Prayer: Who Is Talking To Whom?

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When I was a student at WPI not too far from here as some of you were a lump from there.
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I remember one of the Tremendous things that was really helpful for me and that has served me.
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Well was is my early discipleship as a young Christian as a collegiate and we were going through the navigators that was the organization that was
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Involved in my life at the time. We were going through a discipleship series called design for discipleship
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Dfd is Basically, if those of you who are taking pastor Steve's Sunday school class or have taken it before its fundamentals of the faith
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FOF all true discipleship Courses are three -letter acronyms if you didn't know that Dfd fof same idea going through the basics.
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Who is Christ? Who is God the Word of God prayer evangelism the church, but I remember vividly
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One of the lessons that in the design for discipleship series was on prayer and as I said it has served me
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So well over the years and this is why for a number of reasons But this is a particular one that helped me.
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There was an illustration of a cross in the middle representing the Lord Jesus Christ and then
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God at the top and man at the bottom and it was a cyclical illustration with arrows and And on the left side of the illustration there was a picture of a
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Bible God speaking to man Through the scriptures and on the right side there were there's a picture of praying hands man speaking back to God through prayer and that has served me so well over the years and so I wanted to address that today because there are some things going around in the area of prayer that can be misleading that are
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Misconceptions and sometimes even outright heresies even in evangelicalism today So I saw that in my relationship with God early on as a young Christian that that relationship was based upon a two -way communication
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I speak to God in prayer and God speaks to me through the scripture now
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That is not to say that there are not times when I might be silent in prayer But I'm not silent in order to receive further revelation
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I might be Meditating on the scripture that I just read and praying it back to God or thinking about what it meant and how
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I want to respond back to the Lord But one of the areas that I want to address and that's why
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I've entitled this prayer who is talking to whom in prayer who is the one doing the talking and Who is the one doing the listening in?
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Scripture it's God doing the talking now remember doing a Bible study years ago when my wife and I ministered in New York City a summer
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Bible study seven -week course called God has Spoken and it was a study on how to study the
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Bible Biblical hermeneutics Bible study methods and God has spoken clearly, but in prayer we are invited to speak to God Well, one of the heresies that's around today.
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It's been around for some time is what's called Contemplative prayer. I may be have heard of it How many have practiced it the hands went down really quickly
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Contemplative prayer What's the attraction? very simple the attraction to people for contemplative prayer is this it promotes the following idea that You can hear directly the very voice of God in the recesses of your soul and Therefore as a result have a more intimate relationship with God than anybody else around So it's to hear directly from God and that's attractive
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I want to hear directly from God but in the recesses of my soul and Therefore I can have a more intimate relationship with God and those who promote it promote it in that way
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That's an attractive thing to tell people. Do you want to have a more intimate relationship with the living God of the universe?
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Well, he can speak to you directly But they'll say in the recesses of your soul
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Well, how would we define it how how do those who promote contemplative prayer define it there's really two aspects of contemplative prayer
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The first aspect is called detachment and the second aspect is called illumination
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Not what we mean by illumination and I'll explain that Detachment is basically this first.
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You have to detach yourself It means to empty your mind in order to become one with God To empty your mind in order to become one with God that immediately should
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Throw a red light because I remember one of my dear professors Howie Hendricks from Dallas Seminary used to say
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Unfortunately, many people think that would be you become a Christian you commit mental suicide and he says that's not the case
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But that's the idea behind Contemplative prayer to emptying the mind in order to become one with God a lot of that stuff is taken from Richard Foster's book
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I believe back in 1978 Celebration of discipline and I quote from Richard Foster.
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He says this quote Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind
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In order to fill it So that's what they mean by detachment somehow to get to the place where you empty your mind completely and Then after you've done detachment empty your mind.
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There's what they call illumination and What they mean by that once your mind is emptied is to fill your mind with communication from God Pastor Gary Gilley of Southern View Chapel, he does not promote contemplative prayer, but he speaks out against it
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He describes it in a very good way in this section He says quote a person is to empty his mind or detach himself then fill it with Imaginative experiences with Christ that's also called attachment
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Who he will find in the silence of his soul Resulting in God becoming the source of his words and actions
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Prayer to them is an emptying of oneself so you can hear directly from God initially there
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We can see there's three things wrong with this idea of prayer. First of all, as I mentioned, it's not mental suicide
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Because we know very clearly you don't have to turn there the passages. We're going to study more in depth
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I'll have you turn to later, but Romans 12 to write do not be conformed to this world
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But be transformed by what the renewing of your mind It's not an emptying of your mind
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Renewing your mind if there was an emptying of mine RC Sproul would pack up his bags and quit his renewing your mind ministry
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Not so the second Thing that's obviously wrong with it. It has a wrong view of meditation
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Foster said Christian meditation is to empty your mind. That is not Christian meditation
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Think with me to one of the gateway psalms psalm 1 blessed of the man Who does not walk in the council of the wicked or stand in the path of sin as I said in the seat of scoffers?
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But his delight is in what in the law of the Lord and on his law. He meditates day and night
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Meditation is not Transcendental meditation. It's meditating thinking about The Word of God it was another helpful illustration for me as a young Christian when
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I was with the Navigators It was called the hand illustration and the hand illustration the five fingers represented different ways
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You can intake the scriptures one of course was reading the scriptures. That was the thumb I read the scriptures maybe go through a reading through the
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Bible in a year whether it's chronologically or however else you do it then there's Actually, I'm sorry go back the thumb is hearing the scriptures the scripture is being preached
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It's being taught We hear the scripture the index finger is hearing the script is reading the scriptures getting a panoramic view
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The middle finger is studying the scriptures In -depth Bible study whereas reading it you get a panoramic view you're up in the plane
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Seeing the big picture studying is going down into the details. And that's why we do expository preaching the ring finger is
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Scripture memory Memorizing the Word of God committing it to memory The pinky is meditation
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Now if you notice with your hand the pinky can touch every one of the other fingers or the thumb rather is the meditation my
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Fault the thumb can touch every one of the other fingers So as we hear the Word of God preached or taught we meditate we think about What God is saying through his word when we read it we meditate when we study it
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We meditate when we memorize the Word of God It's not just for the sake of memory, but to meditate to think on the law of the
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Lord and on his word Is this not what God told Joshua Joshua was replacing some?
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Big leadership in the shoes of Moses and he was frightened in Joshua 1 and God to encourage him
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Said over and over and over again be strong and courageous as I was with Moses So I will be with you and he said to Joshua in verse 8 of chapter 1 this book of the law
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Shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it Day and night so true biblical
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Christian meditation we meditate think about the word But the other thing that's wrong about contemplative prayer besides it promotes mental suicide, and it has a wrong view of meditation
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It has a wrong view of illumination. We don't detach our minds in order to receive just something from God in our inner soul
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Illumination is 1st Corinthians 2 the natural man does not receive the things because he doesn't have the
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Spirit of God But the spiritual man through the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit illumines our hearts in our mind so that we can understand the scriptures
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That's what it's all about what's the technique this is what they use I mean when you really think about this, this is pretty crazy.
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Gary Thomas says it describes it this way Quote you choose a word such as Jesus or father for example as a focus for contemplative prayer
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You repeat the word silently in your mind for a set amount of say 20 minutes until your heart seems to be repeating the word by itself just as naturally and involuntarily as breathing
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But centering prayer is a contemplative act in which you don't do anything You're simply resting in the presence of God Don't do anything just empty in your mind and sit there in the quiet.
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Let's see where your thoughts take you Without actually talking to God without reading his word
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Without turning to the scripture just listen I'm going to give you a little panoramic before we get into some detailed scriptures of what the scriptures both
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Old and New Testament say about prayer in terms of who is talking and Who is listening and we will see throughout the whole
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Scripture all of Scripture that it is us in prayer we're doing the talking and as God who's doing the listening not the other way around 2nd
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Chronicles 621 and listen to the pleas of your servant and your people
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Israel when they pray toward this place and Listen from heaven your dwelling place and when you hear forgive
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God's doing the listening he's doing the hearing from heaven 2nd Chronicles 714 very familiar verse if my people were called by my name
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Humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then God says I will hear from heaven
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God's hearing from heaven Psalm 17 verse 6 I call upon you for you will answer me.
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Oh God. Listen to this in no pun intended Incline your ear to me and hear my words
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The one who is praying is saying to God God you incline your ear to me and hear my words
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Not the other way around. I mean, this is so simple, but yet so profound in our basic understanding of our prayer lives
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Jeremiah 29 12 Then you will call upon me. God says and come and pray to me and God says and I will hear you
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God is doing the hearing How about the Sermon on the Mount? Lord Jesus in Matthew 6 verse 7.
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He says when you pray Do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do for they think that they will be what heard for their many words
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And elder Pradeep just read it from our scripture reading tonight. I love that Luke 11 This is how somebody who believes in contemplative prayer would read this passage
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Now Jesus was praying in a certain place and when he finished one of his disciples said to him Lord Teach us to pray as John taught his disciples and he said to them when you pray listen, it's not what he said
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That's what they think. He says Jesus said when you pray Say how about in Christ high priestly prayer
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John 17? We know that's a prayer. It's Christ high priestly prayer It's the longest prayer recorded in Scripture of our
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Savior It says in the very beginning of verse 1 there when Jesus had spoken these words.
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He lifted as his eyes up to heaven and Said he spoke to the father in his high priestly prayer and finally first John Chapter 5 verses 14 to 15 and this is the conference that we have toward him that if we ask anything according to his will
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He hears us Who's doing the hearing God not the praying person we ask he hears
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John continues in verse 15 And if we know that he hears us and whatever we ask we know that we have the requests that we have asked for him
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I mean those that's just a little Sampling of the scriptures when you go throughout all the
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New Testament. We see that prayer is God listening the father and We are doing the talking not we listening and God talking to us in prayer.
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That's the scripture And we can't forget this is not the point Tonight but I want to make it as a side note that prayer is a privilege that we have as believers
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We come to him as our father. We come to him in the name of Jesus Christ It's not just an add -on at the end of a prayer some kind of mantra to get what we want like rubbing a genie in a bottle
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This is that we come through Christ He is our great high priest by which we can approach the throne of grace so that our
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Heavenly Father does hear us What's the background to all of this contemplative prayer prayer is us listening to God talking to us a lot of it comes from mysticism
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If you listen to a lot of the techniques that they employ It's nothing more than Eastern mysticism a lot of other religions use it
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Hinduism It's just putting on nice garbs and classifying it with Christian ease words
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But in essence, it's nothing of the Lord Years ago, I remember when
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I was involved with the Southern Baptist churches And what was really big at the time was many of you might have heard of it black bees experiencing
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God Had some good stuff in there But it has some stuff where like Moses who experienced
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God that we were to experience God in that kind of fashion Arthur Johnson in a book entitled faith misguided exposing the dangers of mysticism
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He explains mysticism really well here and I want to quote that when we speak of a mystical experience
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We refer to an event that is completely within the person that is key within the person.
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It is totally subjective it's predominant qualities have more to do with emotional intensity or Feeling tone than with facts evaluated understood rationally
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Furthermore, it is from this emotional quality that another characteristic results namely its self authenticating nature
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The mystic rarely questions the goodness and value of his experience
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Consequently if he describes it as giving him information. He rarely questions the truth of his newly gained knowledge
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That's mysticism. It's subjective. It's totally from within not from outside of us
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Or we can take the pastor of Willow Creek in Chicago, Illinois Pastor high bulls one of the premier seeker sensitive churches
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He wrote a book a few years ago and did a whole Bible study in video series on it called the power of a whisper
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And in his video to promote this Bible study he he says this and I quote He says
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God's low volume whispers have saved me from a life of boredom and self -destruction Whispers that have arbitrated key decisions
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Nudges that have rescued me from dark nights of the soul Promptings that a spurt on growth
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God whispering to human beings. Do you really believe it? Do you think that the transcendent
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God customizes little promptings and then directs them to rank and file human beings for the purpose of assurance or Direction or just to convey his love or his warning about something
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Do you really think this happens and listen to what he says next I've Staked my entire life on these things called whispers
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I've started a church in a movie theater because of a whisper Close quote.
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I would hate to think when pastor Mike comes back from California He not only catches a wave while he's surfing, but maybe he catches a whisper who knows
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But can you imagine that this is how ridiculous this is? I Need to wait for a nudge.
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How do I know it's authentic? It's not my flesh a prompting I Need to wait to hear directly from God in the recesses of my soul about his love for me
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When Romans 5 tell he tells me clearly that he has already loved me because of Christ's work on the cross
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I need to hear from God about assurance when he's given the Apostle John's first epistle about dealing with that whole issue of assurance excuse me for just a moment
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I Sense a whisper coming false alarm.
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I'm sorry You laugh because that's how ridiculous it is, but people are falling in line for this
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Because it is somebody who was well known in Evangelicalism and this is what we're going to look at Scripture a little bit.
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What are the dangers I? Highlighted what it's about what the scripture says in general, but what are the real dangers?
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I just want to highlight three three dangers to Misunderstanding prayer as being us talking to God and God listening and hearing us rather than the other way around The first danger is this sola scriptura is minimized
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Sola scriptura is minimized Sola scriptura from the Reformation means scripture alone that God speaks to us through his word
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It becomes minimized when we were waiting in prayer to hear extra revelation from God in her famous book
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Jesus calling in the introduction Sarah Young and This is I see posts of this her book people's this is their devotional intake every day
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And it's one thing now want to make clear that if if I if I'm reading the scripture And I'm praying to God talking to him
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And he's listening to me as the scripture says and I want to write something an encouraging word to somebody or I want to write
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Encouraging note if I wanted to keep a journal the things I'm learning from the word or the things
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I'm praying about people I'm praying about great fine and dandy, but she's taking a little step beyond that she says in the introduction
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And I quote I began to wonder Sarah says if I could receive messages during my times of communion with God I had been writing in prayer journals for years great, but that was one way communication
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I did all the talking I knew that God communicated with me through the Bible But I yearned for more red light
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But I yearn for more she continues to say increasingly I wanted to hear what God had to say to me personally on a given day
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Turn with me to Luke chapter 16 Luke chapter 16 She minimizes the sufficiency and authority of scripture
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Luke chapter 16. I'm not going to read the whole passage. This is The rich man and Lazarus from verse 19, but we're gonna pick it up in verse 27
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We're familiar with the story. They both died and the rich man is experiencing
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What he says here what Christ is here in the text in Hades verse 23 he's in torment
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Let's pick it up from verse 27 the rich man is speaking here and he said then
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I beg you father To send him to my father's house. He's referring to Lazarus To go back to his father's house here on earth
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And he explains why verse 28 For I have five brothers So that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment
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It was a conscious place of torment as the text makes clear. We're not doing the full exegesis of it But early he said that as a highlighted in verse 23, and he says it here again
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Lest they also come into this place of torment What was Abraham's response?
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You know, you're right. Let's try that No Abraham said hmm
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They have Moses and the prophets Let them hear them
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Rich man responds verse 30. No father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead
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Then they surely will repent what was Abraham's response?
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Ah, you're right. I didn't think about that one. I Mean if we send somebody from the dead surely they will repent
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No, Abraham stayed on the same course. He said to him verse 31 If they do not hear
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Moses and the prophets that was their scripture Moses and the prophets
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Neither will they be convinced and someone should rise from the dead sure all of you have heard it with friends
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You know if God would just do this for me in my life Then I'll repent if I can hear directly from God in the recess of my soul.
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Then I know he's real No, Abraham says if they don't listen to Moses and the prophets the written word
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They'll never repent even if someone from the dead Should come back Referring to Lazarus Now there are those who are committed to solo scripture who believe in in in The scriptures alone and the sufficiency of scripture as this passage says it that's what
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Abraham was telling them. The scripture is sufficient So that someone would repent But though those are who are committed to solo scripture or say so they have a different hermeneutical approach possibly to scripture
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Though if you ask him, do you believe in scripture alone solo scripture? Yes, we do But then as you discuss with him, what is your approach to hermeneutics your understanding of how to interpret the
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Bible? You find out it's a little different one recent example that I had was I've been asked again this August last year
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I got an opportunity to teach at a summer camp a Greek evangelical camp There's another pastor who speaks to the
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Greek speaking congregation and I speak to the English -speaking folk and this year's theme was prayer So I was really excited about that I would love to teach about that and also spend some time with the group in prayer and he had some suggestions for me and he threw out some verses and He said, you know, he had a program for the week and one of the days was listening prayer listening to God I thought to myself how apropos
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That's what I've been studying Prayer listening to God and the the proof text verses he used classic verses that I've taken out of context with Psalm 4610 you don't have to turn there right now
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Psalm 4610. You're familiar with this be still and Know that I'm God there.
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It is an invitation to be still empty your mind in prayer and listen to the recesses of your soul
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But let's try something. It's called context. I said to him. Well, I was a little bit more gracious than that I said brother.
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I know you believe in Sola Scriptura, and I can't wait to have sweet fellowship with you But as we look at Psalm 46
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The context is otherwise the next part of verse 10 says be still and know that I'm God I will be exalted
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God says among the nations which nations when you look back at verse 6 the nations which are raging against God You look at the beginning of Psalm 46
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It's talking about times of trouble How in our times of trouble
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God is an ever -present help in times of trouble and he is our refuge So to be still the invitation of God is despite all the trouble that's going on despite all the nations that are raging amongst you
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Israel you can be still you don't have to panic. You don't have to worry You can't be you don't have to be anxious because I am
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God I am sovereign. I'm in control That scripture is not an invitation to listen to God in prayer
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It was an invitation to trust God's sovereignty and not to be anxious in the midst of trouble another classic passages that he gave me a
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John 10 Pastor Steve just went through it in recent weeks The Good Shepherd passage right and I actually remember a visitor here once approaching me on that passage once in the
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Sunday morning And so we had a pretty interesting discussion Jesus said my sheep what?
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Hear my voice. Oh There it is. He said it it's in the scripture. They hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.
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There you go. So we have to We Jesus said hear the voice so he used that as a proof text
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I said well We have to take it in light of what the gospel of John is all about took him to John 20
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That Jesus did many of his other signs but these have been written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ and that but believing you may have life in his name the authorial intent of the whole book of the gospel of John and A lot of that John 10 is about showing who
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Jesus is the Good Shepherd and I said he's using a metaphor Shepherd and sheep.
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It's a metaphor The point of is is that true sheep true believers will never follow anybody else other than Jesus That's why earlier in John chapter 10 verse 5.
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Jesus says using the metaphorical language again He says they will never follow a stranger because they do not hear a stranger's voice
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Jesus was not teaching in that chapter about prayer He was highlighting that true believers true sheep will follow the
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Shepherd and not anyone else So solo scripture is minimized secondly a second danger of contemplative prayer is this
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Biblical discernment is downplayed Biblical discernment is downplayed last fall at the 2015
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Ligonier fall conference they have as usual as they have also at the Shepherd conference Q &A times and I love those
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Q &A times And usually they have a pretty good -sized panel four or five pastors and men who are being asked questions and answering
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But this past fall conference of Ligonier, they only had two RC and MacArthur so that piqued my interest
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I wanted to listen to it and the man who was asking the questions asked to both men the following question
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What do you think is the largest problem facing the church in America? Good question.
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What do you think RC? What do you think pastor MacArthur is the largest problem facing the church in America?
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And I quote here at pastor MacArthur's answer quote a lack of biblical discernment
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The church basically suffers from spiritual AIDS It should die it could die of a thousand heresies because its immune system is so totally deficient end quote spiritual
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AIDS Turn with me to Philippians briefly Philippians chapter 1 verses 9 and 10
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Paul as he does in many of his epistles is opening up in his prayer for the Philippian Church The church in Philippi and he says this beginning in verse 10
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Notice what he says about discernment and it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more with knowledge in all discernment
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Why purpose statement so that you may approve? What is excellent?
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I'm gonna just highlight briefly without doing a full exegesis of these verses that Notice how love and discernment a couple together they are not
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Mutually exclusive as many would have you believe because when you say
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Something you're trying to discern something somebody else who hears it might say well, I don't want to be judgmental
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That's not very loving thing to do. There's a difference between judging and judging rightly being discerning here
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Paul couples That their love may abound more and more but how just in a vacuum
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No with knowledge and what all discernment that's how love abounds more and more with all discernment
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Why so that you may approve? What is excellent so they are not mutually exclusive to be loving is to be
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Discerning and our love can only grow as we are able to discern and approve. What is excellent and The last of final danger.
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I just want to highlight for tonight. We're gonna camp on this a little bit more is That spiritual maturity is redefined
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Spiritual maturity is redefined with contemplative prayer. It's those who are the elite
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Who are the ones who can hear in the recesses of their souls a voice from God?
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They are on a higher level than we are This is not new is it not? heresies just take a cyclical
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Route throughout church history. This is what the Gnostics believed right From the
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Greek word Gnosis to know they had a higher deeper elite knowledge that made them look down upon others
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The church in Colossae dealt with that turn with me there to Colossians chapter 1 and right now I'm just going to show you
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The four major New Testament passages just we're not going to do a full exposition on them just to highlight some things that directly talk about Spiritual maturity.
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So how do you know if someone's spiritually mature? How do you know if you're maturing? These are how you know These are the signposts of tests based upon these passages because they're specifically talking about you will see the word maturity in them
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Colossians chapter 1 Verse 28 you ought to know this verse by heart. You see it in our bulletin every
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Sunday. This is what we're here for And the ESV translates it well because it front loads
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Him we proclaim some translations say we proclaim him but in the Greek is like the ESV has it him we proclaim
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They front load the him referring to Jesus To emphasize that is
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Jesus Christ. We proclaim Paul says him we proclaim but Got a review before we continue on who's the him we proclaim without getting into too much detail
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I was going over this passage with my daughters the other night and we looked at Colossians chapter 1 earlier
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Verses 15 through 22 and just made a list of all that Jesus is and we were like I was like, isn't he great?
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This is the one we proclaim. He is the image of the invisible God. He is a creator through him and all things were created
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All things hold together before because of him. He's a sustainer. He is before all things. He is eternal He is the head of the body
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He is the one through whom reconciliation has happened all the fullness of ditty dwells in him in bodily form.
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Whoo There's nobody like Jesus. Well, Paul is saying this is the Jesus we proclaim
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In verse 28 and he continues warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom that we may present everyone what mature in Christ So maturity comes by proclaiming this
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Jesus. There is no other maturity apart from Christ We come to Christ we grow in Christ.
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We mature in Christ But notice the context as I mentioned narcissism was prevalent there and it's taken his different form today
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Continues verse 29 for this I toil struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me
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Continuing chapter 2 remember the chapters are not inspired the thought continues here for I want you to know how great a struggle
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He's talking about struggling from verse 29 How great a struggle I have for you and for those that labor to see it and for all who have not seen me face to face that their hearts may be
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Encouraged being knit together in love to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery
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Which is Christ watch this verse 3 in Whom in Christ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge?
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Take that Gnostics It's in Christ. I Hit him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge and Paul.
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Why are you saying this to us? I'll tell you why Paul says verse 4. I say this in order that no one may delude you
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He cares for them he's toiling and struggling for the church so that won't be led astray So maturity comes through Christ Because in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge go back to Philippians chapter 3
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Second passage on maturity, it's not listening to an inner voice supposedly from God But it has to do with maturity in Christ And that's where we proclaim it but also has to do with this
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Philippians 3 Let me just for the sake of context.
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I'm going to read from verse 12, but for the sake of context this is Paul's testimony
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If you heard the testimonies today in the baptismal waters a testimony really involves
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I mean, I always tell people your testimony is the same as everybody's else It is right in essence
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You you're a depraved sinner who is hopeless and helpless before a holy God you can't do anything to save yourself
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Christ did it all you need to turn to him in faith and repentance But it's different in this way.
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It might be a grandmother who was praying for me in Greece for years before I ever knew her Providential circumstances that God works out for each individual
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But here's Paul's testimony before and I want you to notice the repeated phrases here
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He uses the phrase confidence in the flesh Three times and then in the latter part of his testimony.
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He uses the contrasting words loss and gain loss and gain notice in beginning of verse 3
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For we are the circumcision who worshiped by the Spirit of God in glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh
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Though I myself this is pre -christ days for him though. I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh
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Also, if anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin a
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Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law of Pharisee as To zeal a persecutor of the church as to righteousness under the law blameless
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He had reason to put confidence in the flesh Here is his how verse 7 but whatever gain
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I had I counted as lost for the sake of Christ And Post conversion indeed
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I count everything now as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for his sake
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I've suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him and Having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law
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But that which comes through faith in Christ the righteousness from God that depends on faith
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Verse 10 that I may know him in the power of his resurrection and may share in his sufferings becoming like him in his death
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So God wrought a change in Paul's life in his conversion He was no longer relying on his own confidence in his own fleshly confidence
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But in Christ alone and his passion was to know him to become like him Christ likeness, but notice what he says in verse 12 and here's where maturity comes in He says look not that I have already obtained this or I'm already perfect But I press on to make it my own because Christ Jesus had made me his own brothers
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I do not consider that I have made it my own But one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and stand straining forward to what lies ahead
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I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus and Here it is in verse 15.
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Let those of us who are mature Think this way
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Not empty your mind But think this way What Paul is saying
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God has changed me because of my conversion he has saved me He's giving me this new confidence in the righteousness of Christ and not in my flesh
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I have a desire to know Christ above everything else. Everything else is rubbish. I want to become like Christ, but I haven't arrived yet God has changed me, but he's still at work in me
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Paul says and The mature person he says thinks this way That I haven't arrived
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God has changed me, but he's still at work in me This is the right mature way of thinking
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Back to Ephesians the third passage two more passages and we'll be finishing Ephesians chapter 4
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Third passage on maturity. So if people were to ask you, you know, what does the Bible teach about maturity?
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You should be able to take them to Ephesians Colossians Philippians and we'll get to the last one
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Good passages to hang your pegs on for your own sake and for the sake of ministering to others
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Ephesians 4 11 and he
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Christ gave the Apostle the prophecy evangelist the shepherds and teachers to equip the Saints for the work of ministry
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For building up the body of Christ Here it is until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the
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Son of God to mature manhood to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Why?
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so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and Carried about by every wind of doctrine by human coming by craftiness in deceitful schemes
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Maturity has to do with doctrinal maturity It's Christological maturity because of Colossians 1 that we looked at its
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Maturity thinking the right way as Philippians 3 that God has changed me, but I have been arrived yet.
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He's continuing to change me In Christ likeness, but it's also as we see here maturity is not to be a child to be tossed to and fro by every wind
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Of doctrine that's what a mature man is as he says in verses 13 and 14 That is
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Christian maturity not just because some famous preacher who has the evangelical garb on says
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This is what prayer is all about and the last passage let's took to Hebrews chapter 5
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I'm very comfortable in going there because I don't believe pastor Mike will get there anytime soon But that's fine.
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Isn't it so rich to go through chapter 1? Hebrews chapter 5 verse 11
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About this we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you've become dull of hearing for though by this time you ought
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To be teachers Imagine someone saying that to you someone
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Who's discipling you who's been your teacher your mentor, you know by this time already you ought to be a teacher, but he continues
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Verse 12 you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God You need milk or as my son says gala not solid food
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Why For everyone who lives on milk is what? unskilled in the word of righteousness
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Why since he's a child but in contrast verse 14 solid food is for the mature
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And here's a carry another characteristic of mature person For those who have their powers of discernment.
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I love that phraseology powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil maturity has to do with discernment and It continues the thought in chapter 6 verse 1 therefore.
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Let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity that's what it means to be mature is to have biblical discernment is to mature in Christ is
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To think rightly about one's continued growth in grace and knowledge it's to be able to Distinguish between good and evil
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Woman, I was able to Minister to recently I believe she may be genuinely saved one of my customers at work but unfortunately, she's
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Fallen prey to all the false heresies in our day and she she threw out some names of some famous teachers that I had not heard of and She kind of was kind of surprised that I had never heard of them
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So I threw out some of the teachers that I like to listen to and she had never heard of them either And I was trying to encourage her and she says well the
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Lord has spoken to me and I think this is what I want to do and and This is what I think he has from my life and I realized that as I beginning to hear her story
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She's going through a difficult time. She's recently gone through a divorce Doesn't have a job. So I was trying to be a minister of grace to her
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But yet at the same time director rightly in the Word of God Then trying to encourage and say
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Whatever experience you and I have had cannot compare to the experience that the Apostle Peter had with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration Would you agree with me on that?
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Sure. She says that must have been amazing you know there with Moses and Elijah said and yet Peter himself says in in his epistle that Compared to that experience.
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We have a more sure word this the scriptures So don't fall prey to these false teachers who are trying to guide you down some wrong path
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And I think when it comes to people these false teachers prey on people who struggle in particular
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Because these people are looking for something to latch on to some sense of hope
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So they're prey to these predators So in conclusion, how can we help people like this three ways very simply as I close practical application through the encouragement of the scriptures
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It's a great phrase in Romans chapter 15 verse 4 for whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction
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That through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures We may have hope
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Second way we can help people is to point them to the God of all comfort. This is my wife's life verse
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Don't tell pastor Mike. I said that 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 life verses. This is a verse that has been so Personal to my wife so Minister to her and her tough times in life
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Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies the God of all comfort
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I love that terminology of our God who comforts us in all our affliction So that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God That's what we have to offer people
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God has comforted us in our affliction so that we can point to them to the God of all comfort and the father of mercies as it says there and The last thing we can do to help people encourage them and even each other is we have the church the body of Christ First Corinthians 12 25 to 26 that there be no division in the body
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But that the members may have the same care for one another if one member suffers all
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Suffer together if one member is honored all rejoice together remember one time as a youngster helping my father and doing some carpentry work and there goes the
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Proverbial hammer right on my nail. My whole body was throbbing. Never mind my finger when one member of the body suffers
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We all ought to suffer when one rejoices we rejoice with that one as well
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Romans 12 15 rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep
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So may God give us grace as we minister in these times to help people understand what true prayer is all about And then we can direct them to the one who is the
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God of all comfort Father do thank you for this brief time that we can gather together to just look at some thoughts from your word
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Thank you father for the privilege of prayer that we are not bound by place or time We can pray while we're driving in the car.
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We can pray in the sanctuary of the church building We can pray selling what we are at work wherever in our home.
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We don't have to be in a certain position It's a heart attitude that you're looking at and father We know that we come to you in prayer because of our great high priest the
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Lord Jesus Christ Help us as we minister to people who are bombarded with these false teachings
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That you would use us as your instruments to guide people to the truth of your word. We pray these things in Christ's name.