Luke 18:9-14

Continuing in my "not satisfied with the answers" strain of thought.

Another question, which the answerer received beforehand (so knew was coming), was this: If God is up in heaven, why do look down when we pray?

The answerer said first that he doesn't believe that God is only in heaven, but everywhere. I'm not entirely sure about this, but I was okay with him saying so. I might think about that some other time.

I think he put something in there about how if you do something wrong, and are going to your parents about it, you don't look them in the face. This was good and I wished he had continued in this strain. He didn't.

He finished by talking about how God is really really awesome and we're not so awesome. So it's just an admission of how awesome God is. But I don't think "not so awesome" really describes us at all.

I mean, we see lowered heads for prayer in the bible. Jesus talks about it a lot. So if something we practice goes back to the bible, is that not a good enough explanation for why we do it? And furthermore, isn't it a good opportunity to get kids looking to the bible for answers?

It reminds me of Jim's (excellent) sermon on Sunday. He talked about how he was looking for a sermon illustration on google and youtube, something like the story of Lot's wife. And then he was like--oh! the story of Lot's wife! I could use that as a sermon illustration! Who would have thought we could use scripture to illuminate scripture? (Unfortunately I think many missed that he was taking a stab...even at other things that had happened that night).

But anyway. Let's have a look at the bible.

Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'
"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

So--Jesus honours the act of looking down during prayer. But what does it mean? It's clear here that "it's because we're not so awesome" just doesn't cut it. When we look down, it is an admission that we are not worthy of God's attention. When we look down, it is an admission that we have rebelled against a holy God. When we look down, we are being humble and admitting what we are.

And if we admit that we are no good, God will exalt us in the end. Jesus didn't come to save the not so awesome but kinda awesome. Jesus came to save sinners, which is what we are.

I think I will make one more post about answers I was unsatisfied with--there was one about--oh, I can't even remember. If I do I will write it down.

It saddens me that the answerer did not even open a bible on Friday night.

I also want to post about what we looked at at bible study this week, so hopefully writing it here will make me commit to it. And I like writing about sermons too.

I'm also listening to a Japanese audio bible. Very exciting. But I don't really understand very much but an ocassional word... the reader saying the chapter and verse numbers... yeah.

John 17:20-26

Jim delivered an excellent sermon on Sunday. Oh, I know, Sunday was a fair few days ago... But you watch, I will get into the swing of this, and my posts will become more regular.

It was on John 17:20-26:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

"Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."

Naturally, the sermon dealt a lot with unity, and the pre-requisites for it. This passage is not saying that everyone on earth should have unity with one another; it is specifically for believers, in Christ and in God the Father. Right at the start we read: "I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one".

So our oneness comes from:
a) believing in Jesus. But an important question, which comes up a lot, is which Jesus? Do we have unity with those who believe in Jesus.... as teacher alone? as prophet alone?
b) no. the next part is - believing in the Jesus presented by the disciples, "through their message" - Jesus's words, not mine. That is, if someone's belief in Jesus is contrary to the teaching of the disciples, then their Jesus is a false Jesus. I think this can be extended to all apostolic tradition - Paul, for example, did learn from the disciples, so I think he is a trustworthy conveyer of truth.

This means people can say they believe in Jesus, yet be deluded. I already knew this, but now it's becoming clearer where the lines are drawn. Unfortunately, I think this also puts a number of so-called Red Letter Christians at risk. I don't know enough about them to say all. I know that they focus on the teachings of Jesus (which just seems Christian to me), mostly those about love and nice things (the Socialist Gospel), but I have come across Red Letter Christians who don't read anything but the words of Jesus. This is risky due to the subsequent ignorance of the Old Testament, which is a key factor in understanding the character and teachings and necessity of Christ; it's the context. And Jesus quotes it a lot; if he thinks it's important, who are we to ignore it? I do not understand how Christians can ignore the Old Testament insofar as it is readily available.

But even more risky, these Red Letter Christians would also ignore the teachings of the disciples, who say lots of things about how Christ is the only way to salvation, you need him, so on and so forth...

And maybe that's worse than ignoring the Old Testament. I'm starting to think so.