Pick a Side - Luke 11:14-28 - August 13, 2023

Luke 11:14-28 Pick a Side

Good morning!

Turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke chapter 11, verses 14-26, that’s on page 869 in the pew Bibles.

Today is a special day for our church family as we are having a baptism right after this sermon. In many ways baptism is a picture of exactly what this passage in Luke is really all about.

In our passage this morning Jesus is challenged by the Pharisees about who He is and where His power comes from. Their argument is untenable and inconsistent and honestly ridiculous but it gives Jesus the opportunity to challenge all who would listen to pick a side.

Let’s read our text and dive in.

14 Now he was casting out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the people marveled. 15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul. 19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Let’s pray.

So here we have Jesus casting out a demon that made this poor man mute and unable to speak. There is no question that Jesus had done this miraculous thing but there were some in the crowd, that Matthew in his account identifies as the Pharisees, who accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Satan.

Verse 15 says, some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven.

Beelzebul, or Beelzebub, were other names for Satan. The word means, “dung god,” or “lord of the flies.” It was a name borrowed from the false god of Ekron, Baal-zebub which you can read about in 1 Kings 1.

Now we know that the Pharisees were motivated by jealousy to try and tear down Jesus but here He had clearly cast out a demon in the presence of a crowd and they couldn’t deny that there was supernatural power at work in Him. So instead of denying that there was supernatural power at work in Him they called into question the source of that power.

But Jesus knew their thoughts…

There is tremendous power in those words. Jesus knows the thoughts and intentions of people, of you and me. 

The thoughts and intentions of these Pharisees were far from pure. They were not standing up for the people in order to defend them from false teaching or demonic influence; they were standing up to Jesus to protect their own influence over the people. And they were clearly desperate.

…some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons,” 16 while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven. 17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls. 18 And if Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I cast out demons by Beelzebul.

I’m sure you’ve heard the expression that a kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. This was an expression that was not unfamiliar to them either.

It is ridiculous to assert that Satan would destroy his own work in people or cast out his own agents. This is tantamount to civil war which destroys countries or constant strife within a household that ends up in ruins.

But Jesus fires back at these Pharisees and questions them and exposes their own hypocrisy.

19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 20 But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

If demons can be cast out by the power of other demons, why aren’t you questioning your own followers for doing the same thing? Why is it ok for them but not for me to cast out demons by the power of God? You can see that this man has been set free from the demon, why can’t you admit that it was by the power of God that this man was set free?

The problem was that the Pharisees had chosen a side and it was not the side of Jesus. 

It would be impossible for them to recognize that it was by the Spirit of God that Jesus was casting out demons because that would mean they would have to admit that the kingdom of God had come to them and that Jesus really was Messiah.

Their little kingdom of religious influence and power was crumbling and they were desperately trying to hold it together.

Jesus goes on to give a great picture of exactly what was going on in the spiritual realm through His ministry and even in that very moment.

21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; 22 but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.

The strong man in this picture is clearly Satan, fully armed with all his devices, guarding his palace, the goods of which are the hearts and minds of his captives.

But when One stronger than he, that’s Jesus, attacks him and overcomes him he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. 

Satan is a defeated foe. But that doesn’t mean that he’s gone, not yet. We talked about his final destination last week from Revelation 20, the lake of fire, but he isn’t in there yet.

Don’t be misled, we are at war, but we are not at war with people. 

The kingdom of God is at war with the kingdom of Satan, but those who reject Christ are not Satan’s soldiers, they are Satan’s captives just like the poor man possessed by the demon that made him mute.

But Jesus makes it very clear that there is no neutral ground. 23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 

Jesus is declaring that He is for the kingdom of God and there is only His way into it. There is no other way to gain entrance to God’s kingdom, not the religion of the Pharisees, not being a good person, not doing good works, not practicing some other religion thinking that they are all the same and all lead to God, they don’t.

Jesus refers back to the man who was now free from the demon in verse 24.

24 “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and finding none it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ 25 And when it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order. 26 Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that person is worse than the first.”

The man who had been exorcised of the demon now had a choice to make. The demon had gone but not for long. If this man did not trust in Jesus so that he might be filled with the Holy Spirit, that demon would come back with his friends to find his old house all cleaned up and ready for him and that poor guy would be worse off than he was before.

He couldn’t just say, “Thanks Jesus!” and walk away, to choose neutrality is to chose the enemy because there is no neutral ground.

I’m sure I’m not alone in knowing people that have received wakeup call after wakeup call from the Lord and they might praise Him for helping them but still do not put their trust in Jesus. It’s heartbreaking.

The people there that day had to make a choice, the man cleansed of the evil spirit had to make a choice, they had to make up their minds. “What do we do with Jesus?”

There is no neutral ground. There is no neutral ground. There is dead and there is alive, that’s it.

Dead because of sin or alive because of faith in Jesus, those are the only two options. 

Ephesians 2 says, …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—

These folks that are getting in the water today have made their choice and are being baptized to publically declare that they trust in Jesus to save them from their sin, that they have accepted the truth that Jesus died in their place on the cross, that they have turned from their sin and have committed to follow Jesus according to His Word.

If you still haven’t made that choice you can right now.

27 As he said these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” 28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”

Amen.

What does the Bible Actually Say About Hell? - August 6, 2023

 What does the Bible Actually Say About Hell?

Good morning!

We are taking a detour away from the Gospel of Luke again today and Question 28 of The New City Catechism is going to be our topic of discussion for this morning.

“What happens after death to those not united to Christ by faith?”

It is very important to have an accurate understanding about what the Bible actually says about the answer to this question and not one that is based on tradition or outside sources such as Looney Tunes where Sylvester the Cat gets sent to Hell to be tormented by the devil portrayed by the big red Bulldog.

Unfortunately images like these have informed much of Christian tradition rather than what the Bible has to say about the destiny of those who die apart from faith in Christ. So my goal here this morning is two-fold: one, that we will get a clearer understanding of what the Bible actually says and why it’s important, and two, to magnify the grace of God based on our understanding of hell.

We are definitely going to need the Father’s help if we are going to accomplish that. Let’s pray.

So I’m curious as we get started, what do you think of when you hear the word, “hell?”

I imagine that many of you think of a place of fire and brimstone, filled with demons, and the wicked in torment, but is this what the Bible really says about it?

To complicate matters, the translators use the word, “hell,” in place of three different Greek words in the New Testament which all mean very different things.

So let’s start at the beginning with the question, what was the Old Testament understanding of what happens after death to the wicked?

The Old Testament uses the word, “Sheol,” it appears 65 times in the Old Testament, the word, “Hell,” appears zero times in the Old Testament.

Sheol is described as deep, and dark, with bars, the slain go down to it, the root word means, to ask or demand, Proverbs 30:15 says that it is never satisfied. Easton’s Bible Dictionary defines it as the place of disembodied spirits. The inhabitants of Sheol are “the congregation of the dead” and it is the abode of the wicked dead.

The New Testament uses a Greek word that I’m sure you all have heard before for this same concept, the word, “Hades.”

In Luke 16:19-31 Jesus gave us this famous parable:

19 “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’ ”

Now, it’s clear that Jesus didn’t intend that parable to be a definitive teaching on the nature of Hades and Paradise but rather the presence of the Gospel in the Old Testament. However, Jesus used the word, “Hades,” not, “Hell,” to describe the place where the wicked rich man was in anguish.

The word, “Hell,” is neither a Greek nor a Hebrew word, it’s not even Aramaic. According to Eastman’s Bible Dictionary, it comes from a Saxon word, “helan,” which means, to cover; hence the covered or the invisible place.

But our translators use the word, “hell,” 14 times in the New Testament. The English Standard Version that we read out of every Sunday uses the word Hades when that is what the original language says but there are still two other words translated into the word, “hell,” that we need to look at.

There is a single occurrence of the word, “tarturas,” in 2 Peter 2:4 translated into the word, “hell,” when Peter is talking about the angels who rebelled with Satan and were imprisoned with chains in gloomy darkness until judgment. The translators used the word hell to avoid any more confusion by adding the single occurrence of this angelic prison idea to this already confusing sermon.

The other 13 times the word, “hell,” is used it used for the Greek word, “gehenna,” and in most of its uses it designates the place of the lost.

But it is not just a far off metaphysical place. Don’t forget that we are not the only ones to ever receive the message of the Scriptures, and when we read the words of Jesus we have to remember that He was in a real place and talking to real people, and those people had a certain understanding of some of the things that Jesus pointed out and used as object lessons. 

The word, “Gehenna,” means, the Valley of Hinnom, or, the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom, and is a literal place.

The Valley of Hinnom is a deep, narrow ravine separating Mount Zion from the so-called “Hill of Evil Counsel.” It took its name from “some ancient hero, the son of Hinnom.” It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. It had been the place where the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Moloch and Baal. A particular part of the valley was called Tophet, or the “fire-stove,” where the children were burned. After the Exile, in order to show their abhorrence of the locality, the Jews made this valley the receptacle of the garbage of the city, for the destruction of which a fire was, as is supposed, kept constantly burning there.

(I have walked through this valley and even in 1997 there were rotting donkey carcasses in that nasty place.)

The Jews associated with this valley these two ideas, (1) that of the sufferings of the victims that had there been sacrificed; and (2) that of filth and corruption. It became thus to the popular mind a symbol of the abode of the wicked hereafter. It came to signify hell as the place of the wicked. “It might be shown by infinite examples that the Jews expressed hell, or the place of the damned, by this word. The word Gehenna [the Greek contraction of Hinnom] was never used in the time of Christ in any other sense than to denote the place of future punishment.”

So when Jesus is giving the Sermon on the Mount as recorded in Matthew five and is sitting on the Mount of Olives on the East side of Jerusalem, everybody there can see the Valley of Hinnom from that spot, it’s not even a quarter of a mile away, it’s even possible that they could see and maybe even smell the smoke from the burning garbage. So when He says in Matthew 5:29-30,

29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into [Gehenna]. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into [Gehenna].

When Jesus says these words He could have very well have been pointing to Gehenna, pointing to that never ending column of smoke rising from that garbage dump. Either way, He was very clear on what was in store for the wicked.

So we have Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, and the final picture, the lake of fire.

The Lake of fire is also often confused with Hell just as Hell is often associated with Satan’s headquarters.

Here is what Revelation 20 has to say about the lake of fire and its purpose.

10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, (they’d been thrown in there already) and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

The lake of fire is the final destination for Satan, the beast, the false prophet, not their headquarters. It is the final destination for Sheol and Hades.

It is also the final destination for all those who die and are not united to Christ by faith, the second death.

So, here we are, at the point of the sermon when we have to ask the question, “so what?”

Well, I’ll go back to the two goals for today: one, that we will get a clearer understanding of what the Bible actually says and why it’s important, and two, to magnify the grace of God based on our understanding of the final destination of those who are not united to Christ by faith.

What the Bible actually says is important. When we allow our thinking about Biblical principles to be informed only by traditions, or TV and movies, or books and articles outside of Scripture, instead of what the Bible actually says we are in danger of misunderstanding the Word of God and misapplying its truth. God’s Word is God’s words and we should measure all that we think and believe by it.

Nothing that I’ve said this morning is secret or hidden wisdom, you can read these commentaries, you can find most of this information with a Google search. But we can’t just settle for what we’ve been told, we have to know the Word of God ourselves.

Secondly, if you remember Will’s sermon from last week on the Roman Road, you’ll remember that:

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, that God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, and there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because if you confess with your mouth  that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Saved from Sheol, saved from Hades, saved from Gehenna, saved from the lake of fire all of which we deserve to experience because of our sin. 

But we are not only saved FROM the second death but we are saved TO a wonderful and growing, eternal relationship with God our Heavenly Father who saves us from all that by His grace through faith in Jesus for His glory.

Ephesians 2 says, 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. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Amen.

Impudence and the Grouchy Neighbor - Luke 11:5-13 - July 23, 2023

 Luke 11:5-13 Impudence and the Grouchy Neighbor

Good morning! I want to begin this morning with an important disclaimer. The sermon that you are about to hear is, by definition, hypocrisy. Meaning, that what I am about to say to so over the next half hour or so is not what I do well if I do it at all. 

The beauty in that, is that all the authority is in the Word of God and not in my words. These words were spoken and recorded over two thousand years ago and they are still true today just like they were then because they are God’s words.

So with that in mind, we will turn our attention to the topic of prayer as recorded in Luke 11:5-13, and that’s on page 869 in the pew Bibles.

You may remember from last week we addressed the Lord’s Prayer and that’s why Luke recorded these words of Jesus kind if thematically rather than chronologically; meaning, that Jesus most likely gave this teaching at a different time that He gave the Lord’s Prayer.

So let’s look at the text together. 

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. 9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Let’s pray.

This business of preaching is a difficult thing. In my study this week in preparation for today’s message I’ve had to wrestle with some long held misconceptions I’ve had about our Heavenly Father. This is often the danger when we read the Bible with only ourselves and our own good in mind, or what we think is our own good anyway.

The Lord Jesus gives us this little story about a man who had a friend on a long journey stop by his house unexpectedly and he had nothing to give his friend to eat. So the man goes to his other friend who lives nearby at midnight and asks him for some bread to give his friend to eat.

Now, I’ll tell you it doesn’t matter what culture you’re from, or what century you live in, going to a friend’s house at midnight when the doors are shut and the lights are out asking for bread is not the thing to do.

But that’s what this man did. He woke up his friend and asked him for bread to set before the weary traveler. And how did his sleeping friend respond? ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’

This is a pretty polite response I can imagine. 

First Century Palestine was pretty much one room living for most folks so banging on this guy’s door in the middle of the night now meant everybody in the house was awake. In fact, the houses were so close together, sometimes sharing adjoining walls, most likely the neighbors on either side were woken up by this as well. But the man persisted and his friend relented.

5 And he said to them, “Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; 7 and he will answer from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’? 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs.

Because of his impudence… That bears some definition. Impudence means audacity, insolence, shamelessness, a lack of sensitivity to what is proper.

This man shamelessly persisted in his asking for bread in the face of all that seems reasonable.

 Add to this Jesus’ following words, “9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.”

Now the tenses of the Greek words for “ask, seek, and knock,” are important. Perhaps you’ve heard this before, they are in the present, active, imperative. Which means that the instruction is to keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, and it will be given to you, you will find, and it will be opened to you.

Take a minute and think about this. What kind of picture of prayer does this paint in your mind?

The clear implication is that we are the friend who has a guest show up at midnight with no bread to offer them and so we go to God with our need and we persistently must keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking until what? 

Be honest, it’s keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking until God gets so annoyed with us that He gives us what we are asking for so that we will shut up and go away. Isn’t that the truth?

But is that really what Jesus is saying?

We tend to get wrapped up in the ask, seek, knock part but remove it from its whole context which makes this passage much more beautiful. Look at verse 11.

11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The instructions from Jesus here are not to just keep on praying for whatever thing until God relents.

We are certainly encouraged to pray by the Lord Jesus here but not like an impudent friend at the door of an annoyed formerly sleeping friend.

Warren Wiersbe said, “In this parable, Jesus did not say that God is like a grouchy neighbor. In fact, it’s just the opposite. If a tired and selfish neighbor finally meets the needs of a bothersome friend, how much more will a loving heavenly Father meet the needs of His own dear children?”

 Jesus doesn’t give us the threefold instruction to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking because the Father won’t listen to us until we’ve put adequate time into the effort but rather because of our own mistrust that God knows what is good for us.

We ask and keep on asking because we don’t trust that He has heard us, we seek and keep on seeking because we think that He has hidden what is good for us, we knock and keep on knocking because we think that He has locked away what is best for us.

But none of that is true.

We are instructed to persist in prayer, not so that God will relent but so we will.

After a while we start to question our motivation if we are wise, and we start to ask ourselves, “Why do I want this thing that I’ve been asking for? Is it for my glory or for His, is it so my life would be easier or comfortable, so things wouldn’t be hard for me or for those I love?”

Jesus said in Matthew 6:25-33,

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

God knows what is good for us and what is good for us is more of Him.

When we recognize our dependence on Him and make His kingdom and His glory our priority our prayers start to shift. Our focus in prayer starts to move away from the things that we want to the things that will bring our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ the most glory.

But we are certainly instructed here to pray sincerely, consistently, and urgently. But we are not heard by a grouchy God that just wants us to leave Him alone, we are heard by a loving heavenly Father that wants better for us, for others, and for the church than we could ever realize.

John Calvin wrote, “Nothing is better adapted to excite us to prayer than a full conviction that we shall be heard. Those who doubt can only pray in an indifferent manner; and prayer, unaccompanied by faith, is an idle and unmeaning ceremony. Accordingly, Christ, in order to excite us powerfully to this part of our duty, not only enjoins what we ought to do, but promises that our prayers will not be fruitless.”

Ephesians 3:11-12 says that we have boldness and access with confidence to the Father through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, we can, as RC Sproul said, “Pray like we mean it,” because we have a good, loving, heavenly Father that wants to give us good things according to His good and perfect will. 

And when we pray for things that are not according to His will, He will say, “no,” for our good, for the good of others, and for the good of the church.”

So let’s pray with the Lord Jesus, “Not my will but yours be done.”

Amen.