St. John Studies

“That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!”

I admit it.  I have been around long enough that when I hear this sentence, I know who said it…Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon that existed in the deep dark past…

As I kid I watched Popeye cartoons.  I was born in 1951 so Popeye had been around for a few years.  The comic strip was created in 1929 and when I was old enough to watch television, Popeye the comic strip was converted to Popeye Cartoons and the show was popular with youngsters.   The cartoons were a little primitive by today’s standards but when you had very little to watch at all, they seemed pretty good.

Pastor Hybels talks about Popeye as a way to illustrate motivation.  The cartoons tended to follow the same pattern over and over.   Popeye had a girlfriend named Olive Oyl and a nemesis named Bluto.   Bluto was a brute and he was constantly trying to steal Olive Oyl away from Popeye.  He specialized in making Popeye’s life miserable.   Despite Bluto’s irritating ways, I remember that Popeye always tried to maintain his composure, allowing Bluto to push harder and harder until he pushed Popeye too far.

That’s when Popeye uttered “That’s all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!”

If you remember Popeye cartoons, you know the drill.  Popeye would grab a can of spinach and he would squeeze it.   The spinach came flying out the top of the can and right into his mouth. 

Popeye had misshapened forearms anyhow, but when he ate a can of spinach they became huge.   You knew he could do some damage with his arms and he did.   He took out his frustration on Bluto and always won Olive back.

The point of all this is that Popeye did not have a hair trigger temper.  It took a while for him to build up to taking action but eventually he got there, his moment when he could not “stands no more.”

What does it take for you to reach the point of action?

Hybels says it is when we see something that is so wrong we cannot sit idly by. 

My wife is a devoted pet owner.  She has a large heart for animals.  When a news story comes on about animal abuse, I race to the remote control to get the television on a different station.   When an ASPCA add comes on with pets in distress and the request for aid, she has to turn the ad off.   You might say that her love of animals is her passion.   When she sees an animal in distress, she cannot “stands no more.”  We currently have three stray cats in our home.  Several years ago, we took in a stray and her kittens and she had five kittens after she came into our house.   At one point we had nine darling cats in our home.  Thankfully, we got all but three adopted.  For the three that remain, my wife makes sure that  this little segment of the feline population is loved.

Folks, there are so many needs in this world and as Christians, we are called to serve.  Matthew 25 is pretty clear about what we are supposed to do:  The Son of Man will come in all His glory and will say “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.  Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?   ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’  “The King will answer and say to them,  ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

This is a call to serve.

Will it take something outrageous for us to act? 

Maybe it will.  Maybe we will have to have a Popeye moment when we can’t “stands it anymore!”

Whatever it takes, the needs are great and they are evident, in the jailhouse, on the street corner, under the bridge, at the mission house and yes, even in the pew next to you at church.

Look, talk to the person with a caring heart, try to determine the need, figure out what you can do and grab a can of spinach and squeeze…

In Holy Discontent by Pastor Bill Hybels, his primary concern is with people who are so discontented with life that they become motivated to change things.

He uses as his Biblical example Moses who was chosen by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Moses had grown up as an Egyptian but he knew he was an Israelite. He saw his people in captivity building the Egyptian empire as construction slaves.   You know the story.   One day he saw an Egyptian master beating an Israelite slave and he intervened. In the intervention, he began to fight the Egyptian master and he killed him.

Hybels uses this example as an example of someone getting so upset that he takes action.

It’s pretty dramatic. Most of us don’t have a life experience like that.   Most of us don’t get so upset about things that we intervene in the troubles of others. Unlike Hybels, I don’t recall ever seeing a fight where someone is punched or beaten.

Most of us don’t live lives like that. We live lives with much less drama.

Yet the life we lead can cause us to give up.

Hybels focuses on the discontented young Moses; he does not take us further into Exodus when the older Moses declined to be the leader of his people.   God intervened in Moses’ life and told him that he was the designated leader who would lead his people out of Egypt. Moses did not see it that way.   He did not have the skills of a leader or so he said.   He lacked eloquence.   He did not have a leader’s skill set.

Had Moses given up on himself?

Life for all of us can be challenging. You have heard the old cliché: “bad things happen to good people.”   When bad things happen, some just quit trying. Instead of battling back, people just resign themselves to the problems that have come and they give up. Some just fold their hands, resign themselves to the couch and says “let others do it.”   Others just get tired of trying. Maybe things are not easy.   Work is required. The work is done and one expects success, but success is not forthcoming.   You continue working and you see no results. Over and over again the process of getting ahead is a frustrating experience and slowly but surely you begin to cut corners.   You may even cheat a little.   You are satisfied with less and less until you accept things that in the past would not have been acceptable. You begin to evolve into a person who just can’t do what you thought you could do.

You become a Moses who doubted his ability.

I am old enough to see this in my life every day. As one gets into the 60’s decade of life, health challenges can come. People begin to think about retirement, you know that time of life when you begin to reconstruct a life away from employment. Your youthful idols begin to pass away, the musicians and movies stars of your generation, and that is a reminder that you won’t be around forever. These things can be depressing.

You can begin to say “what’s the use?”

Until God intervenes and says “I have something for you to do.”

It may be to volunteer your time tutoring children. It may be picking up litter on the road.   It may be starting up a visitation program at church.   Maybe it will be a stronger commitment like going on a mission trip to aid people in a foreign country.

I am a firm believer that as long as we are alive, God has a purpose for us.

I was in the presence of a dear woman who dedicated her life to furthering The Kingdom. She hosted Bible studies in her home for decades.   She reached out to the unchurched in her neighborhood and in even more extreme places like jail.

Until her body began to fail.

She was bedridden and never got up from bed.

What did she do?

She became a mighty bedridden prayer warrior.

I was with her in her last days.   She was in awful pain but when I met her she began to pray for me.

What would most of us do? Most would not think of others at a time like that.   We would be involved with our own maladies probably.   Not her. She prayed for me.

We do become discontented at times.   Maybe our discontent causes us to act. Maybe you see yourself in the Moses story as he came to the aid of his countryman who was getting beaten. How many of you see yourself in the Moses story of denial, when God says go do this and you say, I can’t, I won’t or I am just too tired.

Drama is good; it catches our attention, but most of us don’t have that much drama in our lives.   We just have what we call “the daily grind.” Instead of letting life get you down, ask God “What can we do today?”

Be ready, He will tell you.

And He expects you do it.

In my years of teaching speech communication, one of the most fascinating subjects I taught was persuasion. I would define it as the act of putting ideas into words which, when spoken to a listener, will cause that listener to alter his or her beliefs. The listener may even take action based on the expression of the ideas.

Pastor Bill Hybels bases his whole book Holy Discontent on the thesis that he wants to know what motivates people “to work where they work, volunteer their time to the groups they serve, and donate money to the causes they support” [Hybels, 13].

In other words, he wants to know the root cause of what makes us change or act.

He knows that without motivation, people stagnate; he knows that Christians stagnate.

General theories of motivation state that humans are motivated to acquire basic needs [food, water, air, shelter and sleep].   We are motivated to have relationships with others, especially a member of the opposite sex. We seek status which can be achieved with certain material items.   This means we are motivated to have the items that “build” our self-esteem.   Since most humans are social animals, we want to belong to a group or groups.   We do what we have to do to congregate with others we like.  We want to live in a safe neighborhood, have access to healthcare, steady employment, and protection from environmental forces.   Safety is a prime motivator.  Finally, some will work hard to accomplish what they can in life by reaching their greatest potential, as long as they feel they have the capacity to do it. For example, some individuals may have the desire to be a wealthy businessman, while others may want be a successful musician or an athlete. This motivational factor is called self-actualization.

What is Hybels getting at when he asks the question that started it all: “ Why do people do what they do?”

Why is that so important to him?

He really wants to know what makes a Christian believe.

He really wants to know what makes a Christian take action.

Before I was born again, I thought persuasion and the underlying core idea of motivation was just a way to manipulate people and indeed that could be all it is for some people, but I don’t think Hybels is thinking like that.   He likes seeing people grow and he knows that the best way for them to grow is to feel something deep inside that makes them want to do something different.

Belief in God is a given for the Christian, or so we assume.

It is the taking action part that is hurting today’s church. This lack of action has turned a generation away from active church membership [the “millennials”–ages 18 to 30 year old].   Christian research experts pin down five things that are diminishing millennial participation in church. First, this generation does not just want preaching.   They want to see actions backing up words.   The trappings of a sanctuary are not important; they want to get out and make disciples in the world rather than just sit in a pew and talk about making disciples. To them this is hypocrisy and this generation hates hypocrisy. Secondly, the message of the church should be very plain. Instead of wandering around trying to understand what is going on in church, it should be clear to everyone who comes in the door.   The first-time visitor should know what to do, where to go and how they can “plug into” the church. For the millennial, the church should not be a place for rest, it should be a place for growth.   Church activities should be designed to connect people with God and other church members. Some Millennials want to see church as an opportunity to explore spiritual life on their own terms, free to decide for themselves when to stay on the edges of a church experience and when to fully enter in.  If there is not an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus and put love into action, they lose interest fast. Millennials want to be taken seriously today. They’re not interested in earning their place at the table at some future date; they want a seat there now. Their desire is to be taken seriously and to be given real responsibility. Lack of opportunities for action have made millennials feel no sense of obligation to attend church. Previous generations went to church regardless. At the same time, being an active part of a faith community can provide young adults with exactly the mentorship and guidance they crave from older adults. Millennials know they need mentors and that is where older generation Christians can help grow the church.*

Pastor Hybels is not just focused on “millennials;” he wants all Christians to believe.   He wants all Christians to take action.

He recognizes that the church is not the pastor.

The church is really not just the people.

The core of the church is the burning desire each church member has to believe in God and act on that belief.

This is the core idea of holy discontent.

*From the “Exponential Website”, 2017.

“Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, and concern. Apathy is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, and/or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of interest in or concern about emotional, social, spiritual, philosophical and/or physical life and the world.”*   Apathy can be anywhere.

It can certainly be in the church.

Do you see it in your church?

Do you see it in you as you attend your church?

Some people are motivated to come to a one hour worship service but that is their church activity for the week.   We should not complain; they are there most Sundays. On the other hand, I recently heard a woman announce proudly that she was going to church on Easter Sunday, like that was her major commitment, one church service for the year. A pastor friend told me once that today, a “member” of the church describes themselves as “regular” when they attend one Sunday out of four.

At the risk of sounding judgmental, too many “Christians” do the bare minimum when it comes to church involvement.

Maybe they can’t do more. Maybe they have very busy lives with jobs that demand 10 or 12 hours of work per day. Some people even have to work on Sunday. Maybe they are so elderly they cannot volunteer for strenuous commitments like VBS or baby-sitting on “Parent’s Night Out.” Some are so involved with personal crisis that they need to focus on their own problems, not the problems of others in need.

There are legitimate reasons for lack of involvement.

Then you have regular attenders. Their level of commitment does not show sometimes. You know how it is: one can look pious without giving away a hint at a lack of inspiration. Listening or attending to any message in a public setting is hard and we all know our minds can drift elsewhere.   The pastor is preaching, the choir is singing, the scripture reader is reading and praying and we are daydreaming about lunch, that beautiful golf shot, that ride on the new ATV etc. Sue Allen writes about this worship response in the words “We are Christians and that’s what Christians do. We go to church on Sunday mornings for Pete’s sake. However, if one is not careful, we can be lulled to sleep by the monotony of routine. Unfortunately, we often walk unaware. Shaking hands and greeting one another. Saying “How do you do?” Leaving the church completely unshaken or unrattled.”

This apathetic response is not what Bill Hybels is writing about in his book Holy Discontent. If you want to study a book that is about peace and contentment, this is not the book for you. Hybels wants Christians to do something.   The premise of the book is his search for what makes people do what they do and he is searching for the opposite of apathy.

Allen is very clear about what she feels concerning apathy in the church: “Evil and apathy often work in tandem. The first one wills it while the latter permits it. Evil knowingly and often publicly commits wrong, which may seem incomprehensible. But meanwhile, apathy looks the other way as if nothing ever happened. There is no stirring of conviction or moving towards action. Our problem lies right here in our nothing. . . . Is God calling you to do something that you are avoiding. . . . are you avoiding it because, like me, you simply don’t care?”

A church is a “body of believers” that is united together to worship and do the work of the Lord. There are so many jobs we can do in the church. Too often the attitude is “let the Pastor and the paid staff do it. That’s what they get paid for.”   Too often the attitude is “let the active members do it, you know the younger church members who have the energy to do the work.”   This is the old cliché “eighty percent of the work is done by twenty percent of the church.”

Hybels points his finger directly at me and you and says “God needs you to commit to something!”

Find something that is so bothersome that you can’t stand it anymore.   Find your holy discontent.

Within the limitations of your life, use your God-given gifts to make things better.

Apathy does not come from God. Apathy is a silent killer. Don’t let it become your norm.   It will kill your commitment to Christ.

Actively find what you can do to serve God and do it.

And get ready to grow…

*From Wikipedia “apathy defined”

** Sue Allen “Two Silent Killers of our Faith: Fear and Apathy” Lifeway Women’s Website

I began on November 10, 2016.

Here it is March 7, 2017.

I began after the presidential election of 2016 for a reason. I had been posting on Adam Hamilton’s book Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White. I began posting on that book on March 29, 2016. That book was so controversial that my mother often asked “Are you having angry people knocking on your door?” After the contentious election, I felt that maybe we needed to study prayer.

Now it is time to leave The God Who Hears by W. Bingham Hunter, to put a conclusion on a book that meant a lot to me.

I am going to get personal in this last day of my comments on Hunter’s book.

Forgive me.

Some of you know I was in the midst of a recovery from the worst accident in my life. I broke my pelvis and had other injuries and my surgeon said “sit and do nothing” for three months.

What a time to study prayer. . .

A perfect time to study prayer.

I had times when I prayed fervent prayers for healing.   I prayed prayers for sleep when I could not sleep due to an inactive lifestyle. I prayed prayers for a cessation of pain as I had days of severe pain, especially in my right leg.   I prayed for strength as I tried to motivate myself to do simple exercises to keep myself from losing all my muscle mass. I prayed for joy when I hit depths of depression looking out the window at other people doing things I wanted to do, simple things like walk, drive a car and mow a yard.

I knew people were praying for me. I received so many cards and letters from my church and friends. The stack was impressive. I got phone calls from people near and far, telling me that they were praying for my recovery.   I got weekly letters from a church in South Carolina, a Methodist Church that had Sunday intercessory prayer meetings for people who needed healing. I travelled to that church in March to attend one of their worship services. I had special visits from friends who grabbed my hand and I held on as they prayed for me.

Not only did I learn a lot from the very dense discussion of W. Bingham Hunter, I experienced prayer first-hand. When I read Romans 12:12, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”, I know what it means. Psalm 116: 1-2 took on a whole new meaning for me: “I love the Lord for He has heard my voice; He heard my cry for mercy. Because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.” Philippians 4:6 says “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving present your requests to God.” I know what that means now.

Hunter may have helped a few readers along the way, but he certainly helped me. I began to understand the idea that God sees prayer very differently than man.   I began to understand that very simple prayers are those that just ask for the things we want and I began to grapple with the idea that God knows what I want and need more than I do.   I began to understand the idea that an unanswered prayer is unanswered for a reason. I began to understand the best way to approach prayer is to pray for God’s will to be done, not mine.

Pastor Billy Graham says “Prayer is one of the greatest privileges God has given to us. Why ignore it, or act as if it doesn’t make any difference? If Jesus prayed, shouldn’t we pray also?”

We should.

We should study prayer.

We should appreciate the prayers of others.

I should now pray prayers of thanks for the healing that has occurred in my body. I am not back to 100% but I am so much further along than I expected to be.

I attribute it all to the miracle of healing and the power of prayer.

I work-out every day at a rehab-workout facility.   Yesterday, I was in the heated lap pool doing my daily exercises. I began doing this in January and then I could only do one lap in the pool.   Today I am up to 10. I can feel my strength slowly returning, praise God. As I was in the pool, a crippled man with a walker came into the area. He seemed so feeble and had a very pained look on his face.   As I watched him move, I was truly afraid that he would fall and hurt himself but slowly he made his way into the pool. I continued my work-out and eventually I reached a stopping spot and there he was close by with a question. He asked my age and I said 65. He said he was 67 and he told me about the painful physical problems he was having with his body. I said I knew how to use a walker but I was only on one for three months. He will be on his walker for much, much longer, maybe the rest of his life.

I got ready to leave the pool and go home but I did something out of character.   I turned to him and I said his first name and I said “Tomorrow morning when I get up I will pray for you.”

He simply said “Thank you David.”

I should let it go. I have already announced through my church that we are moving on to a new book: Holy Discontent by Bill Hybels.

But here I go again.

I have wrestled with this post for a couple of days. I usually post every other day. This is the third day after my last writing and I can’t let this go.

On Sunday, I taught a lesson on this topic to my Sunday school class. I don’t know if I did it justice.

Now, I just have to write about it on St. John Studies.

In the back of W. Bingham Hunter’s book, one can find several pages of notes from his text.   As I got close to the end of the book, I happened to turn to page 214 and there it was: a diagram of the prayer-obedience relationship. Notes from Chapter 7.   I just stumbled on it.

I am going to close my comments on The God Who Hears with my thoughts on this relationship and I am going to post my personal thoughts on prayer.

This post and another and I am through.

I promise.

In my Sunday school class [our class name is 2^nd Beginnings] I opened the class by asking about the mistakes we all make with prayer. We were able to list many errors we all make but maybe the most common one was described as we treat our Lord and Savior as a “Gimme God.”   God becomes a Santa as we put before Him all the things we want and we expect Him to deliver.

The person who prays to a “Gimme God” may feel like they have a relationship with The Lord, but it is child-like, not mature at all.

All who approach The Lord in prayer have a desire to communicate to Him in love and thankfulness but to just ask for things is not adequate. The question is what can we do to grow in our prayer life?

Here it is: note 7 from Chapter 7 in the back of The God Who Hears.

We may desire to know God and prayer is a wonderful start but it is what I call “one way communication.” We send our messages to God but are we getting messages in return? If one really wants to know God to a greater degree, it is imperative to read His Word.   The Bible is not just any book.   You have heard it before.   It is sacred. It is supernatural. It is holy. Yes. Yes. Yes.

It is all of the above.

We need to pick it up and read it.

What can happen if we seriously desire to know God through His Holy Word? The Holy Spirit will help us understand The Word if we ask for His help. As we experience aid from “The Helper”, our desire to please God increases. The more we read and understand, the more we find ourselves living out The Word in our daily lives.

The seeker of a relationship with God will find himself or herself desiring earthly fellowship with others who are on the same pathway: church, Sunday school class, prayer group, Bible study class etc. Over time one begins to learn from reading and from others who are Spirit-led that God has certain expectations.   Over time one begins to understand a little about the mind of God.

Life is no longer just a series of unconnected events. One begins to see the hand of God in this world. I personally think we make a mistake when we think God only works in “big ways.” You see God in the healing of a cancer patient or you see God in the young man who turns from drugs to a clean life through Jesus Christ.   These things are dramatic and they are “big” but I think God shows up in the sun that comes in the back window on a spring morning, the work that gets done when you don’t think you can do it, or the visit from a good friend when you really need some good news.

As time passes with God, one begins to think after The Father. I hesitate to say that a human can think like The Father but just as one can anticipate the needs of a well-known earthly loved one, one can begin to anticipate what God may want us to do.   As we move from situation to situation in life, it is no mystery about what is expected of us.   We have a good idea about what The Father wants.

Prayer becomes something new. Praying in terms of “God thoughts” is praying according to His will. If we know Him well, this is so much easier.   Luke 22: 42 takes on a whole new meaning “yet not my will but yours be done.”

The strongest prayers are those that are said “in His will.”

The final stage of growth in the prayer-obedience relationship is prayer in accordance with God’s will.

Does this happen quickly?

No.

Is it easy?

No.

Does it take commitment?

Yes.

It is worth it?

That may be the dumbest question. Of course it is.

The Apostle Paul’s words begin to be so much more meaningful: “I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” [Romans 12: 1-2].

Good strong relationships don’t just happen overnight. They take work. They take dedication. They take as much unselfish love as we can muster.

Human relationships are based on an exchange of ideas: speaking and listening.

Our relationship with God can be greatly enhanced by speaking and listening. Add in unselfish obedience, adoration and service and what do you get?

The God Who Hears.

To be at one with Jesus Christ.

Bingham Hunter quotes Samuel Chadwick [author of The Path of Prayer]: “To pray in the Name of Christ . . . is to pray as one who is at one with Christ, whose mind is the mind of Christ, whose desires are the desires of Christ, and whose purpose is one with that of Christ.”

I think Chadwick is saying strive to that level of life and you will receive bounteous blessings.

What do we have to do to reach that level?

First, one should pray for the glorification of God. John 14:13 says “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.” This is a departure for many Christians who pray with certain goals in mind. Many pray with their own petitions as their main concern when God should be uppermost. We should be engrossed with God’s glory but maybe this goes against our selfish nature.

Secondly, to be at one with Jesus Christ means that our prayer should be made “only on the merits or basis of Jesus’ work, not our own.” As we approach this Easter season, we need to acknowledge the importance of the death and resurrection of Jesus. We can focus on so many aspects of this act of love of God and Son for man but for the sake of prayer, it is the basis of our communication with God.   Ephesians 3:12 states “In Him and through faith in Him, we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”   Jesus is the one and only true living way to communicate with God.

Thirdly, being one with Christ should result in us being true disciples. Jesus claims He did His work on behalf of His Father. Likewise, as we pray, we should be engaged in the work of The Lord. Jesus said “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” [John 8:31].   “If you love me, you will obey what I command” [John 14:15]. If we are not working for God, we have no claim to represent Him. If we are not representing God, our prayers may be very weak indeed.

Finally, to be one with Christ is to seek to pray as Jesus would have prayed in the same situation. Hunter bases this idea on the way the Bible uses the word “name” as we pray “in Jesus’ name.”  In Scripture, name means what an individual is and what an individual does. One can read Scripture and note that a person’s name is so important throughout the Old and New Testament. “Generations ago someone’s name not only designated who the person was, but suggested the traits of the person. Knowing someone’s name carried with it a familiar aspect that implied that not only did you know who the person was, but that you had some power over the person. For instance, in the New Testament, Jesus asked a demon what his name was and the demon was compelled to answer, ‘My name is Legion, for we are many’” (Mark 5.9) [HCNA Website, 2017]. When we “pray in the name of Jesus” we are really praying and saying we are petitioning God as Jesus would have in this situation—prayer from the mind of Christ is always according to God’s will and it will be heard. “True disciples would not desire to ask anything which is outside the will of their Heavenly Father” [Hunter, 199]. He further states that “All distinctly Christian prayer is offered in Jesus’ name.”

As we close our comments on The God Who Hears Hunter feels he has come full circle—coming back to where he started his book. “Prayer is a means God uses to give us what He wants.”

What does God hear? He hears those who pray and live to glorify Him.

The key to all Hunter’s thoughts about prayer is the degree that we desire God. If we desire Him, He will honor our petitions. His absolute closing words are also mine: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart” [Hunter, 199].

Exegesis and grammatical analysis.

Probably two things that will put the normal person to sleep. Yet doing exegesis and analyzing grammar are what W. Bingham Hunter does in the final chapter of his book The God Who Hears.

Exegesis is the critical interpretation of scripture.

Grammatical analysis is breaking down sentences into parts. When I was younger, we did something in English class that teachers don’t do anymore; we diagrammed sentences. Finding verbs, subjects, objects, phrases and dependent clauses was not a popular activity for most students.

But zeroing in on John 14-16 is important for Hunter because he wants to explore the meaning of praying in the name of Jesus or God.

As people of prayer, it is important for us to feel we can ask for Divine Help and receive Divine Help. John 15:7 says “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it shall be done for you.”

I am not going to bore you with detailed exegesis or grammatical analysis but when I really think about the sentence I quoted above, the part “ask whatever you wish…”, it sounds awfully good…until you look at the first part of the sentence.

There is the catch.

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you.”

What does this word abide mean?   When you see the word “if” it means that something will happen “if” something else happens first. If implies a condition.

What do we have to do to get the prayer results we want?

Hunter says it means we have to obey the teachings of Jesus and Hunter says it is “volitional.” At the risk of getting too analytical, volitional means that we make a thoughtful choice to commit to a particular course of action. We want to obey the teachings of Jesus; we want to obey the commandments of The Lord. This is not coerced. It is our desire.

When Jesus says that His words abide in us, He is really saying we have made a commitment to being connected with our Holy Father. John Stott is quoted in Hunter as saying “It is only when Christ’s words abide in us that our prayers will be answered. Then we can ask what we will and it shall be done, because we shall will only what He wills.”

In the previous months of discussion on prayer, I have commented on Hunter’s idea that an effective petitioner is one who understands that God’s will be done, not our own. What Stott is saying is that the more we are connected to God, the more we will understand what to pray. We literally begin to think thoughts that are more acceptable to God because we begin to understand how to relate to our Holy Father.

It is all about obedience.

Look at John 15:16. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in My name.”

This verse makes the bearing of “fruit” something that you must do before your prayers are answered.

One can turn to Galatians 5:22 and read that the fruit that we must bear is “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness and faithfulness.” When Jesus talks about fruit, He is talking about something that is created through obedience to God.   God is the vine; we are the branches. We can bear fruit, but it does not happen just because we are branches. We have to be connected to the life-giving support of the vine. In short, we are dependent on the God vine for our ability.

With a little “exegesis” and a little “grammatical analysis” it becomes clear that to get what we want in prayer, it takes a connection.   Digging a little deeper, that connection depends on our obedience to God. Taking it further, connection is a choice; it is what we desire.

My next post will be centered on obedience, the prayer-obedience relationship which is central to our ability to pray to our Father.

As I wrap up W. Bingham Hunter’s “The God Who Hears”, the next book that will be considered will be Bill Hybel’s  “Holy Discontent”. 

“Well my daddy left home when I was three and he didn’t leave much to Ma and me. Just this old guitar and an empty bottle of booze. Now, I don’t blame him ’cause he run and hid but the meanest thing that he ever did was before he left, he went and named me ‘Sue.’   Well, he must o’ thought that is quite a joke and it got a lot of laughs from a’ lots of folk. It seems I had to fight my whole life through. Some gal would giggle and I’d get red. And some guy’d laugh and I’d bust his head. I tell ya, life ain’t easy for a boy named ‘Sue.’”

These lyrics from Johnny Cash’s song “A Boy Named Sue” point to the importance of a name. Obviously a boy would prefer not to be named Sue.

Bingham Hunter dedicates his last chapter to the phrase that I often use when I pray in public. I often say “In Jesus name I pray” as I get ready to close my prayer.

Is it important to invoke the name of Jesus when we pray?

Some seem to think so. Hunter was told when he was a young Christian that the phrase “In Jesus name” was essential for God to hear our prayers.   Leave off the phrase and your prayers would not get through.   He encountered folks who prayed “In Jesus name” with drawn out words and emotional intonation.   Others seem to think that invoking Jesus name has direct power of its own.   You don’t even have to attach it to prayer.   And Hunter relates that he encountered a zealot who explained that praying “in Jesus name” would force The Father to give whatever he asked.

Where do people get this idea?

John 14-16.

Peppered throughout these three chapters are these statements. “ In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” “If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.” “Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” “In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf.”

Some may see this as merely the idea that Jesus is our advocate. If we pray to Him, He will be our intermediary with God, The Father.   But the second verse seems to indicate that praying directly to Jesus is the way to go.

Whatever the Bible is saying about praying with Jesus as advocate or Jesus as recipient, one thing is clear. The phrase “In Jesus name” is not just an afterthought we tack on to the end of a prayer.   It truly means something.

Hunter says the phrase “somehow conditions prayer offered to both The Father and the Lord Jesus.   It also apparently applies in some way to the answer as well.”

In upcoming concluding posts, we will explore other evidence in John that will help us understand the meaning of the phrase.

When Johnny Cash sang about being called “Sue,” he bemoaned the complexity of his life caused by the gender-bending name.

When we pray using the name of Jesus, there may be a different result, a good result…

Maybe communication with our Lord and Savior will be facilitated.

Who would not want that?

I don’t know about you, but I want it.

Sometimes it does a body good to just pause.

Not too long ago, I was forced to sit, literally sit for almost three months. Walking was tough because I had to avoid pressure on my right foot.   I had to use a walker to move. I could not drive; doctor’s orders.

I found that I had plenty of time to think. I day-dreamed about driving, cooking my own food, mowing the yard, cleaning up the garage, even going to get my own coffee in the kitchen. A lot was taken away from me but a lot was also given.

I had a simple life. That was what was given. More than that; that was the gift.

As we close the chapter entitled “Christ: Our Example”, we conclude by considering Jesus Christ’s lifestyle as our example for prayer and we have to admit that He had a simpler life than we have today.  Bingham Hunter states that “part of the reason Jesus had time and energy to pray the way He did was the simplicity of His life” [Hunter, 190].

Jesus owned next to nothing.   I have joked with my wife about the awful prospect of her preceding me in death.   It is not funny but I try to lighten up the subject by saying I would enroll as a monk in the monastery. My conception of monastic life is that it would be simple and the focus would be on the relationship between the monk and God.*

Jesus spent most of His time on earth with people.   He taught them. He was a wonderful role model leader. He spent most of His time passing along ideas about God and right living. He was involved in conversations with people [a favorite teaching technique]. In short, He valued relationships over material possessions.   He valued people over accomplishing a lot of business in His daily life.

Jesus was not success-driven as many people are in our culture today. Jesus touted the value of the weak, the meek, the down-trodden.   Jesus declared that the way to right relationship with God was to avoid the trappings of distracting wealth and the heady elixir of power over people. In our world today that worships material success and influence over others, His lifestyle would not be the norm.

Jesus thought that His daily work was the work of God the Father and it was. He saw prayer as vital to His ministry and He says it is essential to accomplishing God’s will. Mattew 6:10 “ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Mark 14:36   “Abba, Father,” ‘He said’, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” Jesus prayed a long time before selecting His disciples. He prayed before His miracles. When He exorcised demons, He said “this kind can come out only by prayer” [Mark 9:29]. He praised God for His disciples’success. He prayed for His disciples in times of failure and trouble. When He was in tense times, He prayed [for example in Gethsemane].   He prayed before making important decisions; one time He prayed all night before a decision [Luke 6:12].

Hunter indicts our lifestyle today in the words “most of us are too busy coping with existence to see prayer as vital or essential. But life could be simple.” Drive an older car. Wear less trendy clothes. Instead of replacing furniture, consider reupholstering. Eat less meat and more vegetables. If we took a simple approach to life, we would have less need for so much income.   We would have more time for prayer.

Then Hunter really drives home the point about what is really important to us. “Who are you really in love with? Is it God? Your spouse? Your children? Friends? Success? Your image? Where is your treasure? There your heart is also. Prayer is basically a matter of priorities, isn’t it?” [190].

Today it is hard to choose simplicity over complexity. It is so difficult to value people over possessions. It is so counter-intuitive to choose meekness over power.

But maybe Christ our Example is asking us to choose. He did.

Can we?

*Susan just laughs and says I would never be able to commit to the “vow of silence.”