He Is Able (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Posted on November 22, 2024 by salooper57

(Ephesians 3:20-21) Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

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Eight weeks ago, we began looking into the Apostle Paul’s great prayers for the church. We have had a master of prayer – Paul himself – explain why he prayed for the church, what he prayed, and what he expected to result from his prayer. We’ve learned a lot, yet our in-depth study of these remarkable prayers will be a waste if it doesn’t inspire us to pray.

If we’ve learned anything, it is that God expects us to pray for the church, including California Road Missionary Church. I hope we’ve learned that praying for the church is crucial. So, after five months of sermons on prayer, and a two-month special focus on praying for the church, I have to ask: are we praying for the church? Have you prayed for California Road this week? Have you used what you’ve learned to pray for our church family and for Jesus’s larger church?

I’ve met people who believe in God but don’t believe in prayer. It is obvious they don’t believe in prayer: they don’t pray. They assume God is going to do what he is going to do, whether they pray or not. For them, prayer is at most a matter of adjusting our own attitudes and expectations.

But I don’t believe that and, more importantly, neither did the Apostle Paul. I agree with Henry Emerson Fosdick, who said: “Now if God has left some things contingent on man’s thinking and working, why may he not have left some things contingent on man’s praying? The testimony of the great souls is a clear affirmative to this: some things never without thinking; some things never without working; some things never without praying! Prayer is one of the three forms of man’s cooperation with God.”

I’ve met other people who pray, but only when they can’t think of anything else to do. For them, prayer is a parachute: they wouldn’t think of using it unless the plane was going down. The idea of cooperating with God in what he’s doing has never occurred to them.  But God has made room in his creation for us to be involved with him in ways that make a difference, and chief among those ways is prayer.

If we pray, some good things will happen that would not happen if we didn’t pray. Some bad things won’t happen that would have happened if we hadn’t prayed. St. Paul expected his prayers for the church to make a difference beyond changing his own attitude and raising his expectations. So do I? Do you?

The purpose of this series was not to stuff more information into our heads but to send us to our knees with some inspired prayers in our mouths. The church of Jesus – including Cal Road – is of enormous importance in God’s plans for the world and for our lives and we should be praying for it. If we do, some things will happen here that would not otherwise happen, and some things will not happen here that otherwise would.

For example: remember Paul’s prayer for the Colossian Church. He prayed that God would give them the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. They needed that knowledge to live a life worthy of the Lord and to please him in every way. We need that knowledge as much as, and for the same reasons, they did. Our worship committee and worship team are making decisions about what happens here on Sunday mornings; they need the knowledge of God’s will. The nominating committee is reaching out to potential leaders, and those potential leaders need the knowledge of God’s will. The ministry committee is considering new opportunities. We can help by asking God to give our church the knowledge of his will.

When we ask God for such knowledge, and he answers, there are four enormously valuable outcomes. The first is fruitfulness in the church’s work. Think of that. We are always working –children’s ministry, Manna ministry, lawn and maintenance, and on and on. To some degree, the fruitfulness of all that work will hinge on knowing God’s will. The difference between fruitful work and meaningless drudgery lies, in part, with our prayers.

The knowledge of God’s will not only make us fruitful; it makes us strong. Strong people, according to Paul, can endure. They can be patient. They can remain joyful. Weak people are not joyful people.

There are people at Cal Road who are going through trials. Some may be on the verge of giving up. They need strength to endure. Paul prayed for that. So should we.

Weak people won’t endure. Marriages will end. Church members will leave. Sunday School teachers will give up. Deacons will find something easier to do. If we don’t pray, we are not doing our part to help each other.

Watchman Nee put it this way: “Our prayers lay the track down on which God’s power can come. Like a mighty locomotive, his power is irresistible, but it cannot reach us without rails.”

In the prayer in Ephesians 1, Paul asked God to give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Have you and I prayed that prayer for Cal Road? Or Bethany Missionary Church, First Baptist, for the Nazarenes, and for our friends in other fellowships? What a difference it makes when the pastor gets up to preach if God has given the church a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. Being able to receive revelation, to gain wisdom concerning what God is like, what he can do, and what he wants, changes everything.

The prayer we have been looking at in Ephesians 3, the prayer for strength to know the knowledge-surpassing love of Christ—how important that is in the midst of a general election. Do we know that “nothing can separate us from the love of Christ”? Whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris or Tim Matteson is elected president, nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Grasping Christ’s love increases our courage, deepens our compassion, and causes us stand out against the darkness of our society the way stars stand out against the darkness of the night sky (Philippians 2:15).

In one sense, it’s not our prayers that make the difference; it’s the God to whom we pray who makes the difference. He is able to do things that we cannot imagine, things that have never even crossed our minds. His power is beyond comprehension. Our best-case scenarios, highest ambitions, and wildest dreams don’t come close to the reality of what God is capable of doing.

In Ephesians 3:20, Paul calls God (literally) “The one who is able.” Sometimes we talk about people that way: “She is a very able leader.” With God, we take that to another level.

“Able” translates a participle, the verbal form of the noun “power.” To be able is to have the power needed to accomplish something. The God to whom Paul has been praying has the power to accomplish everything he chooses to do. His power is limitless, his ability boundless.

The New Testament speaks of God as “the one who is able” in two other places: Romans 16 and Jude 24. In the Romans passage, God is able to establish you – that is, to make you strong; to keep you stable and secure. We are wobbly – both physically and spiritually – but God is able to make us stand firm.

In Jude 24, God is the one who is able to keep you from stumbling. I have seen Christians stumble and fall – into sin, and despair, and unbelief. We should pray to the God who is able to keep us from stumbling.

Jude goes on: “and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.” How can that be? We are not without fault, but we are often without “joy,” certainly without “great joy.” Sometimes we are downright miserable. It seems impossible that we should stand before a perfect God without fault and with great joy. We can’t imagine it.

Precisely. Go back to our text: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” We don’t see any way for things to work out, but we see a hundred ways for them to go wrong – a thousand if we keep looking. We rack our brains, but we cannot think of a way through. We’re not asking for much. All we want is for things to be okay.

But God wants more than just okay. He is planning for perfect, planning for great joy. He is able (as Harold Hoener literally translated it) “to do beyond everything, very far in excess of that which we ask or think.”[1]

You want God to get you out of a tough spot. He’s planning on getting you into heaven. You want to avoid embarrassment. God is planning on bringing glory down on your head. You want your kid to be okay. He wants your kid to be amazing. And he is able to do all those things. He is “the One who is able.”

You say, “But how? How is he going to do these things?” I don’t know. But then, there are so many things I don’t know. And it is not just me. No one knew – neither human nor angel – how God would present us without fault and with great joy, nor could anyone imagine the instrument he would use to accomplish this: a Roman cross. No eye saw it, no ear heard it, no mind conceived it – except God’s. He is able to do what we are not even able to imagine!

His ability is very far in excess of anything we can ask or think. Listen to the words of St. Thomas Aquinas: “To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.” The first step is faith—but not in God’s great power. We begin by trusting his great love, revealed in the Christ of the cross.

Vance Havner put it this way: “…we miss so much because we live on the low level of the natural, the ordinary, the explainable. We leave no room for God to do the exceeding abundant thing above all that we can ask or think.”[2]

Look at verse 20 again: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…” This extraordinary power is not merely potential energy – God could do this if he wanted to – it is kinetic energy. It is already at work within us, or “among us,” as the Greek could be translated. That power is currently at work in our church, among our people, and even in our inner persons. And prayer connects us to the power.

Karen and I were in Germany last year at this time. The places we stayed had plenty of electrical power at 230 volts, but our devices – computers, phone chargers, hair dryers – weren’t equipped with the right kind of connector to access that power. Christians who don’t pray are in a similar position. The power is there, but they are unable to access it. Prayer is the connector that plugs us into that power.  

Philip Yancy said: “Most of my struggles in the Christian life circle around the same two themes: why God doesn’t act the way we want God to, and why I don’t act the way God wants me to. Prayer is the precise point where those themes converge.”[3] It is not only the point where they converge; in countless lives, it has been the point where those themes unite to become a single story of beauty and power.

And glory. Look at verse 21: “to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Some scholars have argued that Paul could not possibly have written this because of the word order. They say that he never would have put the church before Christ Jesus. But this is to overlook the context. Paul has just written that God intends the church to be the showpiece of his unsearchable wisdom (Ephesians 3:10). He has put the church on display for the great spiritual powers to see. So, of course Paul desires God’s glory to be seen in the church.

Besides that, in Paul’s mind (though, perhaps, not in the minds of some scholars) the church is not – and can never be – divorced from Jesus. They are a package deal. People in our day often try to divide the church from Jesus. They say things like, “I believe in Jesus. I just don’t believe in the church. Organized religion is a sham.” Such a person’s experience of Jesus will always be profoundly limited for Jesus is united to his church and expresses himself through it. Yes, the church is unfinished and no one who loves the church (least of all, Jesus), is blind to its faults. Nevertheless, it is in the church that people experience Jesus’s love, and it is in the church that glory comes to God.

Even in times like this. More than ever, we must pray (Colossians 1:9-12) for the church to have the knowledge of God’s will. There is an opportunity in this moment for the church to serve God in the world and we mustn’t miss it. The world is ablaze, and our leaders are pouring gasoline on the fire. Israel is at war with its neighbors. Russia is at war with its neighbor. The U.S. is engaged in an ideological war with itself. But in these dark times, the church can shine to the glory of God. But we must keep asking God to give us the knowledge of his will.

We must also pray (Ephesians 1:17-19) for the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may grasp the glorious hope before us and the extraordinary value of the people nest to us – God’s chosen inheritance in the saints. And we must (Ephesians 3:14-21) pray for power – we’re going to need it – so God can fill us, his church, with all his fullness.

Will you pray? Will you pray earnestly, regularly, and confidently for God to give us the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding? Will you pray for our church to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that we can please him in every way? Will you pray for us to know the love of Christ at Cal Road church?

I am asking you to commit to praying for our church, Cal Road, at least once a week. Will you make that commitment? And will you use these great prayers – Philippians 1:9-11; Colossians 1:9-12; Ephesians 1:14-23; and Ephesians 3:14-21 – to inform your requests?

I close with the words of the great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon. Using a church bell high in the belfry as a metaphor for prayer, he said this: “Prayer pulls the rope below and the great bell rings above in the ears of God. Some scarcely stir the bell, for they pray so languidly. Others give but an occasional pluck at the rope. But he who wins with heaven is the [one] who grasps the rope boldly and pulls continuously, with all his might.”

Let us win with heaven. Let’s pull together and let’s pull hard. Amen.

Blessing/Sending

Go in joy, people of God, for He can do immeasurably more than all we ask or even imagine, according to His power that is working in us. May He be glorified in His Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever! Amen.

[1] Harold Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary, © 2002. Baker Books

[2] Vance Havner in the Vance Havner Quote Book. Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 14.

[3] Philip Yancey, Prayer (Zondervan, 2006)

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Church, Encouragement, Faith, Prayer, Sermons, Theology | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sealed with a Quark: Creation and Its Mysteries

Posted on November 16, 2024 by salooper57
Photo by JESHOOTS.com on Pexels.com

“The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment” (Job 38:14)

The line above comes from YHWH’s speech to Job near the end of the Book of Job. The analogy is well chosen. In ancient (or, for that matter, modern) times a seal signified ownership. It displayed authority. It also protected what was hidden behind the seal. Each of these characteristics of a seal expresses some truth about God’s relationship to the earth.

For example, “the earth is YHWH’s” (Ps. 24:1); he owns it. Establishing his ownership of earth is one reason we have the story of creation in Genesis 1 and 2. When Genesis was written, no one doubted that the earth and the heavens were supernaturally created. The question was not, “Did God make all this?” It was, “Which god made all this?” The answer, as Genesis makes clear, is that YHWH made it. And if he made it, it is his. Hence the image of the seal.

A seal also displayed authority. So, on our currency one finds the seal of the United States Federal Reserve System. That seal validates the currency under the authority of the Fed. Likewise, the seal in Job 38:14 indicates that YHWH has authority over the earth. He gets the final say.

Official seals were also used to hide the content of a letter and to protect it. What lay behind the seal was a mystery, and only those authorized to do so dared to open the seal and uncover the mystery. This, it seems to me, is an apt metaphor for the earth, for creation conceals God’s remarkable power and infinite wisdom.

Our scientists have not been able to open the seal and reveal the secrets of God’s creation, but they have held the envelope up to the light and have seen vaguely the marvelous things that lie inside. Scientific inquiry is a noble task and a valuable work—a service to humanity and, I believe, to God. Yet the principal discovery science has made is that there is more to discover than we ever dreamed. We are just beginning to know how little we know.

The seal of creation hides remarkable mysteries. Science has allowed us to hold the envelope up to the light and dimly see the mysteries within. Physicists have not been able to untangle the mysteries – they do not see them clearly enough for that – but they have been able to marvel at them.

For example, physicists have begun to see the remarkably precise fine-tuning of creation. This is, perhaps, nowhere more evident than in the expansion rate of the universe. The average density of the universe is astonishingly close to the critical density. Were it otherwise, even in the smallest degree, the universe would have either collapsed or expanded so rapidly that there would be no suns and planets.

The expansion rate is also influenced by the cancellation rate of the cosmological constant. Scientists debate how this works – it is a mystery. Some, who have given up the debate, say: “Just accept it and move on; there is no sense in asking questions.” But the fact remains: the cancellation rate of the cosmological constant is exactly right to maintain the expansion of the universe at its perfect rate. And by exactly right, I mean right to more than one part in 1050. This almost unthinkable precision is mindboggling.

The mass of a neutrino is 5 X 10-35 kg. Compared to other known particles, this is tiny. Yet, according to the physicist Paul Davies, there are so many neutrinos in the universe that their accumulated mass could outweigh all the stars. Davies says that if the neutrino’s mass was any different – say 5 X 10-34 kg – the expansion rate of the universe could be completely changed. This imperceptible difference would result in a contracting universe! The seal of creation hides mysteries galore.

Also hidden behind the seal is the uncanny balance between electromagnetism and gravity. The tiniest shift in this balance would result in a universe comprised entirely of red dwarves or blue giants, which would probably mean no life.

And there certainly would not be life – as we know it anyway – if carbon and oxygen were not created in just the right amounts: not too much, not too little, and perfectly in balance.

Then there is the ratio between neutrons and protons, which is dependent on their respective masses. If the neutron mass were 0.998 of its actual value, there would be no atoms at all. That ratio is fine tuned to an unthinkably small fraction. It is the difference between the “weight” of one quark and another.

These mysteries serve as a seal. “Its features stand out” clearly enough to see that there has been design. Yet Paul Davies, the physicist and wonderful science writer whose book The Accidental Universe first made me aware of these remarkable evidences of design, did not conclude that the universe was created by the transcendent (and imminent) God revealed in the Bible. Instead, he leaned (the last I knew) toward the idea that man evolves to a place where he is able to manipulate matter on a quantum level, gain transcendence over time, and as some kind of god himself go back and fine tune all these “coincidences.”

I’m sure I have grossly understated the complexity of Dr. Davies’ view. My point is simply that acknowledging the God of the Bible as the creator (which may require less faith than Davies’ view – where is Occam when you need him?) still requires faith. Perhaps the day will come when “faith shall be sight,” but we cannot now see behind the seal. We can, however, trust the one who put it there.

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God Wants to Empower You (Ephesians 3:14-17)

Posted on November 14, 2024 by salooper57

Below are excerpts from this sermon, preached on October 20, 2024.

I suspect – and know this is true of me – that most of us pray because we are aware of a need, of discomfort, or of danger—and that’s good. When we are unaware of such things, we don’t think to pray. That’s not good.

That we don’t think to pray when things are going well exposes a shallow understanding of prayer and probably a false belief: that God left us here to muddle through and keep ourselves intact in the process. When that becomes more than we can manage, then it’s time to pray.

But do you see what this reveals about our view of God? We think he’s like the butler in Wodehouse’s Jeeves novels – the smartest, most capable person around – who (for some reason) has nothing better to do than to get us out of scrapes and make us comfortable. But to think that is to misconstrue our purpose here and God’s, his role and ours.

The Apostle Paul doesn’t think of God as if he were “our Jeeves in heaven.” It’s not that he doesn’t want us to pray about our needs—he tells us to do just that: to present our requests to God (Philippians 4:6). But most of Paul’s prayers in the Bible don’t come out of a sense of discomfort or fear or even need. They come out of an eagerness to serve God in what he is doing. That’s different than an eagerness for God to serve us in what we’re doing.

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The principal request in this prayer is for God to give – Paul knows that God is a giver – the Ephesians strengthening power. He asks him to do this “out of his glorious riches” or, better, “according to his glorious riches.” Paul is not asking God to deplete his riches by giving some of them to the Ephesians. He is asking the Father – the infinitely wealthy, incomparably generous God – to give in a way that is consistent with his famous largesse.

But Paul is not asking the Father to give these Christians money. He’s asking him to give them power; to strengthen them. Did you realize that God wants to empower you? He wants you to be strong and capable. Your strength is vital to God’s purpose.

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Our culture talks a lot about empowering people: women, children, minorities, workers, gays, the transgendered, and, lately, even white men (although it’s usually white men who talk about empowering white men.) Our society has a thing about power: it worships it. Don’t worship power. If you worship power, you’ll be the kind of person who will try to use God. But if you worship God, you’ll be the kind of person who can be trusted with power and will use it wisely.

When our culture empowers a person or a group of people, it divides them from other people. That’s how cultural power works: it raises some up and forces others down. God’s power is not like that. It doesn’t divide. It unites. God’s power does not enable people to get their way. It enables them to walk with others in God’s way. God’s power does not provoke resentment; it generates love. Let this sink in: God wants to empower you. God, said C. S. Lewis, “seems to do nothing of Himself which He can possibly delegate to His creatures. He commands us to do slowly and blunderingly what He could do perfectly and in the twinkling of an eye.”[1] He empowers us.

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I’ve met parents who do not empower their children, even when they are twenty or thirty years old. I could almost believe they preferred their children to remain weak so they could control them. God is not that kind of parent. He wants his children to become strong.

There is an important reason for that. Look at verses 16 and 17, where Paul answers the why question: “that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being …” Why? So, you can be independent? That’s not it. So you can be tough? Not exactly. No, he strengthens you with power (verse 17): “so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.”

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…the principal request of this prayer: that God will give these Ephesians power to become strong so that Christ can dwell in their hearts through faith. The word the ESV translates as “dwell” is used of a person settling down somewhere. For example, it is used of Jesus moving to Capernaum and making his home there. When we pray this prayer for someone, we’re praying that God will do what is necessary in that person so that Christ can settle in and make himself at home in his or her heart – the command center.

Why do people need to be strengthened for that to happen? Because genuine conversion is like a spiritual earthquake. Christ is bigger than your heart. If he comes to dwell in you, you will need to be renovated. Walls will be knocked out, the structure reinforced.

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A moment ago, I used the word “conversion” in regard to this project. Many people think of conversion as an instantaneous thing: I wasn’t a Christian. I was converted. Now I am a Christian. But that’s not the way it works. A heavenly course change may take only a moment, but an earthly saint takes a lifetime.

Conversion is a process that begins even before Christ comes to live in us. It begins with the Spirit’s work to prepare our hearts and minds. Then, when we say “yes” to God, the Spirit begins changing us on the inside. That’s what is in mind verse 16, where Paul prays for the Ephesians to be “strengthened with power through his Spirit in [their] inner being” – the inside man. Conversion continues throughout a person’s life on earth (and at least until the resurrection). That is why believers in Jesus keep growing, changing, and – if you won’t misunderstand me – getting “bigger.”

The process itself can be uncomfortable. Knocking out our carefully constructed walls can be painful. Raising the ceiling can be scary. The tools God uses to do that are sharp and disruptive. (But no one ever said that being a Christian is for wimps.)

That’s why God’s inside man or woman needs to be strengthened with power. Paul asked God to give that power to the Ephesians and we should ask God to give that power to us. We’re going to need it!

[1] 1 C.S. Lewis, The World’s Last Night and Other Essays (New York: Harcourt, Harvest Books), pp 8-9

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Jesus, Don’t You Care?

Posted on November 9, 2024 by salooper57

In 1901, a Methodist Episcopal minister named Frank Graeff partnered with the composer J. Lincoln Hall to produce a gospel song titled, Does Jesus Care? In the first stanza, Graeff wondered: “Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song, as the burdens press, and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long?”

I’ve met people, some who identified as Christians and some who had stopped doing so, who have wondered the same thing. Graeff’s answer was: “I know He cares. His heart is touched with my grief.” Other people I have known were not so sure.

We might think ourselves too spiritually mature to ask such questions. Perhaps so. But when the unthinkable happens – I’m remembering the great-grandparents who had to raise their daughter’s infant grandson when a semi slammed into her car and killed her – we might find we are not as advanced as we thought we were.

There are people in the Bible who couldn’t help but wonder if God had forgotten them, if Jesus cared about them. In what is arguably the Bible’s gloomiest psalm, Psalm 88, the friendless, sick, and deeply depressed poet says, “I cry to you for help, O Lord …Why, O Lord, do you reject me and hide your face from me?”

Job went further. Instead of wondering if God cared about him, he accused God of hurting him. “I loathe my own life,” he said, and placed the blame for his misery on God. He confronts God in prayer: “Does it please you to oppress me?”

In the New Testament, Luke 10 presents a very homey scene. Jesus is staying with Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. The three of them would become fast friends. Jesus’s disciples are there too, and while Jesus talks with them, Mary sits and listens. This irritates her (probably) older sister Martha, who is working like crazy, trying to get everything ready for dinner. Her sister isn’t lifting a finger to help her.

When she’s had enough, she interrupts Jesus. Luke writes: “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

Note the telltale words, don’t you care. Perhaps Jesus only cares about important things like orthodoxy, mission, and world evangelism. Perhaps he does not really care when “the burdens press and the cares distress.”

Martha wondered if Jesus cared whether she wore herself out on domestic duties. Perhaps she was not important enough to warrant his concern.

In a very different setting, the apostles wondered the same thing. They were in a boat, in the midst of a terrific windstorm. (The word St. Mark uses to describe it could be translated as “tempest” or “hurricane.”) The experienced fisherman were straining at the oars, adjusting the sail, and toiling furiously as if their lives depended on it. All the while, Jesus was asleep on a cushion in the stern of the boat.

They woke him, probably by shouting. What did they shout? Again, those telltale words: “Don’t you care that we’re going to die?”

There is something in us that is not quite sure that he does.

During the Korean War, a young soldier named Richard (later, Brennan) Manning was sitting in a foxhole talking with his childhood friend, Ray Brennan. Suddenly, a live grenade came flying into the trench. Ray looked at Manning, smiled, dropped the chocolate bar he was eating, and threw himself on the grenade. He was killed, but Manning was saved (though it seems he suffered some serious PTSD).

When he was back home, Manning went to visit Ray’s mother, whom he had known for most of his life. They drank tea and talked about Ray and about old times, late into the night. Then a troubled Manning asked Ray’s mother, “Do you think Ray loved me?”

Ray’s mother rose from the couch, stood in front of Manning, and shook her finger in his face. She shouted at him, “What more could he have done for you?”

When we are wondering if Jesus cares, his Father could say the same thing to us that Ray’s mother said to Brennan Manning. “What more could he have done for you? He died for you!”

But he is doing more for us. He not only died for us; he lives for us – “he ever lives to make intercession for you.” Even in our Psalm 88 moments, when we feel like darkness is our only friend, Jesus intercedes for us. He knows how to help, and he is ready and able to do so (Hebrews 4:14-16). He does care.

Sometimes, we need to be reminded of that. Consider this a reminder.

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The Christian’s Duty to Pray for the Next President

Posted on November 2, 2024 by salooper57

In 2008, I wrote a newspaper column about the Christian’s responsibility to pray for President-elect Barack Obama. I knew that some of my readers were disappointed that Mr. Obama had been elected. Nevertheless, whether his election was a source of delight or dismay, I made it clear to Christian readers that it was incumbent upon them to pray for him.

A few years later, I was back at it, this time urging Christians to pray for Donald Trump. In 2020, I was playing the same tune, only this time it was for President-elect Joe Biden.

By 2020, I had written what amounts to the same column for every new president elected during the previous four elections. It occurred to me that long-time readers might grow bored with this and not even bother reading the column. So, I came up with a juicy title: “What Should Christians Do about President Biden?” The answer, of course, was that Christians should pray for him.

The title was a mistake. I got a lot of angry mail, mostly from people who didn’t bother to read the article and assumed that I was writing to criticize Mr. Biden and raise hostility toward him. All of those articles elicited negative comments, but the column about President Biden stirred up a hornet’s nest.

And here I am again, writing the same column, telling Christians it is their duty to pray for the president. But for the first time, I am writing the article before election day. I have no idea who will win. The race is neck and neck. But whether we have a President-elect Harris or President-elect Trump makes no difference. Christians are commanded to pray for their leader.

I can anticipate the response of some of my readers: “Donald Trump is not my leader!” “Kamala Harris will never be my leader!”

Sorry, that reply doesn’t cut it. St. Paul urged Christians “…first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone—for kings and all those in authority…” He wrote this to his coworker, the man he had mentored, St. Timothy. He did not urge prayer for nice kings but not others, but “for all those in authority.”

“But,” a determined critic might respond, “Kamala Harris, who defies biblical morality by promoting transgenderism and abortion, was not in authority then.” Or “Paul did not have in mind an arrogant, high-handed leader like Donald Trump, who poses an existential threat to democracy.”

I admit that Rome was not led by a Kamala Harris or a Donald Trump, but it was led by Nero Claudius Caesar, whose moral failures included matricide, murder, and marital unfaithfulness. Nero threatened his political rivals, intent on “eliminating the ills of the previous regime.” And he initiated a propaganda campaign against Christians which led to their deaths in staggering numbers, including both Sts. Paul and Peter.

And yet Paul, writing from prison, urged Christians to pray for all those in authority, including the king. But how does one pray for a leader whose character is flawed or whose policies are harmful? Should one pray for God to give them a short life and take them to judgment quickly?

There is a better way to pray. We can ask God to give the next president a “discerning heart to govern … and to distinguish between right and wrong,” as King Solomon prayed for himself. We can pray for “discernment in administering justice” – a prayer that pleased God – so that we may live “peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.”

We should pray for blessing for the next president, whoever that turns out to be. We should ask God to grant our future president discernment and wisdom. There is, however, another side to this. We may also pray the scriptural prayers of lament and protest – Psalm 10 is an example – that have a bearing on politics. As Christopher J. H. Wright put it, “I see no contradiction in both praying for our rulers and yet also praying against them.”

Whatever our prayers, they must rise above the plane of politics. Politics and politicians are not the most important thing. Whoever our next president is, and perhaps despite who our next president is, God’s kingdom will advance, Christ’s authority will triumph, and his people will be safe in God’s hands. If we believe this, we will be able to obey the biblical mandate and pray for our next president, whoever that may be.

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Know the Unknowable (Ephesians 3:17-19)

Posted on October 31, 2024 by salooper57

Excerpts from Know the Unknowable (Note: I will post the video as soon as it is available.)

We have a house plant that is like something out of a science fiction movie. Someone gave it to Karen – this nice, shiny, dark green plant – and she watered it and took care of it and it got bigger. When it was in danger of becoming root-bound, Karen transplanted it into a bigger pot. I think it might have outgrown that pot as well, so she put it in an even bigger one and now it is threatening to take over our house. We recently set it next to my side of the bed. I have dreams that it is going to eat me in my sleep.

Sometimes plants need to be transplanted to be healthy and strong. Sometimes people do too. In this passage, Paul talks about people being rooted in love, and the good things that can come from that.

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Being rooted (verse 17) is an agrarian image. Being established, as the NIV has it (also verse 17), is a construction image. Paul loves to mix those two metaphors. He does it here. He does it in Colossians 2:7. He does it in 1st Corinthians 3:9, where he calls the Corinthian church both God’s field and God’s building.

Being rooted implies life. A seed without life won’t root, it will only rot. Being established (better, laying a foundation) implies intention. No human has to be involved in a plant taking root (just ask the teams that pull weeds around the church) but a building’s foundation doesn’t just sprout from the ground. Laying it requires planning, intention, and effort. Both images – agrarian and construction – have something important to teach us.

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People who are rooted and grounded in love are strong enough to … what? What are they strong enough to do? The answer is unexpected. We don’t need this strength so to be faster than speeding bullets or more powerful than locomotives. We need it to comprehend (the Greek word means “to grasp” or “to lay hold of”) truth. Sir Francis Bacon said that knowledge is power; this kind of knowledge is a superpower. Being rooted in love is the prerequisite to this kind of power. Being rooted in lovelessness is an obstacle to it.

The Greek word for power here is not the usual one. This one has the idea of being strong enough to accomplish something. It is the word a koine Greek speaker would use to say (for example): “He is strong enough to do 100 pushups.” But, in this case, we are strong enough, verse 18, to grasp the width and length and height and depth of the love of Christ.

Some people simply are not strong enough to lay hold of – to comprehend – the love of Christ.  We tend to think there are smart people who comprehend things and there are strong people who get things done. The smart people wore glasses, walked around with their noses in books, and got beat up a lot when they were kids.

And of course, it was the strong kids who beat them up – the kids who didn’t wear glasses and would have trouble finding a book in the Public Library. But if they did, they’d only use it to hit the smart kids over the head.

But that is a false dichotomy. Nowhere in the Bible does smart equal weak or strong equal stupid. Quite the opposite: there are some things we will never grasp until we become strong.

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Paul prays the Ephesians “may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and so to know this love that surpasses knowledge” (Ephesians 3:17-18). Don’t miss the words, “together with all the saints.” It is not a throwaway clause.  

We will not have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep the love of Christ is in isolation from the saints. We need all the saints – all God’s own people – to get a handle on (to grasp) the immensity of Christ’s love. Even though we can never succeed in measuring or quantifying it, we can grasp it; can know it experientially—but only in partnership with all God’s other people. You know things I do not know, see things I have not seen, just as I know and see things you do not. Only together can we begin to get a handle on – to grasp – the unending, overwhelming love of Christ. Only in partnership with all Jesus’s people does being “filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (verse 19) become a possibility.

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No one can accuse the Apostle Paul of thinking small. What a goal! “…that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” This is the goal to which Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians has been headed all along. Paul is praying for the church – not just individuals – to be filled with all the fullness of God. His prayer, which comes right out of the Old Testament, is that God will come to the Living Temple – that’s the end of chapter 2 – as he did Solomon’s temple and the tabernacle before that and fill it with all his fullness. This is not a prayer for Christians in isolation but for Christians in community—Christians in the church. Don’t forget that God wants to demonstrate (verse 10) to rulers and authorities his manifold wisdom through the church.

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The Halloween Post: What the Bible Says About the Walking Dead

Posted on October 26, 2024 by salooper57
Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels.com

At the beginning of Ephesians 2, St. Paul writes about the walking dead. “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live…” “Live,” translated literally, is “walk,” Paul’s favorite metaphor for daily life. Spiritual death was once part of daily life for the people to whom Paul was writing.

Just who are the walking dead? Those who are separated from the life of God. In what sense are they dead? They are dead in the sense that they cannot interact with God, cannot respond to him, nor can they sense spiritual stimuli.

Maybe this will help us get the picture. A greedy man dies, and his body is laid out in a casket at a local funeral home. Everyone knows that he was the greediest person in the county. Let’s say his son walks up to the casket and puts a Powerball ticket for the biggest lottery jackpot in history in his hands. Then he watches him closely. But he won’t bat an eyelash; he’s dead to it. Elon Musk comes to the funeral and offers him one hundred million dollars to get up; he doesn’t move a muscle. To be dead is to be unresponsive (and unable to respond) to stimuli. A dead book-lover won’t care if you put a Shakespeare first folio in his casket. A dead baseball fan won’t mind if you take the 1953 Mickey Mantle Rookie card out of his pocket. To be dead is to be unresponsive to stimuli.

A person or animal can be dead to one kind of stimuli and alive to another. A mouse can be alive to the cookie it finds lying on an abandoned math book, but dead to the calculus on which it sits. (So can a high school student.) A politician can be alive to you during the campaign and dead to you once he is in office.

When Paul says that people were “dead in transgressions and sins” he means that they were dead to God. They may have been alive to other things, but they were dead to God. They couldn’t respond to Him—couldn’t hear when he spoke, couldn’t receive the grace and mercy that he offered.

To the spiritually dead, spiritual things are invisible and inaudible. If you could put someone who is spiritually dead in heaven, he would not appreciate it. He wouldn’t see it, smell it, taste it or touch it. He would be utterly dead to it, like the greedy man to the lottery ticket.

(This, by the way, is why it is silly for people to blame God for not allowing everyone into heaven. It would be like someone blaming you because you refuse to allow him to bring the body of his dead friend to your next dinner party. How dare you turn people away!)

 Paul is saying that these people were spiritually dead. They were unresponsive to God. They couldn’t hear him, see him, feel his touch or taste his goodness. They were dead in “transgressions and sins.” Their transgression and sins were not the cause of this deadness, but its result; the way a stench is not the cause of physical death, but results from it.

Paul’s writing gets even eerier in Ephesians 2:2: the walking dead are under the control of a spirit that is at work in them. It directs them to walk “according to the age.” In other words, they don’t have a mind of their own; the age sets the standard for their behavior, speech, dress, relationships, generosity, goals. More alarming still, Paul writes that we have all taken part in this world, all moved by the “lusts of the flesh.”

Into this sinister world, the loving God, rich in mercy (v. 4) came, making the walking dead alive in Christ (v. 5). This is pure grace. He raised us out of the dust (v. 6) with the intention of displaying his kindness to us throughout the ages to come (v. 7).

What began as a horror story has been transformed into a divine comedy. Halloween has given way to All Saints. Lust is being replaced by love. The walking dead have been waked into life by the touch of gracious God.

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Incomparable Power (Ephesians 1:19-23)

Posted on October 23, 2024 by salooper57

I have already posted written excerpts from this sermon (https://shaynelooper.com/2024/10/16/immeasurable-power-ephesians-119-23/). Below is the sermon video. Blessings.

Viewing Time: 23:44.

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Jesus: Liberal or Conservative?

Posted on October 19, 2024 by salooper57

(Read time: approximately 4 minutes.)

I was speaking to someone just this week who said to me, “I don’t know how a Christian can vote for a Democrat.” It is hardly the first time I have heard that sentiment expressed. Yet I know other people who express disbelief that a Christian can vote for a Republican—or at least for a particular Republican.

I think our assumption is that Jesus would vote the way we intend to vote if he were in our place. If we are liberals, we have a liberal Jesus who takes care of the oppressed even when it is costly. If we are conservatives, we have a conservative Jesus who maintains high moral standards even when it is not popular.

So, is Jesus a liberal or a conservative? Is he on our side or is he on their side?

Perhaps we should be asking a different question. Instead of asking if Jesus is on our side, we should be asking if we are on his. Are our values and actions consistent with what we know about Jesus from the Gospels?

There is a fascinating incident in Israel’s history that has bearing on the “whose side is God on” question. The people of Israel had spent 40 years as refugees, wandering from place to place in a barren, mostly unclaimed land. When it was necessary to cross a tract of land that was claimed, they usually faced hostility and sometimes war. After decades of wasting away in the harshest conditions, they were finally poised to enter their own land.

But there was a problem. There were people living there who would not welcome them. They would face adversaries almost immediately who would try to drive them out. As Israel prepared to cross into their new homeland, their leader Joshua encountered a man – he turns out to be “the commander of the LORD’s army” – with a drawn sword. Joshua approaches him with remarkable courage and demands to know: “Are you for us or for our enemies?” The “man” replies, “Neither.”

That is probably not what Joshua wanted to hear, but it was what he needed to hear. The question was not then, nor is it now, whether God is on our side. The question is whether we are on his. Until Christians get that right, whatever choice they make in the voting booth will be wrong.

When it comes to the question of whether Jesus is a conservative or a liberal, I think there is evidence for both, but there is no evidence that he is a Republican or a Democrat. He calls Republicans and Democrats to join his side. He will not join theirs.

There is only one miracle story (besides the resurrection) that appears in all four primary accounts of Jesus’s life: the story of the feeding of the 5,000. In the story, Jesus takes his closest followers away for a private retreat, but the crowds discover their destination and meet them there. Jesus feels compassion for them, teaches them, and heals those who are ill.

Late in the afternoon (Greek is more picturesque: “The day had begun to recline”), Jesus’s apostles told him to “Send the crowd away…so they can find food and lodging, because we are in a remote place.” Obviously, they had been thinking about this and assumed that Jesus, busy as he was, had not. Nevertheless, it is probably not wise to tell the Lord what to do.

Jesus, like a true liberal, had compassion on the crowd. Instead of telling them to fend for themselves like responsible adults, he told his team to feed them. Rather than getting busy with that, the team explained to Jesus why it couldn’t be done. It is probably not wise to tell the Lord that something he chooses to do can’t be done.

When it comes to Jesus, where there is a will there is a way. He proceeded to feed the crowds so that everyone was satisfied. Then, like a true conservative, he told his team to “gather the pieces that are leftover. Let nothing be wasted.”

When conservative Christians complain about liberals, it is rarely because they are liberal. It is usually because their party advocates for issues like abortion, gender transitioning, and the abolition of police departments. These are not liberal positions, even if many “liberals” support them. (However, contrary to media propaganda, polling reveals that few liberals want to abolish the police.)

When liberal Christians complain about conservatives, it is rarely because they are conservative. It is usually because their party opposes compassionate immigration laws, ignores historic injustices, and elevates one race above others. These are not conservative positions, though they are positions that many “conservatives” take.

As a Christian, I want to be liberal in the sense that I want to be openhanded with my (not someone else’s) resources. I want to welcome the oppressed and feel compassion for those who are different from me. I also want to be conservative in the sense that I conserve what is good, whether morality or resources or the God-given gifts and insights of people who are not like me.

It seems necessary to me to reject liberalism as a political doctrine while treating people with liberality and reject conservatism as a political doctrine while conserving all that is just and good.

Liberalism or conservatism is a false dichotomy for a Christian—a fool’s choice. Instead of standing on an “ism” – any “ism” – let the Christian follow the way of Christ. He did not tread some middle way, like Aristotle’s golden mean, but ascended to the summit of love. It is ours to follow him there.

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Immeasurable Power (Ephesians 1:19-23)

Posted on October 16, 2024 by salooper57

Below are excerpts from this week’s sermon on Ephesians 1:19-22, which focuses on a personal (and corporate) experience of God’s power. (Reading time: 3-4 minutes.)

In chapter 3, Paul tells the Ephesians that God’s intention is to make known to rulers and authorities his wisdom – the absolute brilliance and effectiveness of his plan – and to do so through the Church. The Church is his proving ground, his test track. The church is intended to be the working model of what God can do in the world. The Church is on display as the prototype of God’s wisdom and power. That should make us tremble.

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Every year in January, Las Vegas hosts the country’s biggest tech show. People come from around the world to see the latest innovations: ai robots, personal mini-aircraft, a countertop CNC machine, even a transparent TV – you can watch your show and see what the kids are up to at the same time. This year at the tech show, GE introduced its smart indoor smoker, which burns real wood pellets in your kitchen while filtering out the smoke. It also has a separate heating element which you can control from your phone. (Next year’s model will even eat your brisket so that you don’t have to.)

Imagine you are at the Indoor Smoker display at the tech show. The guy running the demonstration looks at an app on his phone, which tells him that the brisket has reached 130 degrees. That’s not high enough, so he touches his phone screen, and the smoker turns up the heat. He shows his audience the phone and smiles knowingly. But then something happens. Smoke starts bellowing from the smoker, the fire suppression system is triggered, and water begins cascading from above. The AI robot assistant in the next display is electrocuted, the entire Expo Center has to be evacuated, and no one wants to have anything to do with GE.

Here is what we need to understand. Earth itself is a kind of Trade Show, and God has a display: the church. He is demonstrating his know-how and power in a group of very imperfect people, transforming them into what Dallas Willard describes as “an all-inclusive community of loving persons, with himself as its primary sustainer and most glorious inhabitant.”

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This transformation happens as we experience God’s power in our lives. Our desires begin to change (that is a fundamental part of the process), as do our attitudes and our relationships, and we gradually become that beautiful community of loving persons. Others, including non-human powers, see what God is capable of doing.

But when we sin and fall short of the glory of God by refusing to give and to forgive, by acting hypocritically, gossiping, manipulating, we catch fire, ruin the display, and empty the pews. And no one wants to have anything to do with God.

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But what if I have doubts? Doubt is not a big problem. Unbelief is. Doubt exists in the absence of knowledge and when knowledge is supplied, the doubter believes. But unbelief – the refusal to believe – is different. It is not motivated by lack of knowledge but by an unwillingness to submit. Doubt is routinely the predecessor to belief. Unbelief is routinely the predecessor to ruin.

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Imagine living six miles south of town on County Road 7 in 1936. You don’t have electricity (and don’t really trust it, either). None of your neighbors have electricity. But then Edna and her husband – he works at the car dealership in town – become the first to sign up. The Electric Company runs a wire from Mishawaka Road to the new pole and then to their house. If you want to see what electricity can do, go to Edna’s house. They’ve put in electric lights, a refrigerator, and even an electric toaster. The only way you’ll see electric power at your house is if lightning strikes, which is not very likely. Just so, God’s power may strike someone who is outside the Church and doesn’t care about Jesus’s mission, but it doesn’t happen very often.

This is hard for us to grasp. Western Christians tend to see a “personal relationship with Jesus” in isolation from Jesus’s mission, his church, and God’s glorious inheritance in the saints. But when God displays his power, it happens where Jesus is obeyed and his mission advanced. Since the Church is the prototype or the test site or the working model for what God can do, it is where we find his power at work.  

Imagine again that it’s 1936 and you’ve just got on the bandwagon and had the electric company run a wire to your house. You’ve got two electric lights in your kitchen, a lamp in your living room, and one in each of your bedrooms. You have five places where the electricity can actually accomplish something in your house.

It’s a good start. Now imagine that its 1966, you’re still in the same house, and those five light bulbs are still the only electricity-using devices in your home. It’s what you’ve become accustomed to, and you don’t think much about it, but you’re not experiencing many of the benefits electricity could provide. You’re still using an icebox and a woodstove. Your wife heats her curling iron over the fire before curling her hair.

Similarly, we will only experience God’s power if something in our life uses God’s power. Our houses have TVs and computers, stoves and dishwashers, fans and hairdryers, and they all use electricity. Is there anything in our lives that uses God’s power?

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One outlet for God’s power is being a witness to Jesus. In Acts 1:8, Jesus linked power with being a witness. Be a witness to Jesus at work or with a friend, and see if God’s power doesn’t flow through you.

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Helping others in Jesus’s name draws on God’s power. The disciples were surprised and overjoyed at the power they experienced when Jesus sent them out to proclaim the good news and to heal those who were hurting. When we engage in Jesus’s mission, we have Jesus’s power.

We need outlets for God’s power in our lives; do you have any? Every time one of us connects to God so that his power flows through us, it’s like a light comes on in the church. When we are all connected, the church becomes the success of the entire exhibition known as life on earth. It becomes, in Jesus’s metaphor, a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.

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The Riches of His Glorious Inheritance in the Saints

Watch last week’s sermon below: The Riches of His Glorious Inheritance in the Saints. (Viewing time:is 23:00.)

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