reject God who had won all their battles by his mighty hand? Yet history tells us that the Israel reject God as their King, and instead they choose a tall, handsome man named Saul as their king.

            Do we see this phenomenon playing out even today? Saul became a prototype of the selection of human leadership. Many in the world today instead of entrusting their lives to God to save and to lead, they look to human leaders. Instead of obeying God’s laws, they run after man made ideologies and philosophies. Coming back to our question.

            The Kingdom of God is where God dwells with his people. It is the reign of God that he brings about through Jesus Christ. It is the establishment of God’s rule in the hearts and lives of his people. It is defeating the forces of evil. It is saving people from the power of sin. It is the creation of new heaven and earth where righteousness, love joy and peace dwells forever.

            So, what, why should I bother to know about the Kingdom of God, you wonder?  It should matter to us because it mattered to Jesus and his disciples. The message of the Kingdom of God was central in Jesus’ teachings. The first message that Jesus ever preached was in Matthew 3:2, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Throughout his ministry he taught many things about the Kingdom of God through parables and real-life stories.

            Even after his resurrection he spoke about the Kingdom for forty days. (Acts 1:3-4) He commanded his disciples to take the message of the Kingdom to the four corners of the earth. If the Kingdom of God was of that much importance to Jesus and his disciples, don’t you think it should be important to us as well? How has your understanding been of God’s Kingdom?

II THE NATURE OF GOD’S KINGDOM

            Let me share a familiar scripture which is often read only during Christmas. Isaiah 9: 6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

             What can we learn from this scripture? First, God is going to establish his kingdom through his son. Second, His son will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, Everlasting father and prince of Peace. Third, His government (kingdom) of peace will endure forever. Fourth, in his kingdom there will be justice and righteousness for evermore. When we follow through Israel’s rich history we see one expectation coming through over and over again that was the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth. Daniel interpreted the dream of the king Nebuchadnezzar laying a time line for God’s kingdom to be realized.

            The interpretation goes like this: There will be the rise and fall of four kingdoms, namely Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome. After that God will establish his Kingdom that will endure forever. Daniel 2:44, “And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.”

            The Jewish people have been expecting God’s Kingdom to come for centuries. Jesus echoed the same sentiments when he taught his disciples to pray saying, “Let your Kingdom Come.” This brings us other questions: When will it come, and what must I do to get in?

III LET YOUR KINGDOM COME

            When did the Kingdom of God begin on the earth? It was when Jesus was born, the Kingdom of God has made its entry. Listen to this angelic pronouncement of Jesus’ birth to Mary. Luke 1:30-35, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

            N.T. Wright in his book, How God became King notes, “We find  in the very earliest Christian documents that all of these pointed to a strange new reality: that in Jesus, Israel’s God had become present, had become human, had come to live in the midst of his people, to set up his kingdom, to take upon himself the full horror of their plight, and to bring about his long-awaited new world.” Through his birth, work, death and resurrection Jesus has laid a foundation for his eternal Kingdom. Then you may wonder, where is it, why can’t I see it?  Jesus answered to those wondering Pharisees who had asked the same questions.

            Luke 17:20-21, “Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.” When Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you, what was he referring to? He was saying in a fact that the kingdom of God is not yet has been made visible so that you can say look here it is or there it is, but it is hidden in the hearts of his followers and believers.

            Even today the Kingdom of God is not seen in that physical sense, but it is very much present in the Church of which Jesus said, later on in Matthew 16:18-19, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” As we read this scripture we come to realize that the Kingdom of God in one sense is the Church that Jesus began to build through his death and resurrection.

            When I say the church, I am not talking about a particular denomination or a building, but I am talking about the universal church which is made up of believers from all walks of life from all over the world. Has the Kingdom of God already come, yes in one sense, it is right here in our hearts, but in another sense in its finality is not yet come, that’s why we are taught to pray, “Let your Kingdom Come.”  We want to see God’s Kingdom coming into every heart everywhere.

            God’s Kingdom is open for all people, but only those who repent of their sins and accept Jesus Christ as their savior will enter. Jesus taught us to pray Let your Kingdom come, it is not an excuse for us to be passive but for us to be actively participate in seeing His Kingdom come into this world. How do we do that? By loving and worshipping our awesome king Jesus. By living out the kingdom principles of righteousness and justice in our day to day world. So, we pray, “Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, let your kingdom come.” Amen!

           

           

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[1]  E.M Bounds on Prayer page vii (Preface)

Our Father in Heaven: (The Lord's Prayer Part I)

THE LORD’S PRAYER -Part I

Matthew 6:5-13, 4/8/2018

             Two men were drinking in a bar when the topic of conversation got around to religion. One man turned to his friend and said; “I bet you don't even know the Lord's Prayer." "Wait a minute," said his friend, "I do know the Lord's Prayer." So, his friend pulled out a $ 20 and said, "I bet you can't say the Lord's Prayer." His mate confidently replied: "Now, I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep..."  At that his friend interrupted him. "Here’s your money" he said, "I didn't think you knew it."

            One evening, a little girl was saying bedtime prayers with her mother. “Dear Harold, please bless Mother and Daddy and all my friends,” she prayed. “Wait a minute,” interrupted her Mother. “Who’s Harold?” “That’s God’s name,” was the answer. “Who told you that was God’s name?” asked the mother. “I learned it in Sunday school, Mommy. Our Father, Who art in heaven, Harold be Thy name.” Sadly, there is great ignorance when it comes to the Bible.

            Growing up in a Lutheran Church I had to memorize, “The Lord’s Prayer and the Apostles Creed inorder to be confirmed. From that point on I joined the rest of the congregation in simply repeating the prayer at the end of each Sunday service. Though I preached a phrase here and a phrase there from the Lord’s Prayer, I haven’t heard a full series of messages on the subject and I myself haven’t studied it in depth. You might be aware, that this simple and short prayer is widely used in many churches, Christian gatherings including the Alcohol Anonymous group, that closes their meetings with the Lord’s prayer.

            As I sought the Lord what he would have me preach after Easter, he led me to the prayer that Jesus actually taught his disciples to pray It is a short prayer, with a lot of meaning and practical implications. So, let’s begin our journey to discover its powerful meaning and life altering principles. “THE LORD’S PRAYER.” Matthew 6:5-13

I. CONTEXT AND CULTURAL BACKGROUND:

            In Matthew, we see Jesus delivering a powerful message on, “The Beatitudes.” Somewhere towards the end of his teaching he touches on the subject of prayer to address the hypocrisy of some people who were drawing attention to themselves through their generous offerings and loud public prayers in the street corners. Jesus, being the man of prayer, himself may have been embarrassed by these heartless prayers. He told his disciples not be like them in their prayers, showing off in public, instead they were to go into a room and pray to their father in secret, who knows their needs even before they ask him. Then he lays out a model prayer.

            Culturally speaking, “The Lord’s Prayer” was a very common prayer for the first-century Jews who prayed three times a day, either privately or in a group. It is often called a minyan in Hebrew. By the end of the first century, Christians had also adopted daily prayer practice using the Lord’s Prayer. Jesus drew on phrases already in use during his day when he instructed his disciples: “Our Father” was used in a prayer called the Eighteen Benedictions, which was almost certainly being prayed in the synagogues of Galilee.

            Another Jewish prayer that Jesus likely drew from was called the Qaddish, an Aramaic prayer for mourning the dead. It begins, “Exalted and sanctified [hallowed] be his great name in the world he has created by his own will. May he establish his kingdom.” Teaching the disciples what to pray, Jesus was not inventing something new but reinterpreting the common experience of disciples. Jesus devoted much of his energy to defining what he meant by his kingdom rather than creating totally new prayer practices.”[1]

            The Lord’s prayer is notable for its brevity, simplicity and comprehensiveness. It contains six different petitions, the first three were directed towards God (Vs 9-10) and the rest of the three directed towards human needs (Vs11-13)

            We will begin our learning with the first petition of the prayer. Vs 9, This, then, is how you should pray: “Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” NASB, “Our father who art in heaven, hallowed by thy name.” This first petition explains the kind of relationship that God would like to have with us and also shows us the essence of God’s character which is Holiness.

II. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.

            The biblical authors have used several metaphors to describe the relationship that exists between God and his people. Among them, the most affectionate one is the “father and son” relationship. Ever since losing my own father I have come to appreciate and cherish my relationship with my heavenly father more. Unfortunately, in America the father heart of God is badly misrepresented due to the abuse by earthly fathers, and fatherlessness.

            Many children are growing up these days without fathers for them it would be hard to understand when we say God is your loving father. Consider these scriptures that denote God (Jehovah) as the father of Israel: Moses reminds the nation of Israel that God who was their Father, Deut 32:6,18 “Is he not your Father, your Creator, (who brought you) who made you and formed you? You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.”

            Another beautiful passage where God tenderly expresses his fatherly love and care to a fledgling nation of Israel. Here we see God personifies himself as a Jewish father. Hosea 11:1-4 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. But the more they were called, the more they went away from me. It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms; but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love. To them I was like one who lifts a little child to the cheek, and I bent down to feed them.” Not only then, even now many people grow up not knowing this wonderful, affectionate, kind, forgiving and all loving God as their heavenly father.

            In the N.T, Jesus cherished this loving relationship with his heavenly father. He often publicly affirmed his relationship with His father and wanted his disciples to have such loving relationship so he taught them this prayer that began addressing God, “Our father in heaven.” In verse 8 Jesus said, “your Father knows what you need before you ask him.” In Jewish culture, a father was normally someone loving and trustworthy, on whom a child could depend for needs. Playing into their cultural norm, Jesus wanted them to come to God like a child confidently and expectantly to their father. Let’s move on to see how this loving father wants to be revered.

III. HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME

            Several scriptures tell us that God is Holy, for example, Leviticus 11:44, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”  I Peter 1:15, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do.” Holiness is the essence of God’s character. So, what do we mean when we say, “hallowed be your name? The word hallowed means holy, are we then saying that God be made holy when He is already Holy? No! we are saying, let God be regarded and worshipped as holy. We need to grasp this attribute of God’s Holiness, once we understand how Holy our God is only then can we have the fear of God.

            Consider this biblical illustration on how people react when they encounter a Holy God. Moses & the Burning bush: Remember, the story of Moses, when he saw a bush that was burning but not consumed by the fire? When he came close to the sight, he heard these words of God.  Exodus 3:5-6 “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

            Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” There are other incidents where people, either ran away, or fell as dead when they encountered a Holy God. This Holy and awesome God is giving an invitation for all of us to become his children. John 1:12, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” When you accept Jesus as your savior and Lord then you will become a son or a daughter of God. You will become God’s child and God becomes your father. God is Holy and we need to regard him as Holy, so is His name. Is it wrong then to say “Oh my God” or type OMG as countless people (including many Christians) use this phrase as an exclamation of surprise or disbelief?  I want to you to consider the following and decide.

            In the Ten Commandments, God commanded Israel, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7). To Israel, God wasn’t just a generic or impersonal god. He had revealed Himself to them through the covenant. He had revealed His name to them, “YHWH.” It is pronounced Yaweh in Hebrew, Jehovah in English. In order to avoid breaking this commandment, pious Jews in the time of Jesus would not speak of God directly at all.

            Even in modern Jewish culture, it is forbidden to pronounce the name the way that it is spelled. In discussions it is usually said as HaShem, meaning, “The Name” This tells us how the Jewish people revered the name of God. Keeping that same tradition in mind, Jesus is telling His disciples to pray that our Father’s name be “honored” on earth as it is in heaven.

            In other words, we need to pray that God’s name is revered and respected across the globe. That needs to be the prayer and the longing of every disciple of Jesus.  If others use the phrase “Oh My God or OMG” flippantly, we Christians should use the name of God reverently. As we close, let’s remember what our Lord has taught us to pray, “Our father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” My prayer is that we will honor God as our heavenly father, regard Him as Holy and have the fear of God not to use the Lord’s name in vain. Amen!

 

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[1] NIV First-Century Study Bible Copyright © 2014 by Zondervan.

HOPE BEYOND THE GRAVE ( Luke 24:13-27)

HOPE BEYOND THE GRAVE

            A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!

            Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should is effect be on our lives.  A few weeks ago, we witnessed the loss of seventeen lives in a school shooting in Florida. One can only imagine the grief of the families whose loved ones are not with them this Easter Sunday morning. We too have grieved together as a nation with those families. Unfortunately, these tragic situations happen all the time and they will continue to happen because we are living in a broken world, among broken people. In a world where there is so much trouble and heartache we need someone to anchor our lives on.

            Who can give that Hope or be that Hope for us? On Easter Sunday we gather to celebrate not only that the stone which once sealed the body of Christ in the grave has been rolled away. But we celebrate, “Hope Beyond the Grave.” That Hope is no other than our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The hope of Easter isn’t the hope of a naïve fool or nagging optimist, it’s the hope that comes right into our circumstances and meets us where we are, in the real world, but the tragedy is that we so often do not recognize the person who is our hope. In the passage in Luke 24:13-27, the gospel writer explains how people did not recognize the Hope that was walking right next to them, until a time where they were enlightened by the person of Hope.

I. HOPES WERE DASHED

            This, what was said of Lindsey Vonn after her disappointing performance during the winter Olympics. “The hopes of a golden fairytale to her final Olympic downhill were dashed.” That was just in sports, but in real life many people continue to live with their hopes being dashed.  On the day Jesus was crucified and buried in a tomb, it sure looked like the hopes of the disciples, including many Jews who were looking for a Messiah were dashed.

            In Proverbs 13:12 we read, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” The Gospel writer Luke touchingly captures the dejected faces of two followers of Christ and their state of hopelessness by highlighting a conversation on the road to Emmaus. Vs 13, “Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened.”

            We do not know who these two individuals were, all we know that they were not any of the eleven disciples as according to Vs 18 one was named Cleopas. Nothing much also is known about Emmaus, it is mentioned nowhere else except here. According to the tradition it was a village seven miles from Jerusalem. Pay attention to some of the details of their conversation.

            As they talked and walked on the road to Emmaus, Jesus himself joined them, but they couldn’t recognize him as they were kept from recognizing him. Jesus asked them; what were you fellows so intensely talking about? They stood still, their faces were downcast. Cleopas asked, are you the only one in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days? In other words, they said, “are you not following the news”? Jesus pretended as if he new nothing and asked, what things? Then they went to great lengths about Jesus of Nazareth, whom they thought was a powerful prophet from God in word and deed.

            How he was crucified, died and was buried. Listen, closely to their tone of hopelessness, Vs 21, “but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place” Let’s pause here. Did you ever hope that God would do something for you, for example: give you a seat in an esteemed college like Harvard university, or a dream job, or you get to marry the dream of your heart, or succeed in your business or job, or a dream house, or healing of your sickness and disease?

             How would you feel, when those hopes were dashed? Well, that was precisely what these two and many in Jerusalem were going through at that time. This so-called man from Nazareth whom they hoped was God sent, their Messiah, was going to dethrone the Roman empire and restore Jerusalem back to the Jewish people. Everything now turned out to be a huge disappointment. Jesus was now dead and buried so were their dreams and hopes along with Jesus in the grave.  But little did they know that there was Hope waiting for them beyond the grave.

II. THE GRAVE COULD NOT HOLD HIM

            They continued in their explanation. Early this morning some of our women went to the tomb, but they did not find the body, they came and told us that they had seen the vision of angles and the angles told them that he was alive. Our friends went to the tomb to check this out, and they too did not find the body of Jesus. At this point Jesus must have been laughing in his heart over their ignorance of what was written about him in the Scriptures.

            Jesus had some strong words for them. He said, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken.” He explained to them from Moses to the prophets, all that was written concerning how the Messiah would come, suffer and enter his glory. As we read through the story, we will notice in the end these two disciple’s eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus who was their hope. The grave could not hold Him. He is Risen from the dead!

III. HOPE BEYOND THE GRAVE

            What is the message of Easter? You may be facing a situation like Good Friday where your hopes seemed to have been dashed. You feel dejected and think that there is no more hope left and your situation is beyond redemption. Don’t give up hope too quickly.   The message of Easter is that we will find Hope in our grave like situations. We will find strength and courage to face any and every situation through the power of Christ’s resurrection.

            On Good Friday, the cross points us to God’s redeeming love and forgiveness. On Easter Sunday morning the empty tomb points us to the hope of the resurrection. For those who do not know Christ as their savior a hopeless end may be awaiting them once they are laid in the grave. But for those who accept Jesus as their savior, and live their lives loving God and loving their neighbors, there awaits an endless hope of glory. They will be ushered into God’s Kingdom.

            Billy Graham once said, “For the believer there is hope beyond the grave, because Jesus Christ has opened the door to heaven for us by His death and resurrection.” On this Easter Sunday morning may you find hope beyond the grave in Jesus Christ. May the power of His resurrection, sustain you and keep you until Christ returns to this earth to establish His Kingdom.            I close with these assuring words, I Peter 1:3-5, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” Amen!