American Loon

I grew up reciting the Lord’s Prayer, which is also called the Disciples Prayer (Matthew 6:5-15). In our Lutheran Church, we said it every Sunday and you knew after that had been said, you’d be in the parking lot within 10 minutes. I have fond memories of saying that prayer. It always brought a familiar comfort and that is a problem. When we do something like that with great regularity, we cease to use it as a prayer and just enjoy the feeling of everybody saying it together. In the Baptist church we now attend, that prayer hangs on the east wall, but we rarely say it. It was told to me by Pastor Pete that the reason for not using that prayer was to not take it for granted, to actually use it to pray to God which is what Christ had meant when He gave it to the disciples. It should be used as a framework for how we pray to God. The devotionals I read every day from Grace Church had this recently:

The implications of the Disciples’ Prayer are profound and far-reaching. An unknown author put it this way:

I cannot say “our” if I live only for myself in a spiritual, watertight compartment. I cannot say “Father” if I do not endeavor each day to act like His child. I cannot say “who art in heaven” if I am laying up no treasure there.
I cannot say “hallowed be Thy name” if I am not striving for holiness. I cannot say “Thy kingdom come” if I am not doing all in my power to hasten that wonderful day. I cannot say “Thy will be done” if I am disobedient to His Word. I cannot say “in earth as it is in heaven” if I will not serve Him here and now.

I cannot say “give us . . . our daily bread” if I am dishonest or an “under the counter” shopper. I cannot say “forgive us our debts” if I harbor a grudge against anyone. I cannot say “lead us not into temptation” if I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say “deliver us from evil” if I do not put on the whole armor of God.

I cannot say “thine is the kingdom” if I do not give to the King the loyalty due Him as a faithful subject. I cannot attribute to Him “the power” if I fear what men may do. I cannot ascribe to Him “the glory” if I am seeking honor only for myself. I cannot say “forever” if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by the things of time.

My hope here is for you to look at how you use this prayer, given to the disciples and to us, and if you have fallen into the trap of just speaking these words with no more meaning than ordering fast food at a drive up window, stop right now and repent to God. Renew your relationship with He who created you and strive to be Holy because He is Holy. (1 Peter 1:16)

We are finishing up John 7 this week. When Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’”, (v. 36) the people began to talk among themselves. Some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? (vv. 40-41). Most all of them were following Him for the spectacle of healing and supernatural acts. Of the comment about Galilee, Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers has this to say:
It has often been asked, sometimes in the spirit of objection, sometimes in the spirit of inquiry, how the Apostle, if he really knew the history of our Lord’s birth at Bethlehem, could record these questions without a correction. But in these verses he is giving the feelings and opinions of the multitude, and it is a mark of the truthfulness of his narrative that he gives them just as they really occurred.

The scripture states that there was division among the people over him. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. (v. 43) The temple police who had been sent to arrest Jesus came back to their masters, the chief priest and Pharisees were incredulous and very angry with them for not arresting Jesus. You see, those sent to arrest this Son of Man had been amazed at what they heard. “No one ever spoke like this man!” they exclaimed, when asked why they hadn’t arrested God. (vv. 45-47)

The Pharisees answered back to them “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (vv. 48-52) Interesting that Nicodemus, after his shocking encounter with Jesus, (John 3:1-15) has the courage to speak out with those that would kill He who has come to redeem those that would believe.

Verse 53 states that “They went each to his own house”. And here starts a part of the scripture that I have struggled with. In most new translations of what I read, that being the NASB and ESV, this part of the scripture is listed with an asterisk and brackets: [The earliest manuscripts do not include 7:53–8:11.] This is what’s known as “The Woman Caught in Adultery”

Here it is:
[[8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9 But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”]]

The lesson here is, now that you know of your sins, that you are held to account and convicted through the scripture, go now and sin no more. Believe, Obey and Continue. Do this and you will have eternal life. Or put more directly: Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is our only hope. So go forth and act upon that knowledge. Believe, Obey and Continue.

Last week we learned of Jesus being at the Feast of Booths. (John 7:10) He started preaching at the temple and the people marveled at what He was telling them, they then started to wonder at where this simple carpenter, whom they knew, where did He receive His knowledge? (v. 15) Jesus told them “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.” (v. 16) He ended His answer to them with this: “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” (v. 19)

This did not sit well with those He was teaching. They prided themselves with claiming Moses and Abraham as their fathers and when they were told that they don’t follow the law that was given to them, they got mad at He who would call out their sins to them. So they shouted out “You have a demon!” This was the claim of the Pharisees and is mentioned in Matthew 9:34, Matthew 12:24, Mark 3:22 and Luke 11:15. It is also pretty much at this point when Jesus stopped teaching in anything but parables. After the telling of the parable of the seed and the soils, His disciples asked Him why He taught like that. Christ answered them: “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.” (Matthew 13:10-17)

Jesus taught in parables, not to explain spiritual truths to the crowds, but to keep spiritual truths from the crowds. Lest we doubt or misunderstand Christ’s answer here, Jesus noted that the veiling of spiritual truths from the unbelieving crowds is actually a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy given at Isa. 6:9–10. Note Luke’s account of this narrative, as he refers to Jesus’ citation of Isa. 6:9, and writes,

And Jesus said to the disciples, ‘To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is given in parables, so that, “Seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand”’ (Luke 8:10; cf. Mark 4:11–12).

Jesus was fulfilling a prophecy by telling parables, for He knew the hearts of men and their unbelief. Back to the lesson, all of this caused people to grumble, some against and some for Christ. (vv. 30-31) All this grumbling caught the attention of the Pharisees and they sent their temple police to arrest Jesus. Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” (vv. 33-34) And this last statement caused them to wonder: “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? (vv. 35-36)

Jesus, on the last day of the feast, which the scripture states it was a “great day,” stood up and cried out “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” When the bible states that He cried out, it does mean that He did this in a loud voice. He wanted them, all of them, to hear what He said. Jesus is appealing to them, yet again. And to us.

From Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary: “On the last day of the feast of tabernacles, the Jews drew water and poured it out before the Lord. It is supposed that Christ alluded to this. If any man desires to be truly and forever happy, let him apply to Christ, and be ruled by him. This thirst means strong desires after spiritual blessings, which nothing else can satisfy; so the sanctifying and comforting influences of the Holy Spirit, were intended by the waters which Jesus called on them to come to Him and drink. The comfort flows plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear down the opposition of doubts and fears. There is a fullness in Christ, of grace for grace. The Spirit dwelling and working in believers, is as a fountain of living, running water, out of which plentiful streams flow, cooling and cleansing as water. The miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit we do not expect, but for his more common and more valuable influences we may apply. These streams have flowed from our glorified Redeemer, down to this age, and to the remote corners of the earth. May we be anxious to make them known to others.”

Christ’s time was growing short and even though He knew their hearts, He was calling to them, put away their sin and follow Him with a true heart. He offers a comfort that flows plentifully and constantly as a river; strong as a stream to bear down the opposition of doubts and fears. It is a message that we should heed today, with all that 2020 and now 2021 has brought to us. He was here in this world as the Son of Man for a limited time, but now that limited time is ours. You may think that you’ve got time, time to enjoy life and you’ll have time to get right with God. Let me remind you of Luke 12:20: “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” When will your life be required of you? The time of salvation is NOW! Seek God while He may be found. (Isaiah 55:6)

If you think “I’m good with God,” I think maybe you better examine that belief, if all you want to do is listen to the word, with no fruit of the spirit. Christ said “Take up your cross and follow Me” which means being willing to die in order to follow Jesus. This is called “dying to self.” It’s a call to absolute surrender. After each time Jesus commanded cross bearing, He said, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?” (Luke 9:24-25). Although the call is tough, the reward is matchless.

In Luke 9:57-62, three people seemed willing to follow Jesus. When Jesus questioned them further, their commitment was half-hearted at best. They failed to count the cost of following Him. None was willing to take up his cross and crucify upon it his own interests. How about you? Are your interests in your salvation, half hearted at best? Examine yourself and “Get right with God.” You’ve got no time to lose!