theology-eschatology

How to Pray, pt. 4 (Matt 6:10b)

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

In this post I am going to be looking at the third petition of the Lord’s prayer, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

The will of God is a difficult thing for many people. Sometimes we are unclear about God’s will. Other times, we are clear about his will, but we don’t want to obey it, and at still other times, we struggle to accept God’s will for our lives.

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The story is told of an old Scottish woman who went from home to home across the countryside selling thread, buttons, and shoestrings. When she came to an unmarked crossroad, she would toss a stick into the air and go in the direction the stick pointed when it landed. One day, however, she was seen tossing the stick up several times. “Why do you toss the stick more than once?” someone asked. “Because,” replied the woman, “it keeps pointing to the left, and I want to take the road on the right.” She then dutifully kept throwing the stick into the air until it pointed the way she wanted to go!

Similarly, many of us can find that when we are “seeking” the will of God, we are really seeking our own will…and have suffered the consequences of forcing our own way!

 Today, I want to briefly investigate this petition (“your will be done”), so that we can know how to pray for God’s will to be done.

First, you need to understand that there are two wills of God. One is his secret will and the other is his revealed will.

Theologians sometimes call these God’s decretive and preceptive will. Decretive because it deals with God’s sovereign decrees, and preceptive because it deals with God’s precepts or commands. We find these two wills side by side in Deut. 29:29:

The secret things [decrees] belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed [commands] belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Let’s start with God’s Secret Will. God’s secret will is made up of those desires of God that he has decreed will come to pass, although he has not necessarily made them known to us. To us they are secret, but to Him they are fully known. Some examples from Scriptures are found in:

  • Matt 24:35-36: Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
  • Rom 1:9-10: For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. [Paul did not know whether he would get a chance to see the Christians in Rome.]
  • Also, compare 2Peter 3:9 with Rom 9:27: The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. Rom 9:27: And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, [God desires that all should reach repentance, but Rom 9:27 and many other passages tell us that this will not happen. Who will be saved? This too is God’s secret will, hidden from mankind.]

God’s secret will includes the answer to questions about how long you will live, how a new president will do in office, the state of our economy next year, and whether your neighbor will ever accept Jesus.

What are we to do, how are we to respond to God’s secret will if we don’t know it?

  • Trust God. -Matt 6:25-33 instructs us about worrying about serious needs (not wants, which are even less pressing). It says,

25Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

There is so much in this life that is unknown. And if we dwell on these things we can become paralyzed with fear. But the Lord tells his children not to be anxious. Yes, we should pray for our needs. He has revealed that he will take care of us and give us our needs. But instead we have “little faith” and begin to wonder how it is that he will care for us instead of just trusting him with a child-like faith.

  • Humbly submit to God’s will, for He is good-Ps 111 reminds us of this in a powerful way. It says:

1Praise the Lord!

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

in the company of the upright, in the congregation.

2 Great are the works of the Lord,

studied by all who delight in them.

3 Full of splendor and majesty is his work,

and his righteousness endures forever.

4 He has caused his wondrous works to be remembered;

the Lord is gracious and merciful.

5 He provides food for those who fear him;

he remembers his covenant forever.

6 He has shown his people the power of his works,

in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

7 The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are trustworthy;

8 they are established forever and ever,

to be performed with faithfulness and uprightness.

9 He sent redemption to his people;

he has commanded his covenant forever.

Holy and awesome is his name!

10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have a good understanding.

His praise endures forever!

The Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Even when things become stormy around us, praise him anyway. When things grow dark, praise him anyway. And when you find yourself “walking through the valley of the shadow of death” don’t forget that our Good Shepherd is with us every step of the way. You may not see the terror by night coming, but you do need to remember that our God is good and he has a perfect plan that goes far beyond our own understanding.

Secondly, there is God’s Revealed Will, or his Preceptive Will.

This is the will of God shown to us in the pages of Scriptures. The revealed will of God is God’s desire for us to obey Him. Here is another distinction between his secret will and his revealed will. His secret will is always accomplished. Job 42:2 says,  I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. However, God’s revealed will, is often disobeyed. God says we shall not bear false witness—but we do. This is never to be taken that God approves of our disobedience. But it does show that God passively permits us to sin, and yet we will be held responsible and those who refuse to cast themselves at God’s mercy will be punished in eternal fire.

Some examples of God’s revealed will include:

  •  Eph 5:15-17: Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
  •  1Thess. 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
  • 1Thess 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Of course, the Bible reveals much more of what God requires of us.

Back in the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus said, “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

This will of God is to be obeyed. After all, what king makes a decree and does not expect his subjects to obey him? How do the angels respond to God’s commands in heaven?

  • Ps. 103:20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels, you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
  • Matt. 13:41 The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers,
  • Matt. 24:31 And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Let me ask you, does God expect any less from us? The psalmist prayed as all of God’s children should pray, Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! (Ps. 143:10).

What about if we don’t walk in the ways of the Lord? What then? Jesus foretold of a future day when he will speak to those who had that attitude.

  • Matt. 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

 We really are without excuse in obeying God’s will because God has told us so clearly in his Word what he expects from us. Therefore, when we pray, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we are praying that God would align our hearts and our lives with the divine commands of God in the Bible.  We are praying that God would help us to live as he calls us to live. We are praying that we desire that God would make our lives a living Bible, that people can see our daily walk, witness our speech and our conduct and from that discern what God wants them to be.

A tall order? Yes! But that is why we pray for God to do this in our lives. It cannot be done otherwise.

How to Pray, pt. 3 (Matt 6:10a)

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

Focus is sometimes very difficult. Especially after dinner and a long day. It’s easy to lose focus. I remember one day when I had spent the whole night working on an assignment for school. I hit the print button as I took a shower and then off to seminary I went.

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At chapel I sat up near the front so that I wouldn’t be tempted to fall asleep (a tactic that I used for classes after lunch as well!). On that particular day, John MacArthur was our chapel speaker. But the focus was gone. I fought hard, but the sleep won out. I’m pretty sure Dr. MacArthur saw me sleeping that day.

But other than sleepiness, we can lose focus, can’t we? Those two sisters, Mary and Martha teach us that Martha lost her focus on the most important things (Lk 10:38-42). And we can do that in our prayer times as well.

So far we have seen that our prayers need to be honed:

  1. With a God-centered focus on God as our Father–“Our Father in heaven…”
  2. With a God-Centered focus on God’s holiness–“…hallowed be your name…”
  3. Now, With a God-centered focus on God’s Kingdom, “…your kingdom come”

God has given us a job to do on this earth. And it’s not to make it to the top of the corporate ladder or feather our retirement nest or finally reach all those goals in our bucket list. Those are all fine and have their place, but it isn’t first place and too much time on those things will cause us to lose our focus on God’s kingdom.

You know that almost everything we spend these short 70+ years on this earth gaining will all be burned up one day? Not much will be left if we don’t spend our time wisely. And that begins with prayer.

In the 2nd Petition, “your kingdom come” we focus our prayers on three matters:

  1. We pray that Satan’s kingdom may be destroyed.

A kingdom means that there are people who are being ruled by a king; and the vast majority of humanity is ruled by Satan, the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2). When we pray, petitioning that God’s kingdom come, we are at the same time asking that Satan’s kingdom be destroyed, since these two kingdoms are incompatible.

When we pray for the destruction of Satan’s kingdom, we are praying in line with the psalmist: “God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;and those who hate him shall flee before him! As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;as wax melts before fire, so the wicked shall perish before God! (Ps. 68:1-2).

Also, when we pray for God’s kingdom to come, we pray in agreement with what is revealed in prophecy will one day surely come. In Revelation 20:1-3, 7-15 we see the yet-future defeat of Satan and the judgment of all the wicked. At this point in history, all of sinful humanity will be placed into one of two places-with God, or in the Lake of fire. The final separation of darkness and light will be complete! Sin and evil will be eradicated and finally be completely judged!

There are some dark and sinister elements in our world that Christians need to war against. You need to be in deep and concerted prayer for God to strike down the enemies of the gospel and for him to use you as his agent to bring about those changes.

I’ve prayed that the Lord would remove obstacles, including people, to the preaching of the gospel. I’ve prayed that the Lord would shut down strip clubs and bars. I’ve prayed that back-sliding sinners would be crushed by their sins so they will look up to Jesus once more. I’ve prayed that family members would be overwhelmed by their sin and would seek Christ with a repentant heart and that they would be miserable until they do so.

I want to see God’s Kingdom come. And I don’t want to see the kingdom of darkness grow—not in my neighborhood. Not in my church. Not in my home. What about you?

  1. Likewise, when we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we pray that God’s grace may advance:

The Church is made up of those who are currently living in the grace of our Savior Jesus Christ here on earth. We have not been glorified, and we have not received all that has been promised for us, yet we hope expectantly in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. It is this hope that we are to busying ourselves in moving forward while we still have breath:

The Apostle Paul, in writing to the believers in Thessalonica, wanted to see the Church of Jesus Christ grow, praying: Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored, as happened among you( 2Thess 3:1, emphasis mine). Paul wanted to see Christ come into the hearts and lives of people, and so he shared the gospel with everyone he came into contact with. Like Alex Montoya says, “If it looks human, evangelize it!”

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Do you realize that God has blessed you, in part so that you can make his name great in the whole earth? Notice the connection that the psalmist makes: “May God be gracious to us and bless usand make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!” (Ps 67:1-3)

Do you pray for God’s kingdom to come? Does it match your hunger for souls to be saved?

Paul’s hunger to see his fellow Jews saved was so intense, that he wrote,  “I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom. 9:1-3) and in Romans 10:1, “Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved.”

  1. Finally, when we pray, “Your kingdom come,” we pray that the kingdom of God’s Glory may be hastened

This is possibly the most prominent idea that we think about when we consider this phrase of the Lord’s prayer. Every true follower of Jesus Christ looks forward to the day when our Savior returns, and hopes that he comes soon. As Revelations 22:20 says, “He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Notice the message that comes to us through 2 Peter 3:8-13:

  1. It acts as a warning to those who think that Jesus’ return is far off.
  2. It reminds us to keep working towards fulfilling the Great Commission until he comes again.
  3. It encourages us to keep waiting eagerly for that day when it finally does come and we see our Savior face to face!

But awaiting the Lord’s coming needs to be accompanied with a die-hard obedience to his last words—Take the gospel to the world! Make disciples. Push forward. Take the kingdom with violence—violent men for Christ and the gospel are needed. The Church needs men and women who are not lax or passive. Men and women who study hard and pray hard and preach hard and live godly lives that cannot be denied by our enemies.

Are you that kind of Christian? Pray that you would be!

Exposing the False Prophets and Apostles of the New Apostolic Reformation (Links)

/ Richard Bargas / 1 Comment

This past Sunday our church began diving into the book of Acts. In that message we began to look at the Apostolic foundation of Christ's church. By way of illustration and application I mentioned a troubling trend that is growing in “evangelicalism” in regard to this issue and the upswing of so-called modern apostles and fallible, errant prophets. To give you further background to some of the aberrations happening in churches today in this regard, I have gathered a few links that will hopefully be a starting point for better understanding and exposing the heretical teaching of the New Apostolic Reformation and their kin.

 

Solid Theological Studies Resources

/ Richard Bargas / 2 Comments

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Mike Vlach, professor of Theology over at TMS is one of those guys that both is crazy smart and a good guy. His official bio over at TMS says:

Michael J. Vlach, Ph.D. is Professor of Theology at The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, California where he has been teaching full time since 2006.

Michael has a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of Nebraska and a Master of Divinity degree from The Master’s Seminary in Sun Valley, California. He also earned his Ph.D. in Systematic Theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.

Michael specializes in the areas of Systematic Theology, Historical Theology, Apologetics, and World Religions. His specific area of expertise concerns the nation Israel and issues related to refuting the doctrine of Replacement Theology. Dr. Vlach was awarded the “Franz-Delitzsch Prize 2008” for his dissertation, “The Church as a Replacement of Israel: An Analysis of Supersessionism.” He is also the author of five books:

Has the Church Replaced Israel?: A Theological Evaluation (B & H Academic, 2010)

20 Tips for Writing Seminary Papers (Theological Studies Press, 2010)

The Church as a Replacement of Israel: An Analysis of Supersessionism (Peter Lang, 2009)

Dispensationalism: Essential Beliefs and Common Myths (Theological Studies Press, 2008)

Philosophy 101: The Big Idea for the 101 Most Important People and Ideas in Philosophy (Theological Studies Press, 2007)

Dr. Vlach is also the Founder and President of TheologicalStudies.org, a cutting-edge website devoted to providing quality articles, news, and information related to Christian theology. Michael speaks regularly at churches and conferences and has appeared on several national radio and television broadcasts including The History Channel.

Michael is also a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and has taught various courses in Theology for Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia.

All that to say Mike knows his stuff. He’s blessed the Church with materials for study at his site www.theologicalstudies.org. Check it out.

Do You See the Signs?

/ Richard Bargas / Leave a comment

One afternoon while we were camping in the sequoias last month, we started to notice that the clouds were beginning to look a little heavy and ominous. As evening began to fall, we started feeling a drop of rain here and there. As somewhat experienced campers, Wendy and I knew that we needed to take a few precautions before we went to bed for the night. We folded up our camp chairs and put them into our car, and then we took down all of our towels and clothes off of our clothesline and put them into the tent. We made sure that anything that could be damaged by the rain was in a safe and dry place. There’s something romantic about being in a tent while its raining, but there is nothing fun about having to run out in the middle of the night in a rain storm to cover and move things out of the rain.

In Matthew 16:1-12, Jesus spoke about observing the signs of the weather, and the activities that are affected when we are good judges of what will occur. Even today, we still read signs. We read the stock market to see whether or not stock prices will go up or down. We forecast the trends of politics and the real estate market. Some people are involved in watching the trends of fashion and technology.

But, what about the big picture? What about the signs of the times that point to the end of the world? The only person the world sees warning about the end of the world is the homeless guy in the movies who holds up a sign warning of the end of the world. The unbelieving world demonstrates its willful unbelief when it can read the signs of the culture while rejecting the signs of the end of the ages.

Of course, Jesus’ comments were to unbelieving Jews who were absolutely rejecting the Messiah and the clear signs that he had been sent from the Father. But as I meditated on how I could apply this text to myself, I realized that we, even as Christians, sometimes can demonstrate willful unbelief much like the Jews did. How do Christians demonstrate our willful unbelief by rejecting those same signs?

Three Ways in Which Christians Can Demonstrate Willful Unbelief Despite the Signs of the Times, so that We Can Get Back on Track While There Is Still Time.

  1. 1. By Failing to Live Holy Lives-2Pet 3:10-13

Like practical atheists we can say we believe that Christ is returning, but act like his coming is a long way off–probably beyond our lifetimes. Peter recognized that since the day of the Lord is assured, his coming should affect our striving after holiness and godliness.

  1. 2. By Failing to Live For Heaven instead of Earth-1Cor 3:10-15

Paul instructed the Corinthian church to stop living for worldly pleasures and to think ahead to that day when they would stand before the Lord and give an account for the sort of life they lived. Would their efforts burn down and blow over like the straw house of the three little pigs or would it stand the refining fire and come forth as refined jewels? Everything that we do in this time frame we have been given will count for eternity–and for some Christians, they won’t have much to count.

  1. 3. By Failing to Evangelize the Lost-Acts 20:24-27

Paul was pretty sure that he was heading for rough times when he headed for Jerusalem. He stopped in to say goodbye to the Ephesian church elders on his way back, and he felt that this might be the last time he would see them. He wasn’t thinking about Jesus’ return as much as the fact that he might go to see Jesus first. So, when he assessed the effectiveness of his time with these brothers in Christ, he was confident that he had done everything that a faithful servant of Christ can do, including preaching the truth of the gospel without any reservations. Paul’s conscience was clear, and his hands were clean.

Jesus’ return may come before we die, or after we die, but what’s the difference? We’ll still be called to give an account as stewards of the gospel treasure. How will you fair?

The signs that Jesus spoke of regarding the end times are true. As Jonah illustrated, Jesus died and rose again. But that isn’t where the gospel ends. He is coming back. Do you believe that? Can you read the signs around us that show us that it will be soon?

Do you have enough sense to get out of a storm?

We need to respond to Christ, not out of fear, but out of faith. Jesus IS coming soon. We need to be prepared.