Dialog

A few years ago, my little granddaughter came up to me and asked, “Papa, can you teach me to pray?” You better believe she got something extra in her stocking that year!

The “conversational” style of prayer has characterized my generation. “Just talk to the Lord as you would talk to a beloved and respected friend.” I like that, but I wonder if we’re going deep enough in our prayer life.

I teach new Christians to follow the ACTS model of prayer. Begin with Adoration. Think about who the Lord is and address him accordingly. This is followed by Confession. When we think about who God is, it is only natural to think about ourselves. That’s why confession is so important. The third step is as essential as it is neglected. Before we begin asking for things, we should take a moment and thank the Lord for what he has already given us. Finally (although we often put this first), our heavenly Father invites us to Ask him for blessings and to fulfill our needs, calm our worries, and come to our aid (Supplication).

Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden, was driven out of Abraham’s house because of her arrogant behavior. “When she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. … But Abram said to Sarai, ‘Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.’ Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (Genesis 16:4 – 6).

It’s not a pretty scene and Hagar fell down by a spring in the wilderness and wept. An angel appeared telling Hagar to go back to Abraham and Sarah and change her attitude. Then the angel announced that her future son would be a mighty man. I find what happened next illuminating:

So she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi;” (Beer-lahai-roi means the well of the Living One who sees me) (Genesis 16:13 – 14).

The Lord has many names that reflect his many qualities. Some of them are literal: God fights for us and is called “Warrior” (Zephaniah3:17). He is also the Judge, and the King and so those are some of his names. There are metaphorical names for the Lord as well: Shepherd, Rock, Potter, and Vine. John MacArthur makes this helpful observation:

“Each of the many Old Testament names and titles of God shows a different facet of His character and its expression in His will. He is called, for example, Elohim, “the Creator God”; El Elyon, “possessor of heaven and earth”; Jehovah-Jireh, “the Lord will provide”; Jehovah-Nissi, “the Lord our banner”; Jehovah-Rapha, “the Lord that healeth”; Jehovah-Shalom, “the Lord our peace”; Jehovah-Raah, “the Lord our Shepherd”; Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness”; Jehovah-Sabaoth, “the Lord of hosts”; Jehovah-Shama, “the Lord is present and near”; and Jehovah-Maqodeshkim, which means “the Lord sanctifieth thee.” All those names speak of God’s attributes. Thus they tell us not only who He is, but also what He is like.”[1]

 Hagar needed someone to look after her and discovered God “the Living One who looks after me.” As you call on the Lord in prayer today, what name will you give Him?

 When I was a teenager, I loved reading stories about the “Trail of ’98.” These were the Gold Rush days, and men did amazing things in their quest for wealth. Alaska Public Radio reported:

In February 1898 Mike Mahoney aka “Klondike Mike” made a deal with Hal Henry. He would escort the Sunny Samson Sister Sextette and their luggage over the Chilkoot Pass and down to Dawson city for $3000 plus a share of the musical group’s proceeds once they started performing in the Dawson Saloons.
 
There was only one problem. The six sisters refused to perform without their piano to accompany them. 

Klondike Mike, a strapping Quebec farm boy, and champion boxer turned stampeder, duly hoisted the entire piano onto his back and went step-by-step up the Golden Stairs and into Klondike fame. [1]

The Golden Stairs was a path cut in the ice that climbed the pass. Unfortunately, there was a custom’s station at the top. The Mounties were not only responsible for collecting tolls, but they also insured the safety of the people crossing the pass into the gold rush country. That meant each person was required to bring a year’s worth of food and supplies as well as prove they were fit enough to face the hardships ahead of them in the territory. 

As fortune would have it, Mike met a Mountie who was only on his second day at the job. The Mountie didn’t believe the dainty sisters had what it took to survive in the Yukon and refused to allow them to cross even if they were accompanied by a piano-toting Quebec farm boy. Frustrated, Mike left the piano at the top of the pass and stormed back to Skagway. Eventually, someone hauled the piano back down from the pass, sold it, and made a tidy profit.

These prospectors were called “sourdoughs” because of their bread. Mother Earth News[2] has a great article about collecting your own wild yeast from plants like Oregon Grape, juniper berries, and even the bark of Aspen trees. The miners harvested the yeast and went to great lengths to protect their “sponge” – their starter. They even carried it in little containers on a string hung around their necks to keep it warm. 

The yeast is amazing. “Given ideal conditions, yeast can increase its own volume by more than ten times, overnight!” With that in mind, Jesus warned his disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (Matthew 16:6). The Lord wasn’t talking about bread, he was warning us. “Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees” (v. 12).

Some false doctrines are so appealing, they can explosively spread like yeast leavening bread. Paul said, “These have indeed an appearance of wisdom … but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:10 – 23). 

False teaching, like leavened bread, is full of gas.

Growing old is not for whimps! Aches and pains beset us. Hair falls out (or worse grows where it doesn’t belong). Joints ache only to be replaced. Foot troubles, tooth troubles, cataracts, dark spots, bladder trouble, heartburn, suspicious moles and let’s not talk about cancers, heart trouble, or diabetes. Our bodies are starting to wear out.

The ancient Romans and Greeks acknowledged this in their letters. Latin letters begin with the proclamation “Salve!” (health) followed by inquiries after the recipient’s health, while Greek letters often conclude with rhonnumi (ῥώννυμι), “be in good health, farewell, goodbye.” 

Early Christians closed their letters the same way (Acts 15:29), but then began expanding their conclusions. Ignatius of Antioch wrote a series of letters to various churches as he was led to Rome to be martyred (about 108 A.D.). He closed his epistles with the traditional “be in good health,” but then explained the source of true health (“Good health in God the Father and in Jesus Christ,” IEph 21:2; “Good health in Jesus Christ,” ITr 13:2; “Good health in Christ Jesus our common hope,” IPhld 11:2; “I bid you good health in the power of the Father,” ISm 13:1; “Good health in the Lord,” Ignatius to Polycarp 8:3.) He also stresses how caring for our health gives us the strength that we need to persevere to the end: “Good health to the end, in the patient endurance of Jesus Christ” (Ignatius to the Romans, 10:3).

As children of God, we should take care of the bodies the Lord has given us. After all, Paul says, our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19; 3:17). This runs counter to the feelings of many people – even some Christians. Some feel the “flesh” is evil and should be punished. The Apostle Paul warned the Colossians:

Why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” (referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh (Colossians 2:20 – 22).

Rather, we are told to “Glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

Of course, some people can’t be bothered. “Dust to dust,” they say as they sit idly by stuffing themselves with snack food and downing “brown, fizzy water” (or worse). Many were taught their bodies are like spacesuits of the soul. One day we’ll take off the spacesuits and our souls will be free,  but is that true? After all, Jesus was resurrected. He didn’t abandon his body in the grave. It was changed. Paul told the Corinthians, “We shall all be changed.”

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality (1 Corinthians 15:50 – 53).

I’m looking forward to that new body! This one is beginning to show its age!

If you received a new Bible for Christmas, you might have noticed a change in the new English translations. It might seem like the guardians of political correctness have started working on the Bible. For example, in 2 Corinthians 1:8 the King James Version reads:

“For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble,” but the New Revised Standard Version reads: “We do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction we experienced.” What is going on?

The Apostle Paul wrote in Greek, and he used the word “adelphoi” (ἀδελφοί). Our English word “Phil-adelphia” combines “philia” (love) with “adelphoi” (brothers) meaning “the city of brotherly love.” 

Our old friend, Brother Curmudgeon asks, “Well, if Paul used the word ‘brothers,’ why do the new English translations add ‘and sisters’?”

The answer is, when adelphoi (the plural form of brother, adelphos) is used, it can mean “brothers and sisters” (So the GW, GNB, NCV, NLT, and the NRSV). “Brothers and sisters” can be awkward so some of the newer English translations work around that by substituting “friends” (CEV, The Message). 

“Yes, but where is the evidence the people in Paul’s day meant ‘brothers and sisters’?”

Without trying to be too technical, archaeologists digging in the sands of Oxyrhynchus, Egypt have discovered thousands of ancient bits of letters and documents from that time. They illustrate how Greek speakers like Paul used words in those days. For example, Leonides wrote a letter to the keepers of the property records asking that they recognize his right to a third of the estate of his mother. There were three siblings – two brothers and a sister – and they are all referred to as the adelphoi – “brothers and sisters.” (Oxyrhynchus Papyri 713, 21f. dated 97 A.D.) There are many more examples, but it does expand our understanding of some biblical passages.

For example, when Jesus warned his followers “You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers [and sisters] and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death” (Luke 21:16). He included “sisters” too! Likewise, it is possible to include the sisters of Jesus in Matthew 12:46: “While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers [and sisters] stood outside, asking to speak to him.” So too, when Jesus moved to Capernaum with his mother and brothers that could have also included his sisters as well (John 2:12, see also John 7:3, 5). His sisters may have also been in the Upper Room with the disciples before Pentecost: “All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers [and sisters].”

Don’t worry Brother Curmudgeon. Our new English translations aren’t changing the Scriptures. They are becoming more accurate.

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? 

28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. 

 The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (Mt 6:25–34). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Jesus was exhausted. It was the end of a very long day of teaching and preaching and he just needed to get away from it all. At evening, he got in a boat and told his disciples, “Let’s go across to the other side of the lake.” Then he fell asleep so soundly that even a hurricane couldn’t wake him. Have you ever wondered how that was possible? (Mark 4:30-34)

Take a minute this morning to make a list of all the things that keep you up at night or the things that wake you up in the wee hours of the morning and prevent you from falling back to sleep. Now spend your second minute giving each of those worries to God. As you pray, draw a line through each worry knowing God will take care of it. Finally, spend your third minute thanking God for carrying those burdens for you and asking for His help to let go.

The Breath of Life
We were made from dust, and we will return to dust. What animates us is “the breath of life.” God breathed life into us. In the very first chapter of the very first book of the Bible, God creates people, and in chapter two the process is personalized: 

“The LORD God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature,” (Genesis 2:7).

Many, many years later, the Apostle Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, “All Scripture is God-breathed,” (2 Timothy 3:16). In other words, the same breath that transformed so much dust into a living, breathing human being, transformed the Bible from just an ancient book into the Scriptures – the very words of God. But if these are the words of God, why are they so hard to understand? 

“It Ain’t Easy”
The Apostle Peter claimed the Bible was inspired (2 Peter 1:21), but he – an inspired apostle – also made this observation about Paul’s writings: “There are some things in them that are hard to understand, … “(2 Peter 3:15, 16).

Why is the Bible so hard to understand? First, it was written a long, long time ago, in a place very far away, in a culture that is very different from our own. Even the names are difficult to pronounce! 

Second, we are often listening to just one side of a conversation. It can be like playing the game show, Jeopardy! “Here is the answer; what is the question?” 

Finally, the Bible is designed for meditation (Psalm 1).

So what is the key?
Unlocking the treasures of the Bible is not impossible, but it does require work. Here are some keys:
Find a good teacher. Do you remember the struggle the Ethiopian had? (Acts 8:26 ff.) What a blessing it was to meet Philipp! 

Use a good translation. Have you read about Ezra the Scribe? (Nehemiah 8:8) They not only read the Scriptures, but there were also people present who gave the sense of the text.

• Use good helps. Make the Bible come alive! Use good helps, including:
• Choose a good introduction.
• Use good maps.
• Refer to a good Bible dictionary or encyclopedia.
• Judiciously use a commentary – after you have done your study!
• Ask good questions.
• Pray, pray, pray!

While the Apostle Paul was on his way to Jerusalem with a gift for the poor saints there, he passed through Troas. The apostles and his friends decided to remain in Troas for a week so they could worship with the saints there. Some of the modern English versions differ in their translations in a most interesting way. For example, the New International Version reads:

“On the first day of the week we came together to break bread” (Acts 20:7).

The KJV, ASV, CEV, ERV, RSV, NASB – even The Message, Geneva and Wycliffe, all agree, but the Good News Bible, for some strange reason, says “On Saturday evening we gathered together for the fellowship meal.” Why would they do that? Because it was.

Have you ever stood outside at midnight and looked up? Nothing remarkable happens. There are no flashing lights or ringing bells to inform you the new day has begun. It seems rather arbitrary, but the Romans started their new day at midnight and so do we. On the other hand, the Jewish people sensibly began the new day at sundown. (They could have just as easily used sunrise.) Sundown is easy to observe. (If they sky was cloudy, they used two threads: one blue and the other white. When you could no longer tell the difference, that counted as sundown.)

And so today, just as it has for thousands of years, the Sabbath begins at sundown on what we call Friday night and extends until sundown Saturday night when Sunday, the first day of the week, begins.

Remember, the first Christians were Jewish. They would have enjoyed the Sabbath meal “Friday” night and attended the synagogue services on the Sabbath (our Saturday). Then, when the sun set, they, like Paul in Troas, gathered for Christian worship and the Lord’s Supper. Thus, even though it was what we would call “Saturday night,” it truly was the first day of the week, the Lord’s Day, so all the English translations are correct.

Over the years, as the distinction between Jews and Christians became stronger, the Roman practice of beginning the new day at Midnight became accepted and the saints met at 10:00 A.M. for Bible School and 11:00 A.M. for worship. (Okay, I made that last part up, but you get the idea.)