Nehemiah and the One-Liner Prayers

I haven't been one of the regular teachers in my Sunday morning Bible class - which has been studying Ezra and Nehemiah for the past quarter-year - but agreed last week to lead the summary of that study this morning.

It was too much territory to cover the way I had hoped to do so, and at the end, I tried to settle for making (what I considered) the most important points.

One of them was that Nehemiah prayed unusual prayers, gutsy prayers, long prayers and short prayers. (Nine of them, in all.) And, in the final chapter, four funny prayers.

Funny, as in "odd." And very short. As funny prayers go, I said, these are one-liners:

Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services. (13:14)

Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love. (13:22b)

Remember them, O my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites. (13:29)

Remember me with favor, O my God. (13:31b)

"Remember, O my God?" As if He would forget?

But as I pondered these one-liner prayers while preparing for class, it occurred to me that part of prayer's purpose is to draw us closer to God by conforming our will to His. Three of these prayers ask God to remember that Nehemiah was trying his best to do what he believed God wanted done. One asks God to remember those who defied Him.

Maybe they are a way of saying, "I know I have messed up in the past, and I will doubtless mess up again in the future. But right now, God; right now I want my will to be the same as yours." Perhaps they're even a way of saying, "I know you'll remember me, God; help me remember that I am loved in Your sight - no matter what else is going on around me; no matter what else tries to pull me away from You."

Job prayed it twice in his extreme pain, humiliation and grief. (10:9 and 14:13)

The phrase is found in a prayer Psalm. (106:4)

Jeremiah prayed it. (15:15)

Samson prayed a similar prayer before he brought the house down. (Judges 16:28)

Jesus prayed "Your will be done" as the house of Israel collapsed in fury on His holiness. (Matthew 26:42; Luke 22:42)

And a thief on a cross would make a request of Him that was more than just a dying man could give; it was a prayer to God to be a part of His house. (Luke 23:42)

Maybe - just maybe - amid all of our praise and thanksgivings and petitions today, we should make time for the occasional prayer, "Remember us, o God; for we want what You want."

Responses to "What the Gospel Isn't" - and "Is"

Laymond struggles with me - with all of us - to understand the nature of the Godhead and says, "What I believe is NOT gospel is; that Jesus was sent to earth to elevate himself to the level of God the Father. To make himself equal to the creator."

Frank responds, "The gospel isn't a denial of the deity of Jesus the Messiah."

Tommy says, "One thing that is NOT the gospel is 'You're not good enough,' 'You're not worth God's love or time or effort,' 'God is a long way off.' "

Michael says, "The Pattern is not The Gospel."

Donna says, "The Gospel is not five clean and easy steps that ends in baptism and earns us a right to be a Christian. The Gospel is not something one group has a better handle on than another. The Gospel should NOT be a point of division."

Royce agrees, "The gospel is not a relegious system, even if it was concocted by coC folks."

From a different perspective, Bruce says, "The Gospel is not a new religion."

PegC says: "... every word in scripture is not gospel. ... I can trust God and instead of asking, 'why me, Lord?' I can ask, 'Why not me, Lord?' "

From a place of extraordinary sympathy for recently-paralyzed brother in Christ, Lacey speaks of the gospel inspiring: "... a trust and a faith that says ... 'Lord, we don't know why all of this has happened...but we know that we love you.' It's that kind of trust and faith that allow us to have that love relationship with the God who is love. And anything else never has been and cannot be the gospel."

We all come to an understanding of what the gospel is - and isn't - as the result of a long and ongoing journey. Each step in the journey adds to or subtracts from that understanding.

To me, in simplest form, the gospel begins with the Story of Jesus. It saves us (1 Corinthians 15:2). Yes, I know that many other things are spoken of in scripture as saving us (see By Grace, Through Faith, Expressed in Works? for a short list), and ultimately Jesus saves us (see The Gift of Baptism for steps in my journey to that point).

So, in the end - as so many of you pointed out in your responses to What Is The Gospel? - the good news is also the Story of Jesus and us. We become a part of it.

We see Him instrumental in creation. We are comforted at His incarnation when we fall. We witness His mercy toward those He calls and who are willing to follow. We learn from His laws. We see ourselves distanced from Him when we disobey. We yearn for His presence among us. We follow the star that leads to His manger-crib; follow Him in awe and listen as He teaches and watch as He heals and blesses. We follow and are heartbroken as we gaze at Him on the cross; are astounded when we peer into His empty tomb; are startled when we realize that all He has predicted is coming true. We are compelled to love as He loves; teach as He teaches; bless as He blesses; promote peace as He redeems creation and draws all of us closer to God. And we feel that sense that - even with the gift of His own Spirit inspiring each breath within us - it cannot be close enough until He returns.

What I think most of us agree upon is that the gospel - though long in the unfolding and the scriptural telling - is really very simple. When we are troubled by what seem to be complications in it, I believe it's because we are demanding too much of the gospel to satisfy our heads, and ungrateful for the sufficiency it has for our hearts. When we focus on any single aspect of it to the exclusion of others, we rob it of its panoramic power. When we zoom in, for instance, on details of law and reason alone, we neglect the big picture that says "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

That's what Jesus came to teach us, to show us, exemplify for us, to live out and die to achieve among us.

The Purpose of Prayer

God already knows what we want and need - the latter, probably far better than we ever will.

He knows Who He is, and how powerful, and how magnificent, generous, kind, just, worthy of praise ....

He is not Tinkerbelle, that He needs our applause to bring Him back from some deathly torpor - for He does not slumber nor sleep.

So what is the purpose of prayer?

My best guess is that its purpose is to help us realize how much we owe Him, how much we need Him, how much He loves us and wants to hear our voices and hearts, and see our downcast or upturned faces - however stained with tears or illuminated with joy - yearning to see Him and hear Him and know His comfort.

Prayer is a gift, you see, that transcends any answer He might give to any request we might pose or any praise we might offer or any thanksgiving we might express. It is our connection with God through His Son, through His very Spirit; our chance to touch God the Father, Creator and King - and for Him to touch us.

A few moments in His lap each day. Or an entire waking lifetime in recognition of His presence.

It's His gift to us. It's our gift to Him.

That's my best guess at the purpose of prayer.

What's yours?

Well, Of Course We Christians Love Christmas

Who wouldn't love a sweet, innocent little baby born in a barn, cradled in a food trough for animals, worshiped by angels, sought by wise men and targeted for death by despot?

So all of us Christians really want to emphasize this part of our Lord's Story to charm and beguile those who haven't heard it all into wanting to hear more.

The problem is, there comes a point where He grows up and he's no longer just sweet and charming.

He scares his folks to the edge of panic by staying behind in Jerusalem while they've gone on toward home after the Feast. And asks them simply, "Shouldn't I be about my Father's business?"

He abandons Joseph's business to pursue a career as an itinerant preacher.

He seeks out his weird, wacked-out cousin in the wild and seems to join his baptismal cult, fasts forty days, has an encounter with the devil, and starts preaching with John the gospel of "Repent! God's kingdom is almost here!" with a few "... you brood of vipers!" thrown in for good measure.

This is not your typical, nice Jewish boy.

Oh, sure, He'll impress the winesteward at a poorly-catered wedding, heal some people, feed a lot of people, and preach that people ought to love and respect each other because God loves all of them. But He'll also thrash a few demons from time to time, fraternize with tax collectors and centurions, and generally antagonize the entire religious establishment, whether Pharisee or Sadducee. Not to mention putting one of the tax collectors in his entourage, along with a potential insurrectionist, a hot-tempered fisherman or two and a few other ne'er-do-wells (including a suspected thief).

Yet He does all these things - by the implication He encourages - because He wants people to accept that He is the Son of God?

What is His deal?

Why couldn't He just settle for being a peculiar prophet with wise teachings about relationships between people and God; pick up a few seminary students, or pluck the best synagogues, or even schmooze a few Levites? Maybe even a priest?

It's like there's no compromise with Him. It's either His way, or the highway - the broad, broad highway that leads to destruction, in His words.

And it's not like He's talking flowery beds of ease for His followers, either. He expects for them to suffer, and especially after He's murdered. Yes, that's right. He starts talking about being arrested and tried and crucified.

Then it happens.

He puts up no fight, responds to no accusation, retorts to no insult, curses at no torment, reviles no lash, evaporates no nail hammered into His hands and feet, calls down no angelic army to obliterate His captors, breathes no supernatural breath to hold asphyxiation forever at bay.

He dies while lifted up on that cross.

And draws all men unto Him. Not just a few shepherds. Not just some oriental astrologers. Not even just a dozen or so close friends. All men. We have to pause at the foot of that cross and gawk upward, and wonder ...

... Who is this Jesus?

What happened to that marvelous Christmas Christ? The King given gold instead of a crown of thorns? The One gifted with myrrh who ends up buried with it? The Child who received frankincense, but became the Man whose innocence was sacrificed as a sweet-smelling savor to God?

Then we discover the tidings of comfort and joy don't come until three days later ... the swaddling cloths are found folded neatly in His empty tomb. It can't hold Him.

Now it can't hold us.

That's what we Christians love about Christmas. It doesn't end at Easter. It goes on and on and on, as long as life shall last, and then on and on and on.

It's not just a sweet Story for gullible children; it's not even a Story for every rational adult.

It's for those who are willing to suspend incredulity, to truly and deeply believe its irrationality and passion, and who will live that belief from cradle to grave ... and then some.

If The Shoe Fits ...

Okay, I'm angry. I am ticked off. I'm trying not to be, but every time I think about it, I just get royally you-know-what.

In the past few weeks, I've heard it from two godly men whom I respect in my church that there are members who have told them they are not giving - or are giving less - because they don't agree with what the elders or doing or how they are leading or the direction the congregation is taking or somesuch.

(That, in spite of the fact that there are other members - LOTS of other members - who are giving with extraordinary faithfulness to help meet the deficit between what we promised to give and what we have actually been giving.)

Thankfully, I don't know who those disapproving members are.

Because I would really like to ask them a few questions. Like,

• When someone in your family gets sick or has an accident or passes away, do you disagree with the elders visiting and comforting and blessing your family?


• Do you disagree with them counseling couples who only come to them when they're on the thin edge of divorce, or letting young single mothers know that they are loved and a treasured part of the church family, or making the rounds of the nursery wards and the nursing homes?


• Do you disagree with them praying for you and your other brothers and sisters in Christ at our church - all 1,900 of them? Because those things are what most of their time spent as elders involves.


• How is your position significantly different from the doctrine of Corban?


• Does the Bible instruct you to vote with your wallet? Or to set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income?


• Does it ask, "Will a man rob the elders of the people?" Or does it ask "Will a man rob God?"


• Does it tell you that you watch over your leaders as if you were to give an account for them? Or vice-versa?

I'm not saying elders are perfect. Nobody's saying that. But they are worthy of double honor, and have authority vested in them by the Lord. They are to teach and help you interpret God's word - and if there's anything that God's word is clear about, it's giving.

We need to do it. Generously. Gratefully. Unreservedly. Unselfishly.

It's true for you. It's true for me.

On this business of giving, we all need to decide whether we're going to be hot or cold; whether we're going to be loving or stingy; whether we're going to fish or cut bait.

Ain't no half-way about it.

And while I'm on the subject, why not try praying for your elders more and criticizing them behind their backs less? Why not take your complaint to them and pray with them about it? How about just accepting the answer they give you whether you agree with it or not because it just might affect more deeply someone whose relationship to God is less secure than yours?

Whattya say to that, huh?

I've said my piece.

If the shoe fits, wear its bootprint on your butt.

Just like I need to.

What Isn't the Gospel?

I don't want to draw to a close the comments in the previous post (Lacey, you've read all kinds of my declarations of the gospel in this goofy old blog!), but whether you've contributed already or not, I'd like you to feel free to go another direction:

What isn't the gospel?

What are the things that no one in his or her right mind and heart would be likely to put in the comments of the previous blog post as the gospel according to them; the good news of scripture; the core message of God's Word to man?

Tonight, a young man from my church has found out that his spinal cord was severed in the dirt bike accident he had last weekend.

That is not the gospel.

Yet his church family continues to pray for and over this young man; will conduct a blood drive Sunday in his behalf; and some will fast and some will attend his bedside and some will plead with God on their knees, not knowing him well but loving him as if there were an empty place at their kitchen table that only he could fill.

Why?

Yesterday, I spent the day hearing a case with eleven fellow jurors against the mother of two toddlers and deciding that she was guilty of five of the seven counts against her, two of which involved the endangerment of their lives.

That is not the gospel.

Yet we deliberated long and contentiously, trying to find the benefit of the doubt, because it was obvious that she was not the primary culprit behind the evil that had taken place at her house, and that she had tried to take ineffective steps to protect them. One godly older gentleman not of her race, serving on a jury for the first time, begged on her behalf for us to try to see her life from her point of view at each charge. And at each charge and specification, we tried to gently persuade him of the overwhelming nature of the evidence and testimony. It was difficult for him to vote unanimously with us, for at heart he still felt that those children needed their mother and she needed to be with them.

Why?

I'm convinced that it's because there is a gospel, a Story unlike any other, a Word of God that gives meaning and purpose and direction to life itself, and that word is love.

Love that powerful and undiluted can temper even the fearsome justice and righteousness of God Himself. Unlimited love is a frightening thing to the faint-of-heart but the bold-of-brain; to those who fear the Lord but are afraid to love the God who is love, cowards and bullies and experts and self-appointed prophets and correctors and straightener-outers who have tried their damnedest to dilute that love with a lot of other things and then bottle it up and sell it as the gospel truth. They've been around for a long time, from the first moment that God dared to show His love for mankind until now.

So defy those impostors. Be bold. Be brave. Be specific.

Tell me about the diluting ingredients that have never been and cannot be the gospel.

What Is the Gospel?

Exercise time! Don't just sit there! Sit there and think!

Give me your best answer in a few words to the question,

"What is the gospel?"

None of that, "Well, it's God's word/the New Testament/the Nicene Creed/etc." No additives or omissions. No embellishments and no illustrative stories. No paste-ins from "Bible Gateway." No preacher jokes.

No lurkers and no slackers.

C'mon. If you're a follower of Christ, you know what the gospel is. Right?

So what words would you use to share it?

How long does it take to say it?

Put the gospel according to you in the comments below. Be a witness for the gospel, right here, right now.

Ready!

Set!

GO!

False Teachers

What did the church of century one define as false teaching and false teachers?

Paul

As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach false doctrines any longer nor to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. These promote controversies rather than God's work—which is by faith. The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. We also know that law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious; for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for adulterers and perverts, for slave traders and liars and perjurers—and for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me. ~ 1 Timothy 1:3-11

I draw from those verses that false doctrines would include myths, endless genealogies which promote controversies - and teaching the law, which Paul in many other writings describes as supplanted by grace through faith. He continues in the same letter:

If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain. ~ 1 Timothy 6:3-5

The primary interest of the false teacher here seems to be instigating quarrels about words, and making a buck by teaching.

This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. ~ Galatians 2:4-5

And here the heresy seems to be teaching circumcision as a corequisite for salvation.

Peter

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping. ... This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings; yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you. With eyes full of adultery, they never stop sinning; they seduce the unstable; they are experts in greed—an accursed brood! ~ 2 Peter 2:1-14

The false teachings Peter describes include made-up stories, destructive heresies - including denying the lord - and teaching by example that greed and adultery and carousing are perfectly all right.

John

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. ~ John 4:1-4

The false teachings John describes are those which deny the incarnation or will not acknowledge Jesus.

Is there a pattern?

Aren't these false teachings insisting on something besides the simple gospel of Christ as being just as important and necessary for saving the lost? Or even more important? Whether law, myths, made-up stories, or gnostic notions that the flesh cannot be affected by spiritual perfection - hence, that one can live carnally in the flesh yet still be spiritual; that Jesus could not have actually inhabited a fleshly body because it would have somehow corrupted Him - all of these are teachings which (instead of supplementing) actually deny the gospel. The gospel - the fact of Christ's blood given, causing belief and penitence and change and transformation by rebirth - isn't good enough. It isn't powerful enough. It must be enhanced.

Now I ask you, are there any teachings today that approach that level of insistence on something else that is required for the salvation of a soul seeking God?

Something in one's heart that must be believed?
Something in one's life that must be achieved?
Something once done that cannot be forgiven?
Some sum in one's purse that must be full-given?
Some man-made-up line that must not be crossed?
Some "holy" tradition that must not be lost?
Some interpretation that cannot be wrong?
Some kind of singing or some kind of song?
Something that excludes a gender or race?
Something that simply is false on its face?

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