Thoughts on Prayer I - The Right Motivation

I filled in for our Sunday School teacher again the other day and I thought I would make more than one blog post out of the lesson this time. The topic is a very important and also a very practical one--prayer.

I chose the topic as a challenge to me both because I do not pray often enough and also because I have lots of thoughts on prayer which would be beneficial to others if I were to actually coalesce them and present them in an orderly and challenging fashion. This I attempted to do last Sunday and this I will attempt to do here.

I am the worst example when it comes to faith because, while I easily presume upon God's goodness, I am often way too confident in self to actually depend upon God, or recognize the fact that I do. I suffer from a self-deluding conceit. I know as a concept that I depend upon God for everything (as does the entirety of the universe) but in practice I am far too often deluded by self-sufficiency. To a degree all of us are this way (though hopefully you are not as bad as me). This is why God often brings problems into our lives which are beyond our ability to solve. These problems remind us of our need for him.

Back to prayer. If we are going to learn to pray or how or what to pray, the first place we should go is to Christ. This is what the disciples of Jesus did as recorded by St. Luke in Luke's gospel chapter 11:

Luke 11:1 Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

John had taught his disciples to pray in a unique way as his disciples. Jesus's disciples want to know if Jesus has something similar for them--something unique as his disciples.

This is where our ears should perk up. What Jesus is about to teach is not just for them, but also for us, for we are his disciples as well. How should we pray? What should we pray? How often should we pray? How long should our prayers be? All these questions and more will be answered in this passage and in its cousin passage in Matthew 6. Let's look there now.

Matthew 6:5,6 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

First a few quick lessons.

(1) Prayer is not for our own glory. It is not a religious exercise designed to make us look good before others. This type of prayer is not prayer at all, it is pretense. The key phrase is, "to be seen of others." Here Jesus condemns the motivation, not so much the action. Motive is everything.
(2) Private prayer is more important than public prayer. There is a place for public prayer, but as Christians we also need a place for regular private communion with God.
(3) There is a real, heart-felt, genuine faith that motivates us to pray and commune with God. This faith, which comes from God, is the faith that will be rewarded by God.

In the Sermon on the Mount, which is quoted above from Matthew's gospel, Jesus is addressing an audience of self-righteous people. This is why he emphasizes true religious exercise over pretense. He is both teaching about prayer and also condemning their self-righteousness. But over in Luke 11 we have a private scene between Jesus and his disciples and in that passage nothing about the pretense is mentioned, presumably because the sincerity of the disciples was evident in their question.

"Lord, teach us to pray."

Personalize that. I challenge you. Make it your prayer, right now. "Lord, teach me to pray." Both the desire to pray and the knowledge of how to pray correctly come from God.

Is Science a Belief System?--Professor Brian Cox

"We live on a world of wonders. A place of astonishing beauty and complexity. We have vast oceans and incredible weather. Giant mountains and breath-taking landscapes. If you think that this is all there is, that our planet exists in magnificent isolation, then you're wrong. We're part of a much wider ecosystem, that extends way beyond the top of our atmosphere.

As a physicist I'm fascinated by how the laws of nature that shaped all this, also shaped the worlds beyond our home planet. I think we're living through the greatest age of discovery our civilisation has known. We've voyaged to the farthest reaches of the Solar System. We've photographed strange new worlds, stood in unfamiliar landscapes, tasted alien air."--Professor Brian Cox.

These are the opening lines of the BBC award-winning documentary Wonders of the Solar System with Professor Brian Cox, physicist. It was aired last fall on Discovery Science Channel in five one-hour episodes and was recently re-aired on the same channel. That is how it wound up on my DVR.

I'm a sucker for shows like this because I have a grand curiosity and sense of wonder. I love this stuff. I could sit and watch it all day. Brian Cox comes across as a very likeable guy, someone with whom you could have great conversations in your living room after a polite dinner with the family. He's wonderful. He reminds me of Keanu Reeves--only with a high IQ and a British accent.

In the first episode he discusses the power and influence of the sun. In the opening segment he takes us to India to see a total eclipse of the same. The wonder he expresses in the scenes that follow as he explains what is about to happen and then witnesses it are echoed by the wonder that I feel whenever I have the opportunity to learn, understand, and experience the greatness and complexity of this creation in which we find ourselves. It is this sense of wonder that often lifts my heart and mind toward God in worshipful adoration.

Something Brian Cox says in the first episode, first segment, grabbed my attention. We are in the Indian city of Ayodhya, a city known to ancient Hindus as the Solar City. As Professor Cox introduces us to the locale and sets up the event that will follow he says this,

"Science is different to all the other systems of thought, the belief systems that have been practiced in this city for millennia, because you don't need faith in it. You can check that it works."

What he says affirms what I have thought for a long, long time. Many scientists view science as a "belief system." It is their religion, as it were. Science, to them, is more than just a method of inquiry by which truth is ascertained. Science is a belief system, one which replaces traditional religion and therefore cannot be compatible with it in any real sense.

But there is more than that in what he says. Not only does the statement reveal the inherent atheism in much modern scientific thinking (Cox is an atheist), it exposes a lack of understanding that Professor Cox shares with many Christians about the relationship between faith, science, and ultimate truth.

Science and theology are two perfectly compatible methods of inquiry into the truth about the nature of the universe around us. They are different methods, for sure, but (don't miss this) all truth is God's truth. Both science and theology operate on the bases of reason and logic. Both utilize faith. Both require thinking and education. There is poor science; there is junk science. There is poor theology; there is junk theology. The war between the two disciplines is unfortunate, unnecessary, and a detriment to knowledge and human advancement.

In spite of what Professor Cox asserts in the statement above, it is not exactly true that everything that science posits as truth is testable. There is an entire discipline of physics, for example, known as "theoretical physics." Theoretical physicists are some of my favorite people on Discovery Science. Their purpose, their passion even, is in thinking about and proposing new ideas to challenge old ones, new theories about the nature of our universe. Many, indeed most of these theories are untestable. There is some evidence for them, but as yet no proof. Some of these theories will be rejected immediately by most other physicists. Some will slowly gain acceptance. Some will eventually gain a wide enough acceptance to actually replace older theories, theories that have been proved false by newer facts and data. Belief in any of these theories requires faith.

So I am going to disagree with Professor Cox slightly and state that science is not a belief system, but rather a method of inquiry by which our beliefs may be tested. It is one of several methods of inquiry available to us and by which we may come ever-closer to ascertaining ultimate truth. The truths revealed by science are perfectly compatible with the truths gleaned through theology, philosophy, historical investigation, or any other discipline or method of investigation.

All truth claims, whether they be theological, philosophical, historical, or scientific can and should be tested by whatever means are at our disposal in order that we, as fallible beings, might come closer to knowing ultimate truth. I am convinced that there is nothing in our lives, indeed nothing in this universe more important than that. Certainly as Christians we believe this. It is Paul who said,

"test everything; hold fast what is good."

Jesus said,

"You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

So I have to further disagree with Professor Cox and say that Christianity is a belief system which can and should be tested also. Because faith is involved does not mean that logic and reason are thrown to the wind. Faith must be reasonable or it is not faith at all, but foolishness. Every truth that science uncovers is compatible with genuine faith. Oftentimes these truths add to our faith and increase our wonder and awe of God.

At one time scientific inquiry was bound by religious orthodoxy and dogma. Certain questions and lines of thinking were taboo. Our potential increase in knowledge was stymied by artificial fences placed by institutions that held power and feared losing control. Today the pendulum has swung the other direction. Now there is a scientific dogma that cannot be questioned, an artificial fence in place that stifles much genuine inquiry. That the dogma itself is not scientific at all, but rather philosophical never seems to occur to the dogmatists who set themselves up to be sure that this fence is maintained. This dogma states that science and religion are incompatible, that faith and reason cannot co-exist, that all genuine scientific inquiry must begin and proceed from an atheistic worldview. Looking at the data from a theistic worldview is simply not allowed. Those who disobey this dictum are ridiculed and marginalized in order to keep any dissent from this scientific orthodoxy minimal.

That is a shame and a crime against truth.

Grace in Regeneration

I filled in for our Sunday School teacher a couple of weeks ago and since I put the time in to prepare the lesson and then teach it orally I thought it would not take a lot more effort to put it down here in the blog also just in case anyone is interested.

The question had come up in Sunday School the week before. You know the one. It was (it seems) the eternal question. Did we choose God? Or did God choose us? Election, conditional or unconditional? Our Sunday School teacher came down on the side of unconditional election. God chose us, we did not choose God--at least not until God's grace found us. As a defense for his position he argued that God does not violate human will, that those whom God looks over and does not choose in election are people who reject Christ anyway. They are opposed to God and to Christ. They get what they want. If anyone has a gripe that their will was violated, said he, it would be those who come to Christ, because they were as opposed to Christ as the rest and then came God's grace. They were saved in spite of their initial opposition to God.

Class ended and I called him over and challenged him (just a little) with an assertion. Yes, election is unconditional and based on God's grace alone. No, God does not violate the will of those who are eternally lost. They do get what they want. They are sinners and Christ-rejectors and in the end what they get is the result of their own choices. But God does not violate the will of those whom he saves either.

I let that last statement just sit for a minute. Then I said that what God does, instead, is change their nature.

Keep in mind that I have been here and done this. I have had this debate over and over and over again. In fact, I have argued both sides of it. At one time the argument would get my blood flowing. Now, honestly, I almost want to yawn. But (I thought to myself) this could be an opportunity to offer some clarity to a subject that can sometimes seem very muddy.

So my Sunday School lesson was topical and the topic was regeneration. My initial Scripture reference was John 3:

1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

A new birth, Jesus proclaims, is a prerequisite to entering Christ's kingdom. Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. But what does this mean? This is Nicodemus's question and we are glad he asks it because we are wondering also. Jesus explains that this new birth is a spiritual birth, that one is born into God's kingdom. Just like the wind, this new birth is something that is only seen through its results, through the effects it has on individuals.

It is interesting that Jesus uses a birth analogy to explain what happens to a person when he is "saved." There are two other analogies used in the New Testament which are similar. They are creation and resurrection.

We have seen an example of the birth analogy in the passage above. Here is an example of the resurrection analogy. Ephesians 2:

1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

And here is an example of the creation analogy. 2 Corinthians 5:

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, . . .

Notice something about these three comparisons? In all three God is active and we are passive.

A creature cannot create itself. It may pro-create, but it cannot create . . . itself. It did not dictate the terms of its creation, the time, the place, nothing. It simply wakes up one day and is.

A dead man cannot resurrect himself. Lazarus, in the tomb, will stay there until judgment day. There is nothing he can do about his condition. He has no power over death. He has no power even to wish for new life. He is dead. If he is brought back to life it will be on Jesus's terms, when and where Jesus chooses. Lazarus is passive. Did Lazarus awake and then hear Jesus's voice calling him from the tomb or was it Jesus's voice that awakened him? In the end, it doesn't even matter, for without Jesus's voice there is no resurrection for Lazarus. But, and don't miss this, there was only one man raised from the tomb that day and it was the one Jesus chose to raise. Resurrection is something in which we are passive, not active.

It is the same with birth. When were you born? Where were you born? Now, here's a silly question. Why? Why did you choose to be born in the year you were born in? Why not wait? Why not choose an earlier date? Why be born where you were born? I imagine that there are multitudes of people born into horrid places in this world who could wish they had been born elsewhere. But we had no choice, did we? We were only passive in our birth, not active.

And that is the point of using these analogies. Until God regenerates us, until God creates us anew in Christ, until God raises us to walk in new life, we will never desire him, we will never desire righteousness, we will never desire holiness. But when God regenerates us, when he creates us anew, when he gives us new life in Christ, then we are new creatures with new natures and new desires. Then we awaken and choose him.

A dead man cannot breathe, but a living man breathes. Likewise a man who is dead in trespasses and sins cannot believe, but a man alive in Christ believes. Before God's grace, and apart from God's grace, we want nothing to do with God, not the true and living God. We may take an idol to ourselves if we find that convenient, but we are self-centered and self-serving and want nothing to do with the spiritual truth and true holiness that confronts us when we come face to face with the living God. We are at enmity with God, according to Paul in Romans 8. We are hostile toward him. This is true of everyone apart from grace. This is our fallen nature.

This is why God must change our nature, and when he does so, we turn to him.

James 1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

1 Peter 1:3 According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

John 1:13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 

The implications of this, and there are many, I will leave for another time. For now, suffice it to say that it takes a miracle of grace to save a sinner and what we are asking God for, and what we are expecting from God when we proclaim his gospel, is that miracles will take place. But take heart. God has promised these miracles and it is for this reason that Christ came.