Sermon of Sunday 30 May 2010 Praying the Bible Way - to know God's will Colossians 1.1-14

Colossians 1.1-14

They had these little card tables in a line right in the centre of New Orleans.
Fortune tellers of different types
all willing to help you with your future - for a fee.
I thought, what would it be like to set up a table
with a bible and try to help people know God’s will for their lives
But then truly knowing God’s will takes time
in one sense, it takes your whole life
there are no quick fixes in finding out what God wants.

Finding out what is God’s will for your life
can be exciting
as a door opens and it is the most simple and peaceful thing to move through it.
She says yes and he is delighted
or the letter after the interview says
not as so often we regret we cannot and we wish you well, blah blah
but we are glad to offer you … when can you start.

Finding God’s will can be exciting or it can be agonising.
She says No and you are devastated.
Nobody seems to want to employ you.
Every door seems shut.

Or for many of us finding God’s will makes us anxious.
Even if the door is open, is it right to walk through it?
Will God be angry if it all messes up or I mess up?
Am I studying the right course, living in the right place
is it right for me to marry this person…?

A short answer to much of this is to ask the deeper question:
not so much, am I doing the right thing
but am I the right person in the sense of am I right with God?
Do I know his forgiveness?
Am I (as the prophet Micah says) doing justice, loving mercy and walking humbly with him?
Am I seeking to submit to God that his will shall be done?

God is not looking for people who never make a mistake.
James 3.2 says we all make many mistakes
He is looking to see how we handle our mistakes.
Have we learned from that choice which turned out wrong?
Are we closer to God in humble dependence?
Are we able to leave the mistake behind and move on having learned from it?
Are we more gentle with others who mess up?
Or are we still in denial and self pity?
It was someone else’s fault, it was even God’s fault.

It’s not just the fortune tellers at their little tables in New Orleans
there’s a whole industry out there of people who will take your money
in order to help you improve your life and control your future:
things like life coaching, personal development.
So much of this is plausible on the surface, they may even give good advice
but at its heart it is flawed because it is basically
self affirming, not self denying, not self denying and God affirming.
It is targeted on helping you find out what you want
rather than discerning what God wants from you and for you

This is no modern thing.
There was an industry of philosophers and wisdom teachers and advisers
on the go in New Testament times
who offered ‘wisdom’ ‘understanding’ knowledge’ ‘enlightenment’

That is why Paul tells the the Christians in Colosse
‘we have not stopped praying for you
and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.’
The Holy Spirit is needed in their lives
so that they may know what God wants for them.

But notice why he prays that they may know God’s will
10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord
and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of God,

It is not that we become
great and successful people, high spiritual achievers;
It is not so that we become people who always get our guidance right

but we become people
who please God in every way with fruitful lives
coming to know God more and more closely

And we become people
who increasingly know the strength of God in our weakness.
11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might

And we become people who keep going when the path of service is tough
so that you may have great endurance and patience,

And we become people who keep a positive attitude to God
and joyfully giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints
in the kingdom of light.

How does that work out in our lives?

Much of what God wants of us is absolutely clear from the Bible:
we don’t need a voice shouting from the sky
or a special message in our cornflakes
to know that bitterness is wrong
that we shouldn’t cheat or steal or murder or tell tales;
that sex outside marriage is not pleasing to God.
But other parts of finding out God’s will can be a messy business.

I remember an American missionary to Cork
who told me in detail of how God had guided him to come to Ireland.
Not long after that I heard he had packed up and returned.

I remember an English couple who wanted serve God
by coming and living over here.
That was great - the husband came to start his job
and his wife and children were to follow
and then I heard it was all off -
his wife wasn’t sure about the move
which was understandable, it would be costly in all sorts of ways,
but apparently she was waiting for some great special sign from God.
I remember their pastor or would be pastor shaking his head
and passing a comment about some people’s strange ideas about guidance.
The process of knowing God’s will can be messy.

A Presbyterian congregation in the North
set their hearts on calling a minister of great talent
whom God had used much in a smaller situation.
He wasn’t so sure but after being asked three times
he decided to accept the call,
he felt it was time for a change and right for his family.
There followed a year that was difficult for him and his family
So he took the painful decision for him and the church
to move to a much smaller church.
God has again blessed his ministry
and the church he left has a pastor
who is enjoying his ministry there and they enjoy him.

What do you make of those situations?
I conclude we don’t always find guidance easily
we mess it up, we depend on a sign or we demand a sign
but God is still gracious.

There’s an interesting section in Acts 16. 6-15
which shows that even the great apostle Paul
did not find guidance easy.

We are told that Paul and his companions wanted to go East but were
‘kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia‘.
Then they tried to go North
‘to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to.’
We are not told precisely how the Holy Spirit prevented them -
there may have been prophetic words uttered
or they had a shared sense as they prayed
that these directions East and North
were not God’s directions at this time
a sense of unease, a ‘check’ in their spirits.

Then one night Paul had ‘a vision of a man of Macedonia
standing and begging him, Come over to Macedonia and help us.’
Luke the writer of Acts says:
‘After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia,
concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.'
Notice what was going on there.
Paul had the vision but the team of missionaries checked it out
and made the decision.
‘we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia,
concluding that God had called us ‘

But notice what happened next.
It was not a man from Macedonia but a woman who was the first convert.
Paul usually started his mission in a new town in the synagogue
but It seems there were not enough Jewish men in Philippi
to form a regular synagogue meeting
But they didn’t wait around for another vision
they were very practical.
13 ‘On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river,
where we expected to find a place of prayer.
We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there.’
And so Lydia was converted.

After she was baptised Lydia invited them to stay in her house.
Luke comments, ‘she persuaded us‘.
A lot was hanging on that invitation:
Lydia need to be assured that as a non Jewish woman
her hospitality was acceptable to these Jewish men
that they didn’t relegate her to a second class position.
Again, they didn’t look for a vision or a supernatural sign
they reacted out of common sense and courtesy.
They were persuaded by their new sister in Christ.

That short section of Acts 16 shows some different ways in which God guides:
sensitivity to the Holy Spirit;
the direct vision of ‘a man from Macedonia’
(and God’s sense of humour that the first convert was not a man);
‘sanctified common sense’ -
practical, thoughtful decisions to travel to Macedonia
to seek out the place of spiritual receptivity
to respond to a crucial invitation.

Let me close with some guidelines for guidance. (also in handout)

Give yourself to Jesus Christ ‘a living sacrifice’ (Romans 12.1-2)

Do you think I was lazy or cowardly
in not following through my thought
and set up a table with a bible among the fortune tellers?
Maybe I am lazy and cowardly
but there is this big difference.
Even though I would not charge money for guidance
this is not a service offered to anyone to walk up and enquire.
Before you can ask what is God’s plan for my life
you have to answer the question,
Does God have your life?
Are you a living sacrifice, devoted to God, whatever happens?
Will you accept God’s will even if it puts you to suffering
to loneliness and misunderstanding and rejection
or are you really saying: this is what I want, God, now you bless it.
God will bless, but on his terms and conditions not ours.

Let God’s word dwell in you richly (Colossians 3.16, Psalm 1)

Regularly and humbly we should be taking in the Bible
through sermons, study groups and in our own personal reading.
We could try to memorise verses -
nearly every Sunday there will be a verse
which you can take away and memorise.
You can also read over what John Newton says on today’s notes.
John Newton didn’t just write ‘Amazing Grace’.
He was a man of great wisdom and insight
and the quotation in the leaflet shows that he had thought and prayed
long and hard about how God does guide through right use of the Bible
and how indeed God does not guide through misuse of the Bible.
Listen for the voice of the good Shepherd. (John 10.3 James 3.17)
John 10.3 says ‘He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.’
That is the authentic experience of a child of God, believing in Jesus,
to know the voice of Jesus as the good Shepherd
strong, authoritative, trustworthy, saving.

A friend of ours once sent a Christmas message
about the good shepherd.
a couple of months earlier her husband had died in a car crash
but this was her Christmas message:
'When the good shepherd speaks to his own
he never speaks words of despair, frustration, defeat, discouragement,
fear confusion or failure
but he gives his sheep words of
hope, rest, victory, power, joy, encouragement and love’

It was John Newton also who once said:
‘My God speaks with sweet reasonableness’

There is a lot of religious talk out there
which may sound very pious, but its fruit is bitter
and it promotes self and not Jesus.
It will leave you burdened with little hope of easing your heavy load
it will drive you into guilt and despair rather than call you to grace and peace.
Listen for the voice of the good shepherd.
He may call you to some tough things, but never without hope and help.

Weigh up the advice of trustworthy friends

Do you know what the word ‘idiot’ literally means?
It means a private person, one who never listens, never takes advice
someone who thinks he is all right as he is,
and doesn’t need to check things out.
I believe we need to be more thankful
for the wisdom and guidance of people around us
to recognise that God can speak through them on particular occasions.
Parents, family, friends, teachers,
they may see it more clearly than we can.

Of course, other people are not infallible.
When I was leaving college one of my ancient history lecturers
who was an atheist asked me what I was going to do.
I said I was thinking of becoming a Presbyterian minister.
‘Oh, why not become an Anglican?‘ he said.
There’s more chance of promotion. You might become a bishop.’
While many of that man’s insights into ancient history were acute
I sensed instantly that this was not advice (however kindly meant)
which had God’s approval in any way.
That’s why we must weigh up, think carefully, about what others say;
don’t dismiss it but ask, does it match scripture, is it in the tone of Jesus?

Keep thanking God for what he has done and his promises.

(Colossians 1. 11-12 3.15-17, Psalm 23)
In Colossians 3.15-17 Paul repeatedly urges us to be thankful
finishing with this:
And whatever you do, in word or deed
do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through him.'
Every day we get up we should be saying to God:
“Lord, I do not know what this day holds, but you do
and everything I plan to do today
may I do it in the name of the Lord Jesus
and give you thanks, God my Father through him.

Lord, we do not know what any day brings forth.
While we make our plans,
may we remember that your plan and your will is greater and better
and give us flexibility to hear you speaking in accents clear and still
above all our shouting and muttering about what we demand.
And even if what we choose or what happens to us
seems to be a mess and not right
show us how you want us to react in the mess
what kind of people you want us to be
fruitful in every good work, growing in knowing you,
being strengthened with all power
for great endurance and patience,
joyfully giving thanks

May God fill you with the knowledge of his will
through all spiritual wisdom and understanding
that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way
bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God,
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might
so that you may have great endurance and patience,
and joyfully giving thanks to the Father,
who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints
in the kingdom of light.

NOTES ON GUIDANCE

Give yourself to Jesus Christ ‘a living sacrifice’ (Romans 12.1-2)

Let his word dwell in you richly (Colossians 3.16, Psalm 1)

Listen for the voice of the good Shepherd. (James 3.17)

Ask the advice of trustworthy friends.

Keep thanking him for what he has done and his promises.

John Newton (1725-1807). who wrote 'Amazing Grace', has some helpful thoughts on how God speaks to us and guides us, (paraphrased and condensed from Letters of John Newton).

The Lord has promised to guide his people-with his eye, and to let them hear a word behind them, saying 'This is the way, walk in it' when they are in danger of going off right or left. He gave us the written word to be a lamp to our feet and encouraged us to pray for the Holy Spirit, that we may rightly understand and apply it. The Holy Spirit cannot mislead those who are under his influence; but we may think we are under his influence when we are not. Many have been deceived as to what they ought to do, or how to think through an issue, by expecting direction in ways not approved by the Lord.

Opening the Bible at Random is Not Helpful.

Even non Christian people, without knowledge of the Bible, have used some of their great literature to make decisions, or predictions about their future, according to the passage they happened to open at. It is dangerous to be controlled by the occurrence of one text of Scripture, without regard for its context or properly comparing it with the general tone and message of God's Word and your own circumstances. If you opened at 2 Samuel 7.13 when Nathan said to David, 'Do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.' would that be enough to decide that it was right or sensible to do anything? [especially when you compare the Lord's correction of Nathan's message in v 4 - 16].

A Text that Seems to Leap Out of the Page could Deceive.

People take this as an infallible guarantee that they are right and that things will go just as they want. Or if the passage has had a threatening tone, it has filled them with fears and worries which were groundless and unnecessary. We can have a text highlighted in a way that humbles, enlivens or comforts, and we get a vivid sense of the truth contained in the words. This is both profitable and pleasant. But if impressions or impulses are received as a voice from heaven, telling us to do something that could not otherwise be shown to be our duty, we might unknowingly be misled into great evils and huge deceptions. Satan will, if we let him, provide us with a pile of such scriptures.

Liberty in Prayer is Not Always Reliable.

It is not always easy to be sure that we do have spiritual freedom in prayer. Self is deceitful; a great desire for something may put words and sincerity into our mouths. Too often we first inwardly make our minds up and then come to ask God's advice; in such a frame of mind we are ready to catch at everything that may seem to favour our pet scheme. The Lord by his Spirit assists his people in what they ought to be doing. If I am able to pray with great liberty for my distant friend, it may be a proof that the Spirit is pleased to help me in my weakness, but it is no proof that .my friend is certainly alive, at the time that I am praying for him; if the next time I pray for him I should feel restricted in my spirit, I am not to conclude that he is dead and that the Lord will not assist me in praying for him any longer.

Vivid Dreams may Distract.

I willingly grant that many wholesome and timely warnings have been received in dreams; but though they may be taken note of it is superstitious and dangerous to pay great attention to dreams, especially to be guided by them in shaping our feelings, conduct or hopes. The promises are made not to those who dream, but to those who watch. The Lord may give some people sometimes an unusual hint or encouragement, but to look deliberately for his direction in such ways is unscriptural and dangerous. People have presumed they were serving God, while acting against his clear commands. Others were infatuated to believe a lie, declaring themselves sure beyond a shadow of a doubt about things which in the end never happened. When at last they were disappointed Satan capitalised on the situation to make them doubt the plainest and most basic truths. writing off all their previous experience as a delusion.

Proper Guidance

The Lord guides and directs his people by granting them, in answer to prayer, the light of His Holy Spirit which enables them to understand and love the Scriptures. The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery; nor is it designed to instruct us in bits and pieces, which, detached from their true context, have no clear meaning; the Word rather provides us with just principles and right understandings to regulate our assessments, decisions and feelings, thus influencing and guiding our conduct.

Those who study the Scriptures in humble dependence on divine teaching, are convinced of their own weakness, are taught to make a true estimate of everything round them, and gradually acquire a character that submits to the will of God. The Word of God dwells richly in them. It saves them from making mistakes, it is a light to their feet, and a source of strength and comfort. They treasure it in their minds as the teachings, instructions, promises, examples and challenges of Scripture. They daily compare themselves with the standard by which they live, they develop habits and character which promote spiritual wisdom. They acquire a gracious taste which enables them to judge right and wrong with a measure of readiness and certainty as a musical ear judges sounds. And they are not often wrong, because they are influenced by the love of Christ which rules in their hearts and by a concern for the glory of God which is their overriding objective.

　

FORTUNE TELLING
(from New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Practical Theology)

Moses warned against the danger of occultism as God’s people prepared to enter the promised land. Deuteronomy 18.9-13. Occult practices are defined in terms of human sacrifice to a heathen deity; divination or soothsaying in order to gain knowledge of future events; necromancy which is the practice of extracting secret knowledge from the dead and disturbing their rest; augury which interprets signs and omens in the sky; and sorcery which uses magic power obtained through occult formulae, incantations and rituals. Such acts are seen in Scripture as rebellion against God. Samuel said to the disobedient Saul. ‘rebellion is as the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry’ 1 Samuel 15.23. In the New Testament ‘idolatry and witchcraft’ are listed among the ‘sins of the evil nature’ Galatians 5.16-21. With the word against disobedience is the warning of judgement in both the Old and the New Testaments: ‘those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.’ Galatians 5.21 See also Isaiah 8.19

It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so sweetly
When in my hands they fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I think I have wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for His leading
Each moment of every day.
I will look to him for His guidance
Each step of the pilgrim way.

The pathway that lies before me,
Only my Heavenly Father knows.
I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose.

Sermon of Sunday 23 May 2010 Praying the Bible Way - for God's will Luke 22.39-46

Luke 22. 39-46

I want you to think for a moment
about your greatest disappointments and frustrations; the really big ones,
not that Munster didn’t get any silverware this season
or that you are not a Chelsea supporter.
Things that really matter, things about which you really prayed:
like a relationship which was really special
but it broke up painfully
or a job you had set your heart on, but you got the rejection letter
or a house which you thought would be your dream home
but it went to some other buyer
or someone you deeply cared about was ill and you prayed
but there was no healing.

For times like those we need to go back with Jesus
into the garden of Gethsemane
and think about his lonely struggle in prayer.
No doubt we recognise that we are too much like his friends at this point,
tired and sleepy,
but our moments of deep disappointment may help us identify in some way
with Jesus’ time of struggle to do his Father’s will.

We have never prayed in such a way
that our sweat is like drops of blood falling to the ground
but we can still identify with that simple but profound prayer
42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;
yet not my will, but yours be done."

Of course ‘this cup’ was a bigger thing
than our crushing disappointments in relationships or career.
‘This cup’ was the bitterness of Jesus an innocent man
suffering an dying in our place for our sin
and in that suffering being separated from his Father’s love.

We are so familiar with the Easter story of resurrection and triumph
that we too easily assume that Jesus went through his earthly life
with a light and easy step as ‘the man who is God’

Here we see the God who is man sharing fully in our dread of death
suffering more deeply than anyone else
because he knew more acutely the reality of judgement
and what it meant to be separated from his father
through no fault of his own.

We must never think of what Jesus suffered
as a quick and easy fix to save us.
In no way was it quick.
There was agony in the garden as well as on the cross.

Jesus had every reason and every temptation not to drink the cup.
He was not struggling in Gethsemane to accept the unavoidable;
his struggle was to surrender to what could have been avoided.
Jesus struggled, as we struggle, with the prospect of death;
he felt overwhelmed by the coming darkness, he sweated in prayer,
he was tempted as we are, but he did not sin.

It is not sin to have times of doubt or darkness.
It is not sin to wonder what God is doing or even if he is there at all
It is not sin to struggle against God’s will and to shrink from suffering.
Sin comes when we finally refuse to do what God wants
when we say ‘My will not yours, my way not yours.’

That was the choice of the first Adam:
He decided to disobey God to become like God to do it my way, our way?
But in this lonely prayer time, the second Adam struggled and succeeded.
He will do what his Father God wants,
no matter how great the cost, how bitter the cup,
he would be an obedient son
whose suffering will bring many sons and daughters to glory.

When we look at that struggle of Jesus in prayer
our first reaction should be to stand back and bow in awe
that Jesus went through that for us.

But we can also see this as a pattern for our own praying.
What Jesus prays here is very like a well known prayer
42 "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me;
yet not my will, but yours be done."

We know a prayer like that:
“Our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’

We saw a couple of weeks ago that the Lord‘s prayer
is never about me and my desires.
It is first of all about God and his name and kingdom and will
and then it is about us and our needs as a community
our daily bread, our trespasses, ……

I shared with you then what I will unashamedly repeat now
what John Stott wrote about the Lord’s Prayer:
he suggests that we 'are constantly under pressure
to conform to the self-centredness of secular culture.
When that happens we become concerned about our own little name
(liking to see it embossed on our notepaper
or hitting the headlines in the press, and defending it when it is attacked),
about our own little empire
(bossing, "influencing" and manipulating people to boost our ego),
and about our own silly little will
(always wanting our own way and getting upset when it is frustrated).
But in the Christian counter-culture
our top priority concern is not our name, kingdom and will, but God's. ….'

Jesus not only taught his followers to pray like that
in the moment of crisis, as he struggled, he prayed like that himself.

But we have to keep asking
How much of our praying is about what I want rather than what God wants?

Somebody wisely said
‘Prayer is the way we blend our will with God's will
rather than bend his will to our will.

But as Jesus struggled, his disciples slept.

Luke is gentle with them: he says they were ‘exhausted from sorrow’.
It was all too much for them:
they could not cope
with all that had been happening in those days in Jerusalem
in grief and fear about the looming death of their friend;
it was the natural reaction to sleep it off

But Jesus says to us as he said to them
"Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation."

A life grounded in regular submissive prayer
prayer that says ‘your will’ not ‘my will’, Father,
is a life more likely to be able to deal with trials and tests
which is what ‘temptations’ mean.

Was not one reason they were urged to pray
was that they would have clear heads to face the problems that lie ahead..
Jesus went through the turmoil of prayer
and was calm in the face of the betrayer's kiss and all that followed.
Those who slept panicked and lashed out.
From the moment of his arrest
right through interrogation and mocking and scourging
Jesus remains calm, no lashing out, no running for cover:
he knew and was doing his Father’s will, painful though it was.
But the people who slept while he struggled --
panic, cutting off an ear, desertion, denial, shame …

He who had struggled in prayer was now ready.
They who had slept and not prayed were all over the place.

Isn’t that why we too so often mess up?
Either we do not really have a close relationship with Father God
we have never personally met with him through trusting Jesus
or we have had that privilege but we have slipped back
from a free relationship into a formal religion.
Like the disciples, we have been happy to be associated with Jesus
we have even boasted about what we will do for Jesus
but when the crunch comes we are too much caught up in ourselves.

We need to learn to pray the Lord’s Prayer
rather than merely say the Lord’s Prayer
to sweat it out
to speak to God the Father and submit to his will.

Our Father God,
bring us by your Spirit into that relationship
where we call you Father truly.
We find it so easy to say the words ‘your will be done’
but so hard actually to submit.
We promise we will watch and pray but we go to sleep
and then we don’t know what to do.
As we confess our failures to follow and our failure in prayer
so we thank you that Jesus drained the cup of your judgement
to its bitterest dregs.
Thank you for the perfect obedience of your own dear Son.
Thank you that Jesus did not flinch from shame and suffering
that we, believing in him, may have life and peace
and freedom from fear of death.
Help us to pray our Father, ‘Not what I will, but what you will.’
Help us when that is hard and painful;
encourage us by your Father love,
and this reminder of the lonely struggle of Jesus.

Sermon of Sunday 16 May 2010 Praying the Bible Way - in the Spirit Ephesians 6.10-20

Praying the Bible Way - in the Spirit
Ephesians 6.10-20

Years ago somebody wrote in the Trinity visitors’ book:
‘May the Holy Spirit come and blow through this church.’
That was a bit cheeky but it may have been on target:,
did they sense that we were going through the motions of worship
singing hymns, saying prayers, waiting for it all to be over
to go and do something more interesting?
I would love to meet the person who wrote that
and see if they would still say the same today
for I get a sense that the Holy Spirit is blowing through the church,
maybe only a breeze
but, thank God there is the sense increasingly of the Holy Spirit
as the ‘something more’ that makes a difference.
We are not just singing hymns, we are praising God;
It’s not just a reading and a sermon; God is speaking to people;
there’s a growing sense of being more than a Church member
a sense that we belong to each other as living parts of the body of Christ;
And in regard to prayer
we go beyond ‘saying prayers’ into what we looked at last week
prayer as a conversation, a communion with God our loving heavenly Father.

Another way of looking at this is to say that we are ‘to pray in the Spirit’.
But what does that mean?
In what he says about the spiritual battle in Ephesians 6
Paul sets the standard high. (v 18)
' … pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.
With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.'

As well as having the shield of faith and the helmet of salvation
and the sword of the spirit, the word of God
we are always to be praying in the spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests.
This is a vital part of the spiritual battle, a vital part of living as a Christian.

What does it mean to pray in the Spirit?

Let me try to answer that by telling you first what it does NOT mean.
It does not mean that there is one right way to pray
and all other ways are unspiritual or not so spiritual.
That phrase about praying ‘with all kinds of prayers and requests’
struck me with new force while preparing for this sermon.
There are many different ways of praying, talking to God
and different ways of asking of God
and the Bible does not prescribe
that one is the only one or superior to the others.
We are to pray in the Spirit with all kinds of prayers and requests.

We are of course each of us more comfortable with certain kinds of praying
and less comfortable with other kinds.
Some people find set prayers in a prayer book helpful;
others find them restrictive.
Some can pray freely in a prayer meeting, others are very quiet.
Some shout out loud and stretch their hands up towards heaven:
others bow their heads and clasp their hands tight
and probably think that loud prayer isn’t very Presbyterian.

Maybe our ‘mystery worshipper’ those years ago was mistaken.
He or she perhaps thought that there was only one way to worship
and our style which was not his style was therefore unspiritual,
or maybe he went deeper than the styles
and sense that, whatever about the worship patterns,
God was not in the building in any close intimate way…

The point is
not that you are required to pray in a certain style
and certainly not that you should condemn other styles
but that in whatever way you pray you are in touch with God,
praying in the Spirit.

But how do we know we are really praying in the Holy Spirit?
We can’t tell by where people put their hands
nor whether they shout or whisper
so how can we know?

We may know by the fragrance and the fruit of their prayers and their lives.
Is there a good smell, a good taste?

Where we do most of our shopping
there’s a large supermarket and there’s also a smaller fruit and veg shop.
The interesting thing is that
often there’s better quality and a better price in the smaller shop
but I prefer it for another reason:
there’s a better smell
the oranges and apples and tomatoes and everything else are open to the air
and you get that lovely fresh healthy smell.
In the supermarket, it’s all clean and hygienic and wrapped in plastic
and you can’t tell if it smells fresh or smells off.

The tests for praying in the Holy Spirit
are the same as the tests or signs of life in the Holy Spirit.
I’ll give them to you quickly
and if you want to check out the Bible references
you can do that from the information sheet or the email later.

When we pray (or live) in the Holy Spirit we pray (or live)
with conviction not condemnation John 16. 7-11 Romans 8.1-2
humility not self promotion Philippians 2.1-4
with joy not negativity Romans 14.17
with freedom not fear 2 Corinthians 3.17,
with love not indifference 2 Timothy 1.7 2 Timothy 1.7
with purity not impurity Ephesians 5.3-20
with healthy fruit not poisonous weeds Galatians 5.19-23
We pray to build up not just to demolish 1 Corinthians 14.26,31

Sometimes of course we struggle in prayer:
we are angry and upset, we are heavy and in tears
as we get a deeper sense of our own sin and others’ sin.
Those prayers can be prayers in the Holy Spirit -
or sometimes we are praying in our own strength
by what the Bible calls the ‘flesh’ and not the Spirit.

If you find your prayers are becoming a bit of a nag towards God
or a nag upon yourself as well as a proud dismissal of others
then check your praying out.
To pray out of guilt, to pray with condemnation and negativity
is to pray in the flesh not the spirit, in the shadow, at best, not the light of God.
But angry and passionate prayers in time of trouble
may be in the Spirit
God is not afraid of strong heart felt emotion.
Our prayer times which are stormy and difficult
if they are times of prayer in the spirit,
there will be a sense of the light and the smile of God:
in the words of an old hymn we ‘trace the rainbow through the rain’
we pray on in hope, in grace, in peace
we are clear in our relationship with God and other people
especially with those we are praying with.

But how are we to pray at all times in the Spirit
with all sorts of prayers and requests.
Surely we cannot always be on our knees
We have to work and eat and sleep.

Our loving Father God
knows that we cannot always be in an attitude of settled prayer
but there is such thing as practising the presence of God
seeing him and celebrating him in everyday things
being aware of him as a background presence all the time.

Thomas Browne was a doctor in England in the 1600s.
Here is what he wrote about praying all the time.
(in an updated form)

His pattern was every day to call upon GOD ‘in a solemn formed prayer‘
seven times a day, in the morning, and at night, and five times between;
quoting the example of David (Psalm 118 v.164) and Daniel (6.v.10)
noting with shame the Muslim custom of praying five times in the day.
.
If he could not sleep at night he would utter short prayers when awake
and when he was awakened by a bell at 4 in the morning or by first light
to say a set prayer for the beginning of the day in the Anglican prayer book,
His aim during the day was to pray anywhere where there was privacy.
He claimed that there was no street or passage in this City
which may not witness that I have not forgot GOD and my Saviour in it;
and that no parish or town, where I have been, may not say the like.’

Every time he saw a church on his journeys he would pray.
Since as a doctor he could not always attend church
yet he took all possible care not to miss the Lord’s Supper
when it was being celebrated.

He resolved:
‘to pray daily and particularly for sick patients, and in general for others, wheresoever, howsoever, under whose care soever;
and at the entrance into the house of the sick,
to say The peace of GOD be in this place.’

After a sermon, to make a thanksgiving, and a desire a blessing,
and to pray for the minister.

In stormy weather, lightning and thunder, either night or day,
to pray for GOD’S merciful protection upon all men,
and His mercy upon their souls and goods.

When he saw ‘beautiful persons‘,
he would bless GOD for his creation work
and ‘pray for the beauty of their souls,
and to enrich them with inward graces to be answerable unto the outward.;
When he saw ’ deformed persons‘ he prayed God
to ‘send them inward grace, and enrich their souls,
and give them the beauty of the resurrection.’

None of us is a busy doctor riding around 17th century England
but can we not too be as creative and spiritually sensitive
seeking God in sorts of places and in all sorts of ways.

Is there anything that happens to us
whether we meet beautiful people or not so beautiful people
whether we are with the sick or the healthy, the happy or the sad,
which cannot be turned into either a prayer of thanksgiving
or a prayer for help and mercy whether for ourselves or others?

Sermon of Sunday 9 May 2010 Praying the Bible Way Matthew 6.1-13

Matthew 6.1-13

Tony Campolo is a preacher from a rough background in New York.
Once a posh lady tried to tell him off for the bad grammar he used in a prayer.
Quick as a flash came his reply: ‘Lady, I wasn’t talking to you.’
Much as I am in favour of correct English
I have to say Campolo got it right
The heart of prayer is not about being good at public prayer
getting your words right, saying the right prayers;
it is about talking personally to God the Father.

That’s the issue which goes right through our reading today:
is your religion rooted in a relationship with God the Father
or is it all for show?

To whom do you pray?

Jesus is not saying in Matthew 6
that we can never pray in public or let people know we are fasting
or never reveal how much we have given in the offering.
The Bible has plenty of examples of public prayer.
Jesus himself prayed publicly:
when he was about to feed the 5000 he took bread and publicly gave thanks.

The question is, who are we talking to? For whom are we doing this?
Whose commendation do we crave?

Are we craving to be seen and praise by other people for being religious
or is it enough to have the personal joy
of being in touch with the heavenly Father?
Is our faith just about a religious veneer
or is it about a relationship with God the Father through Jesus?

Are we hypocrites?
People who put on an act, good show in order to impress others
or are we people whose main aim is to have the approval of God?

People sometimes kindly say to me
that they have found the prayers in a service helpful
and that’s good to know.
I have often found that it is when we pray in a service
that then God really sorts things out:
we deal with our bitterness, we offload our worries and burdens
we get a sense that God is near, that we are forgiven.

I will also say two other things about worship together:
when it ‘goes well’, when we go home sensing that God was close
whether in sermon or singing or prayers or anything else
you may be sure that people were praying privately for that time of worship.

And those times when it doesn’t go so well -
when maybe we go home grumpy, thinking ‘I got nothing out of that”
then sadly it may well be the case that there was not much private prayer
under girding the time together.
And the simple test of that
is not how much did other people pray for that service
which is a question we cannot answer, nor should even ask
But of course the question we should ask is
How much did I pray privately for that service?
Or did I just come in, prayer less and unprepared
and expect other people to bless me?

Often it is as we hear the prayers of others that we can realise
that there is a God, that he is real.
One of the early indicators to me that God was real
was to hear someone at our youth group weekend.,
He prayed in a simple trusting way
which showed me two things:
one that this chap knew Jesus personally
and by contrast I did not know God at all.
I might have known some things about him
but I did not at that time know God as my friend did.

To whom do you pray? Who is in your spiritual focus as you pray?
Yourself? Other people? God the Father?

Here’s another useful question from this passage.

Where do you pray?
Have you a private place for prayer
somewhere where it is just you and God and no-one else is watching?

The key to effective prayer together is of course
that we have real time with God privately.
It was not my friend’s intention that as he poured out his heart to God
that he was going to impress me and convince me that God was real.
God used a life in relationship with him
a son talking to his heavenly Father
a son who undoubtedly had spent much time in private prayer
to challenge my needy spiritual state.

We don’t have to be too literalistic about what Jesus says here
about going into your room and closing the door.
Private prayer can happen in more places
than in your own room with the door closed.
Many people don’t have that luxury of a private space
where they can close the door.
But you can be creative in your daily life
and find door closing opportunities in all sorts of ways.

If you drive a lot on your own, for example
do you always have to have the radio on.
When you do stuff around the house or garden
do you always have to have to be listening to the radio or your IPod?
Do you have to have the latest news, or continuous music or sporting results?
To press the off button can be the equivalent of closing the door.
Time in a supermarket queue, or a traffic jam
could well be the moment to wait
and step out of the traffic and draw close to God.

How do you pray?

This is the crunch question
Jesus says we (v7) are not to babble with many words
It is a conversation with your Father.
your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Again this does not prohibit all repetition:
some of the Psalms repeat a phrase about God
his steadfast love endures for ever
But Jesus is targeting mindless, mechanical repetition, mantras
where we reckon the longer we pray and pray the same formula
the more likely we are to get what we want.

We live in a culture where people have been taught to 'say prayers'
and therefore rattle them off
as if the mere saying of the words produces a result
but that's not prayer, that's not talking with God
that was the problem with the pagans in Jesus' time
who tragically thought they would be heard for their much speaking.

Real prayer is when we hand over to God
and praise and thank him for what he does for us
or say sorry to him for what we should not have done
knowing that we cannot do better without him
or ask him please for what we cannot do by ourselves
or even just spend time being with him, enjoying his love

In this regard we need to be discerning
about some of the circular e mails that people forward,
seeking prayer for some worthy cause.
I get a bit suspicious about some that beg me, nearly command me
to forward the request to six other people.
If God moves in your heart as you read those requests by all means respond
but if you get a sense as I sometimes do
of a prayer bondage rather than a prayer burden
then I suggest you should feel free to delete.
Answers to prayer do not depend on the volume of e mails or Facebook hits
but a deeper movement of the Holy Spirit in people’s hearts.

Most of all, we need to handle the Lord’s Prayer correctly.
Jesus said (9) 'This, then, is how you should pray:'
which is not quite the same as what you should pray
The Lord’s Prayer is a pattern not a prescription.
Your personal prayer time or a service like this
does not become invalid if the Lord’s Prayer is not said.
What matters so much more
is that the great themes and concerns of this prayer of Jesus
are reflected in our prayers.
It helps us to check out what we are praying
to see if we have the same balance as Jesus shows here
between seeking God’s will before sharing our desires

John Stott has written this about the Lord’s Prayer:
He suggests that we 'are constantly under pressure
to conform to the self-centeredness of secular culture.
When that happens we become concerned about our own little name
(liking to see it embossed on our notepaper
or hitting the headlines in the press, and defending it when it is attacked),
about our own little empire
(bossing, "influencing" and manipulating people to boost our tego),
and about our own silly little will
(always wanting our own way and getting upset when it is frustrated).
But in the Christian counter-culture
our top priority concern is not our name, kingdom and will, but God's. ….'

Stott points out that in the second half of the Lord's Prayer,
we stop talking about ‘your’ and start using ‘our’ and ‘us’
as we turn from God's affairs to our own.
‘Having expressed our burning concern for his glory,
we now express our humble dependence on his grace.’
God is heavenly Father as well as great King.'

Some people only pray about their own needs
and never stop to ask what does God want in his will and his kingdom.
But others go to the other extreme and are too afraid to ask God for anything.
And that is equally wrong.

Of course God is not a slot machine to deliver all our requests automatically
but he is a loving heavenly Father
and it is entirely right to follow the rhythm
of the second part of the pattern prayer of Jesus
and confidently and humbly ask our Father for what we need
having first submitted to him as he truly is.

As Stott writes:
'since God is "our Father in heaven" and loves us with a father's love,
he is concerned for the total welfare of his children
and wants us to bring our needs trustingly to him,
our need of food and of forgiveness and of deliverance from evil.'

I remember trying to encourage someone who found it hard to sleep at night through pain
to pray for relief.

The immediate question then was: 'Are we allowed to pray for things for ourselves?'

This person had been brought up to believe that you could only ask for other people not for yourself.

If I can sum up what I want you to be confident of today, it is this:
in whatever way you pray, and in whatever place
do not be fearful and uptight.
You are talking to God as your heavenly Father
and that is the relationship where we should be most secure and confident.

For some of us that is relatively easy
because we were blessed with fathers who loved us
and gave us security and confidence.
I know for others it is more difficult.
Maybe your father was absent from most of your life.
Maybe he was there and was cruel and horrible
and so to think of God as Father is a very negative thing.

We all need to understand
even those of us with good fathers
that God the heavenly Father is the best father of all.
All earthly fathers have their flaws and failings.
I can say that I am a flawed father.
But I can also say from what the Bible tells us
and from what I have been privileged to experience over 40 years
that God the heavenly father is perfect in love and forgiveness and restoration
and it is good to draw near him at any time
and how stupid we are to neglect him
and to focus in on ourselves or on other people’s view of us as we pray
or to get hung up on getting the words right.

Come to God the Father in prayer.
Talk to him, no-one else.
Tell him how great and good he is.
Thank him for his love in Jesus.
Submit to his plan for your life, it will be better.
Tell him about your sins.
Tell him about your struggles.
Tell him about your needs
and enjoy being with him
and the gifts he will give you.

Hymn 255

Prayer is the soul's supreme desire

James Montgomery, 1771-1854
adapted Jubilate Hymns

Prayer is the soul's supreme desire
expressed in thought or word;
the burning of a hidden fire,
a longing for the Lord.

Prayer is the simplest sound we teach
when children learn God's name;
and yet it is the noblest speech
that human lips can frame.

Prayer is the secret battleground
where victories are won;
by prayer the will of God is found
and work for him begun.

Prayer is the Christian's vital breath,
the Christian's native air,
his watchword at the gates of death;
he enters heaven with prayer.

Prayer is the Church's glorious song,
her task and joy supreme;
we name our Lord in every tongue,
and praise is all our theme.

Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervour
serving the Lord
Be joyful in hope, patient in suffering, faithful in prayer

Sermon of Sunday 2 May 2010 Report on visit to Brazil 1 Corinthians 10.1-13

REPORT ON VISIT TO BRAZIL APRIL 2010

PLACE

We stayed in a district called Tucuns
not far from the beach resort of Buzios
and about half an hour's drive from Cabo Frio
a city about the size of Cork
two and a half hours' drive from Rio de Janeiro.

It is of course hot, with lush vegetation, with beaches,
which could be rivalled by some in Ireland
but add at least 10 degrees Celius and the the South Atlantic easily beats the North Atlantic
The food is highly salty or sweet and pleasantly spicy.
Hot snacks are easily available,
the coffee is strong and sweet
and sometimes free at petrol stations.

Meat is prominent in the diet:
I attended a barbecue without a burger bun in sight
with the steak cut in small pieces
so everyone gets a bit at same time

The plant and wild life is that of a tropical country.
As well as the ‘cobra’ a snake which Robson's nephew spotted on a beach
we saw vultures, egrets, monkeys.

PEOPLE

The people are as warm as the weather, they smile and are very tactile.
The ‘thumbs up’ sign is very useful when your Portuguese is limited.
I heard the words ‘crazy’ and ‘so so’ a lot.
It is a very laid back culture, valuing people over programmes,
so a lot of patience is required by Europeans.
There is lot of racial diversity, and on the surface harmony,
going back to Brazil’s heritage of indigenous people, millions of African slaves,
and European settlers, mainly Portuguese and then German.
But I was told that black people tend to be less well off,
more poorly educated and discriminated against.
Many people spoke sadly about the deep seated corruption.
Possibly fuelled by the sunshine and beaches, it is a very sensual culture.
Pastor Luis Carlos said in a joke with a serious intent that he hated Buzios,
the nearby beach resort made popular by Brigitte Bardot;
he sees it as a moral & spiritual graveyard for several pastors.
‘Crazy’ may not always be good.

PASTORS

The pastors are warm hearted and dedicated.
They don’t get or don’t take many holidays.
Still less do many get opportunities to travel far.
There is a good degree of participation in worship
with a mixture of praise songs that we would recognise
and others of local origin.
People come up to the front for prayer.
They sometimes stand for the scripture reading.
After the benediction in Presbyterian churches
they tend to respond with a threefold sung Amen -
a traditional piece of music but sung with great feeling.
There are a good number of young people at church,
though I was told that some who are regular in winter,
in the high summer find other things to do

PROJECT

Robson & Emma's project to start an outreach centre at Tucuns is at an early stage,
waiting for government permissions.
A local lawyer, Adriano, a Christian is helping with this.
He suggested that they could have a soccer pitch
and run an outreach based on that.
Ed & Sandra are friends of Robson & Emma from England
who have been having a house built on the other side of the road down the track;
this is nearly complete.
Their plan is to spend part of each year in Brazil
and see how their facility can be developed.
Robson & Emma have a long term plan to be resident in Brazil
and manage their centre, which is at a much earlier stage of planning.

PRAYER

Prayer is needed to see how to progress things.
I hope that maybe once a month some of us will meet with Robson & Emma
to focus on the needs of that country
and how their project may be used by God.
The first such meeting is this Saturday 8 May at their home at 4 pm.

But I want us to pray for Christians in Brazil
in terms of the reading from 1 Corinthians 10.

Like the church in Corinth
the churches in Brazil are comparatively young
and like Corinth the surrounding culture
is given over to in your face pleasure seeking
without limits in partying and other self indulgence.

Evangelical Christianity has made great advances in S America.
People are glad to embrace a faith that sets free and is vital
but maybe many think it’s only about getting ‘born again’
and don’t understand that there is a also a call to day by day discipleship.
What Paul is warning the Corinthian Christians
is not to presume on their spiritual blessings.
Spiritual vitality is not always the same as holiness (Christlikeness)

The experience of the children of Israel in the desert wanderings
is given as examples
‘to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did’ (v6)
Just because we have committed to Jesus
does not mean that we are magically immune from temptation
and cannot fall.
We are all vulnerable to temptation.
We can all fall.
If it is not the spectacular things
that would get tabloid headlines
which may be particular dangers in the Brazilian culture
it can be something as acceptable in Irish society
as grumbling and complaining
which is equally displeasing to God,
however socially acceptable we think it.
Paul reminds us that ‘God is faithful’
‘Deus e fiel’ which Brazilian Christians often write on their cars and vans.
God will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

We don’t have time to go into what the ways out may be:
it can be something different according to each situation
but as we pray for each other
as we lovingly warn each other
as we live positive Christlike examples before each other
challenging the areas where each is weak
whether Brazilian self indulgence or Irish negativity
we show each other the escape routes.

If you would like my more detailed journal of the visit, please email me on jfaris@eircom.net