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Sifted Like Wheat
Last month on vacation I was reading Luke 22:24-32, where Jesus is trying to have an important final dinner with his disciples before his crucifixion, but his disciples are busy arguing about “which among them was considered to be the greatest.”
Jesus first describes how “the kings of the Gentiles” rule. They “lord it over them” and consider themselves benefactors; they want to be in charge, tell people what to do, and have everyone fawn over their graciousness and generosity. In other words, their ambition is to be thought of as “great.” Jesus pretty firmly contrasts this with how his disciples are supposed to act: “You are not to be like that” are his exact words. Instead the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. Radical, counter-cultural stuff the church has yet to practice consistently.
However, what caught my attention this morning was that immediately after this, Jesus warns Simon Peter that Satan had asked to sift them all like wheat. Mentally I’ve never put these two texts together, but they are really part of the same passage that began with the dispute about who was the greatest. In other words, Jesus isn’t giving Simon an isolated warning about something unrelated to the situation at hand. In fact, the opposite is true: the fact that they were about to be sifted like wheat had everything to do with their undisciplined ambitions to be “the greatest.”
Their obsession with honor in the eyes of man would make them unwilling to suffer with their Lord. Their ambition to receive the accolades of human beings would cause them all to abandon the one they called “Lord” when he was being spitefully spat upon and abused. Simon’s desire to be “great” was the reason he would deny his Lord when the chips were down. They did not yet love their Lord as much as their own reputations. They had not yet learned to humble themselves and simply receive what their Lord would give them, whether it be suffering or comfort.
The sifting was necessary, though, to expose the disease and root it out. Sifting is a turbulent process of separating the pure from the impure, the useful from the useless. Jesus doesn’t pray for his disciples to be spared the sifting. He doesn’t reach magically into Simon’s soul and “fix” him so he wouldn’t need to go through it. Instead Jesus simply says, “But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail.” He is so confident, too, that this prayer will be answered, that he says, “And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Not if you turn back, but when you do.This doesn’t mean that sifting isn’t dangerous. Judas is the starkest example of this. But sifting is necessary to expose hidden motives and dig up rocks under the surface that are choking out the life of the kingdom. When we respond to this kind of sifting like Simon did, with confession and repentance, the result is a deep work of grace that allows us to walk with God in a new humility, freeing us up from our own ambitions so we can truly love our Lord, even when it leads to humiliation or worse, and truly serve others, even when it means performing the most menial tasks for them.
We no longer serve the tyrant ambition, because we know that Jesus has conferred on us a kingdom that we didn’t earn. It’s just a gift and he will figure out who sits where and what our responsibilities will be, but we know we all have a place at the table because of his mercy. The greatest is then free to be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. The one who submits to the sifting is the one who can truly bless and strengthen their brothers and sisters, because they are free from the need to dominate or control them. Like Cornel West says, “You can’t lead people unless you love people. You can’t save people unless you serve people.”So if you’re in a sifting season, don’t resist it. Instead welcome it as God’s discipline, rooting out ambition and purifying your love for Christ. Allow yourself to be brought to nothing so the power of God can flow through your life unhindered to bless and strengthen those around you.
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We Were Wrong: A Prayer
This is the confession prayer Carol wrote and led us in January 31, 2010 during our worship gathering, in response to the sermon from Luke 4:21-30.
God-
We’re sorry, we were wrong…
We were wrong to think we knew everything about you.
Rescue us.
We were wrong to make you so small in order that we could measure up with little effort.
Rescue us.
We were wrong to try and make you cool, as if being cool is what matters most.
Rescue us.
We were wrong to feel bad that we weren’t able to fit time with you into our day, when each day is your gift to us.
Rescue us.
We are easily distracted and live among a people easily distracted.
Rescue us.
If our lives are not offending the ritually religious, the situationally pious, clean us afresh in order to better reflect your glory.
Rescue us.
Offend us with your grace when we’ve made you in our image.
Rescue us.
Like the blind Son-of-Timaeus, we cry, ‘Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on us.’
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer.
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Praying the Psalms, Part 5
As we finish our time of learning to pray from the psalms, we’ll focus on a well-known and well-loved one: Psalm 139. It’s an intimate conversation where David revels in God’s knowledge of his life. Every nook and cranny is opened up to God, nothing is hidden. The image is God knitting us together in the womb, protectively forming us from conception to adulthood. The images conjured in this Psalm paint God as a doting mother who cares deeply for her children.
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Praying the Psalms, Part 4
One of the remarkable things about the Psalms – and David’s writing in particular – is the intimacy being expressed. The use of “I” and “You” represent two concepts previously unexplored in ancient literature: the personal voice and the intimate God. This is the same kind of deep intimacy we encounter in the prayers of Jesus.
As we wind down our time in the Psalms and our study of prayer in genera, this prayer by David from Psalm 86 seems to sum up many of the touch points in prayer we’ve visited.
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Praying the Psalms, Part 3
Troubled over all the evil and injustice in the world? It’s hard not to be, because we’re aware of so much of it. Refugees running from murderous regimes. The slave trade is alive and well. People are “disappeared” all the time by corrupt governments. Torture is renamed “enhanced interrogation techniques” and becomes acceptable. And then there’s the complicated, tragic mess that is Haiti.
It’s overwhelming! Which seems to be why Psalm 37 is in the Bible. It has the potential to be an extremely irritating psalm, though, because it essentially tells us not to get so worked up over evil. The most annoying time to hear “don’t get angry” is when you’re angry. But there it is, three times in the first few verses:
“Don’t worry about the wicked” (1)
“Don’t worry about evil people” (7)
“Don’t lose your temper” (8)Aren’t we supposed to be angry about the injustice in the world? Aren’t we supposed to care? What’s with all the don’t worry, be happy talk?
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Praying the Psalms, Part 2
As Christians it’s common to think we’re not allowed to pray for ourselves and, even worse, we sometimes think our prayers are always supposed to be upbeat, thankful and grateful.
David knew better. He understood that prayer is supposed to be a raw form of communication with God, stripped of all pretense, and accordingly, he made good use of the ancient Jewish practice of lament. Consider Psalm 6:
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Praying the Psalms, Part 1
Our final week of the prayer series will focus on learning to pray from the Psalms.
Today, read Psalm 19.
This psalm is a celebration of a God who speaks in both the skies (1-6) and the Scriptures (7-14). Most of us today can get our heads around the fact that God speaks through creation. But I would be surprised if many of us could really relate to David’s breathless praise for the Bible in these verses. More precious than gold? Sweeter than honey? Really?
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Jesus in Prayer, Part 5
(This exercise was written by Jason Coker as part of our prayer journey with Ikon Community.)
Today we visit Jesus again in the garden (Matt 26:39-44), only this time we zoom out from his admonition to Peter and view, instead, with the wide lens that gives us a brief peek into his own prayer life:
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Could you men not keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.
There are three things about Jesus’ prayer that I envy: The first is that he is persistent. Three times he prays the same prayer, urgently petitioning God to give him relief. Frankly, I rarely do more than utter a half-hearted plea.
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Jesus in Prayer, Part 4
There is perhaps no greater example of Jesus in prayer than the lengthy, swirling “high-priestly prayer” recorded in John 17.
One of the striking things about this passage is that although Jesus is God in the flesh, he seems to rely heavily on prayer as a means of accomplishing God’s will. He doesn’t simply teach his disciples what the right way is or “fix” them in some “supernatural” way. He spends time praying to God the Father on their behalf, here in John 17 and many other places. The New Testament is also clear that the risen and ascended Jesus continues to pray for us (Rom 8:34; 1 John 2:1). Prayer is apparently still the way that God’s work gets done.
One example of this can be found in In Luke 22:31-32. Jesus foresees that Simon will be tested severely. Though Simon thinks he is ready to die with Jesus, he will find out that when it comes down to it, he will quickly, easily deny that he even knows Jesus. You would think Jesus would want to secure the future of the church by perhaps re-wiring Simon’s brain so that he responds differently, to somehow guarantee his eventual success. But he doesn’t. Instead, Jesus says, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” One would imagine that Jesus desperately wants Simon to pass the test, but instead of trying to engineer the outcome, he simply prays for him. It speaks volumes about Jesus’ trust in God that he sees prayer as the best thing he can do for Simon in this very crucial, dangerous time.
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Jesus in Prayer, Part 3
(This exercise was written by Jason Coker as part of our prayer journey with Ikon Community.)
Ever have something so important to do that you worked straight through lunch? That happens to me all the time. Actually, most of the people I know skip at least one meal a day because they’re so focused on something. In some ways that’s the climate of our culture.
Ever skip eating all day because you’re so busy? That happens less often, but still, my guess is you know what it’s like to go a whole day without really eating because something is so important – or distressing – that you just didn’t think about anything else.
What about all night?