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Why – Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?

April 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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Why Doesn’t God Answer My Prayers?
Sycamore Creek Church
April 14/15, 2013
Tom Arthur

Peace Friends!

Today we continue in our Why series dealing with the question: Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?  I recently came across this prayer written by Tina Fey in her book Bossy Pants.  Here’s a slightly edited version:

“The Mother’s Prayer for Its Daughter”

First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.

May she be Beautiful but not Damaged, for it’s the Damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the Beauty.

When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with Beer.

Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.

Lead her away from Acting but not all the way to Finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes And not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it…

May she play the Drums to the fiery rhythm of her Own Heart with the sinewy strength of her Own Arms, so she need Not Lie With Drummers.

Grant her a Rough Patch from twelve to seventeen. Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, For childhood is short – a Tiger Flower blooming Magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and [making out] in cars will wait.

O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for…Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.

And when she one day turns on me and calls me a [witch] in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, For I will not have that…I will not have it.

And should she choose to be a Mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a Mental Note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with Your God eyes.

Amen.

Do you think Tina Fey’s prayer will be answered?  If not, why not?  Well, we all have prayed prayers like this or other prayers.  And whether you think God will answer Tina Fey’s prayer or not, you’ve prayed prayers that you thought God could and should have answered but didn’t.  You may have even claimed Jesus’ promise in John:

I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.
John 14:13-14 NRSV

It seems that God did some pretty amazing things in scripture. He made the sun stand still for Joshua.  I can barely comprehend what that might mean for the laws of physics. He saved Daniel in the lion’s den (and I’m not talking about a porn shop off the side of the highway).  Jesus regularly healed people, especially children who were dying or deeply suffering.  If God answered these prayers, why doesn’t God answer my prayers for the same thing?

I think about the issues I wrestle with on a daily basis.  Sometimes I find myself as a pastor in a paradox. I am often praying for people to be healed when I have my own health issues too.  I’ve prayed for body parts to be made well all the while having a bum back that continually gives me problems with aches and pains.  What’s up with that?

Maybe you’ve prayed for a girlfriend or boyfriend but none came along, especially the hottest girl you were praying would dig you.  You prayed to pass a class in school but you didn’t pass it.  You prayed to be healed of a disease but weren’t.  You prayed to conceive a child but didn’t.   You prayed for your parents not to get divorced, but they did.  You prayed for a loved one to come to know Christ, but he only got further away.

If you’re here today as a guest and are not a Christian, you may have the impression that Christians pray and ask for things and always feel like they get what they’re asking for.  But that’s not true.  Just because you seek to follow Jesus doesn’t mean you experience all your prayers being answered.  I certainly don’t.  Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you don’t ask, Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?  That’s the question we’re here to deal with today.  I’d like to make four suggestions of why it might be that God isn’t answering your prayers.  Each one begins with the word “maybe” because it might be this or it might be something else entirely.  So here are four reasons why God might not be answering your prayers.

Broken Relationships
Maybe God isn’t answering your prayers because you have a broken relationship.  Our horizontal relationships with those around us matter for our vertical relationship with God.  It’s not like you can compartmentalize your spiritual life from your day to day life.  Your day to day life is your spiritual life!  Jesus tells us that when it comes to something like forgiveness, how we forgive others will have an impact on how we experience forgiveness from God:

Listen to me! You can pray for anything, and if you believe, you will have it.  But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.
Mark 11:24-25 NLT

John, one of Jesus’ closest followers, reflects on how our horizontal relationships affect our vertical relationship, saying you cannot say you love God if you hate your brother:

Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters,are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sisterwhom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.
1 John 4:20 NRSV

Peter, another of Jesus’ closest followers, takes this idea and runs with it in your family:

In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat her with understanding as you live together. She may be weaker than you are, but she is your equal partner in God’s gift of new life. If you don’t treat her as you should, your prayers will not be heard.
1 Peter 3:7 NLT

And some of us husbands may not be married to someone who is “weaker” than we are.  So you better watch out on both fronts!

The book of Proverbs, a collection of wisdom sayings, takes this into the realm of our relationship with the poor:

Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.
Proverbs 21:13 ESV

Have you been paying attention to the new pope, Pope Francis?  I really like this guy.  During Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter, he took the time go and wash the feet of youth who were in prison.  He washed and kissed their feet!  And he broke with tradition by washing the feet of young women.  Now here’s a pope who has his ear to the cry of the poor.  You better watch out for what Pope Francis is praying for!

 

Christina Rossetti, a 19th century English poet, sums this up nicely when she says:

I pray for grace; but then my sins unpray
My prayer: on holy ground I fool stand shod.

The way we treat those around us has consequences for our prayer lives. Maybe God isn’t answering your prayers because of the broken relationships you aren’t paying attention to.

Wrong Motives
Maybe God isn’t answering your prayers because you have the wrong motives when you pray. For example, a man was circling the block searching for a parking spot. Finally, after the third time around, he prays, “God, if you help me find a parking spot, I will go to church every Sunday and tithe ten percent of my income.” Immediately, a spot opens up, and the man prays, “Never mind, I found one.”

James, Jesus’ brother, says:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.
James 4:3 NRSV

OK, let’s be honest.  How many of you have prayed to win the lottery?  Now let’s be really honest.  What were your real motives?  To live a life of luxury or a life of generosity?  My dad still to this day plays the lotto.  When we were kids he would bring home lotto tickets and give them to us to fill out.  One time when my family was having some financial troubles I came within one number of winning $14,000,000!  I picked the number 19 instead of 29.  Instead we got $2500.  Not bad.  My dad was bummed at the time, but recently I asked him about it, and he says he gives thanks to God that we didn’t win the lottery.  He thinks it would have torn our family apart.  And he’s probably right.  Most people who win the lotto don’t lead happy lives.  Winning the lotto seems to have a negative effect on many who win it.  Perhaps that’s because if they were praying to win the lotto, they were praying in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.  I’m reminded of Garth Brooks’ song Unanswered Prayers:

Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers
Remember when you’re talkin’ to the man upstairs
That just because he doesn’t answer doesn’t mean he don’t care
Some of God’s greatest gifts are unanswered prayers

If we turn to the book of Proverbs again we read that our motives are known by the Lord:

All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirit.
Proverbs 16:2 NRSV

Maybe God isn’t answering your prayers because your motives aren’t the best.

Unbelief
Maybe God doesn’t answer your prayers because you don’t believe God will do it.  Whenever I think of belief and unbelief I think of the Grand Canyon Sky Walk.


You can say you believe that it will hold your weight, but your belief is shown by your actions of walking out on the glass, 4000 feet above the Grand Canyon floor!

A father comes to Jesus looking for his child to be healed from a spirit of seizures that throws him into water and fire.  He asks Jesus to heal him if he is able.  This is what Jesus says:

If you are able! — All things can be done for the one who believes.
Mark 9:23 NRSV

I’m thankful for the honesty of this guy’s response.  He says, “I believe.  Help my unbelief.”  Then Jesus heals his son!

Your faith matters when you pray.  You often hear Christians, even myself at times, say something like, “All we have left to do is pray.”  No!  The first thing we have to do is pray!  And believe that God hears our prayers and can and will answer them.

Now this can be seriously misconstrued.  I’m not teaching a name it and claim it system of belief.  I’m not even saying that all the time the reason God doesn’t answer your prayers is because you don’t believe.  Maybe sometimes this is the reason.  God is not obligated to answer your prayers.  God is not your cosmic sugar daddy.  Just because you have faith, doesn’t mean God has to do it, but your faith does matter.

I think of how we’re teaching Micah to say “Please” when he asks for food.  He has learned this so well that he now says please whenever he asks for food or just about anything else.  Of course, he has learned to say please whether we think it’s a good idea to give it to him or not.  Who gets to decide when he says please?  We do.  Are we obligated to give him something whenever he says please?  No.  Is it important that he says please?  Absolutely!

Again we turn to James, Jesus’ brother:

But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
James 1:6-7 NRSV

Something Different
Maybe God doesn’t answer your prayers because God has something different in mind for you.  In an opening interview with Gary Chapman in the audio book to the new edition of his Five Love Languages, Gary Chapman tells about how he and his wife wanted to be missionaries to Africa.  He wanted to teach in a seminary.  But the mission board turned them down because of his wife’s health.  They did not think she would do well in Africa.

Fast forward many years and Chapman has now written a book that has sold over 5 million copies and has been translated into almost 30 languages.  When it is translated to a new language, his publisher sends them a box of the books and he and his wife pray for the people that will read it.

One day when he received a box of books, his wife began to cry.  He said, “What’s wrong?”  She said, “Remember how we wanted to be missionaries and weren’t able to. Now you’re book is teaching people all around the world.”  God has something different in mind for the Chapmans.

God’s will matters more than our will.  Looking again to John, one of Jesus’ followers:

And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.  And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.
1 John 5:14-15 NRSV

Notice the key phrase here, “according to his will.”  If you ask God something that God already wants for you, you’re golden!  That’s a prayer that God wants to answer.  When Micah asks me for more lettuce and says “please” that’s a request I want to answer.

But sometimes we don’t get what we ask for because God has something better in mind.  In those times I’m reminded of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  They wouldn’t bow to King Nebuchadnezzar’s God, so he threatens to throw them in a fiery furnace.  Here’s how they answer the king:

If our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire and out of your hand, O king, let him deliver us. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods and we will not worship the golden statue that you have set up.”
Daniel 3:17-18 NRSV

In essence they say: I believe God can, I believe God will, and even if God doesn’t, I still believe.  Now that’s powerful trust in the goodness of God.

Maybe God ultimately wants something to happen in us in prayer.  The movie Shadowlands tells the story of C.S. Lewis, the author of The Chronicles of Narnia which have recently begun to be made into movies, and his marriage to Joy Gresham.  At an early age Joy is diagnosed with a terminal cancer.  Lewis has married her legally at this point just so that she can have British citizenship.  But when he realizes she has cancer he decided to get married to her in the church.  He prays for her healing.  In one scene, a  friend of Lewis’ says that God is hearing and answering his prayers.  Lewis responds, “That’s not why I pray, Harry. I pray because I can’t help myself. I pray because I’m helpless. I pray because the need flows out of me all the time, waking and sleeping. It doesn’t change God, it changes me.”  Maybe that’s the something different, the something better that God has in mind.  Prayer changes me.  Let’s pray.

God, show me where there might be broken relationships that are getting in the way of my prayer life with you.  Give me the courage to confess those areas and to seek healing and reconciliation.  God, show me where I am asking for something out of selfish motives.  Help purify my intentions.  God show me where I say that I trust you but my actions betray my talk.  Help my unbelief.  God, even when you don’t answer my prayers, let me trust that you have something different, something better in store for me.  May my prayers change me.  Amen.

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In the Wilderness – The End of Wilderness

March 25, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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The End of Wilderness
Sycamore Creek Church
March 24/25, 2013
Numbers 13:25-30
Tom Arthur

Peace friends!

What is the longest “wilderness” you’ve been in?  I’m not talking about a literal desert.  I’m talking about a state of feeling like you’re in the wilderness.  Several long wilderness moments in my own life come to mind.  One night when I was a student at Wheaton College, a suburb of Chicago, I drove down to Chicago to meet some friends and watch a concert.  It was raining, and I was running late, so I didn’t pay much attention to where I was parking.  I just pulled in the first open spot I saw.  When the concert was over at 2AM, and I came out to drive home, my car was gone.  I looked up and saw a sign posted telling me where it had been towed to.  I used the last bit of cash I had to take a taxi to the impound.  The impound wouldn’t take a debit card, so I walked a mile in the rain to the closest ATM.  The ATM wouldn’t take my debit card either.  I broke down.  At 3AM in the morning, I called my dad in Indianapolis. I woke him up with my sobs on the other line.  I didn’t know what to do.  He helped me get my bearings and make a plan which included calling my roommate and having my roommate get the $100 in cash my dad had just sent me as a gift and that I had left in an envelope on my desk.  The only problem was that my roommate was at hockey practice at 3AM.  They rented ice when it was cheapest.  So I had to leave a message.  There was a Dunkin Doughnuts within sight so I went there and scraped up enough change to buy a hot chocolate that I nursed for the next couple of hours waiting for my roommate to get out of hockey practice and bring me the money.  It was one of the longest nights of my life in the concrete wilderness of a big city.

All of us find ourselves in the wilderness from time to time.  There’s the wilderness of not being employed.  The wilderness of being employed in a job you hate.  The wilderness of a broken family.  The wilderness of an abusive relationship.  The wilderness of wanting a romantic relationship.  The wilderness of homelessness.  The wilderness of a dry spell of faith.  The wilderness of trying to figure out what to do with your life.  The wilderness of reality not matching expectations, like in the movie 500 days of summer:

 

While we all end up in a wilderness from time to time, wilderness is not where we were meant to live.  Wilderness does come to an end.  I’m not still sitting in the Dunkin Doughnuts on the north side of Chicago nursing a cup of hot chocolate.  Sometimes the wilderness won’t end this side of heaven, but it will end.

We’re wrapping up a series today called In the Wilderness.  We’ve been exploring the Hebrew people, the Israelites as they wander through the wilderness for forty years as told in the book of Numbers.  We’re seeing what we can learn about our time in the wilderness as a church and our time as individuals.  Like the Hebrew people, we too don’t yet have a home.  We too have to set up and tear down a tent every time we want to worship.  We too are a bit tired and cranky from time to time.  We too are on a journey of becoming the people God wants us to become.

Thomas Dozeman, a scholar of the book of Numbers, says, “The wilderness is a road (Isaiah 40:3), and a place of miracles (Isaiah 41:18-19) that signals and may even lead to the return of Zion (Isaiah 53:3).  But the wilderness is not Zion.”  We weren’t made to live in the wilderness.  Let’s get back to the book of Numbers and see what we can learn today about the end of wilderness.

Numbers 13:25-30 NLT
After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the people of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land.

This was their report to Moses: “We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country — a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is some of its fruit as proof. 

But the people living there are powerful, and their cities and towns are fortified and very large. We also saw the descendants of Anak who are living there!  The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Seaand along the Jordan Valley.” 

But Caleb tried to encourage the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”

While most of the scouts sent to spy out the Promised Land come back fearful about the obstacles for bringing their wilderness experience to an end, Caleb (and also Joshua elsewhere) is ready to bring this wilderness time to an end.  They trust God’s goodness and God’s provision for their future.  Unfortunately, no one else does.  This has some pretty dire consequences for everyone else when it comes to the end of wilderness.

At the beginning and the end of the book of Numbers, there are two big census lists.  This is where the book gets its English name from, “Numbers.”  (The Hebrew name is “In the Wilderness.”)  As we read the census list at the end of the book we see that there are only two people who make it out of the wilderness.  Out of hundreds of thousands, only Caleb and Joshua were alive at both the first census and the second census.

Numbers 26:63-65
So these are the census figures of the people of Israel as prepared by Moses and Eleazar the priest on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River, across from Jericho.  Not one person that Moses and Aaron counted in this census had been among those counted in the previous census taken in the wilderness of Sinai.  For the LORD had said of them, “They will all die in the wilderness.” The only exceptions were Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

There are three things I think we can learn about the end of wilderness from the book of Numbers.  First, some of you are thinking: “I’ve missed the boat.  I’ve screwed up.  God is no longer going to let me enter the Promised Land of [fill in the blank].”  I don’t know if this is true or not, but sometimes there is something in you that has to die before God can bring you into the Promised Land.  What has to die in you before you can enter the Promised Land?   Second, the Promised Land may be different than you expect.  It may not be what you had in your mind.  It may not line up exactly with your vision.  It may even be very very different.  Thirdly, patiently prepare for the “Promised Land.”  You may not see the end in sight, but prepare for it.  Begin now by taking the steps you need to take to plan for the end of the wilderness.  I want to dwell for a moment on this idea of patiently preparing for the end of wilderness even when you can’t see the end.

If you read chapters 28-30 of Numbers, you will find all kinds of preparation for rituals and laws for entering the Promised Land.  They haven’t even gotten there yet and Moses is instructing them about how to live once they get there.  In chapter 34 you find a division of the land between all the different tribes.  Again, they aren’t even there yet, but they’re making plans.

So if you’re in the wilderness and you can’t see the end, then begin to patiently prepare for the end.  Pray.  Worship. Search the Scriptures.  Resist Sin. Seek Holiness.  Some of us get stuck on this big question about what God’s will is for our life.  What is the “Promised Land” that God wants for me?  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in that question that we forget the immediate answer to it.  What is God’s will for your life?  To be holy.  So if you’re in the wilderness and you don’t know which path to take to get out of the wilderness, ask this question: Will A or B lead you to be more holy?  If neither is the clear winner, then know that it will delight God for you to do what delights you more.  So while you’re in the wilderness, do what you can, wait, rest, and let God do the rest.

Recently I was talking with someone whose marriage had come to an end several years earlier.  A lot of bitterness had been present.  It was a wilderness time.  But one day in worship doing what she was supposed to be doing and waiting for God, she realized that the wilderness had come, almost imperceptibly, to an end.  She had spent several years angry full of questions to God.  Then that day in worship she realized that she no longer had any bitterness.  It was gone and had been replaced with forgiveness.  The wilderness was slow to end, but it did end.

Consider this verse from the prophet Habakkuk:

Habakkuk 2:3 NLT
But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.

Let me speak for a moment about how this end of wilderness might come for us as a community.  There is a question on my mind right now: Is a building the Promised Land for SCC?  I don’t know the answer to that question.  I do know that a building is a good and worthy desire.  But a building and desire for a building can also become an idol, something we begin to worship rather than worshiping God.

I recently spoke with someone whose church spent thirty years setting up and tearing down each Sunday in a school.  They had it worse than we did.  We have a closet we can store stuff in.  They had a trailer.  In the last year they found a building that had 80,000 square feet that they bought for an amazingly low price of $400,000.  Then they promptly put $7,000,000 into remodeling it!

I don’t know how much a building is going to cost in the end.  But in the meantime, we are patiently preparing for that day by saving for it.  Our current capital campaign likely won’t be enough.  So we will have to patiently save some more.

In the meantime, let me share with you what I am sure is the Promised Land for SCC: more and more people ignited with authentic life in Christ, and that spark of faith fanned into an all consuming flame.  To this end, we will always be in a wilderness period until every person in every corner of the world knows, loves, and serves Jesus Christ.

Philippians 2:9-11 NLT
Because of this, God raised him up to the heights of heaven and gave him a name that is above every other name,  so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,  and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

May God lead us into this Promised Land, whatever form it might take.  Amen.

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John Bunyan on Prayer

March 12, 2013 By Leave a Comment

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“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart. ”
― John Bunyan

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Jail Break

July 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Amazing Stories - Wrestle Mania

Amazing Stories – Jail Break
Sycamore Creek Church
July 1, 2012
Tom Arthur
Acts 12:1-19 

Peace Friends! 

Ever felt like you’re down 1 point in overtime with 2.1 seconds left on the clock?  Impossible obstacles, right?  Maybe one of the best moments in sports happened in the 1992 NCAA East Regional game.  With 2.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Duke trailed 103-102. Grant Hill threw a pass on a wing and a prayer the length of the court to Christian Laettner, who dribbled once, turned, and hit a jumper as time expired to win 104-103 over Kansas.  Here’s the video so you can relive the glory:

Do you know what happened with the rest of that NCAA tournament?  Duke went on to win the tournament against…ahem…Michigan, 71-51, and to win back to back NCAA championships.

OK, that’s a fairly humorous way to introduce a topic that we all struggle with: When do we find ourselves up against impossible obstacles?  And what do we do when we find ourselves against impossible obstacles?  When we’re stuck in a prison or those we love are in spiritual, emotional, or physical bondage?

Often times we feel like we’re up against an impossible obstacle of sin in our lives.  Something that is deeply ingrained.  Sin is anything intentional or unintentional that is not what God would desire for us.  We try and we try and we try and we just can’t get rid of it.  We’re always at 2.1 seconds left in overtime, but we always seem to miss the shot.

One kind of particularly impossible sin is addiction.  We become addicted to drugs.  Addicted to alcohol.  Addicted to porn.  Addicted to gambling.  You’re addicted when you’re always looking for the next fix.

Some of us are up against the impossible obstacle of selfishness.  Or maybe I should say we’re all in that boat.  We think the world revolves around me.

Another impossible obstacle is bitterness.  We’ve been hurt, sometimes not just lightly but had grave injustice done to us, and we can’t seem to get out of the prison of our bitterness.  There’s no way we can even begin to imagine forgiving the person who did such evil to us.

Many of us are up against the obstacle of self deception.  Everyone around us knows that we’ve got a problem, but we’re clueless.  We aren’t humble enough to recognize that something is wrong even if you can’t see it yourself.  We are unable to truly see ourselves as we are.

As a church we’re up against some pretty big obstacles when it comes to our culture.  We live in a culture (especially the next generation) that is increasingly put off by Christians and sees us as hypocritical, uncaring, antihomosexual, sheltered, political, and judgmental; in a word, unChristian.  David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons wrote a book titled unchristian based on research they did with those who self described as not Christian.  What they found was this:

What are Christians known for? Outsiders think our moralizing, our condemnations, and our attempts to draw boundaries around everything. Even if these standards are accurate and biblical, they seem to be all we have to offer. And our lives are a poor advertisement for the standards. We have set the gameboard to register lifestyle points; then we are surprised to be trapped by our mistakes. The truth is we have invited the hypocrite image.

How in the world do we overcome these obstacles to reach out to new people in our community?

Thankfully, God is in the business of overcoming obstacles, of breaking the bonds that bind us, and of breaking his people out of jail.  Today I’d like to look at a story of a jail break.  It’s like an old country western movie right there in the Bible.  It’s at the beginning of the life of the church, and it is an amazing story.  What we’ll see in this story is that God uses the prayers of the church to overcome impossible obstacles.  Let’s walk through it a little at a time and see what we can learn.

Acts 12:1-19 NLT
About that time King Herod Agrippa began to persecute some believers in the church. He had the apostle James (John’s brother) killed with a sword.

Herod is being very systematic here.  James, John, and Peter are the three inner-core leaders of the church.  Herod is systematically taking out the inner leadership of this fledgling Jesus movement.

When Herod saw how much this pleased the Jewish leaders, he arrested Peter during the Passover celebration and imprisoned him, placing him under the guard of four squads of four soldiers each.

Whoa!  Four squads of four soldiers.  That’s sixteen soldiers for one dude.  A guy who so far hasn’t caused any bloodshed.  Herod is serious about squelching the church.  No games here.  No chances.  The odds of Peter making it out of this situation are dwindling to almost nothing.

Herod’s intention was to bring Peter out for public trial after the Passover. But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. 

Insert here the Hail Mary, literally.  The church is praying.  The Greek word that is translated “earnestly” literally means “in an extended way.”  The church was taking this prayer thing seriously.  They were setting up seriously long prayer meetings to pray for Peter.  The life of the church depended upon it.  But as if to symbolize the situation, this verse about prayer is “chained” between two verses about impossible obstacles.  Sixteen soldiers and then…

The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, chained between two soldiers, with others standing guard at the prison gate. 

The deck is stacked.  The dice are loaded.  Peter is chained between two soldiers.  The Greek literally says that he is bound with two chains.  Then there are more soldiers outside.  It’s no longer looking like 2.1 seconds left.  It’s looking like the clock has already hit 00:00:00.  But then…

Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel tapped him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists.  Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered.  So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was really happening. 

Here is the great spiritual leader of this new church, the “rock” upon whom Jesus would build his church, and he’s thinking it’s all just a vision.  Not really happening.  So much for the great faith of Peter.  Thankfully the jail break wasn’t dependent upon his faith!  But then whose?

They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate to the street, and this opened to them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him. Peter finally realized what had happened. “It’s really true!” he said to himself. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jews were hoping to do to me!”  After a little thought, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. 

So if this jail wasn’t based on Peter’s faith then whose faith was is based upon?  Ah…the church.  Right?  Here they were gathering for prayer.  Praying at great length.  Earnestly.  Fervently.  Surely Peter is going to find a group of people who through prayer are expecting their prayers to be answered.  So…

He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it.  When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!”  “You’re out of your mind,” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.” 

Umm?  The church doesn’t seem to be expecting their prayers to be answered at all.  They tell Rhoda that she’s crazy.  It’s the same thing that the Apostle Paul is told when he’s preaching to the unbelieving King Agrippa, “Paul, you’ve lost your marbles.  You’re out of your mind!”  Breaking free from prison doesn’t seem to be based on the great faith of the church either!  This whole group is filled with a bunch of spiritual losers.  They’re praying on the outside but on the inside not expecting their prayers to be answered.

Here’s the whole point of this message, you’re one take away if you take away nothing else: When the church prays, God breaks people free.  God works through the prayers of the church to break people free from the prisons they are in.  This isn’t because of the great faith of those praying, but because of God’s faithfulness to hear those prayers and answer them.

The story continues…

Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally went out and opened the door, they were amazed.  He motioned for them to quiet down and told them what had happened and how the Lord had led him out of jail. “Tell James and the other brothers what happened,” he said. And then he went to another place.  At dawn, there was a great commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to Peter.  Herod Agrippa ordered a thorough search for him. When he couldn’t be found, Herod interrogated the guards and sentenced them to death.

Yikes!  Do you think they were motivated before to make sure Peter didn’t escape?  It’s as if we’re being reminded that, yes, there were huge obstacles.  And yes, God did overcome them.  But let’s get back to that main point:

When the church prays, God breaks people free.  Free from addiction (drug, alcohol, porn).  Free from selfishness, judgmentalism, bitterness, hypocrisy.  Free from sin.  Free to love (God and others)!

Invitation to Pray
Today I want to ask you to pray very earnestly—in an extended way, eagerly, fervently, earnestly—for the mission of our church amidst big obstacles.  I’d like to tell you the story of where SCC has been and where it is going.  And I want to remind you that your prayers are essential for God using SCC to break people free.

In November, 2000 a rebel grandma had a vision for a new community that reached out to the unchurched, a different kind ofUnitedMethodistChurch.  Thus, SCC was born as a church plant fromHoltUnitedMethodistChurch.  Inherent in this vision was a desire to give birth to more churches in the way that Holt UMC gave birth to SCC.

In July, 2009 Barb retired and I was appointed. (By the way, today is my three-year anniversary of being at SCC!)  I began that summer and fall doing a listening tour.  I set up 40 days of prayer with the pastor.  Sarah and I had over 150 people over for desserts at the parsonage.  In November we had a congregation-wide consultation day with John Savage, a church consultant.  Out of that time of listening I was listening for where God was leading SCC.

The next spring in March, 2010 I attended a Church Planters Tune-up conference over a weekend.  While sitting in that conference, I had a moment of vision for the future of SCC that included 5 Points

  1. Values: Strengthen the execution of our current core values
  2. Missions: Love and serve the poor and poor in spirit in our church and community
  3. Growth: Rework membership & double the navigating members
  4. Ownership: Buy/build a building
  5. Plant: Plant a church

Whenever I have a moment like this I’m always somewhat skeptical of whether this is my own vision or whether it’s God’s vision.  So I brought this vision back to the leadership of the church and cast it before them.  Together in prayer we sensed that this was where God was leading us.  So in April, 2010 we held a vision meeting and presented this vision to you.  Overall, there was a positive reception to this vision and that confirmed again beyond even the leadership of the church that this was God’s vision for SCC.

While the first four points above were pretty clear, the last point, Plant, was still pretty fuzzy.  But God began to work on making that more clear.  In October, 2010, I attended the Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection (the largest UMC church in theUnited States) inKansas Cityto explore their urban church plant: Rez Downtown.  I began to glimpse what a church plant looks like in a different way and this vision began to work in the background of my imagination while we worked toward accomplishing the first four vision points.

Fast forward a year to September, 2011.  I began inviting some friends of mine who were students at MSU to attend SCC.  One of those friends sent me a message on Facebook asking if we had a service on another day than Sunday.  She was particularly interested in some kind of weekday service.  I filed that request in the back of my imagination.

In November, 2011 I attended a Church Panting 101 weekend and met John Ball, the associate pastor at Brighton UMC who is planting a church called Sanctus in a pub/café inBrighton.  The pub/café allowed them to meet there for free because it was a win-win situation for everyone.  I was really impressed with this model for planting a church because it didn’t require a huge investment of money and because it put the church out in the community.  It was what some writers call “missional” (go to) rather than “attractional” (come see).

So later that month I began talking to the owner of the Biggby that I regularly worked in.  He was very open to the idea and we began talking about what a church meeting might look like in one of his stores.

In December, 2011 anyone who wanted to attend was invited to a field trip to Sanctus.  About ten of us went, leaders of SCC and others.  Some of what we saw we liked and there were others things we could do without.  But the basic idea of meeting in a café/pub continued to grab our imaginations.

In January, 2012 the Team Leaders met and sought the LORD on this vision.  What we got was an even bigger vision than we had thus dreamed: 7 Satellites in 7 venues on 7 days of the week!  Whoa God!  Slow down.  We can’t keep up with you.  But that was the vision we got.  We think that’s where God is leading us because more and more Sundays are taken by travel, sports, and work.  We also as a church have aged a decade in a decade.  If we don’t reach out to new young people, we will continue to grow more and more lopsided over the years.

In February, 2012 we held another vision meeting to share with the church this vision of 7 satellites in 7 venues on 7 days of the week.  It was a breathtaking vision.  It was hard to see how we could come close to accomplishing it.   The obstacles seemed insurmountable.  But they began coming down one by one.

In March, 2012 I somehow ended up on a conference call with 10 other churches doing similar worship venues like this around the nation (pubs, parks, old churches, nursing homes, etc.).  I was amazed to find that God was doing this same thing all around the nation.

Later that month we began to build a launch team that was made up of new Christians, non-Christians, SCC fringe, those new to SCC, and SCC regulars.  We were amazed at how many people caught hold of this vision.

In April, 2012 we held our first Launch Team meeting to begin preparing for the launch of our first venue in Biggby.  Later that month we found out that the franchise wouldn’t allow us to do live music.  So we were stuck.  And yet, in May, 2012 we received a grant from the West Michigan Conference for $22,510.  The conference thought what we were doing was worth investing in.  But we didn’t have a really viable venue anymore.

Then came an experience I will never forget.  After about four or five hours of driving around on a Saturday with one of my team members looking for possible venues, we came across Grumpy’s Diner, where several reCRASH events for our men have taken place, at about 8PM.  It was closed.  We looked at the hours posted on the door and saw that they closed at 7PM.  That seemed great.  All I had to do was go in and meet the owner and talk him into staying open two more hours after they closed and giving us that space for free.  Impossible obstacle.  But that’s what I did.  I sat down for the first time with Bill, the owner of Grumpy’s, and he immediately caught the vision.  Stay open later?  No problem.  Free?  All I want to do is cover my expenses.  Why the good will?  Because, as I came to find out, Bill is a Christian.  He not only buys into the idea as a businessman, but he buys into the idea of Christians on a common mission to reach out to new people.  Thus, the venue was set.  Monday nights at Grumpy’s Diner.  Thank you, God!  2.1 seconds left, the pass, dribble, turn, shoot…

So here’s how this launch is going to work.  We’re going to hold three preview services each on the last Monday of the month in July, August, and September.  On October 8th we’ll launch weekly services.  Ten percent of our motivation is convenience for people who already attend SCC.  Ninety percent of our motivation is reaching out to new people.

Here’s what I’m asking you to do.  Pray.  Pray fervently.  Pray constantly.  Pray extendedly.  Pray.  In fact, we’re going to be organizing some prayer meetings around each preview and the launch.  Most will take place at my house on Sunday evenings.  Here’s the schedule:

Sunday, July 29 @ 7PM (for the July 30 – Preview)
Sunday, August 26 @ 7PM (for the August 27 – Preview)
Sunday, September 23 @ 7PM (for the September 24 – Preview)
Saturday, October 6 – 24 Hour Prayer Vigil (for the October 8 – Launch)
Sunday, October 7 @ 7PM (for the October 8 – Launch)

We’ll also need about 20-30 people to help create a critical mass of people for these previews.  You’ll hear more about all this as we get closer to those dates.

In the meantime, I’d like to invite you to pray for our church and for this venue.  The ushers are going to pass out a prayer card titled, “Life-Giving Prayers for Your Church.”  Would you put this card somewhere where you regularly sit and let it remind you to pray for our church and for this new satellite?  (If you weren’t in worship, you can contact the office to pick one up.)

We can put all the planning that we want into this satellite, but it will be through prayer that God will break people free.  Imagine the teenager without a dad finds community in the diner in his neighborhood.  Imagine the lonely individual sitting in his local diner longing for community.  He sees a sign that says a church meets in this same diner on Monday nights.  He comes and finds a curious, creative, and compassionate community that he hasn’t experienced before.  Imagine a married couple whose marriage is on the rocks.  They’ve decided to try a date night.  They go to their local diner.  While having another argument over the same thing they always argue about, they see that a church is meeting in that diner on Monday nights.  A church in a diner?  That’s just not what they expected.  They come and experience healing in their marriage.  Imagine the addict who is nursing a Monday morning hangover over a cup of coffee in his favorite diner.  He swears he won’t touch the stuff again.  But he’s made that promise before.  He’s even made that promise before God.  He got all religious at one point in his life.  But he’s since fallen off the wagon too many times to count.  But then he sees that church is meeting in this diner that very night.  A church in a diner?  That’s so unexpected that he thinks he just might show up…

Church, will you pray for these people?  Will you pray for the launch team?  Will you pray for me?  Will you pray that God will break people free?

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Good Friday Prayer Guide

March 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

CrossGood Friday Prayer Guide
April 6, 2012

This prayer guide will help guide your prayer time through the themes of Good Friday and then on to the future of the church.  We invite you to sign up for one or more 30 minute slots, and then pray wherever you are (home, office, outside, etc.).  If you have a hard time with a wandering mind (who doesn’t?), consider writing a letter to God over these 30 minutes.  Consider taking some time to fast on this day.  There are several ways to fast.  A total fast means skipping one or more meals.  An abstinence fast means abstaining from some kind of food.  One kind of abstinence fast is a Daniel Fast, eating only fruits and vegis (A guide to the “Daniel Fast” written by Sandee Kuprel is included below).

Prepare

Take some time to get comfortable.  Consider lighting a candle.  Spend a couple of minutes simply breathing in and out.  While breathing consider quietly repeating a favorite verse or Psalm 46:10 – Be still and know that I am God.  Breath out the stress of the day and breath in the Holy Spirit of God.

Good Friday

Read Luke 23. Jesus was arrested on false charges late Thursday and faced a grueling trial before religious leaders in the middle of the night. Early the next morning he was turned over to the Roman authorities, who eventually authorized his execution by crucifixion. He died a slow, painful death and then his body was taken away for burial in a nearby tomb. As the poet T. S. Eliot wrote in Four Quartets, “Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.” We know that Christ’s obedience and suffering has taken away our sin.

Take some time to name (silently or written) your own personal sin to God.  Perhaps you need to sit in silence and ask God to reveal these sins to you.  Take some time to ponder the sin of our church.  How are we not living into the community that God would desire of us?  Name (silently or written) those communal sins to God.

1 John 1:9 NLT – But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.

Know that because of Jesus’ life, death (and resurrection), your sins are forgiven.

Take some time to thank God for forgiveness.

SCC’s Future

Currently on Sunday morning our worship attendance has been shrinking.

Pray for discernment about why.  Pray for an invitational spirit in our church.  Pray for renewed commitment by those who are committed to SCC.  Pray for increased creativity and vitality in those who plan and lead worship, Kids Creek, and StuREV.

SCC has several initiatives leading us into the future.  We are currently about half-way through a capital campaign for a future building.  The total pledged was $366,000.  A little over half, $185,000, has come in thus far.

Thank God for the pledges that have been given thus far.  Pray for continued faithful giving over the second half of the campaign.  Thank God for the parsonage mortgage being paid off.  Pray for the continued work on the parsonage basement.  Pray for the continued discernment around a future building for SCC.

Another vision for the future of SCC is to launch seven satellites in seven venues on seven days of the week, a God-sized vision!  We are currently pulling together a launch team for the first satellite which will begin meeting weekly at the end of April.

Pray for the creation of this launch team.  Pray for the individuals to be built into a powerful team.  Pray for creativity, passion, commitment, and an invitational spirit.  Pray for the venue.  Pray for people who will come.  Pray for plans for the next satellite and the next and the next…

Closing

Take some time to simply sit in silence and listen for ways that God wants to continue speaking to you.  Consider writing down thoughts, scripture, or ideas that come to mind.  Close with the Lord’s Prayer.

Our Father, who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who have sinned against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and power and the glory forever.
Amen.

Join us at the parsonage at 7PM for a community prayer time

For further Good Friday prayer guidance:
www.pray-as-you-go.org has a ten stages of cross audio guide here that could be helpful for extra prayer time.

A Guide to a Daniel Fast
By Sandee Kuprel

Happy Spring!  What does spring make you think of?  Sunshine, fresh air, opening the windows….getting everything all spick and span clean?  With the recent series, “RPMS, relational, physical, mental and spiritual”, I’m more ready than ever to do an amazing spring cleaning called, “The Daniel Fast”.  What is it?

Daniel 1:8-16 says; 8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. 9 Now God had caused the official to show favor and compassion to Daniel, 10 but the official told Daniel, “I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you.”

11 Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, 12 “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. 13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” 14 So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

15 At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. 16 So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

Now, why on earth would I want to do such a thing you ask?

Daniel 17-20 says17 As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of]literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams.

18 Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. 19 The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king’s personal service. 20 As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm.

Are you intrigued?

As a church, Sycamore Creek is at a crucial point in life, we are still transitioning, renewing and developing…who does God want us to be?  What is our next step?  With the prayer vigil coming up on Good Friday wouldn’t it be powerful if we were all fasting as well?  Wouldn’t that wisdom and understanding be a valuable tool to us right now?  A Daniel fast is something that most people can participate in.  Of course, if you have medical concerns or are under the care of a doctor, please consult them before beginning.  By doing this, we allow God better access to us in mind, body and spirit, we allow Him to lead us.  Eric and I have done this for quite a few years and have been amazed at what God has done in our lives simply by surrendering in this way.  He has given us insight into areas that just seemed to be blocked, answers to questions, the next steps to take, the lifting of strongholds and more.

As a church we will collectively pray for Sycamore Creek Church, Tom and the Leadership team.  Now, is this a time where you would ask for needs or insight for yourself or your family?  Absolutely!  God heals and blesses through us.  If  you are lacking in anyway, I believe that he will heal that in you as it flows out to others….and that has been my experience.  We need to be blessed to be a blessing and to have our cups run over to share.  John 10:10 says; “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”.  This is on every level, physical, emotional, mental and spiritual….and of course, as a church.

Your fast can be what you agree to do with God.  You can do it only on Good Friday, extend it to 3 days, 10 days or 21 days.  Pray and ask for guidance on what God would like for you to do.  The important thing is to do what you agreed to.   Write out your reasons for the fast prior to doing it, (with SCC, Tom and the Leadership team at the top : ), don’t forget to include your personal reasons, and pray it daily during the fast and at the moments where you feel weak and want to slip up, don’t worry, it’s likely you will want to…by keeping the prayers, it will remove the desire and strengthen your conviction.  Let’s see what God will do through us!

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Prayers That Stick: CRAP

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Prayers that Stick

Prayers That Stick: CRAP (Prayers of Lament and Cursing)
Sycamore Creek Church
March 25, 2012
Tom Arthur
Psalm 13

CRAPCRAP friends.

Yeah, that’s right.  CRAP.  Everyone is lamenting today.  The Spartans are out.  The Wolverines are out.  The Blue Devils are out.  Everyone.   At least your team didn’t lose in the first round to a team you’ve never heard of before.  CRAP.

Well, today we’re continuing a series on prayers from the book of Psalms.  We’re looking at prayers of lament and cursing.  OK. My “lament” for the way that March Madness is turning out is really more like a complaint than a lament.  You know what I mean?  There is a significant difference between the two.

Complaint: Having to listen to your talkative friend.
Lament: Having your talkative friend talk behind your back.

Complaint: Waiting in a long line at the grocery store
Lament: Not having enough money to buy groceries

Complaint: Paying $4/gal for gas to drive to work
Lament: Not having work to drive to

Complaint: Not liking the songs sung at church
Lament: Not being able to gather legally to sing songs at church

CRAP!

We hear a lot of complaints from those around us, but have you ever really heard someone lament?  You’ve never heard a lament until you’ve heard a southern Pentecostal woman lament.  Sarah and I lived in a house with several other Christians and we offered hospitality to women and children in transition.  It was kind of like living in the homeless shelter with your small group.  One day while I was a seminary I was sitting in my chair reading when I heard a wail go up like nothing I’d ever heard before.  I jumped up and ran out of my room to see what was happening.  “Mary” had come back from church and felt that one of her trusted friends had stabbed her in the back.  Her trust was shattered not just by anyone but by someone who was supposed to be her spiritual sister.  Being a Pentecostal, Mary was prone to letting it all hang out.  She cried and cried out loud and louder than I had ever really heard someone cry before.

As the house gathered around her, we hugged her, laid hands on her, and began to pray for her.  I didn’t know exactly what to pray, but I felt God’s Spirit leading me to the words of scripture.  Whenever you don’t have words for your prayers, turn to scripture.  So I began reciting the psalms I had memorized looking for a suitable one:

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked.
Psalm 1.  No, not right.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth.
Psalm 100.  Not even close.

The heavens are telling the glory of God.
Psalm 19.  No way.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love;
Psalm 51.  Sounding good…

According to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions.
No.  This isn’t a moment of confession.

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
Psalm 139.  Getting close.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Psalm 23.  Still close but not quite.

How long, O Lord, will you forget me? Forever?
Psalm 13.  Perfect!

The only problem was that I had not yet memorized Psalm 13.  CRAP!  In that moment I realized that I had only memorized “happy” psalms.  I hadn’t only jumped over all the pain and hurt in the Psalms.  All the suffering.  So after that night I made a commitment to memorize a psalm of lament, and I landed on Psalm 13.

Psalm 13 NRSV
How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the LORD,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.

The psalms are found in the middle of your Bible and are prayers in the form of poetry.  It’s essential to remember that whenever you read them.  Because they are poetry they will have multiple meanings.  They will also use very few words to get across a lot of depth, and there are many forms of poems: praise, awe and wonder, lament, confession, wisdom, and more.  (By the way, do you know where a poem comes from?  A poe-tree.  Ugghhh…In a sermon on lament you’ve got to get a laugh in where you can.)

Because the psalms are prayers, they are very personal in nature.  Reading or praying a psalm is kind of like reading someone else’s journal.  Sometimes you learn more about them than you do about God.   You’re learning about their feelings about God more than about who God is.  And often in the psalms there is an honesty that we are not always comfortable with.  We would prefer to think that God’s people don’t really feel like that, don’t really have those emotions.  But we do, and the psalms teach us that being honest with God changes us.

It is interesting to note that in Hebrew the book of Psalms is titled “Tehillim” which  means “praises.”  But there are actually more laments in the book of psalms than there are praises.  The ancient Hebrew people apparently thought it was also a praise to God to lament to God.   Perhaps this can be seen most clearly in the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem.  I visited the Wailing Wall in 2007.  It is a very sacred place where people come to lament all kinds of things, but especially the tensions between Jews and Muslims in the Middle East and especially in Jerusalem.  People place written prayers (often laments) in the cracks of the Wailing Wall.  Here is a recognized place where it is appropriate to come and lament.  The church, on the other hand, does not know how to lament.  Let me give you one example.  Jeremy and I spent way too much time trying to find songs that would work with this sermon today.  All our songs are “praise songs.”  We don’t have any “lament songs.”  So we ended up choosing psalms that at least referenced struggle or pain in some way.

Nancy Duff, Professor of Ethics at Princeton, says this about lament:

Psalms of lament allow us to speak from the darkest regions of the heart, where our despair threatens to overwhelm us.  In so speaking we do not exhibit a lack of faith, but stand in a biblical tradition that recognizes that no part of life, including the most hideous and painful parts, is to be withheld from God, who loves us, who in Jesus Christ speaks the psalms of lament alongside us, and who proclaims hope, when there can—at least for the time being—be no hope in us.  The church would do well to recover this biblical practice of lamentation. (Nancy J. Duff, Recovering Lamentation as a Practice in the Church, an essay in the compilation Lament: Reclaiming Practices in Pulpit, Pew, and Public Square edited by Brown and Miller.)

Cursing

Sometimes our pain and lament is so strong that it leads us to cursing those who caused us this pain.  The psalms are quite familiar with this kind of pain and often turn it into prayers.  Sometimes the cursing in the psalms is pretty graphic like that in Psalm 137 which says:

Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock! (Psalm 137: 9 NLT)

CRAP!  Was that in the Bible?  Happy is what?  This psalm is written during the Jewish exile in Babylon.  The Babylonians came and sacked Israel and carted off many Israelites to Babylon.  Imagine a foreign invader coming and destroying the United States then forcefully relocating you to a foreign land.  That’s how bad it was.  You can imagine the pain that is underneath this psalm of cursing.

But are we to take this seriously?  I’m not so sure.  Remember sometimes we learn more about the emotion of the psalmist than we do about God.  Consider this for a moment.  The phrase “Happy are” is a stock wisdom phrase in the psalms.  It shows up many times.  Here are some instances:

Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked.  Psalm 1:1
Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven.  Psalm 32:1
Happy are those who make the LORD their trust.  Psalm 40:4
Happy are those whose strength is in you.  Psalm 84:5
Happy are those who fear the LORD. Psalm 112:1
Happy shall they be who take your little ones and dash them against the rock! Psalm 137:9

There’s quite a difference between all the other psalms that use this phrase and Psalm 137.  I think the psalmist is intending to be outrageous, even absurd; maybe even a little sarcastic.  A modern example might be the movie title “Thank You for Smoking.”  You’re supposed to understand that there’s a wink and nod in there.  But in the end, you will not be happy or blessed by dashing babies against rocks, even the babies of your enemies.

Usually the cursing psalms come from the perspective of having completely open hands.  Consider Psalm 109, the nuclear bomb of cursing psalms:

Psalm 109:7-15 NLT
When his case is called for judgment,
let him be pronounced guilty.
Count his prayers as sins.
Let his years be few;
let his position be given to someone else.
May his children become fatherless,
and may his wife become a widow.
May his children wander as beggars;
may they be evicted from their ruined homes.
May creditors seize his entire estate,
and strangers take all he has earned.
Let no one be kind to him;
let no one pity his fatherless children.
May all his offspring die.
May his family name be blotted out in a single generation.
May the LORD never forget the sins of his ancestors;
may his mother’s sins never be erased from the record.
May these sins always remain before the LORD,
but may his name be cut off from human memory.

CRAP!  When was the last time you prayed like that?  Notice that the psalmist is asking God to do all this.  The psalmist’s hands are empty.  He is giving it up to God.  All his anger, frustration, pain, and suffering.  God, you take vengeance on this creep! Not me, but you.

So let’s go back to Psalm 13 and see if we can learn anything more about how to lament.  There is a basic pattern in Psalm 13: Despair – Demands – Deliverance.

Despair

Did you notice how many times the psalmist asks “How long?”  How long…How long…How long…How long?  Four times.  It’s OK to ask God, “How long?”  Sometimes God feels absent and sorrow overwhelms us.  Maybe some of this at times has to do with our own ego getting the worst of it.  Did you catch the psalmist lamenting that his enemy might gloat over him: Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!” (Psalm 13:4 NLT).

Demands

From despair the psalmist moves to making demands.  Notice all the strong command words: Look! (Pay attention!) Answer!  (I’m waiting!)  Give!  (Now!)  But these demands aren’t the demands of someone who doesn’t know God.  Notice that the psalmist calls God “my God.”  There’s a kind of intimacy here.  The intimacy is what makes the demands possible.  These demands also come with reasons.  If you don’t act, God, this is what will happen: I’ll die and the enemy will gloat and rejoice.

Deliverance

There’s a key word that begins verse five: But.  From despair and demands the psalmist turns a corner in the last two verses.  Two-thirds of the psalm is lament.  One-third is devoted to praise.  Here we see the psalmist reiterating his trust in God.  There is an anticipation of being rescued and saved.  His heart is, after much lament, rejoicing and singing.  I think it is helpful to recognize that while the psalmist has turned the corner here, we’re not told whether the situation got any better or not.  It is a praise for deliverance built on the faith that God wins.

While Psalm 13 makes this turn to praise at the end of the prayer, there are at least two psalms of the 150 in the Bible that don’t make that turn to praise.  Psalms 39 & 88 don’t turn toward praise.  I think this suggests that there are times where our hearts are so overwhelmed that we cannot turn to praise after lament.  Psalms 39 & 88 give us permission to stay in lament for some time longer.  How much longer?  I don’t know.  But my sense is that there is no rush.

Lament

So how should we pray?  What can we learn from the psalms of lament and the psalms of cursing?   If I were to boil it down to one thing it would be this: be honest in your prayers.  If you’re hurting, tell God.  If you don’t like what’s happening to you, tell God.   If you’re fed up with how slow God is at answering your prayers, tell God.  If you feel  like your prayers are falling on deaf ears, tell God.  If you’d really like you ex to have all kinds of bad things happen to them, tell God.  If your kids are driving you crazy, tell God.  If you can’t find a job and you feel like you’re sinking and God doesn’t care, tell God.

Then make demands to our God.  Tell God exactly what you want and why.  God, I’m tired of being depressed.  Heal me.  God, I’m sick and tired of looking for a job. Give me one.  God, I can’t stand my ex boyfriend.  Make his new girlfriend cheat on him like he cheated on me.  While you’re at it, my boss doesn’t respect or honor me in any way.  Next time he’s up for promotion, don’t let him get it.  Then let God deal with it.  It’s out of your hands.

Lastly, don’t forget to thank God in the midst of all this despair and all these demands.  Thank God before you even figure out how God is going to answer your prayer (or if God will answer it at all).  Thank God for the ways God has been good to you in the past.

Sometimes this kind of true lament is truly hard to do on Sunday morning in a community gathering.  Maybe that’s why it’s so hard for us.  Who wants to bear their soul to a ton of people they barely know?  Not many of us.  Maybe this is why small groups are so important.  Here at SCC we believe that small groups are essential to spiritual growth.  Part of that is because lament, which is a key element of growing spiritually, often happens more frequently in small groups than it does in large groups.  My own small group often meets and shares with one another the crap in our lives.  It’s kind of like small group is the toilet where you’re able to flush the crap out.  Do you have a small group where you can flush the crap out of your life?  Do you have a group of people you meet with regularly (at least every other week) where you can be honest about the crap in your life?  If not, find one.  We’ve got several here in our church, but they’re not the only ones out there.

While Sarah and I were living in Durham in the house I told you about (our small group for flushing the crap out of our lives), I was working on translating Psalm 22.  It’s the prayer that Jesus quoted as he hung on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.”  Notice that Jesus asks “Why?” too.  I decided to take some poetic license with Psalm 22 and put it into the context of where we were living which was the ghetto of Durham.  All kinds of crazy stuff happened all the time in our neighborhood.  I cataloged it and lamented to God.  Here is the first half.

Psalm 22 According to East Durham:

Eli, eli, lamah, ‘azavtani
My God!  My God!  Why have you abandoned me?

All these things surround me.  They circle around me.  They are on all sides.  I can’t get away from them:

Hanging plants stolen from old ladies’ porches,
Packs of stray dogs roaming the streets,
Boarded up houses surrounding me.
Vandalized houses all about.
Paint splattered on remodeled houses.
Broken windows.
Businesses sabotaged time and time again.
Stolen copper pipes.
The boom of cars driving by,
The blast of train horns in the night,
Sirens screaming on Sunday morning,
Disjointed lovers spilling into the streets
cursing one another,
Single mothers missing fathers for their babies.
People going hungry, begging for food and help.
Women reduced to subsist by selling their bodies,
Innocent women receiving propositions,
even on the way to church!
Gunshots into the night,
Gunshots on Christmas Eve!
Welcome to Durham?  Welcome to gangs!
Crack houses on my block.
Police raids with smoke and sirens and shotguns,
while children play in the back yard.
Homicides and shootings mere blocks from my home.
Choppers and search lights.
An ambivalent 911.
Fear.

Are you soon to deal me death?
You did not save your son from death.  Am I to meet the same end?

Eli, eli, lamah, ‘azavtani
My God!  My God!  Why have you abandoned me?

 

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Prayers that Stick – OMG

March 19, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Prayers that Stick

Prayers that Stick – OMG (Prayers of Wonder)
Sycamore Creek Church
March 18, 2012
Tom Arthur
Psalm 148

Peace Friends!

Have you ever been totally overwhelmed with wonder for God’s creation?  Completely in a state of awe?  A couple of years ago Hungrybear9562 uploaded a video of just such a moment to You Tube, which has since become known as the double rainbow video.

You can hear Hungrybear9562, also known as Paul Vasquez, say several times in the video, “Oh my God!”  I don’t think that his statement is really a literal cry out to God, but there’s no reason why it couldn’t be.  The shorter, OMG, also isn’t usually used in our culture as a real prayer, but literally it is.  It’s a cry of wonder and awe at the creation of God.

Today we’re continuing a series called Prayers that Stick, by looking at prayers of wonder and awe, particularly wonder and awe at creation.  Have you ever heard someone pray or prayed yourself in a way that just didn’t stick.  It didn’t seem like it stuck with you and you wondered if it even stuck with God.  In this series we’re exploring the prayers in the book of Psalms, and we think these are prayers that stick, both with us and with God.  Last week we looked at Psalm 103, a prayer of praise.  Today we look at Psalm 148, a prayer of wonder and awe at creation.  So let’s begin with the psalm.

Psalm 148 NLT
Praise the LORD!
Praise the LORD from the heavens!
Praise him from the skies!
Praise him, all his angels!
Praise him, all the armies of heaven!
Praise him, sun and moon!
Praise him, all you twinkling stars!
Praise him, skies above!
Praise him, vapors high above the clouds!
Let every created thing give praise to the LORD,
for he issued his command, and they came into being.
He established them forever and forever.
His orders will never be revoked.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
you creatures of the ocean depths,
fire and hail, snow and storm,
wind and weather that obey him,
mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
wild animals and all livestock,
reptiles and birds,
kings of the earth and all people,
rulers and judges of the earth,
young men and maidens,
old men and children.
Let them all praise the name of the LORD.
For his name is very great;
his glory towers over the earth and heaven!
He has made his people strong,
honoring his godly ones —
the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the LORD!

All Inclusive Praise of Wonder and Awe

Did you notice the all inclusive language of praise in the psalm?  It’s as if Hungrybear9562 is standing before a double rainbow shouting out, “Let every created thing give praise to the LORD.”

Now the all inclusive language of Psalm 148 shouldn’t really surprise us.  Throughout the entire Bible God shows care and interest in all of creation, not just humans.  In Genesis after the flood, God tells Noah, “Yes, this is the sign of my covenant with all the creatures of the earth” (Genesis 9:17 NLT).  “With all the creatures of the earth.”  God didn’t just make a covenant after the flood with humans, but with every living creature too.

Then in the story of Jonah there’s a very unusual ending.  After Jonah has run from God’s call to preach to Nineveh, been swallowed by a whale, gives in and goes to preach to Nineveh, Nineveh repents and changes their ways, and God is merciful and forgives them, Johan is a little upset. He didn’t want to go to Nineveh in the first place because he knew that God was merciful.  He hated the people of Nineveh more than he loved God’s mercy.  So Jonah is upset with God for being merciful.  God responds saying, “And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:11 NLT).  That’s the last line in the book of Jonah.  And that’s the last word in the book of Jonah too.  “Animals.”  God is concerned not only with the people of Nineveh but also the “many animals”!

Then the last psalm, Psalm 150, says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”  In other words, all living creatures.  Humans and animals.  So it seems from all these examples that animals and humans both praise God in some way or another, and both are important to God.

But Psalm 148 takes this all inclusive praise of God a step further.  Did you catch it?  Psalm 148 says that not only do all creatures stand in wonder and awe of God and praise God, but all creation!  Animate and inanimate alike!

There are three movements to the poetry of Psalm 148.  The first in verses one through six is a praise of wonder from the heavens.  The second in verses seven through ten is a praise of wonder from the earth.  The third and last in verses eleven through fourteen is a praise of wonder from humans.  Including all three of these realms right alongside both animals and humans, we see the sun, moon, stars, vapors, clouds, fire, hail, snow, storm, wind, weather, mountains, fruit trees, and cedars all praising God in wonder and awe.  OMG!

Creation’s Praise

The question immediately comes to my mind: How does creation praise God?  How does creation stand in wonder and awe of God?  I think there are two ways that creation praises God in wonder and awe.

First, we recognize the creator in creation, and we praise the creator having been prompted by creation to do so.  We give creation the words that it lacks.  Psalm 19 says, “The heavens tell of the glory of God. The skies display his marvelous craftsmanship.”  We look at creation, and we see God’s fingerprints all over it and we say, “OMG!”

Second, and a step deeper into who creation praises God, is that regardless of whether we recognize creation’s praise or not, God recognizes it.  You might put the question this way: If a tree stands in a wood and no one is there to see it, does it still praise God?  The answer to that question is, “Yes.  Because God still sees it.”  Creation brings God joy.  It is God’s temple.  In the creation story of Genesis we read that every day of creation, God sees what God has done and exclaims, “This is good!”  Then on the last day of rest, God looks over all that God has created and says, “This is really good!”  God enjoys and delights in creation whether we do or not.  OMG!

Why is this?  Why does God delight in creation?  That is a deep mystery but maybe we catch a glimpse of the answer when we read the first chapter of the book of John in the New Testament.  There we read that Jesus, the Word/Reason/Intellect of God “created everything there is. Nothing exists that he didn’t make” (John 1:3-4 NLT).  Maybe God the Father looks at creation and delights in it because God the Father sees the fingerprints of the son all over it.

On Valentine’s Day this year I got a very special card.  It was the first drawing I received from my son, Micah, who is almost a year and a half old right now.  My wife gave him some crayons for the first time and he made some marks and lines on a piece of paper.  She spruced it up and wrote his name next to some of the lines so that I would know which ones were his lines.  Those lines sang praises to me because in them I recognized the love I have for my son.  Maybe God the Father looks at creation and recognizes in it the love he shares with the son.

Creation praises God not just because we recognize its creator and we praise God for it, but also because God recognizes the love of the Son in it and it brings joy to God.  OMG!

Creation Care

This kind of prayer sticks to us in some unique ways.  I think this kind of prayer pushes us to live differently, to pay special attention to caring for God’s creation and the creation’s praise of God.

Notice in verse five and thirteen of Psalm 148 that the psalmist begins saying, “Let them…praise.”  Don’t hinder them.  Don’t get in the way of creation praising God.  Don’t you dare take that Valentine’s Card from Micah away from me!  The psalmist is speaking to us in those verses.  Do not hinder creation from praising God.  OMG!

I think there are three reasons that compel us to care for (I’m not talking about worshiping, but caring for) creation.  First, it is an expression of your love for your  neighbor.  Creation points others to God and to praise God.  Here at SCC we like to talk about helping people connect to God.  Creation’s praise is a very significant way that we connect with God.  Paul, the great early missionary of the church, said to the Christians in Rome, “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God” (Romans 1:20 NLT).  When people look at creation, they see and understand that a divine power exists, and it puts within them a longing to know that divinity.  They look at creation and say, OMG!

Second, caring for creation is also about taking care of ourselves and our neighbor.  It is about serving our neighbor, because we all are dependent upon creation.  I recently read about research in Mexico City, one of the most polluted cities in the world, on the effects of pollution on the brain.  Did you know that smog can have negative effects on your brain?  We love our neighbor and serve them by caring for creation.  It’s the basic Golden Rule, “Do for others as you would like them to do for you” (Luke 6:31 NLT)

Third, caring for creation is also about growing in your own love for God.  Because our creator delights in creation, when we delight in creation by caring for it, we are taking on the character of God.  We are becoming more like God.

Proverbs says, “The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel” (Proverbs 12:10 NLT).  Which one do you want to be?  Godly or wicked?  “Let them all praise the name of the LORD” (Psalm 148:13 NLT).  OMG!

Living Differently

So this prayer of awe and wonder compels us to live differently, to live in a way that cares for creation.  Let me make some practical suggestions about how to do this.

First, live simply.  Consume less.  I recently took an online inventory at www.myfootprint.org that calculates how many acres it takes to support my lifestyle.  Then it multiples that by the number of people on earth and tells you how many earths it would take to support everyone living the way I lived.  My footprint equals 4.26 earths!  Yikes!  So how do I consume less?

Eat lower on the food chain, it consumes less energy and saves that food for others.  It takes three pounds of grain to produce one pound of chicken and thirteen pounds of grain to produce one pound of beef.  Eat local and in season.  Much of the food we eat is shipped 1500 miles to get to your table.  Fresh pineapple in March probably produced a lot of smog on the way to your stomach.  Tending a garden in your backyard guarantees that you eat local.  Better yet, start a community garden amongst your neighbors.  Garden without all the chemicals.  Get rid of the pesticides and fertilizers.  Go organic.

Use less energy.  Consider walking or biking instead of driving.  Try riding the bus from time to time.  The next time you buy a car, buy one that gets better gas mileage.   Turn off your lights.  Turn off your computers when you’re not using them.  Use less water.  Take shorter showers.  Turn the water off while you’re brushing your teeth.

Buy used rather than new, and don’t buy anything unless your old stuff is worn out and needs replacing.  We’ve gotten so used to having to have the newest and latest and most fashionable thing, that we’ve ignored the impact that all this newness has on creation.  It takes a lot of resources to keep producing all that new stuff.  And where does the old stuff go?  Into landfills.  Recycle what you can.  Coming up is our local Recycle-Rama.  Save up all your hard-to-recycle stuff throughout the year (Styrofoam, corks, appliances, plastic, books, CFLs, oil and grease, and all kinds of other stuff www.lansingrecycles.com) and bring it in.  Consider volunteering for this event.

Go back to the basics of kindergarten and share your stuff: your toys, your tools, your home.  My neighbor Paul shares his snow blower with us.  Why do we both need snow blowers?  I share my gardening tools with everyone in my community garden.  I’ve got lots of backpacking and camping equipment.  If you’re interested, don’t buy new stuff.  Just borrow it from me.  I have friends in Petoskey who share their boats with me.  That’s the best way to own a boat!

Lastly, get out and enjoy creation.  Turn off the “vast wasteland” of TV and the internet and go outside.  Play.  Wonder.  Be in awe.  Meditate on creation.  One great way to meditate on creation is to make art.  Forget about trying to make good art.  Enjoy the process.  I’m not a painter.  I don’t make great paintings.  But when I go backpacking, I like to bring paints with me.  It slows me down.  I notice all kinds of things about creation that I wouldn’t have noticed by trying to replicate it on paper: the way the light and shadows fall on a blade of grass, the way the wind blows across a lake, the way dune grass dances in the wind.  And now we’re back to enjoying creation and taking on the character of God.  When you enjoy creation you connect with God.  You pray to God.  A prayer that sticks.  Let all creation praise the LORD.  OMG!

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Prayers that Stick – Just Sayin

March 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Prayers that Stick

Prayers that Stick – Just Sayin
Sycamore Creek Church
March 11, 2012
Tom Arthur
Psalm 103

Peace Friends!

Do you ever find yourself saying, “I’m just sayin”?  We use this as a phrase that means that we’re actually not “just sayin.”  We are intending to mean something more, something deeper, but we’re a little uncomfortable with what we’re saying so we soften it by saying, “Just sayin.”  Today we begin a series on prayer, and we’re going to see how our words of prayer point to something deeper, something more profound, something that if we’re honest, we’re not always comfortable with.  Just sayin.

This four week series is going to be exploring the book of Psalms.  The book of Psalms is the prayer book of the Bible.  It’s easy to find.  Just open up to the middle of your Bible and nine out of ten times you find it.  The prayers found in the book of Psalms are in the form of Hebrew poetry.  Keep that in mind whenever you read the psalms.  It’s poetry.  That means it has multiple levels of meaning.  It’s not always super simple to tease out which level of meaning you’re on.  For example, because these are prayers, we often learn more about the person praying than we do about God.  The prayers of the Psalms are gritty and raw and honest.  All the junk comes out, and sometimes I’d like to stick that junk in a closet where no one can see it.  So we’ve got multiple levels going on here in this poetry: learning about what the psalmist is feeling, learning what we’re feeling, and learning something about God.  But the first two are sometimes more apparent than the last.  Just sayin.

Over the course of this series we’re going to look at prayers of praise (Just sayin), prayers of wonder of creation (OMG), prayers of lament and cursing (CRAP), and prayers of confession (DUH).  These are prayers that stick.  They stick to you and they stick to God.  So let’s dive in to prayers of praise, Just Sayin, and see what sticks.

The Hebrew name for the book of Psalms is Tehellim, which means praises.  So we’re going to start with a praise psalm, Psalm 103.  But keep in mind that while these are the kinds of psalms that we usually think of in the book of Psalms, praises are the least common kind of prayer in the Psalms.  There are more laments in the psalms than praises (but that’s week three).

Psalm 103 teaches us how to praise God, and in it we see that praise includes two aspects: thanksgiving and adoration.  Thanksgiving has to do with praising God for what God does, while adoration has to do with praising God for who God is.  Thanksgiving = what God does.  Adoration = who God is.  Let’s read Psalm 103 and look for both.

Psalm 103 NLT

Praise the LORD, I tell myself;
with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.
Praise the LORD, I tell myself,
and never forget the good things he does for me.
He forgives all my sins
and heals all my diseases.
He ransoms me from death
and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.
He fills my life with good things.
My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!
The LORD gives righteousness
and justice to all who are treated unfairly.
He revealed his character to Moses
and his deeds to the people of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious;
he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love.
He will not constantly accuse us,
nor remain angry forever.
He has not punished us for all our sins,
nor does he deal with us as we deserve.
For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth.
He has removed our rebellious acts
as far away from us as the east is from the west.
The LORD is like a father to his children,
tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
For he understands how weak we are;
he knows we are only dust.
Our days on earth are like grass;
like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone —
as though we had never been here.
But the love of the LORD remains forever
with those who fear him.
His salvation extends to the children’s children
of those who are faithful to his covenant,
of those who obey his commandments!

The LORD has made the heavens his throne;
from there he rules over everything.
Praise the LORD, you angels of his,
you mighty creatures who carry out his plans,
listening for each of his commands.
Yes, praise the LORD, you armies of angels
who serve him and do his will!
Praise the LORD, everything he has created,
everywhere in his kingdom.
As for me — I, too, will praise the LORD.

Thanksgiving

Did you see the praise of thanksgiving for what God does, God’s activity, in Psalm 103?  In verse two the prayer begins with a command to oneself: “Do not forget all God’s benefits.”   What are those benefits?  Here’s a list from the psalm:

v3. God forgives & heals

v4. God ransoms us & surrounds us with love and mercy

v5. God fills us with good things

v6. God watches out for the oppressed

v8. God is merciful & gracious to us

v8. God is slow to anger & full of unfailing love.

Just sayin: Praise God for what God does!

Have you ever tried to list everything you’re thankful for?  Every once in a while I’ve tried to make an exhaustive list of everything I’m thankful for.  It usually runs into four or more single-spaced typed pages.  I usually get tired of the exercise before I finish it.  It’s like those times when you ask a child to pray and they begin listing all the things they are thankful for, “God, thank you for my mom and my dad.  For my stuffed animals.  For my books.  For my bike.  For my barn toy house.  For my play phone.  For my sled.  For my Frisbee…”  And on and on it goes.

Jews tend to be more imaginative than we are when it comes to thanking God.  Some years ago I came across this prayer in a Jewish prayer book:

Blessed are you, O Lord, King of the Universe, who formed humankind with wisdom, and created in them many orifices and passages.  It is revealed and known before your throne of glory, that if one of them were open, or one of them were shut, then it would be impossible to exist and to stand before you.  Blessed are you, O Lord, Healer of all flesh, who does wondrously.

Now that’s a serious prayer.  It is funny, especially the “throne of glory” part, but it’s serious.  Have you ever sat next to the bedside of someone in the hospital who wasn’t passing gas?  I have.  It is no fun.  Thank you God for holy flatulence!

Just sayin: Praise God for what God does!

While we are praising God for what God does, let’s not forget the most important thing God does for us: he forgives us our sins.  We read in verse twelve that God removes our “rebellious acts” (our intentional crossing of lines) as far as East (literally the “sunrise”) is from the West (literally the “sunset”).  “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Just sayin: Praise God for what God does!

Adoration

But why does God do what God does?  God does what God does because of who God is.  God’s actions arise out of God’s character, God’s being, God’s essence.  Think about it this way: a tree bears apples because it is an apple tree.  An oak is not going to bear apples no matter how much it wants to.  The fruit of God’s actions come out of God’s character, being, and essence.

Just sayin: Praise God for God!

Psalm 103 begins right off the bat with adoration.  We read in verse one: I will praise his holy name.  Now we’re talking about who God is.  God is holy.  God is so holy that even God’s name is holy.

Just sayin: Praise God for God!

Several years ago A.J. Jacobs, an editor-at-large for Esquire Magazine and non-practicing Jew, wrote a book titled, The Year of Living Biblically.  He attempted to follow literally every command of the Bible for a year.  It is a wonderful book full of all kinds of humor and insight.  When he came to the Psalms he found himself having a hard time with praising and adoring God.  He could do the whole thanksgiving thing, but adoration seemed so foreign to him.  Some of this may have to do with an image we have of heaven that tends to seem more like hell than heaven: 24/7 harps and singing for infinity.  Well, that’s not what I think heaven will be like, but that’s probably our primary image of adoration.  But there may be another issue at work here too, but I want to come back to that later.  In the meantime, as we walk through praise of adoration, perhaps you will struggle like Jacobs.  So hang on.  I’m going to come back to this problem again at the end.

Thomas Merton in his book, Praying the Psalms, writes:

If we have no real interest in praising [God], it shows that we have never realized who [God] is. For when one becomes conscious of who God really is, and when one realizes that [God] who is almighty, and infinitely holy, has ‘done great things to us,’ the only possible reaction is the cry of half-articulate exultation that bursts from the depths of our being in amazement at the tremendous, inexplicable goodness of God to [humanity].

Just sayin: Praise God for God!

So let’s go a little deeper into who God is.  The first thing anyone runs into who tries to describe who God is is a lack of words.  God is indescribable.  God is inexpressible.  It is sometimes easier to say what God is not than say what God is.  When Moses asked God who he was, God responded with, “I am what I am” (Exodus 3:14).  Oh, that clears everything up.  Right?

Thomas Aquinas is one of the two greatest thinkers in all of church history.  He wrote prolifically about God.  His greatest work called the “Summa Theologica” or “Summary of Words about God” was going along just fine with five volumes, when he had a vision of God while in worship.  He was unable to finish his work and considered it a “pile of straw.”  So whenever we begin to talk about who God is, we must approach this with a kind of humility.  If everything Thomas had written was a pile of straw in comparison to the real thing, then what will our words about God be?

And yet, there have been some things that Christians over the centuries have found as anchor points for talking about God.  First, God is unique.  There is nothing like God.  Isaiah, the ancient prophet, says, “For I am God, I alone! I am God, and there is no one else like me” (Isaiah  46:9 NLT).

Second, God is transcendent.  “Transcendent” literally means to climb across or above.  Have you ever been climbing up a mountain and felt like you were just at the top but then realized it was a false summit and you had more to climb.  God is like that.  Every time we think we have reached the top, we are only at a false summit.  There is always more.  Psalm 113 says, “The LORD is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens” (113:4 NLT).

Third, God is One.  God is utterly simple.  There are no parts and there is no division.  God is not a yin and yang, part good and part evil.  God is one.  The great Jewish proclamation called “The Shema” (literally “Hear”) comes from Deuteronomy 6:4 which says, “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.”

And yet, while Christians hold that God is one, we also hold that God is three.  God is one God in three persons, the Trinity.  There is a dynamic relationship within the very being of who God is.  God’s essence of oneness is not static.  It is sometimes a little hard to wrap our minds around this so some metaphors, while they will break down at some point, are helpful.  God is three and one like a triangle, which has three sides but is one object.  God is three and one like speech, which has a speaker, words, and breath, but is one thing, speech.  God is three and one like fire, which has a flame, heat, and light.  God the Father is the source of all things.  The Son is the Word or mind of God become flesh.  The Spirit is the friendship that the Father and son share.  So when we say “praise God for God,” this is the God we mean: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

What Christians ultimately want to affirm about God is that within the very being of God is loving community. The Father loves the Son in the Spirit.  Thus, lastly, God is love (John 4:8).  But God is love because God is Trinity: one God in three persons.  Love always includes a relationship, and within the very being of God is a relationship of love.

We read about this love in several places in Psalm 103.  The Hebrew word here is important: Hesed.  It means “steadfast love” or “loving kindness.”  It is God’s unconditional love for us.  God “crowns you with hesed” (103:4), is “abounding in hesed” (103:8), is “so great is his hesed” (103:11), and “the hesed of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting” (103:17). One author summarizes God as “A burning, inexhaustible, unwavering, loving determination” (Michael Ward in Heresies and How to Avoid Them).

Just sayin: Praise God for God!

So back to AJ Jacobs and his struggle with adoring God.  I wonder if that struggle doesn’t come out of this reality.  Adoration is always a function of a loving relationship.  I have no problem adoring my son because I love him.  I have no trouble stating exactly what he is.  He is my son.  He is made in the image of God.  He is beautiful beyond what I can describe.  He is mine, but even more so he is God’s.  I praise and adore him for who he is because I love him.

Perhaps Jacobs had a hard time praising God in adoration because he has not yet entered into that unfailing, loving friendship that the Father and Son share in the Spirit.  That community of who God is in God’s very being is always beckoning us, always wooing us, always yearning for us to join in.  Have you responded to that invitation?  Have you joined in the love that God shares within God’s very own self?  What’s stopping you?  You need not do anything to prepare yourself, because you will never be able to fully prepare yourself.  God’s love is unconditional, unfailing, and never ending.  Will you join it?

Just sayin: Praise God for what God does, but even more so, praise God for who God is!

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Prayers that Stick

March 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

 

Prayers that Stick

Ever heard a prayer that just didn’t stick? Maybe it felt empty and flat, hollow, or even dishonest? The Bible is full of all kinds of prayers. But do they still stick today? Join us as we explore the book of Psalms and the full range of prayers—from the gritty and honest, to the awe-filled praises of God’s great wonders.

March 11, 2012 – Just Sayin (Prayers of Praise)

March 18, 2012 – OMG (Prayers of Awe and Wonder)

March 25, 2012 – CRAP (Prayers of Cursing and Lament)

April 1, 2012 – DUH (Prayers of Confession)

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Three Simple Rules

September 29, 2010 By

Three Simple Rules

Three Simple Rules – Stay in Love with God
Sycamore Creek Church
September 26, 2010
1 John 4:20-5:5
Tom Arthur

Peace, Friends!

What comes to mind when you think of rules?  Usually we think of rules as negative things.  But rules can also be life giving.  Consider biking.  It’s a good rule that when you want to stop, you should use the back brake more than the front brake otherwise you’ll end up over the handlebars.  If you’re riding a motorcycle the rule is the opposite.  These are good rules to know if you want to enjoy biking.  Then there’s the classic rule about not sticking your tongue to a frozen pole.  It will stick.  And if you like fishing, it’s good to know the rule to follow when you get a fish hook stuck in you.  Don’t try to pull it out.  Go to the emergency room.  They’ll numb you up, pop the hook out from the inside, cut the barb off, and then it will come out nice and easy.  I learned the rule the hard way after I tripped on my brother’s fishing line and sunk the hook in his thumb.  It was painful just to watch my dad try to pull it out.  Yikes!

This is the last sermon in a series on three simple rules.  They are:

1. Do no harm.

2. Do good.

3. Stay in love with God.

Today we explore staying in love with God.

When I look at those three rules I wonder why this one is last.  Why isn’t loving God first?  Doesn’t do no harm and doing good flow from the love of God?  Yes and no.  There is a dynamic relationship between the three.  We tend to think of actions flowing from the heart, and this is true, but actions also affect the heart.

Sarah and I recently watched a movie called Paris, Je T’Aime (Paris, I Love You).  This movie is made up of several different short scenes of love and romance in Paris.  Each scene is directed by a different director.  One scene tells the story of a husband who intends to end his marriage.  He planned to meet his wife at a restaurant and tell her that he was leaving her for another woman.  When she shows up, she begins sobbing.  He thinks that she knows about his affair, but she pulls out a piece of paper with the results of some medical tests that show that she has terminal Leukemia.  In that moment he decides to stick it out.  He begins by breaking off the relationship with his mistress (do no harm).  Then he begins taking care of his wife by serving her, even amidst all the things that annoy him about her (do good).  In the end he falls back in love with her and says, “By acting like a husband in love, I became a husband in love.”

Actions affect, shape, and form the heart, and the heart then sustains actions over the long haul.

We’ve been using the letters of John to explore these three rules and today we turn to John’s first letter.  Look for the connection between the heart and the hands, between doing no harm, doing good, and staying in love with God:

1 John 4:20-5:5 (NLT)

20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen? 21 And God himself has commanded that we must love not only him but our Christian brothers and sisters, too.

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. 2 We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. 3 Loving God means keeping his commandments, and really, that isn’t difficult. 4 For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. 5 And the ones who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

This is God’s teaching, God’s story, for us today.  Thank you, God!

Let’s take a closer look at verse two:

1 John 5:2 (NLT)

We know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments.

Let’s put this in the three simple rules language: We know we do no harm and do good to God’s children if we love God and do no harm and do good.  There is a cyclical nature between the hands and the heart here.  If that’s not clear enough, look closely at a more literal translation of the third verse:

1 John 5:3 (NRSV)

The love of God is this, that we obey his commandments

Love = doing no harm and doing good.  They are the same thing.  The relationship we have with one another in the church isn’t just something between us, it’s also about our relationship with God.  You can’t separate the two.  They affect one another.  So if you want to stay in love with God, then love one another by doing no harm and doing good.

At the same time there are definite habits of directly staying in love with God.  They’re just like the habits we have of staying in love with anyone we love.  Consider your spouse.  I have habits of staying in love with Sarah.  When she comes home, I get up out of my chair and greet her with a hug and a kiss.  We eat meals together regularly.  We pray together most mornings and evenings.  We have a date night every Friday night.  These are the habits that keep my heart turned toward my wife.

Likewise, there are H.A.B.I.T.S. that sustain one’s love for God.  They are:

H – Hang out with God (prayer, meditation, worship, communion, etc.)

A – Accountability to others (giving an account to others of how you’re doing with these three rules)

B – Bible reading, study, memorization (ignorance of God’s story is ignorance of God)

I – Involvement with the church (giving your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness to the people of the church)

T – Tithing (living simply and giving generously)

S – Serving (sharing your talents with the church, community and world)

Let’s dive deeply into one way of hanging out with God: prayer.  I’d like to teach you one way to pray.  It’s not the only way to pray.  It’s not even necessarily the best way to pray for everyone, but it is a biblical pattern of prayer.  We’re calling it a 1-5 Prayer: one sentence in five parts:

1-5 Prayer

Address
Attribute
Request
Purpose
Closing

Some of you may know this as a collect prayer (pronounced “call-lect”).  It is a simple one sentence prayer and it all flows together.

Address

We’ll walk through each of the five parts.  The first is the address.  This is who we’re talking to, God.  Most of us use one or two names of God when we address God in prayer.  We might use Lord, God, or Father.  These are all good names, but we find all kinds of names for God in the Bible.  Some of them include:

Creator
Eternal God
Father
Good God
Gracious God
Holy God
Loving God
Merciful God
Savior
Yahweh (Hebrew for “I Am”).

So we might begin a prayer saying:

Holy God…

Attribute

The second part of the 1-5 prayer is the attribute.  It has to do with God’s character.  God’s character flows out of God’s name.  They are intimately connected.  So if you began with “Holy God” then you’d “play jazz” or improvise on this name.  Holiness has to do with purity.  Holiness is simplicity.  When you are holy you are the same thing through and through.  So you might continue your prayer by saying something like:

Holy God, you are love through and through…

Request

The third part of the 1-5 prayer is the request.  The request also flows out of God’s name and God’s character.  That is to say that if you’re asking something of God but you can’t think of an attribute or character trait of God that would naturally lead God to grant your request, then you probably are asking for the wrong thing.  God does not give things that are inconsistent with God’s character.

One other thing is worth mentioning about the request.  Use strong verbs.  We so often water down what we’re asking for that it sounds so wishy washy: “God, we just want to pray and ask that you might be with so and so…”  Forget it.  Use strong verbs like:

Deliver
Save
Empower
Grant
Give
Sustain
Protect
Heal.

So continuing with our example prayer you might pray:

Holy God, you are love through and through; purify with your love not only my/our actions but also my/our motivation…

Purpose

The fourth part of the prayer is the purpose statement.  It usually begins with “so that” and answers the question of why God should grant this request.  What is it about what you’re asking that should get God’s attention.  Once again this can flow out of God’s name and God’s character.  So continuing with our prayer:

Holy God, you are love through and through; purify with your love not only my/our actions but also my/our motivation, so that I/we might be holy too…

Closing

The fifth and last part of our 1-5 prayer is the closing.  We are told to ask in the name of Jesus (John 14:13-14) so often people close prayers saying, “In Jesus’ name” or “in the name of Jesus Christ.”  The early Christians generally prayed to the Father through the Son and by the Spirit (the Trinity: one God in three persons).  You will often hear me close a prayer to God the Father saying, “through Jesus Christ and by the power of your Holy Spirit.”

That leaves the “amen.”  Amen doesn’t mean “that’s the end.”  It literally means “yes” or “I agree.”  Technically speaking, the “amen” isn’t for the one praying, since he or she already agrees with what they have just said, but the “amen” is the community’s opportunity to agree (or not!) with what was just prayed.  Generally speaking people don’t know when to say “amen” until the person praying says it.  So while it’s technically redundant for the one praying to agree with him/herself, it is probably the easiest for the community if one ends one’s prayers with “amen.”  This whole conundrum is why you will often hear me close a prayer saying, “And all God’s people said…”  And you all say, “Amen!”

Closing out our prayer, then, we might pray:

Holy God, you are love through and through; purify with your love not only my/our actions but also my/our motivations, so that I/we might be holy too, in the name of Jesus.  Amen.

Biblical Basis

So where does this 1-5 prayer come from?  It isn’t obvious, but this pattern of prayer comes from Jesus himself.  Consider the Lord’s Prayer:

Address – God’s name: Our Father in Heaven

Attribute – God’s character: Hallowed be your name.

Purpose – So what (Jesus, a master prayer freely moves the parts of the prayer around to fit the circumstance): Your kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in heaven.

Request – Strong verbs underlined: Give us this day our daily bread, Forgive us our sins, As we forgive those who sin against us, Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil.

Closing (whether Jesus actually used this closing is somewhat debated by scholars): For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

I have a book full of these kinds of prayers for all kinds of situations.  One I like is a prayer for the good use of leisure.  When was the last time you prayed a prayer about your leisure time?  I love it!

For the Good Use of Leisure
O God (address), in the course of this busy life, give us times of refreshment and peace; and grant that we may so use our leisure to rebuild our bodies and renew our minds (request), that our spirits may be opened to the goodness of your creation (purpose); through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen (closing).

This prayer does not include an attribute.  It shows that this form of prayer is flexible.  As you learn it you will find that it is really quite flexible.

Here are some more examples of 1-5 prayers:

For Peace among the Nations
Almighty God our heavenly Father, guide the nations of the world into the way of justice and truth, and establish among them the peace which is the fruit of righteousness, that they may become the kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

For the Right use of God’s Gifts
Almighty God, whose loving hand has given us all that we possess: Grant that we may honor you with our substance, and, remembering the account which we  must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your bounty, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

For the Care of Children
Almighty God, heavenly Father, you have blessed us with the joy and care of children: Give us calm strength and patient wisdom as we bring them up, that we may teach them to love whatever is just and true and good, following the example of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

For Quiet Confidence
O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Do no harm.  Do good.  Stay in love with God.  John Wesley, the 18th century spiritual revolutionary who began the Methodist renewal movement nicely summed up staying in love with God by developing daily habits of prayer in a letter to one of his pastors.  He wrote:

“O begin! Fix some part of every day for private exercises. You may acquire the taste which you have not; what is tedious at first will afterwards be pleasant. Whether you like it or no, read and pray daily. It is for your life; there is no other way: else you will be a trifler all your days.”

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