The Foundation of Our Prayer (Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 120)

The Heidelberg Catechism closes with an exposition of the Lord’s Prayer (Q/A 116-129). In Q/A 120 it explains the importance and significance of Christians being able to address God in prayer as “Our Father.” There it says:

Q.120. Why hath Christ commanded us to address God thus: “Our Father”? A. That immediately, in the very beginning of our prayer, He might excite in us a childlike reverence for and confidence in God, which are the foundation of our prayer, namely that God is become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in true faith than our parents will refuse us earthly things.

And so the opening address of the Lord’s prayer teaches us the “foundation” of all true Christian prayer, which consists in at least two (2) things: “childlike reverence for and confidence in God.”

Not just reverence for God, but a “childlike reverence” is a necessity for Christian prayer. As a child normally looks up to his or her earthly father with a reverence as one who is able to provide for their needs, in an even greater way we are to look up to or have a deep reverence for God as our heavenly Father. In the same way, as children are also normally confident in the willingness of their earthly fathers to provide for them and to give them what they ask for, even so in a greater way believers are taught here to look unto God in prayer as our Father in heaven, being confident in His willingness to give good things to His children who ask.

Our Lord Jesus taught the very same thing in Matthew 7:7–11, where He says,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!” (ESV)

Jesus here makes the argument from the lesser to the greater. If we who are earthly fathers (“who are evil“!) are disposed to “give good gifts” to our own children, how much more should we have confidence that our heavenly Father’s willingness to “give good things to those who ask him!” (v.11)

Or do we think that we are somehow better than God in that regard? Do we imagine that we are better parents to our own children than God Himself is to those who are His adopted children in Jesus Christ? May we never have such a high view of ourselves, nor such a low view of God!

As a believer in Christ, do you have this kind of confidence in God’s willingness to hear and answer your prayers? Are you approaching God as your Father in Jesus Christ, with childlike reverence and confidence, that He is even more willing to hear and answer than you are to pray? That, as Q/A 120 points out, is the indispensable “foundation of our prayer.” If you lack that childlike confidence in God, you are certain to find prayer difficult, and will not persevere in prayer very long. But if you are approaching Him in prayer as your heavenly Father, and trusting in His goodness and willingness to hear and answer your prayers, that changes everything!

May God be pleased to work in us that which is pleasing in His sight, so that we might learn the lessons of the opening address of the Lord’s prayer, so that when we call upon God as our heavenly Father, we might learn to have great confidence in His goodness and His willingness to “give good things to those who ask him!” (Matthew 7:11, ESV)

Honor Your Father and Your Mother (The Fifth Commandment)

In our study through the ten commandments we now come to the fifth commandment. Despite the relative brevity of this commandment, there are numerous implications and applications that we may draw from it.

The commandment itself simply says,

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” (Exodus 20:12, ESV)

This commandment marks the transition to what is often called the second “table” of the law (basically the second half of the ten commandments, so to speak). The first table (i.e. commandments 1-4) deals with love for God, while the second table (i.e. commandments 5-10) deals with love for one’s neighbor.

It is interesting and instructive that when the Lord begins to turn our attention to love for our neighbor, the place he starts is our relationship with our parents. They are typically the first neighbor (i.e. the first people) with whom we come into contact, and so they are the first ones to whom we owe love.

They are also typically the very first authority figures in our lives. And so we first learn (or fail to learn) to honor and obey those who are in authority over us, in the arena of the home or family. Notice that it is “honor” (and not mere outward obedience) that we are to render to our earthly fathers and mothers.

If as children we fail to learn to honor and submit to authority in the home, chances are we will struggle mightily to learn to submit to the many other authorities that God places over us in our various stations in life. For this reason the Puritan writer, Thomas Watson, once wrote, “Nothing sooner shortens life than disobedience to parents.” (The Ten Commandments, p.132)

In the New Testament the Apostle Paul actually quotes this commandment, interprets it, and applies it to believers today. In Ephesians 6:1-4 he writes,

“Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” (ESV)

Here Paul clearly teaches (in case anyone had any doubt) that the ten commandments still apply today. And they even apply to children! One of the primary applications of the fifth commandment is that children are to (as Paul puts it above) ‘obey their parents in the Lord.’ Why? Two reasons. First, because “this is right.” We know that it is “right” for children to ‘obey their parents in the Lord’ precisely because God has commanded it.

And so following the Lord isn’t just something for grown-ups, but rather starts very early on in life – even in childhood! A big part of a child following Christ involves honoring and obeying his or her parents.

And not just that, but children are to honor and obey their parents because God has even given a promise with this commandment – “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Notice that Paul clearly teaches that this promise that the Lord annexed or attached to the commandment still applies today. God graciously gives us promises of blessing in order to encourage us in our efforts toward obedience!

The Westminster Confession of Faith, in its chapter on the law of God speaks of the usefulness of God’s law for believers, and of the blessings that are promised to us for obedience to His commandments:

” . . . .The promises of it, in like manner, show them God’s approbation of obedience, and what blessings they may expect upon the performance thereof: although not as due to them by the law as a covenant of works. So as, a man’s doing good, and refraining from evil, because the law encourages to the one, and deters from the other, is no evidence of his being under the law; and, not under grace.” (19.6)

God is no harsh task-master toward his redeemed children. Rather he knows what is best for us, commands us to walk in his ways accordingly, and even gives us blessings along the way in order to encourage us when that way sometimes proves to be difficult. God is good, and even his commandments are given for our good as well!

Book Review: God Is, by Mark Jones

Mark Jones’ newest book, God Is, is a book about what is often called “theology proper.” That is, it is about the study of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture. That in itself makes this volume a welcome addition. As Jones notes in his introduction, “books on the doctrine of God are few and far between” (p.16).

Don’t let the subtitle (“A Devotional Guide to the Attributes of God”) fool you. This “devotional” is by no means lacking in substance the way that books of that genre often tend to do. I don’t know of many so-called devotional books that quote liberally from the likes of Thomas Watson, John Owen, Thomas Goodwin, Stephen Charnock, and Herman Bavinck (just to name a handful).

While there is a great deal of substance in this book, its relative brevity (only 215 pages, plus end notes) makes it very readable. As with his previous volume, Knowing Christ, here Jones once again takes what can be some rather complex theological concepts (like the simplicity of God!) and makes them much more accessible to the layperson. (For my review of Knowing Christ, see here.)

Each chapter, as the title suggests, deals with a different attribute or perfection of God. He opens with a chapter on the Trinity (“God Is Triune”), and follows that up with a chapter on the simplicity of God (“God Is Simple”), which is probably a concept that many readers will be unfamiliar with prior to reading this book.

Chapters 3 through 6 seem to echo the order of the attributes of God found in question and answer #4 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which says,

“Q.4. What is God? A. God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable, in his being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth.”

• Chapter 3 – “God Is Spirit.”
• Chapter 4 – “God Is Infinite.”
• Chapter 5 – “God Is Eternal.”
• Chapter 6 – “God Is Unchangeable.”

See? You’re learning the Shorter Catechism and didn’t even know it!

There are 26 chapters in all, and all of the chapters are relatively short. (None of them exceeds 9 pages in length.) This actually makes the book very useful for devotional reading. I read just one chapter per day, and found that very helpful.

Each chapter follows a distinct and easy to follow pattern: First Jones states the doctrine of God’s respective attributes. He then follows that with a brief section demonstrating how each particular attribute of God is known and understood rightly by us in Christ alone. And finally he offers a section dealing with how these things rightly apply to the Christian life (what some of the old Puritan writers often referred to as the “uses” of the doctrine). This is doctrine with hands and feet, doctrine for life.

If I were to offer any minor criticism, it would be only this – the final two chapters (on the anger of God and the anthropomorphic way that God reveals Himself in Scripture), while being very clear, helpful, and even necessary for the book to be in some sense complete, would probably be more fitting as appendixes of some kind, rather than formal chapters in the book.

What I mean is this – the book is entitled God Is, and so each chapter deals with an attribute of God. That being the case, each chapter title begins with “God Is ___.” Those last two chapters don’t really fit that same way. Strictly speaking God is not angry or anthropomorphic in and of Himself. In other words, those things are not His essential attributes. Jones, of course, makes this very clear in those chapters. He says, for example, that “God’s anger remains an expression of his outward will, not his essential being” (p.194).

So my criticism is not so much of the content itself, but rather one small part the arrangement of it. It is admittedly a minor nitpick on my part, and it in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the book.

All in all, I enjoyed this book very much and found it to be eminently clear and helpful. If you are looking for a good book on the attributes of God, I enthusiastically recommend it to you. And if you are not looking for such a book? You probably should be – pick up a copy and read it anyway! You’ll be glad that you did.

The Antinomianism of the Pharisees

What is antinomianism? Antinomianism is not as easy to define as it sounds; it is even more difficult to recognize.  The word itself means to be against (anti) law (nomos = law), and so the most basic definition is that an antinomian is one who is against the law of God in some way.

But as Mark Jones has so ably points out in his book on this very subject (Antinomianism: Reformed Theology’s Unwelcome Guest), antinomianism cannot be rightly understood merely in terms of its etymology. In fact, there are many different forms of antinomianism, which makes it even more difficult to define or diagnose.

Perhaps the most common form of antinomianism might be referred to simply as practical antinomianism. 1 John 3:4 speaks of this kind when it says,

“Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.” (ESV)

The person who “makes a practice of sinning” lives in such a way as to be without law or anti-law. Licentiousness, then, is a common form of antinomianism, and is probably the form that most readily comes to mind when one thinks of antinomianism in the first place.

But what if I told you that legalism is often just as antinomian at heart as licentiousness? Legalism (ironically enough), when all is said and done, really just devolves into another form of antinomianism.  One need look no further than the Pharisees to prove this point. Were the Pharisees anti-law? Did they not teach God’s law? Were they not experts in God’s law? Certainly. But the effect of their teaching was such that it actually led people away from obeying God’s commandments.

In Mark chapter 7 Jesus essentially rebukes them for a form of antinomianism. Of course, He doesn’t use the word itself, but just look at what He says to them in v.6-9:

“And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!” (ESV)

They left and rejected “the commandment of God” (v.8, 9) in order to establish and uphold their own tradition. A legalist may be all about rules, but it is often the case that it is not really God’s rules or commandments that he or she is most concerned about keeping, but rather their own!

In case anyone thought that Jesus was exaggerating, He even gives an example. He mentions their traditional practice of “Corban” (v.11). Notice how Jesus shows us that this was in direct contradiction to the law of Moses. In v.10-11 He tells them,

“Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—”

To declare your property as “corban” was to declare it as dedicated or reserved for God. Think of it as leaving property to the church in your will. Once it was declared as “corban,” it could not be sold to be used for other things, even for helping one’s elderly parents who are in need! And what was the result? They, in effect, ‘no longer permitted’ a person to do anything for father or mother! They essentially prevented people from obeying God by their own tradition! And this was not an isolated instance! Jesus adds in v.13, “And many such things  you do.”

Think about that for a moment –  it is possible to actually teach God’s law, and yet do so in a way that is essentially antinomian at-heart! (See why it can be so difficult to define?) It is not without reason that Jeremiah 17:9 says,

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

Here we see that antinomianism & legalism are often really just two sides of the very same coin – they really aren’t that different after all! Were the Pharisees legalists? Certainly. But even so, they were just as antinomian as any licentious person, for they rejected the commandment of God in order to establish their tradition in its place.

THE SABBATH: HOLY REST AND WORSHIP (SHORTER CATECHISM Q.60)

This is part 4 of a brief series of posts going through what the Westminster Shorter Catechism (in Q.57-62) has to say about the 4th commandment. Question and answer #57 deals with the actual text of the commandment itself (which is found in Exodus 20:8-11 and Deuteronomy 5:12-15). The questions that follow explain and interpret the meaning of the commandment.

Question and answer #58 deals with the question of what – the substance of what is required in the fourth commandment – keeping one day in seven holy unto God. Question and answer 59 deals with the question of when – which day of the seven is now to be sanctified.

We now come to question and answer #60, which asks the all-important question – how? What exactly does it mean to sanctify the Sabbath or keep it holy?

Q.60. How is the Sabbath to be sanctified? A. The Sabbath is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days; and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship, except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.

So according to the Shorter Catechism, sanctifying the Sabbath involves at least two (2) things: holy rest and worship.  In his book, The Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture, Puritan writer Thomas Vincent (1634-1678) puts it this way:

“We are to observe and keep the Sabbath as holy, partly by a holy resting, partly in holy exercises on that day.” (p.146)

Vincent there shows us the balance that we must keep between those two things, as well as the right relationship between them. Let us then briefly turn to look at them in order.

First the Sabbath (or Lord’s day) is to be sanctified “by a holy resting all the day.” Not just rest, but a holy rest. So it is clear right at the outset that what is in view here is not mere inactivity or sleep. So what does this holy resting entail? We are to rest “all that day” (not just for an hour or two) from two (2) things: our “worldly employments” (i.e. our work), and our “recreations” (i.e. our play).

And the point here is certainly not just that we are to refrain from sinful work and recreation, as we are always to refrain from those things no matter which day of the week it may be. No, the writers of the Catechism explicitly state that we are to rest from even those employments and recreations “as are lawful on other days.” So we are not to treat the Lord’s day like any other day, whether that be for work or for play.

Some people might be tempted to treat Sundays like just another work day, another day to labor and make money. Time (as the saying goes) is money, and so for some people, a holy resting all the day sounds costly, rather than beneficial. And so such people may need to learn to trust in God’s provision. Is that not the lesson we are to learn from God’s instructions regarding the manna in the wilderness in Exodus chapter 16? There was one day in the week when the manna would not appear – the Sabbath. Exodus 16:26 states, “Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.” The only day that the people of Israel were allowed to gather extra to save for the next day was on the 6th day. Why? To free them up to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy. Even gathering food (manna) was not to be done on the Sabbath.

Others might be tempted to treat Sundays like just another day off, another day to play and have fun. Such people may need to learn to enjoy God more. (And who among us doesn’t need to learn that more?) To use a personal example, I like sports. I enjoy watching some sports on television and occasionally even in-person. (As a lifelong Philadelphia sports fan, my sports fandom is often more an exercise in patience and long-suffering than of celebrating championship parades, but I digress.)

Nothing wrong with enjoying the occasional game. But that being said, if I enjoy watching (for example) a football game (yes, even the Super Bowl) more than I enjoy spending time with the Lord and His people in worship, then both my priorities and tastes are out of whack.  Again, nothing wrong with sports or entertainment per se (as long as there is nothing inherently sinful involved), but those things should not be in any position to compete for our ultimate affection and enjoyment. And we are to rest from those things on the Lord’s day for our own good.

And that brings us to the second thing that sanctifying the Sabbath involves – worship. The Sabbath is to be sanctified, not just by a holy resting from worldly employments and recreations, but also by “spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God’s worship.” The whole time. And so the former is for the purpose of the latter. In the 4th commandment we are essentially being given a break from our worldly activities in order to free us up for worship.

Now if the first part (the holy resting) seems foreign to most people (even most Christians?) in our day, almost certainly this part (spending the whole day in the worship of God) is even more so. One need only look at the rarity of the Sunday evening worship service in our day to see something of a barometer of that. Structuring the whole day around worship seems like a nearly forgotten art. Sadly, many who were not raised in the Reformed faith (myself included) have had to learn much of this the hard way, with very little in the way of an example to emulate. This was not always the case.

Notice that the worship of God that is commended to us here is both public (corporate) and private (personal and with our family). And so we should make attendance upon public worship perhaps the highest priority of the day, although that by no means excludes time spent alone or with one’s family in prayer, the study of God’s Word, and even song (!). The latter is often closely-related to the former, with time spent considering and discussing the sermon from earlier that day. (How much more might we benefit from even the simplest preaching of the Word if we were to make that our practice!)  And here we also see that private worship is no substitute for diligently attending public worship of the church on the Lord’s day. In truth it should not be an either/or proposition.

That might sound like a rather daunting task. Surely there are things that cannot be left undone, even on Sundays, right? And that is where the common-sense exceptions to the rule come into view here in Q.60. It states that the whole time is to be spent in public and private worship “except so much as is to be taken up in the works of necessity and mercy.” One’s family still needs to eat, for example. The sick or injured must still be cared for. Someone in need must still be shown mercy. (In truth, the Lord’s day may actually provide us with more time and opportunity for this than other days.) And there are occupations or lawful callings in which people cannot reasonably be expected to take the whole day off from their work, which is necessary for the life, safety, and well-being of their neighbors (such as law enforcement, military, or medical personnel, just to name a few).

There is obviously much more that could be said, but I hope that you find this thumbnail sketch from the Shorter Catechism to be a helpful starting point, and perhaps something that may spur you on to more careful study and application of what the Scriptures have to say on this important subject. May we all learn to view this holy rest and worship, not as a burden, but as a blessing.

Forgive Us Our Debts (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART VII)

The fifth request found in the Lord’s Prayer is “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, KJV). There is so much packed into that one seemingly-simple request, that we will need to unpack its meaning and application over the course of more than one study. (So consider this as part one of a two-part study of this particular request in the Lord’s Prayer.)

Perhaps the first thing that we should learn from this request and its inclusion in the model prayer that the Lord Jesus taught us to pray is that we actually need forgiveness. If we need to ask for forgiveness, that necessarily means that we are sinners, doesn’t it? In fact, Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (KJV). How many have sinned? All. How many have therefore “come short of the glory of God”? All. Every last one of us.

And in this request our sins are referred to as “debts.” Sin puts us in debt to God. Being in debt to another person is bad enough, but being in debt to God should be a sobering thought for anyone! What every person owes to God as his or her Creator is obedience – perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience. But ever since the fall of mankind in Adam’s sin (Genesis chapter 3) we have all failed to obey God, and have transgressed his holy law in more ways and more often than we can even begin to comprehend. Our debt of sin is un-repayable by us. It makes our ever-mounting national debt seem like chump change in comparison. And so we desperately need forgiveness.

What is forgiveness? The word “forgive” in Matthew 6:12 has the idea of sending something away or removing it. It brings to mind the imagery of the “scapegoat” found in Leviticus 16:7-22. There we are told that two goats were to be used as a sin offering – one goat would be killed as a sacrifice to the Lord (v.15), while the other goat (the scapegoat), after having the sins of the people confessed over it, would be sent away into the wilderness (v.21), bearing the sins of the people far, far away, never to return.

Those two goats together picture for us the work of Jesus Christ on the cross in both making atonement for sin, and in carrying our sins far away from us. Isaiah 53:6 says, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (KJV). The reason that we can ask God for forgiveness of our sins is only because the debt of our sin has been paid in full by the only one capable of paying it – through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And forgiveness is not something that we just need to ask for from God at the beginning of the Christian life, but will continue to be an ongoing (even daily!) need in the lives of all believers. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us that in this life we will never outgrow our need to continually ask God for forgiveness. (And so the Lord’s Prayer clearly rules out any idea of perfectionism!)

Praying for the forgiveness of our sins should also be a regular part of both private and corporate prayer (i.e. praying with other believers in groups as well as in public worship). After all, it does say, “forgive us our debts,” not just ‘forgive me my debts.’

I sincerely hope that you know the joy and peace that only come through the forgiveness of sins, and which is freely offered to you through faith in Jesus Christ. There is nothing else in this world that can relieve a troubled conscience like the knowledge that, in Christ, a holy God has freely forgiven all of your sins!

OUR DAILY BREAD (THE LORD’S PRAYER – PART VI)

We now come to the fourth request found in the Lord’s Prayer, which is “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). In this part of the Lord’s Prayer we are instructed to pray for the provision of our daily needs, the necessities of life (i.e. food, clothing, shelter, etc.). Bread represents the most basic staple of food needed in order to sustain life.

The idea of the Lord providing “daily bread” brings to mind the manna (or bread from heaven) that the Lord miraculously provided to the children of Israel for 40 years during the wilderness wanderings (Exodus 16:35).The manna was not only miraculous provision, but it was also provided daily, with the exception of the Sabbath (Exodus 16:26). A double-portion was to be collected the day before the Sabbath. Think about that. What a picture of dependence upon the Lord!

And so by instructing us to pray for our daily bread, the Lord Jesus is clearly teaching us that we too are dependent upon God, even for our daily needs. If truth be told, everyone is still just as dependent upon God for their daily needs as those Israelites were during those 40 years in the desert, and in our prayers we should acknowledge that dependence.

It is all too easy to overlook this simple truth. When things are going well, and you are living comfortably, it is easy to forget that all that you have is a gift of God. No matter how hard you may work, no matter how successful you may be, at the end of the day, you are still utterly and completely dependent upon God for everything. But do you pray that way?

Likewise, even when things are not going so well, even when you have no earthly idea how you are going to make ends meet, it is surprisingly easy to forget that you are entirely dependent upon God to meet your needs. You might think that being in need would make it much easier to acknowledge one’s dependence upon God, but how many of us in those situations fail to pray, or treat prayer as a last resort? It is not without reason that the Scripture says, “ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2, KJV).

And notice that there is nothing inherently “unspiritual” (whatever that means) about praying for your daily needs. The Lord’s Prayer is a model prayer, given to us so that we might better understand how to pray, and one of the main things that we are taught to pray is for our “daily bread.” To be sure, it is not the first thing or the top priority on the list (that is that the Lord’s name would be “hallowed” or revered – Matthew 6:9), but it is certainly included.

So let us learn to pray for our daily bread, and may we be quick to give thanks to the Lord for providing for our daily needs, whether we have a little or a lot.

Our Special Rule of Direction for Prayer (The Lord’s Prayer – Part I)

Prayer Defined

What is prayer? If someone were to pose that very question to you, what would you say? Talking to God? Sure, that would be a good place to start. Prayer is certainly talking with God. The Westminster Shorter Catechism defines prayer in the following way:

“Q.98. What is prayer? A. Prayer is an offering up of our desires unto God, for things agreeable to His will, in the name of Christ, with confession of our sins, and thankful acknowledgment of His mercies.”

But perhaps a more important question is whether or not one actually  knows how to pray. But doesn’t everyone know how to pray? Yes and no. Yes, everyone can grasp the simple concept of talking to God. But what if I told you that the Bible says that we do not just naturally know how to pray? The right way to pray is neither instinctual nor intuitive. Romans 8:26 actually says, “we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (ESV). Not only that, but even the disciples themselves were not ashamed to ask the Lord Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1).

Now they certainly asked Jesus that question not just because they knew their own weakness and inability, but also because they were well acquainted with His example of prayer. They knew that Jesus prayed. In fact, they asked Him to teach them to pray right after He had just finished praying. Luke 11:1 says that “Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples” (ESV).

Our “Special Rule of Direction” for Prayer

And what answer did Jesus give to them? How did He teach them to pray? He taught them what has come to be known as “the Lord’s Prayer.” If you really want to know how to pray, you would be hard-pressed to find a better place to start than with a serious consideration of the Lord’s Prayer. It is found in two (2) places in the Bible – Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4. The Lord Jesus didn’t just give that prayer to instruct the twelve disciples alone; He gave it to teach us about prayer.

As the Shorter Catechism points out,

“The whole Word of God is of use to direct us in prayer; but the special rule of direction is that form of prayer which Christ taught His disciples, commonly called the Lord’s Prayer” (Q.99).

So the Lord’s Prayer is basically a summary of everything we need to pray for. It includes some things that may come to mind rather easily, such as our daily needs (“give us this day our daily bread” – Matthew 6:11), and the forgiveness of sin (“forgive us our debts”- Matthew 6:12). But it also includes (and starts with!) things that might not jump to mind when you pray, such as praying that the Lord’s name would be hallowed or revered as holy (Matthew 6:9), that His kingdom would come (v.10), and that His will would be done here on this earth just like it is in heaven (v.10).

In the forthcoming posts of this series, I hope to briefly go through the Lord’s Prayer, one petition or request at a time. I hope that you will find these studies helpful. Most of all I hope that they will encourage you to go to the Lord in prayer.

Do You Believe in Prayer?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 is rather short and to the point; it is only three (3) words long. There the Apostle Paul simply says, “pray without ceasing.”

Again and again the Word of God encourages believers to pray. And yet how many of us can honestly say that we don’t struggle with our prayer lives? Do any of us really pray without ceasing?

Do you believe that God answers prayer? If you are a Christian, I assume that you would answer that question with a resounding “Yes!” Don’t all Christians believe in prayer? If you say that you believe in prayer, allow me to ask you one more question: Do you pray? It is one thing to say that you believe in prayer, but it is another thing entirely to actually pray.

If we really believed that God hears and answers the prayers of His people, could anything keep us from praying? Would more of our churches not have regular prayer meetings? And would those prayer meetings not be some of the most well-attended assemblies in our churches?

I believe it is a sad testimony to our view of prayer (and so also, in a sense, of God’s ability or willingness to answer prayer) that we do not pray more regularly and fervently as churches. Did the Lord Jesus not say that His house was to be a “house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13)?

So let us devote ourselves to prayer! Pray for (and with) your family. Pray for (and with!) your friends. And devote yourself to praying with your brothers and sisters in the church. If your church has a regular prayer meeting, make it a point to be there if at all possible. If your church does not have a regular prayer meeting? Request one! Let the Lord’s house be a house of prayer!

And may God in His grace be pleased to bless, answer, and use your prayers for His glory this year and always!

Christmas & the Cross

Christmas and the cross must go together. Without the cross, the manger is essentially meaningless.

In his book, Whatever Happened to the Gospel of Grace?, James Montgomery Boice writes,

Christmas by itself is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. Even the resurrection by itself is no gospel. The Good News is not just that God became man, nor that God has spoken in Christ to reveal a proper way of life for us, nor even that death, our great enemy, has been conquered. The Good News is that sin has been dealt with, that Jesus suffered its penalty for us as our representative, and that all who believe in him can look forward confidently to heaven” (p.105).

The story of the incarnation of Christ that we rightly focus on every year at Christmas, as wonderful as it is, saves no one apart from the cross. The life of Christ, as important as it is, saves no one apart from the cross. Christ certainly calls His people to follow Him (Mark 1:17; 8:34), and so to obey His commands and to emulate His example, but without the cross, the “right way of living” saves no one – it would still just lead to death.

The purpose of Christ’s incarnation was so that He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21), and that means, first and foremost, that He was born so that He might die in the place of sinners.