What airports and churches have in common

Posted on December 5, 2011 by Pastor David

Imagine Grace Baptist Church was like going to Pearson International Airport in Toronto.

When you go to the airport terminal:

  • You expect clean washrooms and comfortable seats as you wait for your flight.
  • You certainly hope it’s a safe and secure place.
  • You hope there is something for your kids, like a video game room.
  • You expect clear directions telling you where you need to go.
  • You hope your baggage will be handled with courtesy.

When you arrive at church:

  • You expect comfortable pews or seats and clean washrooms.
  • You hope it is a safe place where you can be yourself without fear of judgment or condemnation.
  • You expect something for your kids – a clean nursery or relevant program for your teens.
  • You hope for clear, relevant direction from the teaching. Sermons and lessons must help point you to a better way.
  • You certainly hope your personal emotional baggage will be handled with sensitivity and courtesy.

Yes, airport terminals and churches share a lot in common when it comes to one’s expectations. But there are other ways in which to see the connection between the airport and the church.

For example, we readily recognize that the airport terminal is just a stepping off point on our way to our real destination. It is just a means to an end; the place where we are resourced to get on with our trip. Too often Christians subtly treat going to church as the end, rather than the means to the end.

It is good to attend church in order to be encouraged, challenged, loved and equipped for our journey of faith. But it seems we are too quick to see church as simply a place of resource, and fail to see that the resourcing is intended to send us out, equipped for a mission – a spiritual adventure of faith.

We must refresh our understanding of why we come to church. It must be more than simply fulfilling our religious duty to attend weekly worship. We need reminding that, along with vitally important worship of our God, we also come to church for equipping and resourcing to move on in our mission of making disciples of Jesus Christ.

Church is not the end, but rather the means to the end. I doubt that many of us would travel to the airport each Sunday just to hang out, to check out the washrooms and to enjoy the comfortable seating. No, we go to the airport to prepare to embark on a journey.

Let’s treat attending church in the same way. It is a vitally important means to an end – being equipped to pursue our mission of making disciples of all nations.

                                                             - adapted from material prepared by Rev. Steven Jones, National President of the Fellowship of Evangelical Baptist Churches in Canada. Used by permission.
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Be Exalted, O God

Posted on October 24, 2011 by Pastor David

Studies in the Lord’s Prayer: Be Exalted, O God
Matthew 6:9

In his comments on the first petition in The Lord’s Prayer – “hallowed be your name” – John MacArthur says:

“The waves of our indulgent, selfish, materialistic society have washed ashore on Christian theology in many forms, including the prosperity gospel. Although the Bible teaches that God is sovereign and man is His servant, the prosperity gospel implies the opposite. Teaching that claims we can demand things of God is spiritual justification for self-indulgence. It perverts prayer and takes the Lord’s name in vain”.  [John MacArthur, Alone With God]

As I think about this petition, the desire that God’s name be lifted up as holy, I agree with MacArthur’s observation that to demand things from God leads us into the realm of taking his name in vain. We must get past the idea that God is running a heavenly dispensary, just waiting for us to give him our list of wants.

While there is no doubt that God answers prayer, even granting the desires of hearts in many cases, it must be said that prayer should, first of all, be concerned with who God is, what God wants, and how he can be glorified. On another occasion, Jesus taught his disciples:

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” [John 14:13 ESV]

An awesome privilege in addressing God as “Our Father”

As we contemplate this model prayer, we must be amazed that it is possible to address the God of heaven as “Our Father.” As true believers, we have a living relationship with God the Father, and this speaks to a privileged intimacy that God has graciously granted to us. That he is our Father “in heaven” is a timely reminder that this privileged intimacy must be balanced with an affirmation of God’s sovereign majesty.

The writer of Ecclesiastes puts it this way:

“Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.” [Ecclesiastes 5:1-2 ESV]

An earnest petition in addressing God

In ancient Israel, names were more than mere titles. They were meant to express something very important about the person – something that would be true of their nature. The Biblical names for God reflect aspects of his character – who he is as he reveals himself.

El – God the Mighty One.
El-Shaddai – God Almighty, the source of salvation for his people [Genesis 17:1-2].
Elohim – a plural referring to God in the fullness of his power [Genesis 1:1].
Yahweh – “I am that I am” or “I shall be what I shall be” [Exodus 3:14].

“[My name in its inner significance is] I am, for I am/will be [present]” Exodus 3:14. - Expositor’s Bible Commentary
“I will be what I will be” meaning “My nature will become evident by My actions.” –  JPS Jewish Study Bible

To speak of the name of God is to speak of God himself. The name of God is a composite of all he is within himself.

To “hallow” the name of God is to treat that name, and so to treat God himself, as the holy one. That means that this first petition – “hallowed be your name” – is a prayer that God will be treated as the holy one, and that his name will not be despised by the thoughts and conduct of those created in his image.

Many religiously observant Jews will not even spell out completely the name God, choosing rather to write “G-d” in an effort to avoid disrespecting the name. It is why, for example, in the Stone Edition Tanach (Jewish Bible), one regularly sees the word Hashem used instead of the names of God – Hashem meaning ‘the name’.

Think about how God’s name is used as an exclamation point among so many today:

O my God!
OMG!
gawd!

It is a tragic misuse of God’s holy name, and far too many Christians have fallen into this trap.

As we pray for God’s name to be held in reverence, we must humbly confess our own sins which have hindered the glory of his name being seen.

Pride
Lack of zeal in serving our God
Stubborn disobedience to his Word
Failure to be transformed through the renewing of our minds

This petition, truly offered, is an earnest seeking after those graces that will enable us to honor his name.

Consistent Bible reading, study and meditation
Nurturing a life of faith, hope, love and worship.

To honestly pray this prayer is to commit ourselves to being “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22).

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Learning how to pray

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Pastor David

As a young boy, growing up in a conservative, evangelical Baptist Church in rural Vermont, I remember repeating the Lord’s Prayer during Sunday morning worship services, and repeating it daily in our local elementary school – a practice that no longer transpires in both places.

Now, nearly five decades later, I rarely recite the prayer. The last time I recited this prayer was at a wedding of a young couple from our congregation. And yet, this prayer is likely to be the most often quoted portion of Scripture among Christians the world over. According to Wikipedia:

On Easter Day 2007, it was estimated that two billion Catholic, Anglican, Protestant and Eastern Orthodox Christians read, recited, or sang the short prayer in hundreds of languages. Although theological differences and various modes of worship divide Christians, according to Fuller Seminary professor Clayton Schmit, ‘there is a sense of solidarity in knowing that Christians around the globe are praying together…, and these words always unite us.’

It is a powerful prayer, and though it is most often recited weekly by congregations as part of their liturgy of worship, it is likely that Jesus meant this to be a pattern for how Christians would pray, rather than a prayer to be formally recited.

This coming Sunday I will begin a series of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer (Mt. 6:9-13 and Lk. 11:2-4), also known as the Pater Noster or the Our Father. I hope that these sermons will lead us into a life of vibrant conversation with the God of the universe who revealed himself to us in his eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

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