Sunday, December 8, 2013

The Written Word as Spoken in the Lord's Prayer

The Written Word as Spoken in the Lord’s Prayer

I have been asked to say a few words about the power and the meaning of the spoken and written word. I can think of no better place to start than with the Lord’s Prayer. For years I have recited the Lord’s Prayer without much thought to what I was saying or for that matter, what Jesus was truly saying when He gave it to the disciples.

Let me start with, “Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done.” The modern English translation to this phrase is, “For you to enter into God’s Kingdom, you must first carry-out God’s will here on earth.” This is consistent with God’s word and the salvation of souls. Those who are saved are born again and have surrendered their lives to Christ. They put God before themselves and chose to do His will over their own. True surrender means imagining what Christ would do or say if He were in your shoes. To live in such a manner is to cleanse your temple and to invite the Holy Spirit to live within you. Since the risen Christ, God’s will is written in our hearts and we are no longer subject to the law of the Ten Commandments. As Paul put it in Galatians 4:3-7, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because we are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (see also Hebrews 8:7-10).   The more we listen, the clearer and louder God’s desires become. When God’s will is in our heart and we choose to follow our heart at any cost, the Holy Spirit lives within us.

“Thy Kingdom Come, Thy will be done” is followed by, “In earth as it is in heaven.” All together, the translation becomes, “For you to enter into God’s Kingdom, you must first carry-out God’s will here on earth as you will do when you are in heaven.” God is telling us to live by example. Regardless of our motives or inner thoughts, in the end, we will be noted for our works. Good intentions mean nothing without works. We must live our lives by example. As we learn in James 2:20, “…faith without works is dead.” James 2:21-24 read in part, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? …by works was faith made perfect. ...Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone.” We all want to do God’s will, but to what extent? Do we have the strength to always choose His will over our own? Where do we rank this responsibility and what do we do to show the love of Christ? Just how important is it to us? Certainly a divine and righteous God who created and provides all things has every right to demand that we put forth our very best attempt to live a Christ-like life. We will of course fall short of perfection because we are born to sin. Paul tells us in Romans 3:23-24, “…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God: Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is Christ Jesus.”  Fortunately, our God so loved us that He gave His only begotten son who has paid the price for our imperfection. However, to give anything less than our very best is to dishonor the sacrifice that was made on our behalf. 

“In earth as it is in heaven” is followed by, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Few realize that this is a promise from God to those who truly love Him and place Him first in their lives; above all others and all things. Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.” See also Luke 6:38 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.

Next, we read, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” Those who are redeemed already know that Christ has paid the price for their sins; past, present, and future. So, what exactly does, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” mean and how do we affect our own forgiveness? We learn in 1 Corinthians 3:11 that no foundation can be built, but the foundation that was already laid by Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15 tells us, “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abides which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself, shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” Though saved, we shall all stand before judgment one day. Let us hope that in that day the Lord has placed our sins as far from sight as the East is from the West because we have placed the sins of our trespassers as far from sight as the East is from the West; nevertheless, we are saved. Again, we must place God’s will before our own. We must forgive the sins of those who have offended us; by the strength of Christ, we must bury their sins deep in the ground; and we must forget where and what we have buried. Our rewards for such a life are greater than we can imagine. “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Lastly, the Lord’s Prayer ends, “Amen.” We are taught as Christians to end our prayers with the word, “Amen” and we generally do this without giving it much thought; sort of like finishing a child’s story with, “and they lived happily thereafter,” or a good book with, “the end.” Imagine how different our prayers would be if we accounted for the true meaning of, “Amen.” The direct English translation of the ancient word, “Amen” is “Believe.” Belief is the basis of faith. How much more will our father want to answer our prayers that we close with a reassurance of our belief and faith that He will love us and keep us, than our prayers that end with, “the end?” There is power in knowing what you say when you say, “Amen.”

Let us pray together in the words that Christ has given us:

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done in earth, 
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread:
And forgive us our debts,
as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil:
For thine is the kingdom,
And the power,
And the glory,
forever. Amen.

Be merry and Rejoice! Nobody loves you more than God the Father, God the Son, and The Holy Spirit.

Merry Christmas
David
www.firstvespers.com