The Lord's Prayer, Part I

These thoughts on the Lord's Prayer were presented in one of the adult Sunday
School Classes at Fairlawn Christian Reformed Church, in Whitinsville, MA

I. “Lord, teach us to pray”
Luke 11:1 says, “Now Jesus was praying in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples to pray.’”
The disciples had often seen Jesus pray, and they knew that he frequently got up before dawn to spend time in prayer – indeed, that he sometimes spent the entire night in prayer. They also knew that it was customary for rabbis to teach their disciples a particular prayer, usually one that focused on the key themes of their own teaching. Those who followed John the Baptist had been given such a prayer, and Jesus’ own disciples wanted Jesus to give them a prayer that was theirs.
Jesus responded with their request by giving them what we call “the Lord’s prayer.” I have sometime heard people say, “This is not the Lord’s prayer. That is found in John 17, where he prays for his disciples on the night before he was arrested, tried, and crucified. What we call ‘the Lord’s Prayer’ is really “the Disciples’ Prayer.’” But I think that this prayer may well be called “The Lord’s Prayer.” It is not simply a prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, but it is an outline, a skeleton, for ALL prayers. It is the way Jesus himself prayed. When we pray like Jesus, we pray in all the categories that are shown in this prayer.
In a number of places in the Gospels, we hear Jesus being challenged to give a summary of the Law – and he does, saying, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” This summary does not replace the 644 commands given in the Old Testament. Rather, it gives the two basic principles that underlie all those hundreds of commands. The summary of the Law helps us to understand the meaning and purpose of each of the individual specific commands – they are defined ways of loving God and our neighbor.
In the same way, the Lord’s Prayer summarizes all the prayers of the Old Testament. It gives us an outline to follow, so that we can use the Lord’s Prayer to shape our prayers – and indeed to shape our own hearts. The more we prayer this prayer thoughtfully, the more its petitions will unfold for us, and the more it will shape our understanding and our desire for God to receive glory as he wants to receive glory. We need what Jesus teaches about prayer, because, as the Rev D Martin Lloyd-Jones observed, “Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.” If you want to set aside ten minutes to pray each day, you will find that there are interruptions of all sorts that will come during those ten minutes – if not from outside factors, then from your own interior life. If we want to enjoy God’s company and to lay before him our concerns and our hopes, we need all the help we can get!
Last week I suggested that you read the Lord’s Prayer several times and ponder what understanding it brings to our hearts and lives. Does anyone have something to share with us?
My aim this morning is to look at the first half of the Lord’s prayer and examine in greater detail what it is that we are praying when we pray the Lord’s prayer. I want, if you will, to “unpack” the various phrases of the Prayer.

II. “Our Father”
The Lord’s Prayer begins where prayers ought to begin: with a focus on God. Of course, there are times when the situation is desperate and there is no time for anything but a quick “Help!” But in speaking of the Christian practice of prayer, we are talking about sustained and disciplined prayer. Jesus took time to pray on a regular basis, and the disciples wanted to be men who prayed as part of their daily lives. If you look at the Lord’s Prayer, it divides naturally into two parts. The first half of the Lord’s Prayer focuses on God. It invokes the Lord and then goes on to pray about him and his kingdom. The order of the Lord’s Prayer is important. We may go to prayer with concerns about our lives and the lives of those we care about, for it is all too obvious in life that we face challenges and disappointments that are more than we can deal with by ourselves.
It may be the recognition of our need that brings us to prayer, but in praying, we need to remember to whom we are praying. Taking time to focus on God does two things: first, it reminds us of the mercy, grace, and power of the Lord. That is a great comfort when we know our need. Secondly, reflecting on God and his character sets our needs in their proper perspective, and may change our concerns, so that we ask God for different things than we first had in mind – better, more lasting things. Again, a word from Dr Lloyd-Jones: “Prayer means speaking to God, forgetting ourselves, and realizing his presence.”
Every recorded prayer in the Bible begins with worship, recognizing who God his and praising him for his being and qualities. Towards the end of his life, King David offered a prayer for the his son Solomon, who would succeed him. Knowing that God would not allow him to build a temple as he had hoped, David had gathered materials for the temple that Solomon would build. The people of Israel cheerfully gave great offerings for the temple, and David prayed a prayer for Solomon and for the temple that was to come. It is found in 1 Chron. 29:10-19. Would someone be willing to read verses 10-13? [Blessed are you, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.]
Those verses are one very clear example of prayer beginning with God. The Lord’s Prayer begins with God, first invoking him and then making three requests. The invocation is only two words, but they are powerful words: “Our Father.”
That the Lord’s Prayer begins with “Our” is very important. “Our” reminds us that we are not alone when we pray. We are part of a larger company. This is encouraging – we are not going through life all alone, in some tunnel, cut off from others. We are in this enterprise of following Jesus with others. If you recall, when Jesus sent the 70 out on a missionary training experience at one point, he did not seek to send them out individually, in the interests of some theoretical efficiency gained by reaching as many villages as possible. He sent then out two by two, so that they could reinforce one another with mutual support and encouragement. When we come before the Lord, we come as part of his covenant people, graciously granted the privilege and joy of entering the Lord’s presence.
The “our” also reminds us that we are not alone in seeking God’s aid and support. When we pray, we are reminded that we are to shape our requests without selfishness. If I am planning a picnic, a pleasant, sunny day is best. But if rain is what my area needs, I am being selfish if I long for continued sunshine so I can have my picnic. That example is, of course, rather simple-minded, but in truth, the “our” reminds us that it is both foolish and selfish to pray solely for what benefits me, and to ignore how that might affect others.
The “Father” part of the invocation is also very important. There are many ways to refer to God. Suppose the Lord’s Prayer began with “Our King”? It is most certainly true that God is King and that as his people, he is our King – but there is a difference between “king” and “father.” It is certainly possible to love and be loved by a king – but on the whole, the word “king” connotes a distant figure of authority. A father certainly has authority – but the word is far more personal. We are reminded that we are children of God, adopted by his grace and welcomed into his presence.
Using the word “Father” does raise a question: of whom is God Father? In Acts 17, Paul is addressing the men of Athens at the Areopagus, and he says, in v. 27-28, “Yet God is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘in him we live and move and have our being;’ as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are indeed his offspring.” Here is Paul using Greek poets as authorities and implying that all human beings are children of God. If that is the case, then anyone could say of God, “My Father.”
But then we have Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in John 8. They are challenging Jesus because he has claimed to be the light of the world and to have a unique relationship to God. Here is part of the exchange, in Jn. 8:41b-44a: “‘We have one Father—even God.’ Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires.’”
When liberal Christianity first made its appearance in the late 1800’s, its motto was “The fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man.” I do not know if they cited Paul’s speech on the Areopagus or not, but they certainly considered God to be the father of all humanity, even if all humanity did not recognize God as father. But when Paul was speaking in Athens, he was appealing to natural revelation and to common grace, seeking to make known the “unknown god” for whom the Athenians had an altar among their other temples. He was not saying that all human beings have God as their father without qualification, but that, as our creator, God is in a limited way the Father of all.
In his later writings, Paul makes clear that God is “Father” in the fullest sense only of those who trust the Lord Jesus. In Rom. 8:15-17, Paul writes, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ…”
Had not Adam and Eve rebelled against God, all human beings could rightfully call God “Father” in the fullest sense. Since, however, humanity is locked into sinfulness apart from the saving grace of God, only those who approach God relying upon the shed blood and righteousness of Christ can know the joy of calling God, “Abba, Father.” Those who want to call God “Father” may well be on the right track, and we must do all we can to encourage them to look to Jesus as their redeemer, so that they can indeed know God as their loving and gracious Father.

III. “Who art in heaven”
The Lord’s Prayer begins by invoking God as “Our Father.” That is a wonderful reminder of the intimacy God wants for us to have with him. The prayer then continues with “who art in heaven.” This reminds us that, although he welcomes as his beloved children, he is still the transcendent Lord, beyond our comprehension. C. S. Lewis once said that we sinful human beings do not want s father in heaven so much as we want a grandfather in heaven – someone to dote on us and indulge us, chuckling, as a grandfather might, at our little foibles and mistakes. But the fact of the matter is that God is our Father, not our grandfather. He has plans for us that we do not know. He seeks to bring us to maturity, so that we once again fully reflect his image. That maturity is going to mean discipline and correction. It will also mean that we come to terms with the reality that, while we can know God, we cannot know everything about him.
In the book of Job, we find Job defending himself against the accusations of his three friends. He proclaims his uprightness and goodness and says that he has not deserved the calamities that have befallen him. Then God speaks, and asks Job, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” and goes on to speak of his other wondrous deeds. Job’s reply is to say, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you; therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” By God’s mercy, we are enabled to know something about God. He has given us the Bible to enable us to know him, and many things about him. But because we know some things, we should not think that we know everything. I have met a few people who sound as though they believed they had God in their back pocket and were proud of how well they knew God.
“Our Father, who art in heaven,” should keep us balanced – we can know God personally and intimately, but we are too weak and too limited to know God in his fullness. The better we know God, the more we will recognize that we are limited in our knowledge. While there are certainly prayers that fly out of our hearts as soon as we become aware of some great need or some wonderful act of providence, prayer is best begun by what some have called “recollection,” in which we recall who God is and who we are.

IV. “Hallowed be thy Name
Having invoked the Lord and reminded ourselves that he is our Father and our King, both close to us and also far above us, we begin our requests. The Lord’s Prayer has six petitions in it. The first three focus on God and the second three focus on us. We will look at those second three next week, but today we want to look that the petitions that deal with God and his Kingdom. By beginning with prayers that remind us of God, his glory, and his purposes, we will set our requests for this life in a solid context. Some of our concerns will lose their urgency – while other things may vanish altogether, and some new concerns for prayer will become apparent.
The first petition is “hallowed be thy name.” I suspect that among many of us think first to the fourth commandment, “Do not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.” We may be bothered by the current habit of saying “OMG” as an expression of surprise or delight. The name of the Lord is often casually or contemptuously by people in our culture. This casual use of God’s name is apparently normal for us sinners. The Jews of Jesus’ day were so concerned about the casual use of the Lord’s name that they decided not to use God’s name at all. When they referred to God, it was as “the Blessed One,” or simply as “The Name.”
When Jesus taught his disciples to pray “hallowed be thy name,” he was not teaching them to ask God to prevent the casual use of his name. In ancient times, a person’s name was not just a label to distinguish one person from another. Rather, a name was taken to be a summary of who that person was. In Acts 4, we read of Simon of Cyprus. He was a very generous man and he had a knack for helping the discouraged take fresh hope. Because of these qualities, Simon of Cyprus was given a new name: “Barnabas.” That name is translated as “Son of encouragement,” by which the apostles meant that Simon exemplified encouragement so well that he was to be called by a name that revealed his character.
To pray that God’s name will be hallowed is to pray that God will be known for who he truly is. It is not a prayer that asks that something not happen – but that something grand and glorious would – that the character and qualities of the Triune God would be known and adored.
If you read through the Old Testament, you will see many instances of God being called by certain names to reflect some aspect of his character and deeds. He is the God who sees, the God who provides, the God who is our shepherd, the God who is our righteousness, the God who is our banner to lead us, the God who is our rock. You may have heard the phrase, “Jehovah-jireh” used at some point – that is the Hebrew that says that God’s name is “The God who provides.” The name that God revealed to Moses is “Yahweh,” and it means, “I am who I am.” At the core of God’s nature is the fact that he is who he is, that he alone is self-existent. The Bible is filled with different ways of referring to God, to show that God’s nature is such that in him is all that we need for life – in this world and in the next.
To pray that God’s name be hallowed is to pray that he will be known, loved, and adored by all the world. I am going to pause for a moment and ask, “How can we seek to see that God’s name is hallowed – that he is known and adored in all his fullness?”
As Christians, we bear the name of God. The word “Christian” means “little Christ.” In bearing that name, we have a responsibility, and a privilege, that in us and through us, God’s character can be known.

V. “Thy Kingdom Come”
The second petition of the Lord’s Prayer is “thy kingdom come.” Why do people not know God in his fullness? Why do people not honor and reverence the holy Trinity and pay him the honor that is his due?
It is because this world in under the reign of the King of Darkness. I earlier mentioned Jesus speaking to the Pharisees in John 8 and saying that they were sons of their father the Devil. In the disobedience of Adam, evil was loosed upon the world, and an alien ruler took the world as his own. Watch the evening news for a week and you will see the discord that has descended upon us because we do not obey the Lord. The earth is enemy-occupied territory. It is a kingdom – and it is not the Kingdom of God.
In Col. 1:13-14, Paul notes how God’s Kingdom is increasing: “God has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” When I think of the answer to the request, “thy kingdom come,” my first thought is of the return of Christ to make fully manifest his kingdom over all the earth for all time. That is certainly part of what we ask for in this petition – but it is also a missionary request. We want God’s kingdom to come to individual hearts, so that they will be rescued from the domain of darkness and live as subjects of the Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
When we pray “thy Kingdom come,” we are praying that God’s Kingdom would enter individual hearts, and that Christ will return to establish his perfect kingdom. This prayer is not simply about the future – but about making Jesus known today. We want to see people transfer from the Kingdom of Death to the Kingdom of Life.

VI. “Thy will be done, on Earth as in Heaven”
The third petition focused on God is “thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Since God is sovereign, all that happens on this world is unfolding of his perfect plan, by which his glory will be displayed, his justice be shown, and his mercy revealed. In that plan, sinners will come to recognize their sin, and cast themselves upon the Lord Jesus for mercy and a new heart, one that will recognize that God is God and that God is good, and in that recognition will obey because they trust the only and living God. But this third petition is not simply an acknowledgment of God’s sovereign rule over all things in history.
Rather, this is a prayer that God’s revealed will be obeyed by willing hearts. Dr. Lloyd-Jones asks, “What troubles and worries our souls? Is it the manifestation of sin we see in the world, or is it the fact that men do not worship and glorify God as they ought to do?” I know that it is very common for conservative American Christians to bemoan the fact that our society is becoming more and more depraved, and because of this depravity we are in danger of losing the freedoms we cherish as Americans. It is certainly true that our society is more depraved than it was the 1950’s and much of the time before that. And I do expect that we will lose freedoms if things continue as they have been going.
But this prayer is not about wanting God’s will to be done so that our lives will be more convenient and orderly. God’s laws for human interaction are laws that will bring blessings – but the main reason to ask God that his will be done is so that men and women everywhere would know him, enjoy him, and honor him with the glory that is due to him. God is God – the only true and wise God, and we have been created so that we can know him, love him, and serve him, to his glory and to our joy.
Let me ask a question: how would our society look if God’s will were done in it?

Let me ask a second question: how would your life be different if you were completely obedient to God?

The Lord’s Prayer is both a prayer in itself and an outline for how we are to pray. In prayer, we begin with God. We call upon him, remembering who he is, our Father and our King. We pray for his purposes, recognizing that his purposes are eternal and glorious. As we pray for what he wants to do, we see our own lives and our concerns in a new light, and we ask God to answer our prayers in a way that will reveal his glory to the world, and to those around us. If we are praying in this way, we will also see how we can be God’s instruments in furthering his Kingdom. God’s Kingdom does not depend upon us – but the Lord is at work in us, and he honors us by directing and empowering us to be his tools in the world.

I conclude in the words of David the King: “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and you are exalted as head above all.”

The Purpose of Prayer

The Purpose of Prayer

Series on Prayer, I

I. “We Pray To Have Our Needs Met”

If you ask many people, “Why do you pray?” you will receive a variety of answers – but most will be along the lines of “I need things, and God promises to answer our prayers.” Asking for help is a good thing, because it recognizes that God does care about us. It also recognizes that we are creatures – that we have not made this universe and that we are not in charge, having everything and needing no help. To accept our limits is a good thing. Our fallen human nature is such that we tend to think that we are in charge and that we can produce whatever we need. So, to ask God for something is a recognition that we do not have, in ourselves, all the power and resources for our lives and for our needs.

However, if the reason that we pray is so that we can get what we need, we tend to enter into a “patron and client” relationship with God. We have a need, and he has the power and resources to meet that need – and the question is, how do we get him to use that power and those resources on our behalf? Do we need to learn the proper techniques to pray so that we are granted what we request? Can we offer a bargain to God: “If you do this for me, I will do “X” for you” – or perhaps, “I will stop doing “Y”? Is there a certain standard of goodness we must exhibit in order to have our prayers answered? How many requests can we make at one time without exhausting God’s patience?

If the purpose of prayer is to get our requests answered, these are the sorts of questions we are very likely to be asking. We begin to think of ourselves as petitioners seeking not only to present our requests, but also to find reasons why our patron should give us what we ask for.

When Jesus taught about prayer, he taught that we can expect to have our prayer requests responded to. In Mt 7:7, 11, Jesus says, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you… If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him.”

I want you to note how Jesus refers to God in these verses: “your Father in heaven.” And o f course, Jesus taught us a model for prayer in the Lord’s Prayer, which begins, “Our Father, who art in heaven.” When we pray, we are not petitioning a patron who has power to grant our requests and who must be cultivated in order to receive our desires. We are instead addressing a loving, heavenly Father, whose love for us is seen in his giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. If he loved us enough to send his Son when we were sinners and had done everything to deserve his condemnation, then the relationship we have is not that of patron and client. We do not need to cultivate him as a patron. We are approaching our loving Father as a son or daughter. That is a huge difference. We do not have to persuade him that we deserve his help. He is not engaged in bargaining with us, for the kind of relationship he offers to us is that of father and child, not of patron and client.

When Jesus taught us to pray, “Our Father,” he was teaching us about the purpose of prayer: “Father” is a relational term. In John 17:3, Jesus defines eternal life: “this is eternal life, that they know you, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The first purpose of prayer is fellowship with God. In prayer, we are spending time with the one who knows us and loves us beyond our imagining. Eternal life is being in a relationship with him – knowing and being known, sharing our hearts, seeking to enjoy him. It is of course not a relationship of equals – but it is a relationship of love and delight.

As I ponder the purpose of prayer, I see three things. The first purpose I have just given: fellowship with God. The second purpose is transformation: as we know God and deepen our relationship with him, we are changed. We resemble Jesus more and more, and we exhibit more fully the Fruit of the Spirit as given in Gal 5:22, 23: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” These are not qualities we can force ourselves to have; they are characteristics we get by spending time with Jesus in his Word and in prayer.

The third purpose of prayer is indeed to make requests of God, with the hope of having those requests answered. But there will be a difference in our requests as they are made by a heart that enjoys time with God and seeks to be more like Jesus, rather than as a petitioner approaching a powerful but distant patron.

II. Fellowship with God

The first question in the Westminster Shorter Catechism is “What is the chief end of man?” The answer is “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” We were created to enjoy God. In Genesis 3:8, we hear of what happened soon after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit: “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.” The story in Genesis 3 is of the fall of humanity into sin, so that we are locked into the rebellion against God shown when Eve and Adam ate the fruit that had been forbidden to them in the wisdom of the Lord God. But even though that is the main story, we get glimpses into other things.

Chapter 2:15 tells us that God placed Adam “in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.” Adam and Eve had work to do. It was not burdensome, because caring for creation was part of why God made humanity. We were to be stewards of his creation. Before humanity rebelled against God, work was fulfilling and enjoyable at all times. Gen 3:8 speaks of God coming to Adam and Eve “in the cool of the day.” Their work ended in the evening, and so they enjoyed fellowship with God in a way that they could not while they tended creation. Before their disobedience, they were morally pure and completely open to God – but they were not infinite in their capacity, so God made them especially aware of his presence after they had done their day’s work. The greatest joy in the Garden of Eden was not its earthly beauty, but the fellowship with God that Adam and Eve enjoyed.

Through an act of rebellion against the wisdom and goodness of the Lord, Adam and Eve lost that fellowship. By God’s mercy, we may enjoy that fellowship again, through faith in the Lord Jesus. God graciously offers us forgiveness, as we depend upon the death of Jesus as payment for our sins, receiving his righteousness so that when the Father looks at us, he sees Jesus’ goodness and perfect obedience and calls us his own. In Hebrews 4:16, we are to called to approach God without fear: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find mercy to help in time of need.” In Christ, we may come to God as our loving and merciful Father.

The mercy of God was at work long before Christ came to earth. One little-remembered case of a close relationship with God is noted in Gen 5 is the little note about Enoch: Gen 5:24 says, “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” Although a sinner, like all humanity after the Fall, Enoch’s heart was turned by grace and he trusted and loved God, so much so that he could be described as “walking with God.” Enoch was one of two Old Testament Saints who did not taste physical death, but who were brought directly into heaven. Enoch and Elijah had very close fellowship with God.

But they were not the only ones. We know that Moses spoke often with God during the Exodus and the wilderness wanderings. Isaiah was granted a vision of the throne room of heaven, and called to be a prophet. Indeed, when you read of the various prophets in the Old Testament, it is clear that they all had exceptional relationships with God. They spent time with God, and God used them to carry out his work.

But there is one Old Testament figure who had a unique relationship with God. In 2 Chron. 20:7, King Jehoshaphat is praying, and he says to the Lord, “Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?” And in Isaiah 41:8, God is speaking through the prophet and says, “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend…”

There is no other individual in all of Scripture whom God refers to as his friend. I noted that Enoch and Elijah were very close to God – but he does not call them his friends. Only Abraham has that distinction. We all have friends, and if we are fortunate, we have a friend whose friendship is extraordinarily close and a tremendous help in life. If you consider that friendship and all its closeness, imagine what it means for God to call someone his friend. Of all the men and women of the Old Testament, no one had the honor of being called God’s friend except Abraham.

But then note what Jesus says in John 15:15: “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” The privilege that Abraham alone enjoyed of all the great figures of the Old Testament is ours in Jesus Christ. Because Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for our sins, we who rely upon him for mercy have not only forgiveness, but access to a relationship with God that is completely open from his side. He calls us “friends,” and offers us his heart.

The first purpose of prayer is to enjoy time with God. It is not a relationship of equals, but it is meant to be a relationship of intimacy. In prayer, we can spend time with our Father.

III. Transformation

The first purpose of prayer is spending time with God. The second is transformation. In any good friendship, we are changed for knowing the person. We know that – parents take care about who their children have as friends. We want our children to have friends who have good values and good habits, because we know that they will reinforce one another in those same good values and habits – while getting in with a group with bad habits and worse values will drag them down. Our friends change us – so being in a friendship with God will bring changes. God, of course, being sublimely and supremely perfect, will never change – but we will.

Such change is good news for us. While each of us has been given good gifts, strengths, and characteristics, we each know that we are not perfect – and if we are keeping our eyes on Jesus, we see many areas where we do not live up to his standards and his character. Many of us remember Romans 8:28: “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” That verse is a great verse to lean on in times of trouble, when we feel like the world has turned upside down and our dreams are being shattered. It is also a great verse to hang onto when we see how greatly we have failed God. But the next verse should give us even more hope. Rom 8:29 says, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.” The “good” promised in verse 28 is defined in verse 29: “to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

That is the transformation God has in mind for us, and the transformation he works within us as we pray. I must hasten to add that it is not just prayer that works the transformation, although prayer is an essential part of growing to be like Christ. Another essential part of friendship with God is reading his Word. In prayer, we speak to God. In his Word, the Lord speaks to us. As we open our hearts to God in prayer, he will often bring to mind some passage of Scripture to encourage us, to guide us, or perhaps to challenge us. Prayer is ultimately a conversation with God – we open our hearts to him, and he opens his heart to us.

And as the conversation progresses, we are changed. We learn about God and we learn about ourselves. Our requests grow to include not only things around us, but things within our hearts. In knowing and talking with God, we become concerned about our character as well as about our circumstances and the circumstances of those we care about. We want to be more like Jesus.

Isaiah was a man who was changed as he met with God. In Isaiah 6, we hear of Isaiah’s call to be a prophet. “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!’ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.’ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send me.’”

We see in this account a profound change in Isaiah. He is challenged about his own goodness, admits his unworthiness, is forgiven, and entrusts himself to the Lord for the Lord’s purposes. We are not likely to have such a dramatic encounter with the Lord, but he is still at work within our hearts.

There is another account of transformation in the New Testament. At the end of Acts 7, we meet Saul of Tarsus, who guarded the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen to death. He participated in the first martyrdom for Christ. Later on, he made others into martyrs, as he persecuted the young Church with great fierceness. In Acts 9, Saul meets the Lord Jesus – and turns from someone who made martyrs for Christ into someone who was eventually martyred for Christ. But there is something about Paul’s transformation that we seldom think of, and that is of the time involved. When he met Jesus face to face on the Damascus road, he changed directions immediately. He went from an enemy of the Lord Jesus to one who looked to Jesus as Savior and Lord. But other changes took longer.

In Gal 1, Paul gives a chronology of the time after he met Jesus. He was converted on the way to Damascus, and after his conversion, he did not go to Jerusalem, which was the “headquarters” of Christianity. Rather, for fourteen to seventeen years, he stayed away from Jerusalem and from large-scale public ministry. For about a decade and a half after his conversion, it would seem that Paul’s main activity was both intellectual and spiritual. He was a man of vast learning, trained from his earliest days as a Pharisee. If he had not been converted to Christ, he probably would have been one of the most famous teachers of Judaism in history. He had a vast body of knowledge – and over those 14 to 17 years, he went over his knowledge and focused it on Christ, so that he knew all the teachings and prophecies from God’s perspective. He also took stock of his own life. In Phil 3:4b-7, Paul described his qualifications as one who could take pride in his position and accomplishments for the Lord: “If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel,⁽ of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law blameless.” Reliance upon one’s accomplishments for God is our natural inclination as sinners. We want to be in charge, and so we seek to find reasons to tell God why he must do as we are asking.

It takes time to grow out of this mental habit – time that is used for conversation with God. It is he who enables us to see that it is his grace and mercy that makes us acceptable to him, not our accomplishments – and it is he who enables us to see that his response to our requests is a matter of his mercy and grace as well. Those years between Paul’s conversion and his missionary journeys were time in which Paul was being transformed into the instrument that God would use to bring the Gospel to the Roman world and to write a third or more of the New Testament. Paul did not begin his major ministry right after his conversion – God had Paul take time to grow and to be transformed before he sent Paul out as an Apostle.

God transforms us over time, as we spend time with him. Sometimes there are profound changes that happen over a short period of time, and sometimes there are changes that happen from a series of almost invisible little changes, day after plodding day. Over time, God helps us to develop ever greater insights and fresh appreciations for his Word and for his deeds for us. Our faith grows and our character develops, so that we are more and more like Jesus.

IV. Responses to Our Requests

The third reason for prayer is what we often think of as the first reason: to obtain what we request of God. In John 16:23-24, Jesus makes this amazing promise: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be full.” This promise is but one of several that Jesus makes about our requests being answered.

We do indeed have needs that are bigger than ourselves, things that we cannot do for ourselves or with the help of others. We can only bring them to God. It is tempting simply to draw up a list of things that we want and present the list to God for his approval and response. We may try to tell God why we deserve what we are asking for, or make promises to him, or restrict our list to just one item so that we will not bother him too much. Those are the kinds of things that can happen when we think of our position as being clients to a patron, and when we see answers to our requests as the major or, indeed, only purpose to prayer.

However, when we recognize that our relationship is that of father and child and not patron and client, and when we grasp that the purpose of prayer is first of all fellowship, how we pray changes. We are not anxious, but delighted. We are not striving, but confident. When we learn that prayer is a transforming experience, we also know that we do not know what we need as well as God knows what we need. We grow in trust that God will give us what is best, and what will accomplish his purpose in us, to make us like the Lord Jesus.

A friend of mine once said, “God never answers our requests with a ‘No.’ He tells us ‘Yes,’ or ‘later,’ or ‘I’ve got something better for you.’” Time with God helps us to understand the truth of what my friend said. We can trust God to do the right thing and the best thing when we offer our requests to him.

I want to conclude with one final thought: when we spend time with God in fellowship and as we are transformed by his Holy Spirit, we learn more and more the kinds of things he wants to do for us. Our requests are more frequently answered with the requests we made – not because we have learned more effective ways of twisting God’s arm but because, as we have had our hearts made more like Jesus, we ask for what Jesus would ask for.

Next week, we are going to consider the first half of the Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that Jesus gave us as a pattern for all our prayers. As you go through the coming week, let me suggest that you take the time to pray that prayer, pondering it and thinking about the requests made in that prayer.

“Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3:20)

Series on Prayer at Fairlawn CRC

I will be teaching a twelve-week series on prayer for one of the adult classes at Fairlawn Christian Reformed Church this fall. The topics are as follows:


I. The Purpose of Prayer
II. Jesus on Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer, part 1
III. Jesus on Prayer: The Lord’s Prayer, part 2
IV. Jesus on Prayer: Other Teachings on prayer
V. The Apostles Teachings on Prayer
VI. Types of Prayer
VII. Settings of Prayer
VIII. Forms of Prayer
IX. Kingdom-Centered Prayer: Prayer as the Foundation for Mission
X. Difficulties in Praying
XI. Notable Prayers in the Old Testament
XII. Notable Prayers in the New Testament

I will be teaching three Sundays out of four, beginning this Sunday, the 12th of September, and ending just before Christmas.

The scandal of sexual abuse by priests in Europe is distracting us from an even bigger scandal in the future

The scandal of sexual abuse by priests in Europe is distracting us from an even bigger scandal in the future

Urgently needed reform in American schools is being stymied by the Education Establishment

Urgently needed reform in American schools is being stymied by the Education Establishment

"Fulfill Your Ministry"

I have been reading in 2 Timothy for my daily time with God. The last few days have been on 2 Tim 4:1-5. Here are my thoughts on this passage, in which Paul delivers a charge to his protege, Timothy.

Paul gives a charge or commission to Timothy: he is to preach the Word faithfully, consistently, and persistently. It does not matter whether the time seems to good or bad, whether he thinks he will receive a positive response or not – he is to share and teach the Gospel. He is to do so with patience – not out of anger, not out of fear, not out of guilt – but with love for God and others and from gratitude for the grace he has received from God.

Paul’s charge is solemn. He says, "in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom…" He is not giving Timothy advice. Rather, he is setting him a task, one for which he will be answerable, not simply to Paul, but to God in all his majesty, authority, and power. It is good to remember that, although we are accepted by God purely by his grace and not by our merit or our accomplishments, he still will examine our lives and ministry. I am not at all sure of how that will work out – but it is not something we need to fear, for we will not lose God’s acceptance. The closest thing I can imagine is that when we know what we could have or should have done, we will be sorry for having disappointed our Father, rather than fearful for having broken his law. We have a high calling and a great responsibility. We enter it by grace, we exercise it by grace, and we will meet the last evaluation by grace. We must remember to have faith – not presumption, and not fear, but faith in both God’s forgiveness and God’s empowering.

These two verses (3 & 4) are applicable to today, in spades. Many theologians of these days simply “do theology” out of what they see as needs, using words that have been around for centuries, but defining those words according to their own ideas and ignoring both Scripture and historic usage in doing so. I could not begin to describe all the different sorts of theologies that are out there today – but they are more aimed at satisfying the needs of particular groups than at organizing the teachings of Scripture in a systematic way. They are absolute nonsense for the most part – but very attractive, for they justify sin or give consolation to the aggrieved.

The nature of sin is such that we should not be surprised. Sin can ignore God, and many people do. But sin can also be religious, as it clearly is in idolatry. But the worst of sin is that is can be correct about many things but also be grievously wrong at the heart of the matter. Arianism was correct about many things, but it demoted the Lord Jesus to a creature, and so in time would have made him into a teacher, not a Savior – as we have seen happen to the Unitarians over two centuries.

"itching ears" that desire to hear what is novel or interesting more than they want to hear what is true will create many strange teachings. The truth requires repentance and humility; whereas novelties simply require religious ceremonies.

Paul completes his charge to Timothy by exhorting him to remain faithful in conviction and in ministry, no matter what happens. He may suffer because he holds firm to the Gospel and does not truck with fables, legends, genealogies, and other things that contradict or ignore the Scriptures – but even when difficulties come, the truth is still truth and is worth holding on to.

Christians must be in it for the long haul. Our experiences will vary from day to day, depending on any number of things, including how those around us may be feeling at any given moment. They may cheer us – and they may jeer us. But God remains God, and God remains faithful in Jesus Christ. When we look to God and not to those around us, we can remain faithful and steady. A sailor must take the wind into account and make adjustments to course because of the wind – but his direction is determined by his final port, not by the wind itself. A sailor who always sails with the wind because it is easiest will wind up nowhere. A sailor who keeps his port in mind will arrive in due course, even if he has to sail into the teeth of the wind at times.

My Last Sermon at Trinity

My final sermon as Rector of Trinity was on 13 Sept 2009. We had a baptism that day, and it was very nice to go out on such a positive note.

I hope to publish more original articles in the near future, but this sermon says a lot of things I believe are important to know and follow.

Pentecost XV, 13 Sept 09 Mk. 8:27-38; James 2:1-18

“Our Lives or His Life?”

I. An Ending and a Beginning

It was noontime on the first day of school, and a first grade teacher noticed that one of her students, Ryan, was getting his things ready to leave for home. He was, of course, supposed to be heading to lunch with the rest of the class. Linda asked him what he was doing. “I'm going home,” he replied. That is what he had done in kindergarten, and that is what he expected. The teacher tried to explain that, now that he was in the first grade, he would have a longer school day. “You’ll go eat lunch now,” she said, “and then you’ll come back to the room and do some more work before you go home.” Ryan looked up at her in disbelief, hoping she was kidding. Convinced of her seriousness, Ryan then put his hands on his hips and demanded, “Who on earth signed me up for this program?”

Today is the last day I will lead a Sunday service at Trinity. It is also a day when little Tanner Haden is going to be baptized. He has no idea of what is happening to him. In committing him to the Lord in faith, we trust that, through the Holy Spirit, as the Spirits directly in him, and as the Spirit uses Sunday School teachers, Children’s Church leaders, and other people in the congregation, Tanner will grow up to joyfully know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus. We hope that when he is 12 or 14, he will not turn to one of us and demand, “Who on earth signed me up for this program?” Rather, we want him to joyfully affirm the faith that he is being admitted to this morning.

This day being my last Sunday as celebrant, I am delighted to be launching a new follower of the Lord Jesus on his way. Being a Christian is an odd thing. It costs both nothing and also everything you are and have. As I retire, I am certainly not going to stop following Jesus, for I know from experience that following him is to have life and to have it abundantly. It is my prayer that, as Tanner grows up in a Christian community, he will hear from those further along the path how delightful it is – and that although it does cost everything, the rewards are far, far greater than the cost.

II. It Cost Jesus Everything

While it costs us everything to follow Jesus, he does not ask us to do something he has not done himself. We see that in our Gospel reading for today. Jesus’ ministry on earth lasted about three years, and the event recorded in this passage happened at some point in the third year. By this time, Jesus was very well known. Many people knew that he was a special man blessed by God with astonishing abilities. As the disciples noted, the people in general thought of Jesus as equal to one of the Old Testament prophets.

When Jesus asked the disciples their thoughts on who he was, Peter spoke for them all: “You are the Christ.” They were all convinced that Jesus was the Messiah. They had heard him teach, they had seen him heal, they had watched him cast out demons and bring wholeness into lives, they had seen astonishing catches of fish, and they had been in the midst of a storm and heard him stop the storm with a simple command, “Peace, be still.” He was Lord of creation and the bringer of healing and wholeness, with unmatchable wisdom. Who else could he be but the Messiah?

There was one trouble with their insight. When they thought of the Messiah, what they remembered of the prophecies was of a king who would bring an earthly kingdom of peace and prosperity. They could remember prophecies such as Is. 35:4-7, 10, “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water…’ And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

If you are a parent, you may have noticed that when you tell you children, “When you clean your room, we can go to the beach,” they will be all excited about going to the beach – and they will forget about cleaning their rooms unless you keep at them about it. The Jews could remember the promises such as the one I quoted, but they did not remember the prophecies like Is 53:4-6, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned - every one – to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

There are certainly promises of a glorious kingdom in the prophets – and there are promises of suffering, pain, and death for the Messiah as well. The people wanted the kingdom, and they wanted it to come easily and spectacularly. The disciples were the same way. They longed for the Kingdom – indeed, they longed to be officers in Jesus’ kingdom.

So Jesus began to teach them the fullness of what it meant for him to be the Messiah. He knew that the cross preceded the crown, and so he taught them about the prophecies that foretold his death for sin, “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Mark 8:32 tell us, “And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again.”

Peter did not want to hear such negative ideas. Mark 8:33 tells us, “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” None of the disciples wanted Jesus to die. How could he bring in the Kingdom of God as a dead person? Who would rule as King? They resisted Jesus’ teaching.

Jesus has a very surprising, even shocking reply: “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” (Mk 8:33) Why would he call Peter “Satan”?

In one of the temptations of Jesus in the forty days after his baptism, Satan showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth, and told him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” (Mt 4:9) Peter’s words were a repetition of that temptation. Given his popularity, it would be easy for Jesus to take the crown, and bypass the cross. We saw a few weeks ago in our readings from John that after he fed the 5,000, the people wanted him to be king. If he slacked up a little on his condemnation of the Pharisees, and if he accepted the desire of many to have him be king, it would be easy for Jesus simply to say, “I am ready to be your king.”

He could take the crown and avoid the cross. How easy that would be! How wonderful it would be to have such power and glory.

Behind this temptation was an even earlier one. In Gen. 3:2-6, we read “[the serpent] said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

In Genesis 1, we learn that God created us in his image. That is, we were to be like God in character, but under his authority. In Genesis 3, we see humanity trying to reverse that – to be like God in authority, but not in character. Genesis records a rebellion against God, a rebellion that all human beings, except Jesus, have participated in. But Jesus was tempted to rebel as well – by Satan as we read in Matthew 4, and be Satan through Peter here in Mark 8. Jesus was able to resist that temptation because he was in constant and deep fellowship with God, as humanity was created to enjoy.

The fact that he resisted this temptation does not mean that he was not tempted, and tempted dreadfully, however. Physically, the cross was horrible. We get our word “excruciating” directly from the cross – “ex crucis” means “from the cross.” Spiritually, it would be even worse, for, as Is 53 noted, he would bear “the iniquity of us all.” He would suffer what we deserve, the just judgment of God upon sin, so that we need not suffer it. Sin is rebellion against God, and it is punished by receiving what it seeks, a separation from God. The trouble is that is like a two-year old running away from home: the end result is loneliness and misery. That loneliness and misery is what Jesus experienced – a loneliness and misery beyond our comprehension, as God enforced a separation between himself and Jesus. We hear it in the cry of dereliction: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Jesus knew what he would face on the cross. A temptation to gain the crown and avoid the cross would be great. Yet Jesus said, “Get behind me, Satan. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” He turned away from the temptation. Peter was focused on the promises of the crown, forgetting the prophecies of suffering. Jesus knew the prophecies of suffering, and he knew that they were essential to his ultimate goal, to redeem a rebellious humanity from their rebellion. He chose the cross.

III. What Jesus Did, We Are to Do

In Mk 8:32-33, Jesus gives us one of his most famous sayings: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”

That “deny yourself” is often taken to mean to deny yourself something you enjoy, or to put up with some unpleasant person or circumstance. You might deny yourself the pleasure of chocolate during Lent, for instance, or describe a particularly unpleasant person in the family as “my cross to bear.” In reality, what Jesus meant that you must make it a personal policy decision that God’s will always comes first. If your desires and goals come into conflict with what God has said in his Word, then what God has said is what takes precedence.

God has not told us that chocolate is bad, and so must be avoided. But giving up chocolate, or promising to do one act of service a day, is a way of practicing the art of putting something other than your own convenience and pleasure in first place in your life.

And if there is somebody in your life is a royal pain, it is not godly simply to put up with that person, while grumbling under your breath. In such a case, to deny yourself would mean going to that person and calmly talking about the situation, with a request for change. It is usually wisest to get some prayer support before such a conversation, and to go to someone who can give you wise counsel on how to approach the person and how to be both truthful and gracious in dealing with him or her.

The major point about “deny yourself and take up your cross” is not the particular ways that such self-denial is expressed. The main point is: have you given up rebelling against the King of Heaven? Do you begin each day saying, “Not my will but yours be done”? Is your goal to honor Christ by your character and your actions? That is what it means to deny yourself and follow Jesus.

At the beginning, I said that being a Christian is an odd thing. It costs both nothing and also everything you are and have. It costs nothing in that Jesus has paid it all. His death on the cross is a full atonement for all we have done that is wrong and all that we have failed to do that is good. We do not need to embark on some big program of good works and rigid morality to earn God’s favor. We need simply to receive the sacrifice that Jesus made for us. His death is counted as our death, and his resurrection becomes our resurrection to fullness of life.

We can do nothing to earn God’s acceptance and favor. It is a gift, freely given. We become his children through his mercy. At the same time, however, it costs us everything we are, because to be his child means that we acknowledge him as our Father and our King. We must lay down our rebellion, and say to him, “Not my will but yours be done.” It can feel like your heart is being torn out of your chest to step aside and let God be God. We must die to ourselves in order to be fully alive.

Jesus, in his humanity, was tempted to take the easy way to the crown that had been promised him. It was a tantalizing thought to get to the crown without going by way of the cross. But he could only truly gain the world by giving up himself. And so he remained loyal to his Father’s will, day by day. Through his daily sacrifice, and through his cross, we have life, abundantly and forever.

IV. After Death Comes Life

When Ryan recognized that his teacher was serious about staying in school for an entire day, he demanded to know, “Who on earth signed me up for this program?” Perhaps as Tanner grows up and encounters the challenges of following Jesus, he will ask, “Who on earth signed me up for this program?” Indeed, we can all wonder the same thing. The requirements are daunting, after all: “Surely the Lord doesn’t expect me to forgive seventy times seven;” “Surely he doesn't want me to forgive when someone hurts me;” “What does he mean, ‘take up my cross’?” It might not be long before you would want to say, “Who on earth signed me up for this program?”

You can hang onto your life if you want to. Jesus says, however, that to save your life, to try to impose your will on God, is to die. You may get your way in this world, but it will be a great cost to others – and it will be at an eternal cost. When we turn our hearts over to God and say, “You are my King; I will follow you,” then we enjoy life, now and into eternity.

Malcolm Muggeridge was a famous English journalist who wrote for the leading newspapers of London. He enjoyed great wealth, many material pleasures, and the companionship of the rich and famous. He was an agnostic for much of his life, not denying God, but seeing no need for God. When he was in his late 60’s, however, he became a convinced Christian, after years of searching and reading. He later said of his conversion, “I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die. For these two discoveries I am beholden to Jesus.”

Today is my last Sunday leading worship as Rector of Trinity. Like Tanner, I was signed onto this program at an early age. Unlike Malcolm Muggeridge, I did not wander for years, trying first this thing and then that to find a reason to live – but like little Ryan, I did ask, more than once, “Who on earth signed me up for this program?” I was blessed to keep coming back to Jesus when I wondered if he was really worth it. So, like Muggeridge, “I can say that I never knew what joy was like until I gave up pursuing happiness, or cared to live until I chose to die.”

It is the Lord Jesus who gives us life when we choose to die to our own will. To our loving Lord be glory now and evermore. AMEN.