Applying The Gospel In Our Praying

I’ve heard from more than one source a quote that goes something like this: every struggle in the life of a believer comes from a failure to understand or apply the gospel. I’ve meditated on this idea continually ever since and I really do believe it’s true. It’s so easy to take the gospel for granted and begin to assume it—privately and in our Christian circles (which is absurd considering that this is what we'll be singing of for eternity, Revelation 5:9-10). But I have discovered that I don’t know the gospel well enough and I don’t apply it to my life as much as I ought to. So I am daily trying to fight the inclination of my heart to assume the gospel and take it for granted. Instead, I’m seeking to grow in my understanding of the gospel and to apply it more fully in every area of my life.

One place it might be easy for us to assume the gospel or take it for granted is in praying. Prayer, in a sense, must assume the gospel since we can’t draw near to God and God won’t listen to us apart from the person and work of our Great High Priest Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16). But how much are we really applying the gospel in our praying if, in the act of drawing near, we bring to God various petitions and even thanksgivings without ever making explicit reference to the gospel? Yes, we are applying it but not as much as we could be.

So how can we apply the gospel more fully in our praying? A couple of weeks ago as I began trying to memorize one of David’s psalms, I encountered what, to me, seemed like really strange logic:

Consider my affliction and my trouble,
and forgive all my sins.
Psalms 25:18

The thought process here doesn’t immediately make sense. David is obviously suffering. And He is praying to God in the midst of his suffering. If you only gave me the first half of this verse and told me to finish it, my logic would go something like this:

Consider my affliction and my trouble…and deliver me.

Or: Consider my affliction and my trouble…and take them away.

This is typically how I am inclined to pray when I am bringing my requests to God. But that’s not how David prays. This prayer of David reveals his strange, yet biblically inspired logic.

In short, David lets his affliction and his trouble cause him to remember that he is a sinner (and to remind God as well!). In a sense, many of David’s sufferings came as a result of his adultery and murder. So part of the reason he is suffering is because he has sinned. But David experienced suffering even before the incident with Bathsheba (as Saul pursued him). So his suffering isn’t all a consequence of his sinning. His suffering is the consequence of living in a fallen world. So I think David reasons something like this: I can’t escape the suffering of a world that is under the curse of sin, but I can escape the wrath of God and experience the care of God in and through my affliction—as His loving Fatherly discipline (Hebrews 12:5-11)—if I have God’s forgiveness. So what I really need is God’s forgiveness. Yes, I want deliverance and I will pray for that too (Psalm 25:19-22), but the greatest need I have, my first priority, is to seek God’s forgiveness and to know that I am forgiven.

So it is with us. Our greatest need is, our first priority should be, to seek God’s forgiveness and to know that we are forgiven. The source of David’s forgiveness and the source of our forgiveness is the same: the cross of Christ (Romans 3:23-26). David (unknowingly) looked forward to the cross. We look back to the cross. And we have so much more light than David! We have so much more reason to be certain of our forgiveness! But we must explicitly remind ourselves of our need to be forgiven, the certainty of our forgiveness, and the source of our forgiveness.

I encountered the same strange, biblical logic when within the past few days I began trying to memorize another one of David’s psalms:

For evils have encompassed me beyond number;
my iniquities have overtaken me,
and I cannot see;
they are more than the hairs of my head;
my heart fails me.
Psalm 40:12

Again, David is suffering and seeking deliverance. And he prays for deliverance (Psalm 40:13-17). But he doesn’t do so without first reminding himself (and apparently he sees the need to remind God again) of how sinful he is. David knows how sinful his heart is. And that’s what causes him to pray the way he does. Perhaps the reason we don’t pray the way David does is because we aren’t in touch with the sin in our hearts the way David—the man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22)—so intimately was throughout his entire life (Psalm 51:5). And the only remedy for the sinfulness of our hearts is the righteousness of Christ that we are covered with and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit that we are filled with through the gospel. If we are mindful of how great our sinfulness is as we pray, we will inevitably rejoice in that great gospel as we pray.

The evidence that not only David but those who live in closest fellowship with God pray this way can be seen in an example from the life of Moses:

I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.
Numbers 11:14-15

Once again, strange, strange logic. Kill me if I find favor in your sight? Who prays like that? Only a man whose terminal sin disease is so painful to him that to kill him would put him out of his sinful misery. Moses seeks deliverance from the burden that is placed upon him by the people of Israel, whose demand for meat to eat is crushing him. But he knows that the main problem in his affliction isn’t with God or even the people. The main problem is him—his own wretchedly sinful heart. And the gospel, again, is the only thing that will strengthen, cheer, or deliver the heart burdened by sin.

In fact, I have found that sometimes the pain of an affliction in my life is in direct correlation to the power of a sin in my life. For example, if I covet the praise of man, then the pain is overwhelming when others put me down or don’t give me the compliments I desire. So if the power of that sin in my life would be broken, which the gospel alone can do (Romans 1:16), then the pain of the affliction would be gone. Therefore, another way I should apply the gospel in my praying is by praying for God to use the power of the gospel to break the power of the sin in my life that causes the affliction and not by primarily praying for the affliction to be removed.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think God is displeased with our praying if we pray to Him without making explicit reference to the gospel or if we pray primarily for our afflictions to be removed. But the reason I think it’s important to consider how much we are applying the gospel in our praying is because:

1) It brings more glory to God as we proclaim and tell of His wondrous deeds in the gospel through our praying both privately and publicly (Psalm 40:5).

2) It often attacks the root of our affliction rather than merely the fruit.

3) It will strengthen our faith and the faith of those who hear us as we bring to explicit remembrance through our praying that which is of first importance: the gospel of grace in which we stand.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas [Simon Peter], then to the twelve.
1 Corinthians 15:1-5

So, for God’s glory and for our joy, may our prayers be filled with strange but biblical logic as we seek to bring the gospel more fully to bear on our lives through our praying.

The Mindset Of Christmas

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:5-11

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
John 13:3-17

A meditation on Paul's description of the incarnation in Philippians 2:5-11 through the illustrative lens of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples in John 13:3-17. The harmony of these two passages is simply breathtaking. And it's overwhelming in its implications. To imitate Jesus is completely impossible in our own capacities. And yet the mindset of Christmas, or the mindset of Christ in the incarnation, is nothing more than the mindset of a missionary, which is what we are all called to be as followers of Jesus, whether we are in our neighborhoods, our workplaces, or going to the ends of the earth.

Call to imitation (a command!):

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5)…

1) Entitlement

...who, though he was in the form of God (Philippians 2:6a)...

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God (John 13:3)…

2) Abandonment

…did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped (Philippians 2:6b)...

...rose from supper (John 13:4a)…

3) Willing Choice

…but made himself nothing (Philippians 2:7a, emphasis added)…

…He laid aside his outer garments (John 13:4b, emphasis added)…

4) Embracing of a new identity

…taking the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7b,c)…

…and taking a towel, tied it around his waist… (John 13:4c)…

5) Humiliation

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross (Philippians 2:8)…

…Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him (John 13:5)…

6) Exaltation

…Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

…When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them… (John 13:12)

Call to imitation (a command!):

Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (John 13:12-17).

Thank You, Jesus, for becoming the first ever missionary 2,000 years ago when You relocated to the earth. Enable us by Your grace, and by the power of Your Holy Spirit, to have and live out of Your missionary mindset in Jerusalem, and all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. For Your great name I pray, Amen.

The Goodness And Glory Of God In The Suffering Of His People

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers wand all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.
Exodus 1:1-11

Why did this happen to the Israelites?

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!…Then Israel came to Egypt; Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. And the LORD made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes. He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants.
Psalm 105:1-2,23-25

God did it. God multiplied the number of Israelites. And God made the Egyptians to hate them. These were God’s deeds. These were God’s wondrous works!

Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years. But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, and afterward they shall come out with great possessions.
Genesis 15:13-14

The ultimate cause of the suffering of the Israelites wasn’t the evil of the Egyptians but the goodness of God. Through their suffering, God was fulfilling His loving purpose for them according to His gracious promise to Abraham planned from eternity past.

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…
Genesis 50:20

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28

Why does God do things this way?

So that, overflowing with the joy of admiration for the only One who in infinite wisdom thinks and acts nothing like us, we would sing praises to Him and tell of all His wondrous works:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36

Oh give thanks to the LORD; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! ... the LORD made his people very fruitful and made them stronger than their foes. He turned their hearts to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants … Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold, and there was none among his tribes who stumbled …. For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham, his servant. So he brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with singing. And he gave them the lands of the nations, and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples' toil, that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws. Praise the Lord!
Psalm 105:1-2, 24-25, 37, 42-45

In other words, for His greatest glory and our deepest joy.

He's Enough

For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake...
Philippians 1:29

Glory Road: Black, Reformed, But Foremost Christian

[W]e are first and last children of God. It means that when you see one of us, you see a black man. But when you hear one of us, you hear a Christian man. It means that Christ is our Lord. It means we are daily seeking to understand our African-American [or African] experience in light of the lordship of Christ. It means that we are nothing apart from the grace of God, and that God has created us who we are--to live during the times in which we live that we might show forth his mercies, while he is daily conforming us to the image of his dear Son. It means that our service--yes, our worship and allegiance--is not first to the black cause, though noble it may be at times. It is not first to the Reformed cause, though grand it may appear to be. It means that our service is to Christ first and last, now and at all times. If we can serve Christ while sincerely serving an African-American [or African] cause, then let us do it. If we can serve Christ while promoting a Reformed agenda, then by all means let us do so. But if Christ is in conflict with the black clause or the Reformed agenda at any point or at any time, then may we have the courage to say, "Away with the blackness and away with Reformedness--give us Jesus and Jesus only." It means that we must understand that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life that we might vote, but Christ gave his life that we might live. Frederick Douglas gave his life that we might be free from slavery, but Christ gave his life that we might be set free from slavery to sin and death.

We are black; there is no mistaking that. We are Reformed, and make no mistake about that. But these two distinctions have relevance only insofar as they are understood in light of the fact that we are Christian. C.H. Spurgeon said, "I am never ashamed to avow myself a Calvinist; I do not hesitate to take the name of Baptist; but if I am asked what my creed is, I reply, 'It is Jesus Christ.'"

We are proud to be Americans. We are equally proud to be African-Americans. We even more thank God that our theology is the biblically grounded, historically consistent theology of the Reformation. But if you ask us our faith, if you ask us our creed, if you want the sum of our lives: It is Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ.

We pray that it would be yours as well.

Soli Deo Gloria!

--Anthony J. Carter (editor), Glory Road: The Journeys of 10 African-Americans into Reformed Christianity,p. 174-175

Heavenly Father, I thank You again for each of these dear brothers. For how different their stories are and yet how similar. For how I can see something of my own journey on this road of glory in each of their own. Thank You for the tears. Thank You for the laughter. Above all, thank You that in infinite and undeserved mercy You have opened the eyes of our hearts through many pains and sorrows to see the infinitely brightly shining light of the gospel of the glory of the majestic and sovereign God in the mesmerizingly beautiful face of Jesus Christ. For the sake of Your name, I pray that You would bring many more to walk the glory road, American, African-American, African, from all peoples, far as the curse is found, unto the ends of the earth. For Jesus' beautiful name I pray, Amen.

Are You Emergent?

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Acts 20:28-30

[An overseer/elder] must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.
Titus 1:9

You might be an emergent Christian if: you listen to U2, Moby, and Johnny Cash's Hurt (sometimes in church), use sermon illustrations from The Sopranos, drink lattes in the afternoon and Guinness in the evening, and always use a Mac; if your reading list consists primarily of Stanley Hauerwas, Henri Nouwen, N.T. Wright, Stan Grenz, Dallas Willard, Brennan Manning, Jim Wallis, Frederick Buechner, David Bosch, John Howard Yoder, Wendell Berry, Nancy Murphy, John Franke, Walter Winks and Lesslie Newbigin (not to mention [Brian] McLaren, [Doug] Pagitt, [Rob] Bell, etc.) and your sparring partners include D.A. Carson, John Calvin, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Wayne Grudem; if your idea of quintessential Christian discipleship is Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, or Desmond Tutu; if you don't like George W. Bush or institutions or big business or capitalism or Left Behind Christianity; if your political concerns are poverty, AIDS, imperialism, war-mongering, CEO salaries, consumerism, global warning, racism, and oppression and not so much abortion and gay marriage; if you are into bohemian, goth, rave, or indie; if you talk about the myth of redemptive violence and the myth of certainty; if you lie awake at night having nightmares about all the ways modernism has ruined your life; if you love the Bible as a beautiful, inspiring collection of works that lead us into the mystery of God but is not inerrant; if you search for truth but aren't sure it can be found; if you've ever been to a church with prayer labyrinths, candles, Play-Doh, chalk-drawings, couches, or beanbags (your youth group doesn't count); if you loath words like linear, propositional, rational, machine, and hierarchy and use words like ancient-future, jazz, mosaic, matrix, missional, vintage, and dance; if you grew up in a very conservative Christian home that in retrospect seems legalistic, naive, and rigid; if you support women in all levels of ministry, prioritize urban over suburban, and like your theology narrative instead of systematic; if you disbelieve in any sacred-secular divide; if you want to be the church and not just go to church; if you long for a community that is relational, tribal, and primal like a river or a garden; if you believe doctrine gets in the way of an interactive relationship with Jesus; if you believe who goes to hell is no one's business and no one may be there anyway; if you believe salvation has a little to do with atoning for guilt and a lot to do with bringing the whole creation back into shalom with its Maker; if you believe following Jesus is not believing the right things but living in the right way; if it really bugs you when people talk about going to heaven instead of heaven coming to us; if you disdain monological, didactic preaching; if you use the word "story" in all your propositions about postmodernism--if all or most of this tortuously long sentence describes you, then you might be an emergent Christian.

...though our approach is critical, don't assume we dislike all things emergent. The long sentence describes Ted and me in some ways too...We too are wary of marketing gimmicks, how-to sermons, watered-down megachurches, and the effects of modernism. We fully recognize that the Bible has been abused and no one understands it exhaustively. We agree that there is more to Christianity than doctrinal orthodoxy. We welcome the emergent critique of reductionistic methods of "becoming Christian" (sign a card, raise your hand, say a prayer, etc.). We are glad for the emergent correction reminding us that heaven is not a cloud up above for disembodied souls in the sky, but the re-creation of the entire cosmos. We further agree that we ought to be concerned with bringing heaven to earth, not just getting ourselves to heaven. In short, we affrim a number of the emergent diagnoses. It's their prescribed remedies that trouble us most.

--Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck, Why We're Not Emergent (By Two Guys Who Should Be), p.20-23.