Something to be Thankful for

I pray that this day of thanks is filled with reminders of blessings and renewal of relationships.  Today I was blessed far beyond our celebratory meal and outstanding fellowship.  Today I read a document entitled the "Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience."  I've written much in the past about the meaning and effect of a Christian worldview.  The Manhattan Declaration demonstrates what can happen when your mind, your heart, is gripped by Christianity as the explanation of reality, as a worldview.  It will burst out of our personal sanctuaries and blow the doors of our corporate sanctuaries.  It will cause the Kingdom of God ooze, flow, splatter, and spray over our world - reclaiming territory for King Jesus, putting things back to the way their supposed to be.  Below you'll find the preamble to the Manhattan Declaration which briefly documents the profound preserving and advancing influence of Christianity on western culture.  This is much more than a profession of Christian ideas.  In this act of declaration Catholic, Orthodox, and Evangelical Christians have joined together out of a common understanding of what is really real and how that understanding ought to be lived out by real believers.  I urge you to read the complete document and if it agrees with your convictions about the way things ought to be, to sign it and pass it on.

Christians are heirs of a 2,000-year tradition of proclaiming God’s word, seeking justice in our societies, resisting tyranny, and reaching out with compassion to the poor, oppressed and suffering.

While fully acknowledging the imperfections and shortcomings of Christian institutions and communities in all ages, we claim the heritage of those Christians who defended innocent life by rescuing discarded babies from trash heaps in Roman cities and publicly denouncing the Empire’s sanctioning of infanticide. We remember with reverence those believers who sacrificed their lives by remaining in Roman cities to tend the sick and dying during the plagues, and who died bravely in the coliseums rather than deny their Lord.

After the barbarian tribes overran Europe, Christian monasteries preserved not only the Bible but also the literature and art of Western culture. It was Christians who combated the evil of slavery: Papal edicts in the 16th and 17th centuries decried the practice of slavery and first excommunicated anyone involved in the slave trade; evangelical Christians in England, led by John Wesley and William Wilberforce, put an end to the slave trade in that country. Christians under Wilberforce’s leadership also formed hundreds of societies for helping the poor, the imprisoned, and child laborers chained to machines.

In Europe, Christians challenged the divine claims of kings and successfully fought to establish the rule of law and balance of governmental powers, which made modern democracy possible. And in America, Christian women stood at the vanguard of the suffrage movement. The great civil rights crusades of the 1950s and 60s were led by Christians claiming the Scriptures and asserting the glory of the image of God in every human being regardless of race, religion, age or class.

This same devotion to human dignity has led Christians in the last decade to work to end the dehumanizing scourge of human trafficking and sexual slavery, bring compassionate care to AIDS sufferers in Africa, and assist in a myriad of other human rights causes – from providing clean water in developing nations to providing homes for tens of thousands of children orphaned by war, disease and gender discrimination.

Like those who have gone before us in the faith, Christians today are called to proclaim the Gospel of costly grace, to protect the intrinsic dignity of the human person and to stand for the common good. In being true to its own calling, the call to discipleship, the church through service to others can make a profound contribution to the public good.

The End of the Sermon

Jesus' model prayer next moves from our immediate physical needs to the sustenance of the inner man. Forgive us as we have forgiven others. Though each member of the Father’s family has received forgiveness in the fullest sense so that none will answer in final judgment for his or her sin, the matter does not end there. We have begun a relationship with the Father but we have not fully rid ourselves of the old man, the rebellious man, the self-directed man. We each know that more regularly than we would like, we turn our backs on the Father and go our own ways. It may only happen for a moment, but in that moment relationship becomes broken. Forgiveness paves the way to restoration. But Jesus describes this forgiveness in a particular way – not just any forgiveness, but forgiveness that mirrors that which we extend to others. You can hear the echo of another portion of the Sermon. “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”

Jesus does not suggest that we can earn our forgiveness by forgiving others. No, the New Testament clearly states over and over that we, in fact, cannot earn forgiveness. Instead, Jesus points to the primacy of relationships in God’s kingdom. Remember back to when Jesus redefined murder to include something deeper than the physical act. At the end of the discussion, He emphasized the restoration of relationships – if I’m engaged in what a first century Jew considered his highest duty, ritual worship, and discovered that a brother had something against me, I ought to set aside my worship, go to my brother and restore our relationship. “God does not work by halves. He will not allow us to come to Him confessing half a sin while hanging on to the other half. It must be all or nothing. Thus if we confess our sin, our confession must of necessity involve a forgiving attitude towards others.” By asking God to forgive us as we have forgiven others, we impliedly ask God to assist us in forgiving others. For, without that the restorative act of forgiveness towards others, we cannot effectively seek the forgiveness of God we so desperately need.

Finally, we hear the call of our daily battle: lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. The term “temptation” is a neutral word, sometimes meaning to lure one into sin and other times to test or try a person. James makes it clear that God does not lure anyone into sin. “When tempted, no one should say, God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. “ That leaves only one option to clarify this phrase in the prayer: do not lead us into trials. If possible, keep me away from the places where I might be tested. But if tested, deliver me from the evil one, keep me from sin. I do not want to experience testing, but I might need it.

Several biblical principles help us navigate the shoals here. First, though unpleasant, testing has its place. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” And, finally, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” Testing will help form us into the people God intends by forcing us to face the weak points where we have yet to surrender to Christ’s authority. It will provide us a history of God’s work in our lives which builds our faith into an absolute expectation. God will use even those events intended by others for the worst outcomes toward us to our good, bringing towards our inheritance one step at a time. And Finally, God will never allow the testing to go beyond the resource He provides and our ability to grasp it. He will always, always provide a way of escape.

Just after the prayer Jesus talks about our treasure, a fitting commentary on the jump from petition for bread to meet our temporal needs and the request to receive forgiveness and avoid temptations to satisfy our souls. He’s already told us not to worry about our material needs, but here He goes beyond our needs to those things we hold dear, to our treasure. What kinds of treasure do we have – horded earthy things, wealth, power, and status, or the eternal treasure of refined character, wisdom, powerful faith, and God-like love? Jesus makes it clear, we can’t have both – we’ll either “hate the one and love the other,” or “be devoted to the one and despise the other.” In the end, like metal detector beeps in the ear of a beach sand jewelry hound, our treasure will shout out the home of our hearts. They either rest in the hands of Jesus, a fitting gift for the One who turned them from stone to flesh, or we’ll have clutched them to ourselves where they slavishly serve our desires alone.

This brings us to the end of the Sermon and the final exam. We only have two options after hearing Jesus’ words: put them into practice, or not. The one who puts them into practice builds for herself a foundation that will not fail. Rain, rising water, nor beating wind can move the house built on the rock. Even if we must encounter temptation or trials, we can endure. We will have the strength to restore relationships and actively seek the good of others. Our kingdom lives will flavor the lives of those whom we touch and provide a Jesus beacon to a groping world. We will rid ourselves of contempt and lust and garnish our conversations with truth.

The other side of this canvas bears the portrait of a house built on sand. Rain, rising water, and beating wind will have their way with this house and will reduce it to a pile of rubble and bits of flotsam that disappear with the tide. This might occur through neglect or outright refusal, but the result remains the same. Can we witness any greater disaster than one who recognizes and responds to the salvation call of Jesus, yet fails to put His words into practice – one who has entered the kingdom gates but fails to put all into kingdom life?

Staying in the Kingdom

After instructing His disciples not to pray as the pagans do, mindlessly repeating the same words or phrases, hoping that repetition will have some effect, Jesus says, when you pray, pray like this:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

Though he had an existential slant to his theology, Karl Barth was a deep theological thinker, prolific writer, and an ardent follower of Jesus. When this one who could fill a wheelbarrow with the books he’d written on theology was asked, how do sum up your theology, your view of God, responded “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” I’ve heard this described as simplicity on the other side of complexity. For Karl Barth to quote the words to a child’s tune means much more than when sung by a first grade Sunday School class. For Barth, these simple words were jammed with a depth of meaning that many adults may never comprehend.

I think of Jesus’ words in the Lord’s Prayer in a way. Even a cursory glance at the Gospel of John leaves one with the conclusion that Jesus and the Father are one – knowing each other so intimately that to know one is to know the other. So when Jesus speaks these simple words, only 53 in total, they carry an exponential depth of meaning. They touch the tips of icebergs that we will rightfully spend a lifetime exploring.

Though we cannot treat them exhaustion here, a helicopter view of the portions that breach the surface will do us well. First, note that Jesus introduced the “Lord’s Prayer” with a warning – don’t pray like the heathens – which indicate He intended this as a pattern for prayer rather than a literal string of words for us to repeat. Even so, we often find it useful when praying corporately or individually to use these actual words, particularly when we begin to understand their full meaning. In that way, they become for us simplicity beyond complexity – common words with deep meaning.

The prayer begins first with God and then moves to us, setting the proper relationship and attitude for our own prayer. All but once (while hanging on the cross – “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” – Jesus addresses God as Father. The Jews would have heard this as something unique and new in matters spiritual. We commonly hear how the Jews would not even speak the name of God and as a result, we do not have an accurate pronunciation of His name YHWHW. In contrast, and in keeping with the announcement that the Kingdom of God is near, that new access to God has arrived, Jesus calls God “Father.” Even with such an intimate address, we must still hallow, or hold sacred, or sanctify, or set apart, the name of God. We must use it in consideration of who He is (He’s God and we’re not).
In the second of three phrases focusing on God, Jesus addresses the Kingdom – requesting that it come. Let’s think about that for a moment. What is a kingdom? In common terms a kingdom consists of all that comes under the power and authority of its king. A kingdom exists in the place where activity bends to the will of the king. Sitting in our world with His dicisples, Jesus says we ought to pray that here, were we live out our present lives, God’s kingdom might come. He instructs us to petition the Father to make His presence as King, the one to whom the subjects defer, known.

In the third God-focused phrase, Jesus enforces the idea of God’s kingdom coming now by instructing us to pray for His will to be done just as it is in heaven. In heaven He rules unopposed, without the rebellion of sin. Later on, we’ll discuss how this Kingdom or rule of God ought to extend to every arena of life and how Jesus, sitting at the right hand of God in His place as our King lays claim to every inch of human existence.

After setting the priorities – recognizing who is King, Jesus moves to four petitions that cover the entirety of human existence. First, our sustenance. This directive thrusts at the idea of complete reliance upon the Father for sustenance. It also indicates we ought to pray this way regularly and repeatedly, today for our daily bread. Two other sections of the Sermon flesh out the short phrase, “give us today our daily bread.”

Matthew 6:25-34 begins “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” And it continues “your heavenly Father knows that you need them.” Rather than worry about our daily bread, we ought to come regularly to our Father, who knows that we need them, acknowledge our dependence upon Him and simply, reverently, and faithfully ask. If we ask, “it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.“ (Matthew 7:7-11). Still, what assurance do I have that God will really do what He says? "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him?”