God's Kingdom Comes Without Our Prayer

In his Small Catechism's teaching on the Lord's Prayer Martin Luther writes,

The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it may come to us also.

What is the kingdom of God or of heaven? The term occurs in all four Gospels, Acts, Paul's epistles and in the Revelation. Here are the references just in Matthew:

• Matthew 3:2, 4:17, 5:3, 10, 19-20, 6:33, 7:21, 8:11, 10:7, 11:11, 12:28,  13:24,31,33,44-45,47,52, 16:19, 18:3-4,23, 19:12,14,23-24, 20:1-2, 21:31, 21:43, 22:2, 23:13, 25:1. 

Obviously kingdom of God is a primary theme in the New Testament. The foremost meaning of the terms translated as kingdom in both Testaments is the rank, authority and power exercised by a king. The kingdom includes both the realm or territory and  the people who belong to that realm and over whom the king has authority. The principal meaning, however, is always the authority to rule. The king is sovereign. He has the power. 

Satan, as Matthew shows, knew from the outset that Jesus had this power. This is why he attacked Jesus in the wilderness. 

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 

Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, "'You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.'" - Mat 4:8-10 ESV

Satan laid claim to the kingdoms of the world. Despite his rebellion, he is the god of this world (2 Cor. 4:4), blindly worshipped by the people of the world and under his control. Jesus came to de-throne this false god. Satan's demons know about this. When Jesus drove them out of the two Gadarenes the demons cried,

"What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" - Mat 8:29 ESV

The demons shudder in fear. The King has come; judgment awaits (James 2:19; Jude 1:6).

On some level the unbelieving people of the world also know this. Notice the constant mockery of our LORD's name by them. Listen as they cry out or curse, "God damn you! Jesus Christ!" Even in this back-handed way they are acknowledging His authority and power. The King has come. He has arrived to set His people free. And this is all His doing. As Luther said, "The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer."

The point Luther made was that none of us are able to usher in the kingdom. The initiative was and remains God's doing. As John so beautifully teaches us,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. - Jhn 3:16 ESV

In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ... We love because he first loved us. - 1Jo 4:9-10, 19 ESV

If this is all God's doing through His only Son, why pray, "Your kingdom come?" We'll look at that tomorrow as we consider in more detail how the kingdom comes and how the king continues his gracious rule in our lives.

God's Love For All You God-Fearers

We're back in John 9. Today we'll listen to the unnamed blind man whom Jesus healed by sending him to the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem. The Pharisees, of course, didn't believe it had happened, even though it happened right before their eyes. To them it was all some kind of trick. They even challenged the man's parents. Those poor folks didn't want to get in trouble, so they said, "Ask him; he's of age. He will speak for himself." So for the second time they called the former blind man before them and demanded that he give glory to God. Jesus could surely have not healed him, for this work had been done on the Sabbath when it was strictly forbidden by Moses that anyone should work. Therefore Jesus was indeed a sinner. We can see the healed man shrugging his shoulders as he answered their questions.

"Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

All this did not fit in with their presuppositions. God would surely not answer a man like Jesus and heal someone on the Sabbath. Yet the man was healed. What to do? Get rid of him. They answered the man now able to see, "You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?" And so they cast him out. Done. Problem gone.

The poor man was cast out, but not forgotten by Jesus. The Lord found him and asked, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"

He answered, "And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?"

Jesus said, "You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you."

The healed said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshipped him.

I'd like to pick up on that phrase: "he worshipped him." Note above the man said, "... if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him." There were a significant number of God-fearing Gentiles (non-Jews) who were impressed with the Jewish understanding of one God, but who could not or would not submit to the legal regulations about food, Sabbath and circumcision. They were known as God-fearers. We frequently read about them in the Book of Acts. They made up a significant number of early converts to Christianity.

• So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: "Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. - Act 13:16 ESV
• "Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. - Act 13:26 ESV
• One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. - Act 16:14 ESV
• So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. - Act 17:17 ESV
• And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. - Act 18:7 ESV

There's a great story in Acts 10 about one of these God-fearers, a certain Cornelius of Caesarea who was guided by an angel to call for Peter. Peter, in turn, was given a vision and a command to eat ceremonially unclean food. As he pondered the vision, Cornelius' men came to his house and the Spirit said to him that he should accompany them without hesitation (Acts 10:17-20). Peter went with them and proclaimed the Gospel to them. From that point on he and the other Apostles were thoroughly convinced that God's love in Christ was for all men. "Truly I understand," he said, "that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

What great and glorious news to anyone who is confused and struggling to understand God and the mysteries of walking with Him. If you are one such God-fearer, it does not matter if you do not understand everything there is to know about spiritual matters. You may even feel thrown out by some congregation of so-called Christians for not observing all the niceties and rules of their fellowship. You may feel hopeless and confused about how your sins could ever be forgiven. You may be quite in the dark about what is right and what is wrong. You may be searching and longing for understanding and light, but not knowing where to turn. Listen again to Peter's words,

"Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him." - Act 10:34-35 ESV

Know that God's love is not limited or restricted. Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find that He is already at your side ready to accept and forgive and love and lead you.

Who Is Winning The Worship Wars?

This past Sunday on the way to our second home in Colorado, we attended worship at a Lutheran congregation that has two different services, one traditional and one they call contemporary, featuring loud rock-style music. Reluctantly, we went to the 11:00 a.m. Contemporary Service. As before, I found myself troubled by what I saw and heard—or did not see and hear. I also struggle to put into words my thoughts and feelings. So I did a little online research that I share today.


The research suggests that pastors are more concerned about the type of music used in worship than are the worshippers. The Barna Group's research shows that congregants are more concerned about prayer, the sermon, quiet moments for reflection and communion - http://bit.ly/kJ8C1v. Barna also discovered that church-going adults are more focused upon themselves than upon God. He concludes that the church needs to focus upon the God who is worthy of our worship and offer ourselves in response to His love and mercy toward us in Christ.


Along with many, I am concerned that much of what is called contemporary worship is extremely shallow, banal, childish and man-centered. This relates to what Brian Doerksen, a writer of contemporary music, says. In an interview about his work and about contemporary worship, Doerksen responds to a question about why he put out his recent album of songs about God's holiness. He says,

"Two reasons. The positive reason is, when I went to withdraw and seek God at the beginning of last year to learn what he wanted me to do, I had such a powerful encounter with him and his holiness. The more I meditated, the more it became the only thing I wanted to sing about.

The negative reason would be simply my deep concern about some of what is going on in the modern worship explosion—the shallowness, the man-centeredness, the banality. I wanted to do something that was about God and his core attributes. A song like "Holy God" is a God song, not a song about our feelings toward God. It's not our response to God. So this was my way of saying, "Think on these things." 

As pastors and worship leaders develop services, they must ask about the principles guiding them. What theology is reflected in these services. What makes the service authentically Christian and Christ-centered? So often we have not thought these matters through. Instead we simply go along with what feels right or what we perceive to be a style that will attract a certain group of worshippers. In an article in Christianity Today  Brad Harper and Paul Louis Metzger write,

"At the end of the day, culture is an arena from and to which God speaks, but also one that distorts God's self-revelation. So it is not only acceptable but also necessary that we bring popular culture and its symbols into the church, for through them God engages us, and we respond to him. But since culture's symbols can also distort both God's engagement and our response, we must be wary.

"The church has used and adapted thousands of cultural symbols for worship that reflect and shape its view of God and of the gospel of salvation. Pulpits, kneeling benches, vestments/robes, fish symbols, pictures of Jesus and the disciples, video screens, incense, movie clips, and so on all affect the church's view of God and the communication of the gospel. The result has been a consistent tension in the church between form and function.

"If the forms of worship are meant to communicate God and his message of salvation (the function), then as culture precipitates a change in forms, this change necessarily affects the function. The basic question the church must address is, Do changing worship forms adapted from popular culture facilitate an authentic encounter with God in Christ through the Holy Spirit as described by the Scriptures and understood by historic Christian orthodoxy?" 

Let me leave you with that question for today. Ponder it very seriously. The church has been thinking about this for 2,000 years. We have much to learn from that history. We also must repent of the hubris that causes us to decide that current generations are wiser and more faithful to the Gospel than the generations before us. 

 

Worship In Spirit And In Truth

On Sept. 21, 1956 Navy test pilot Tom Attridge was flying Grumman’s new F-11F-1 Tiger. He fired a burst from his 20mm cannon while diving and accelerating and ran into his own shells. He had to crash land, because he had shot his own fighter down. When that happened I had completed my vicarage-internship and returned to Concordia Seminary, St. Louis for my final year. I was looking forward to beginning work in the pastoral ministry and getting married to my wife. My life was full of activity and moving fast. 

Sometimes life can be going too fast, so fast that we have no time for Bible reading, meditation and prayer. When that happens we are in grave danger of shooting ourselves down. We no longer hear the warnings from our God in His Word. We are in danger of crashing. 

The Gospel lesson for the second Sunday in Lent is from John 4, the story of Jesus meeting the woman at a well in Samaria. In that conversation Jesus touched upon the critical issue of worship. True worship, he points out, must happen in spirit and in truth. Those are the only worshipers the Father seeks. 

Samaria was the place name of a mountain, a city and a region. The word means "mountain of watching." Forty-two miles north of Jerusalem a hill protrudes from a broad valley that cuts across the central highlands of Israel. The city of Samaria in O.T. times had been the capital, residence and burial place of the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. Following that kingdom's fall to Assyria in 721 B.C. exiles from many nations settled in Samaria. At the time of Jesus' earthly ministry people from many places still lived there. There had been much intermarriage between former Jews and the Gentiles that moved into the Samaritan area. This led to the widespread worship of strange gods. As you can imagine, there was much unresolved tension between the Samaritans and the orthodox Jews of Judea. 

Instead of going around, as was customary for Jews of his day, the Lord led his disciples straight through Samaria. The story picks up around noon as Jesus and his disciples paused at a well for a rest. While the disciples went on into town to buy some lunch, Jesus engaged a woman who had come to the well in a conversation. He immediately made it clear that he knew who she was, that she had failed in five marriages, been frequently abused and was even then living with a man to whom she was not married. In other words, her life was a mess and she undoubtedly carried shame, failure and guilt in her heart. The fact that she came out to draw water at noon further indicated that she was trying to avoid the other women of the village who would come in the morning. 

I've known many who avoid gathering with others in public, especially in public worship. They don't want to face the truth about themselves and about God. Some, like the Samaritan woman feel they've made a mess of their lives and will never measure up to the standards God has set. I've often heard them say that the church is all a bunch of hypocrites. Church people talk about religion and pretend to pray, but lead lives as flawed and sinful as everyone else. I've heard others say that the whole religion thing bores them. Their boredom is really a cry for people who will reach out to accept and care about them as they are. Of course, it is true that there are 'religious' people who worship with their mouths, but not in their hearts. They boast of being orthodox and pure and look down with loathing upon the Samaritans of our day. 

What kind of person was this man who asked the Samaritan woman for a drink? She knew he was a Jew by his dress and his accent. Since the Jews normally avoided the Samaritans she was surprised that he even talked with her. This led into a conversation about the living water that Jesus said he could give her. She thought he was talking about some kind of artesian well. That, in turn, is what led Jesus to confront her about her failed marriages and the abuse, shame and guilt she carried in her heart. 

The amazing thing is that Jesus did not shun her, even though he knew all about her. He continued to reach out to her. Shook up by such loving attention, the woman tried to change the direction of the conversation. He must be a Rabbi so maybe they might get into a conversation about the usual conflicts between Samaritans and Jews and avoid dealing with those most uncomfortable personal issues. So she asked his opinion about the correct place to worship. 

Samaritans identified Mt. Gerizim as the place God had chosen rather than the Judean King David's Jerusalem. They called Gerizim the "navel of the earth," because in their tradition Adam had sacrificed there. Further, they limited the Bible to the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch, and taught that 6,000 years after creation, a Restorer or Messiah would arise to live on earth for 110 years. At the end of that period would come Judgment Day when the righteous were to be resurrected and the wicked roasted in eternal hell fire. 

Her attempts at redirection didn't work. Jesus turned the conversation back upon her, emphasizing that God looks not at where people worship. What He really seeks are those who worship Him in spirit and in truth, honestly and without lies and pretense. And since she asked about the Messiah he said right out that he was the Messiah, the Restorer. This changed everything for her. The Messiah had come, had known her and still accepted her. Without pausing further, she raced back into town to spread the good news. 

Here's the good news for us all. Regardless of our failures and sins the Messiah has indeed come and come for us personally. When you realize that Jesus is the One promised and that in him there is true mercy and forgiveness, fresh water does flow back into your life. That water is God's Spirit, His power and mercy flowing into all the dark corners to bring forgiveness and renewal. 

There are many places for worship. There are many styles of worship that reflect the many cultures and languages of people around the globe. But true worship is ever inward, spiritual. True worshipers hear Jesus speak to their hearts his blessed words of forgiveness and they respond with joy and thanks. Above everything, remember Jesus' words: "God is spirit and his worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth."