2 CORINTHIANS CH 13 V 14
INTRODUCTION
Astronomer Percival Lowell who died in 1916 spent some 15 years looking at Mars and sketching what he saw as a complex network of fine lines connecting the polar caps with a number of darker areas. He maintained that that these lines were canals built by an intelligent civilization to channel water from the polar ice caps to deserts. According to the New York Times later studies actually revealed that Lowell had unintentionally configured the aperture on his telescope so as to make it mimic an ophthalmoscope, which those of you familiar with the opticians will recognise is an instrument that’s used to examine the interior of the eye. What Lowell had seen spokes on Mars and Venus were actually shadows of the blood vessels and other structures in his own retina. But whatever the cause was, it’s clear than the canals were due to observer error and illusion.
George Yandell: ‘Often we ascribe to God aspects of our own make-up, without realizing we project our own stuff onto God’s self.’ This is why it’s so vital that we take the Bible, which is God’s self-revelation, and take all out thoughts about Him from it rather than starting with our own ideas and thoughts.
In Part 1 of our look at 2 COR 13:14 ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all’ we saw God’s Trinitarian nature i.e. He is the Only True undivided God who exists in three persons – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. In Part 2 we explored how the Trinity works together in the Gospel. Now, in our final look we see that this benediction is actually a prayer. Let’s look at how the Trinity works in prayer.
GOD THE FATHER AND PRAYER
‘Our Father in Heaven…’
At the first church that he pastored Jerry L Stern had the job of mixing animal feed to add to his income. For about two weeks everyday he came home from work and his two boys, ages 2 and 3, would look at him and say, ‘Boy, dad, you sure are dusty!’ He didn’t think too much of this until he was washing his car and saw his oldest son doing the strangest thing. He was picking up the gravel and stones in the drive and rubbing them into his trousers. He asked him what he was doing and he replied, ’I want to be dusty like you dad!’ Jerry Stern realized that if a child would look up to his father for being dusty and want to copy him, a child could look up to his father and follow him for anything. How important it is to work hard to be a good father figure even though we recognise we’ll never be perfect.
However whatever we say about human fathers, God shows us in the Bible that He is the perfect father – the Father above all other fathers. As Mike Taylor points out that: ‘God’s fatherhood is the reality, and the biological and social fatherhood that we’re familiar with is a shadow of it. You might even say that human fatherhood was created as an analogy to help us understand God’s fatherhood.’ God loves, cares for, watches over and disciplines His children as simply the best Father there is. As His children we’re to love and obey Him in return. The great privilege that we have is to come to Him in prayer because of this amazing relationship we share.
But not everyone can call God ‘Father.’ He’s not the Father of everyone; no one is naturally born a child of God. Yes, we’re all His creation, made in His image, but also spoiled by the sin pollution that passed to us through Adam. How does God become our Father in heaven? Two things have to happen:
God must adopt you so that you have a legal standing and have the right to all the privileges and blessings in His family. EPH 1:5 ‘In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ.’’
The second thing, which always goes hand in hand with adoption, is that you must be born-again; spiritually re-born. JOHN 1:12-13 ‘To all who received [Jesus], to those who believed in His Name, He gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husbands will, but of God.’
So adoption gives us a legal standing in God’s family, and new birth implants God’s spiritual life in us. As Wil Pounds puts it: ‘We have not only the new status as sons, but also the heart of true sons.’
Lessons:
(1) Generally in prayer we come to the Father through the Son by the Spirit. EPH 2:18 ‘For through Him [Christ] we both [Jew and non-Jew] have access to the Father by one Spirit. The Bible’s pattern is that we approach the Father in Jesus’ Name by the Holy Spirit’s enabling.
(2) How can you be adopted and given new birth By God? You can never earn it or merit it; you’re totally undeserving. It’s entirely on the basis of God’s free favour and kindness Jesus. John Piper: ‘…your adoption is not based on your fitness, your worth, or your distinctives. It is rooted in God’s eternal purpose and grace.’
‘…hallowed be your Name’
Pastor Peter Blackburn points out that the Jewish people came top believe that the Name of God – Jehovah, most likely originally pronounced ‘Yahweh’, - was simply too sacred to speak. They were afraid of misusing or taking in vain God’s Name and so breaking the third of the ten commandments. So they used ‘Adonai’ instead that mean ‘Lord.’ In our English translations of the Bible wherever you see LORD in capital letters it’s this sacred name ‘Yahweh.’
Pastor Blackburn was once part of a tour group to Israel which read from the Bible, sang and prayed at each site they visited. They were concerned not to offend their Jewish guide, but apart from the fact that it was never pronounced ‘Jehovah’ anyway, she told them that modern Jewry, whenever they come to the divine Name, say, HaShem, ‘The Name.’
We must never think that God’s Name is so sacred that we dare not even speak it, but it does mean that we should never take it lightly. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus teaches us about hallowing God the Father. LUKE 11:2 ‘[Jesus] said to them, “When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your Name…’ In other words, in the highest, most exalted and spiritual sense we’re to revere God as our Father. The Lord Jesus is saying that the Father is to be treated with awe and honour because He more than deserves it. Why in particular is it that God’s Name should be hallowed? Because His Name reflects His very nature. That’s why the Bible says we shouldn’t take God’s Name in vain: it dishonours His righteous, loving, holy, faithful character.
Lessons:
(1) It’s said that a young preacher, fresh from theological college,was waxing eloquent in prayer: ‘O you who inhabits eternity, who lives in light eternal, supreme Ruler of the universe, before whom all flesh must stand, by what name shall we approach you...’ Just then the voice of a little old lady was heard from the front seat, ‘We call ’im ’eavenly Father ’ere, sir!’ It’s key that we get a right balance between recognising that God is far above us in majesty and glory and that He has made Himself our Heavenly Father who loves and cares for us.
(2) In what way can we hallow God’s Name? As someone’s said: ‘A child cannot make his father’s name honourable if it’s not already honourable by the father’s own character. But if his name is already honourable, the child can magnify and enhance that name and reputation by his own attitude and conduct as it reflects on his father.’ In a similar but more profound way we can hallow and set apart God. Anon: ‘As we pray "Hallowed be Thy Name" we are praying that God will hallow and sanctify His Name, His character and His reputation before the world as people observe and get to know those of us who belong to Him.’
GOD THE SON AND PRAYER
Christ Our Sin-Bearer
In the 1993 blockbuster movie ‘In the Line of Fire’, Clint Eastwood plays Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan. Horrigan has protected US Presidents’ lives for many years, but is haunted by the fact that as a young agent he was hand picked to protect President Kennedy on that fateful day on 22 Nov 1963. When the assassin fired, Horrigan froze in shock. Ever since he’d wrestled with the ultimate question for a Secret Service agent: ‘Can I actually take a bullet for the President?’ In the movie’s climactic finale, Horrigan does what he’d been unable to do before: he throws himself into the path of an assassin’s bullet to save the President. Why are Secret Service agents willing to do such a thing? They believe the President is so valuable that he is worth dying for. They wouldn’t take a bullet for just anyone. Now at the cross of Jesus Christ we see the very reverse.
Sin is the great barrier between God and us – it leaves us condemned and far away from our Holy Creator. That sin barrier has to be dealt and only Jesus could remove it – by His death as our sin-bearer. He stepped into the line of fire, as it were, taking the blame for us and bearing sin’s punishment. He broke sin’s power and brought the life of God to us. He doesn’t have to suffer again and again. He died once for all and the power of the cross flows through all of history. EPH 2:13 ‘But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.’
Lessons:
(1) The Christian believer has to say – even in our multi-faith environment - that no other so-called Saviour will do! We need a sin-bearer. Can Mohammed be our sin-bearer; or Confucious, or Moses, or any other religious leader? No, only One who was both God and Man can bridge the great divide that our sins have caused. Whilst respecting others freedom to hold their religious beliefs – God is their judge, not us – we must also proclaim Jesus Christ as only Saviour for He alone could – and did- die for sins.
A Dr Brummitt who lived in Dayton Ohio told of a train station that served a beautiful, peaceful burial ground named Calvary Cemetery. The station was unusual because it was one of only two stops where the trains didn’t stop except on request because in that part of the town were many more dead than living. So just after leaving the nearest station the guard would open the door and say: ‘Next station is Calvary. Train stops on signal only. Anybody for Calvary?’
Christ Our Intercessor
Having shed His blood and borne the punishment of sin once for all Christ rose bodily from the dead and returned in victory to heaven and glory. And He’s doing something very special there, even now. He’s interceding on our behalf. ROMS 8:34 ‘Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.’
What’s an intercessor? It’s one who pleads on behalf of another; who seeks the welfare and blessing of those for whom he’s praying. By His intercession before the Father the Lord Jesus applies His saving work to His people. His prayer makes what He did on the cross effective in our hearts and lives.
What is Jesus praying? We get a marvellous insight of what’s going on in heaven now through Jesus intercessory prayer here on earth in JOHN CH 17 (11) ‘Holy Father, protect them by the power of your Name – the Name you gave me…’ (15) ‘My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.’ (17) ‘Sanctify them [set them apart for you] by the truth; your Word is truth.’ (24) ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory…’ So the prayer of Christ continues and through Him all the blessings and riches of salvation flow freely to us in line with the Father’s will. FS ‘The security of our salvation rests not upon our good works, but upon Christ’s work for us at Calvary and upon the work He is still doing for us, pleading our case before God the Father.’
Lessons:
(1) When RTK first came to the UK from the US it was only intended to be temporary, but in the end God had them stay. RTK tells of the time when he took his son to his new school after the family had settled into their new home in London. ‘My son was dreading the thought of entering into a new school in a land in which none of us ever dreamed of remaining. It would mean strange surroundings, totally new teachers and children, and my son was loath even to get out of the car. I continued to coax him to go to the playground. He sat still in the car. Then I said, “Son, Daddy will be praying for you all day long. Whenever you feel scared, remember that Daddy at that moment is praying for you.” His countenance changed to one of great relief. Without my saying another word, he opened the car door and walked to his school without looking back. He knew I meant what I said. He did not trust his own prayers. He was living by mine.’
The fact that you continue to walk with God is because Christ is praying for you! If He were not interceding moment by moment on the basis of His once for all sacrifice at the cross the true Christian would fall away immediately. When the Lord Jesus told Peter that Satan was going to put him to a severe test, what was going enable Peter to survive this massive crisis? His own ingenuity and ability; his own strength and power? No, it was the prayer of Christ: LUKE 22:31 ‘Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.’
(2) If we come to the Father through can we pray to the Lord Jesus? Look at the stoning of Stephen. ACTS 7:55 ‘Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God…’ (59) ‘While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”’
GOD THE SPIRIT AND PRAYER
Prayer in the Spirit
JUDE 20 ‘But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.’ To pray in the Spirit is not some extra-special spiritual blessing; it’s part of daily Christian experience. To the question, ‘What does it mean to pray in the Holy Spirit?’ John Piper gives this helpful summary: ‘[The Holy Spirit] is the one who motivates and enables and energizes your prayer.’ It’s prayer in the Spirit that alone gives us victory in our spiritual battles. EPH 6:18 ‘…pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.’ John Piper: ‘Praying in the Holy Spirit is not one form among several. It is the way all prayer is to be offered.’
Lessons:
(1) If we can pray in the Spirit it suggests that we can pray out of the Spirit. When we ask selfishly and wrongly or when we’re more interested in the form and wording of our prayer, and praying to impress other people: ‘Look, he’s a really good religious person!’ we grieve and upset the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit’s goal is to reveal to us our shortcomings and needs, to humble and make us feel our dependence on God, and also to show us the glory and all-sufficiency of Jesus Christ to cover our sins and needs. When these things are real to us it’s a real sign that we’re praying in the Spirit!
(2) Can we pray to the Holy Spirit? He’s the third person in the Trinity equal with the Father and the Son. Yet there’s no prayer in scripture directly made to the Holy Spirit. But this shouldn’t surprise us because the Holy Spirit’s role in salvation is to throw light on the Lord Jesus and our relationship to the Father. The closest we get is in our text where Paul makes this prayer to the Triune God. A benediction is an ‘invocation of blessing, and the expression in prayer for happiness and well-being.’ As Albert Barnes: points out: ‘It is a prayer; and if it is a prayer addressed to God, it is no less so to the Lord Jesus and to the Holy Spirit. If so, it is right to offer worship to the Lord Jesus and to the Holy Spirit
The Spirit Who Intercedes
A grandfather was walking past his young granddaughter’s room one night when he saw her kneeling by her bed, with head bowed and hands folded, repeating the alphabet. He asked her what she was doing?’ She explained, ‘I’m saying my prayers, but I couldn’t think of just what I wanted to say. So I’m just saying all the letters of the alphabet, and God can put them together however he thinks best.’
ROMS 8:26 ‘…the Spirit helps us in our weakness [infirmities or lack of strength]. DML-J ‘Our infirmities may lead us to sin, but our infirmities in and of themselves are not sinful.’ What are they? They can be physical – tiredness or illness; or mental – slowness of mind or perplexity; emotional – feel flat and dull. What we’re told is that the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses. It means that He comes alongside and assists us. Imagine struggling to carry a heavy piece of furniture on your own, and someone comes along and says: ‘Look, I’ll take one end, you take the other and we’ll carry it together.’ What a relief! It makes such a difference. It doesn’t mean you’re not doing anything; it means you and your helper are bearing the load together.
(26) ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit interceded for us with groans that words cannot express.’ Does the Spirit intercede for us in the same way that Jesus does? No. The Spirit is an intercessor in the sense that He counsels and guides us within, empowering and directing our thoughts and desires. Charles Hodge: ‘We do not know how to pray, but the Spirit teaches us.’ In this way what we ask lines up with God’s purpose and will. (27) ‘He who searches the heart knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.’
Lessons:
(1) CHS ‘That the king should say to the petitioner, “Bring your case before me, and I will grant your desire,” is kindness. But for Him to say, “I will be your secretary. I will write out your petition for you. I will put it into proper words so that your petition shall be framed acceptably,” this is goodness at its utmost stretch. But this is precisely what the Holy [Spirit] does for us poor, ignorant, wavering, weak men.’
You’re not on your own in your prayer life – each person of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - is closely and intimately involved in this wonderful prayer relationship. Thank God for His marvellous provision – May indeed, ‘The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.’ Let’ be all the more determined to pray, pray, pray!
