Matthew 7:7-11

 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you then, although you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

— ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭7‬-‭11‬‬

One of my favorite sermons I’ve preached was in a series of “difficult sayings by Jesus.” This passage is not necessarily difficult to interpret, but it’s one that can be difficult to apply or at least difficult to link with our reality. We like to ask for lots of things but don’t always receive them. Is Jesus a liar?

I like to use this passage to challenge common views of prayer or statements like prayer “changes things.” It sometimes makes me cringe. Or talking about the “power of prayer.” I had a favorite gospel group when I grew up singing about “moving the hand of God.” I understand our sentiment, the theology behind these phrases, and even the verses that support them—including Matthew 7:7-11.

Experience even supports saying things like this. We pray for the most outrageous miracles, and healings occur, or financial crisis finds resolution, or estranged relationships become reconciled. Those without any hope find rest and peace. Prayer has worked. Or has it?

I propose two scenarios in response to help double check our theology. (1) The miracle never occurs. Did we not pray long enough, “hard enough”, not have enough people rallying for our cause? Would we say prayer didn’t work? (2) We never pray or tell anyone about a particular crisis. But something insanely beneficial happens anyway. Would we say prayer is unnecessary?

Rather than using someone else’s near death experiences, financial burdens, relational crises, etc, I usually return to our own infertility/adoption journey as an example. My wife Kim has written extensively elsewhere, and this was about a five year process. Yes, we eventually chose the adoption route, we were matched with a birth mother, and we now have two beautiful girls. 

Scenario 1: What if we had never been able to adopt a child? Would that mean we didn’t pray enough or needed more church friends to pray with us? Would Jesus’ words be considered lies, because they weren’t coming true? 

Christian culture at times needs to be careful on two accounts. First, we conveniently slip in the “Wait” answer. “God’s telling you to wait on His timing.” That may well be true, but I tried telling my toddler to wait, and “wait” is actually “no” until it means “yes.” Which again is fine. God is sovereign and in control, just please don’t try to console me with fake promises of what God “may” do in the future.

Another potential problem with the “wait” answer, is that the hopeful believer is so focused on the one desire that he/she waits, waits, waits, and if they finally receive the sought after gift, then praise may rightfully go to God, and the reaction may go something like this: “Yay, I received the gift which I asked for so long. Now I know that God has heard my prayer.” I would hope that God has received just as much gratitude for all the blessings He gave during the interim. 

Second, Christian language/culture can be dangerous when “consoling” a discouraged, praying soul with Psalm 37:4, “Delight in the Lord, and He will give the desires of your heart.” This is not the place to explain genre, or intent of the verse. It may very well mean that God honors those who take pleasure in Him. But when we say God will change our desires once we focus on Him…well, in our case, I just don’t see many infertile couples losing a desire for children. They may gain a heart for adopting or fostering or contributing to the needs of those around them. But we could use a bit more sensitivity in how we address those seeking, asking, and knocking for their desires.

So in our case, I would suggest that God blessed us with children according to His plan because He is a good God. Our open communication with Him was good but did not sway Him one way or another. 

Ok, all of this to ask the main question. Is prayer needed then? If God is going to work or not work whether we pray or not, what’s the point? What is Jesus saying?

Rather than focusing on the act of prayer or even what we receive first, the greatest point of this passage is the character of the Father. He is good. He is kind and gracious and generous. The best of all fathers, and I know many can’t relate to that thought, but this is Jesus’ point. If we are so so imperfect on our best days, God is far superior. He is willing to help.

I could make a point about wisdom literature and these not being promises. In this sermon, Jesus is within the rabbinic tradition and astounding with His authority. These are general, timeless principles. But this is a minor point in light of the overall message.  

I don’t have time here, but we should take time to put this passage in context of Matthew 7 as whole.

Luke’s sermon has a similar passage, but he changes “good gifts” to Holy Spirit, because Luke loves the Spirit throughout Luke-Acts, and that’s a different discussion why. But it would be interesting how the Spirit could be related to our requests.

Best suggestion I’ve heard was in our daily reading to focus on clear commands of Scripture and ask for wisdom to apply them. “Father give me strength to forgive this person. Help me love my wife/husband as you love me. Show me a person in need that I can serve. Give me a heart of generosity. Fill my heart with joy.” 

Keep asking for those gifts. Continue seeking for those gifts, and He will also be a good Father to give them.

Ephesians 6:10-20

“Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Clothe yourselves with the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens. For this reason, take up the full armor of God so that you may be able to stand your ground on the evil day, and having done everything, to stand. Stand firm therefore, by fastening the belt of truth around your waist, by putting on the breastplate of righteousness, by fitting your feet with the preparation that comes from the good news of peace, and in all of this, by taking up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With every prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and to this end be alert, with all perseverance and requests for all the saints. Pray for me also, that I may be given the message when I begin to speak – that I may confidently make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may be able to speak boldly as I ought to speak.”

— ‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭6‬:‭10‬-‭20‬‬ 

Countless sermons on this passage, and it’s pretty difficult to mess up the explanation of the armor. Most of these are genitives of apposition. So arming ourselves with truth, righteousness, faith, the gospel, etc. I don’t know if I would make a huge deal about which body part is covered with which attribute, but maybe that was Paul’s intention. It’s obviously compared to the Roman soldier, and there are distinctions, for example, in the type of shield he is referencing and the type of sword. This is the nice, big shield that everyone came together to make a barricade and nothing could penetrate it. This is the short dagger.

The other grammatical thing to point out is “pray” and “be alert” at the end of the passage are participles, probably more means. The NET says they are “loosely related” to this list. It could be prayer is how we arm ourselves. It could be the mind is where this battle really rages. Something along those lines. 

But the major point of this passage, is the first few verses. I hope someday certain groups of Christians learn and digest these words that we are not fighting flesh and blood. Some days I wish the “war” imagery weren’t in the Bible because it’s way too easy to translate that into fighting for x, y, z. And if we don’t “win,” then we’re losers. So we have to “stand” stronger and “fight” harder. But that only turns into yelling louder and using tactics and “methods” of the world. Not what we find in Ephesians 6 or the rest of the NT for that matter. We don’t fight against flesh and blood.

Of course, the problem is there are humans and concepts and ideologies that are affected by the “principalities and powers/rulers of the age” and so there’s tension knowing how to respond, how to take a stand, how to “fight.” But we have failed multiple times. One of my biggest takeaways from grad school was the term cultural engagement, not culture war. It’s not us vs. them. We are not fighting people. We are extending hope and light to a broken and chaotic world.

At the same time, yes, we are withstanding the true enemy. I recognize the tension there, but we must maintain the tension. Releasing the tension means we ignore clear teachings of Scripture and have casualties along the way, either our testimony, potential believers, etc.

Mark 11:12-25

“Now the next day, as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry. After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it. When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. Then they came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. Then he began to teach them and said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have turned it into a den of robbers!” The chief priests and the experts in the law heard it and they considered how they could assassinate him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching. When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered.” Jesus said to them, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, if someone says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your sins.””

‭‭Mark‬ ‭11‬:‭12‬-‭25‬ ‭NET‬‬

                                                

                                                    Cleansing of the Temple: Mark 11:12-25

Matt 21:10-19; Mark 11:11-17; Luke 19:45-46 (John 2:13-17)

Do you ever get angry? What for? And is it valid? And who gets to determine if it’s valid? You? That seems pretty biased. 

Why do we get angry? Well, people say some pretty hurtful things toward us. We can expect some aspect of our day to go one way, and it doesn’t. I can get angry with myself for not doing something I should or not doing my best.

I want to reflect on the humanity of Jesus, and the most prominent time that He was angry, why He was angry, and what that means for us today. Now when I say, His humanity, I simply mean (for the sake of this passage) He had emotions, and He showed them. His actions were completely in line with the purpose and plan of God as we will see.

This event certainly happened. It is widely attested in all four gospels. It has elements of embarrassment. You’re probably not going to make up a story about your Messiah showing this much anger. In fact, nerd moment: there’s another passage where Jesus did a healing of a leper, and in the text manuscripts are divided as to whether Jesus responds with compassion or anger. Most of your Bibles are going to say compassion, but a case can be made that Jesus was actually angry, but scribes softened the response because who wants Jesus to be angry? But anyway, this story also has dissimilarity and similarity. Jesus is clearly claiming that the old way of doing things isn’t cutting it, and He is distancing Himself from Judaism, but He’s not shutting down everything cold turkey. Yes, there won’t be sacrifices eventually, but at this point Jesus isn’t destroying the temple. He’s pointing the people to a new and proper way of worship. But the point is that this story is certainly historical, and everyone agrees.

Now what’s interesting in Matthew and Mark, especially in Mark is that the incident in the temple is closely associated with another event. 

vv. 12-14 and then vv. 20-21.

Now the reader notices the phrase, “it was not the season for figs,” in v. 13 and thinks, “Poor fig tree. It never stood a chance. Jesus must have just been in a bad mood.” 

Two things: (1) When you notice the story that comes between the cursing of the fig tree and its actual dying, the story makes sense, which is the cleansing of the temple. Jesus is in the habit of removing or cursing or cleansing dysfunctional things. (2) The fig tree is the only tree that forms leaves after its fruit. So that the tree had leaves at least presents the possibility that there is fruit. Fruit is being promised but not delivered, and so Jesus curses the tree. Again, it looks like a healthy tree; it looks fruitful; but it is full of lies, and Jesus won’t tolerate that. 

What’s scary is that the cleansing of the temple falls between the story of cursing the fig tree, meaning they complement and explain each other. This is one of Mark’s famous “sandwiches.” 

vv. 15-19. Driving money changers out of the temple and throwing over tables. That sounds pretty intense. Now there’s some debate as to how many times Jesus did this, because John 2 has a cleansing of the temple. That could be a separate event at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, since John says in that instance that Jesus made a whip of cords and drove the people out. Mark’s event doesn’t have such details, so maybe they got the picture until it got to that point. (I think John moved the story forward in his narrative, since Jesus’ cleansing of the temple was one of the main reasons religious leaders pushed towards his death.)

But the temple is divided into several areas, you have certain levels that you are able to pass through depending on your status: Gentiles, Jews, men, women, slaves, free, priests, high priest. So these tables are set up in the outermost court—the court simply for Gentiles—because that’s where everybody would pass through, and they’re exchanging people’s money. Why? Well, because you had to offer a certain animal or pay a temple tax in a certain denomination of coin, so you brought what you had, and they would give you what was “legal/acceptable.” 

Now, it is quite likely that the human heart caused these people to add a little to the regular prices, if you know what I mean. That’s usually what you’re going to hear taught from this passage, and it’s most likely correct, but maybe not all the money changers were as corrupt as we suppose. This was a service of convenience for the people, and money changers in the temple are described in other Jewish sources in later centuries, so they probably were corrupt, but that may not be Jesus’ main purpose.

What’s His point? Well, look at that quote again. Why is He so angry? He combines quotations from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Isaiah looks forward to a new day when Israel is restored in her glorious exalted state after exile. Isaiah talks about the foreigners. V. 7 has all peoples. Look at Mark’s quote. He has it as “all nations.” Same thing. See the purpose of Israel was always to be the light to the world and attract foreigners from their paganism to the one true God, so that all would come worship, and that would happen at the temple. 

In Jesus’ day that was sort of kind of happening, I mean Israel wasn’t in her exalted state, but foreigners, Gentiles, were coming to the temple to worship, right? But Jesus combines the quote with Jeremiah 7, saying you’ve made this whole process robbery. Not so much because you’re skimming money, but in that it’s a market place to begin with. 

Go to 1 Kings 8. Vv 41-43 speak of the foreigner, and his prayer toward the temple, called by God’s name, and all nations knowing God. This is very similar to Isaiah 56, and it provides more insight to the original purpose of the temple. A purpose that it was not fulfilling.

In other words, Hooray, Israel, you are providing access for both Jews and God-fearers and proselytes to come worship at the temple, but you’ve taken the focus off God, and almost onto yourselves. Israel provided access for worship but did not have the required prepared heart. They became distracted by making sure other people were ready to sacrifice or “worship” correctly. And just like the fig tree that promised fruit but offered none, the temple had the title “house of prayer” but when you went there you left with less than you had, financially but probably spiritually and emotionally, too.

Now it’s too easy to make the immediate jump to the 21st century and start bashing churches that we suppose do a similar thing. Oh, they ruin how people want to worship. They are too religious. They control the structure, and they’re too rigid, or how people look and act and dress. And those are good discussions to have, I suppose. (Now, all those things I just mentioned don’t belong in the same category.) That is a very broad spectrum of perspectives, and the reason those conversations are usually full of conflict and unhelpful is too many types of churches or people are thrown into the same category. Or emotions take over. Or both. Probably the best approach is one of balance and obviously remaining biblical and attempting to remain in healthy conversation.

Back to the passage. With both the fig tree and the temple, what made Jesus so angry? You had a plant and an institution prepared and designed and organized for one purpose and mission, but it wasn’t being fulfilled. Specifically, in the case of the temple, that purpose was to provide unbridled access for eventually all nations to the one true God in true worship. And when Jesus came on the scene, He knew He was going to replace the temple and Judaism and the sacrificial system. Why? Because He’s the Messiah. He’s the only way an individual can have true access to the one God. 

And after He died and resurrected, and the veil was torn, and sacrifices were no longer needed, and He was established as the way to God, His new community, the church took on a mission to reach all nations with the gospel about their Savior and Lord. 

And so each day we as disciples are following and pursing Him. He is our focus. Not ourselves. Not our friends. Not the world. Jesus. He is the Messiah. He is the Savior. He alone is worthy of our worship. And when we gather from our busy little lives throughout the week on our one day or our mid-week day, we don’t focus on bringing our lamb and exchanging it for the proper coins. We don’t focus on whether the money changer remembered the name of our second cousin this time. We don’t focus on whether we got a receipt, or if we got the proper change, or if this is tax deductible. We don’t focus on what we gain, because God’s house is a house of prayer and worship, and our focus is on … Jesus. 

We say that’s what we’re doing. That’s what the church promises. That’s what we claim. And if we peel back the layers, what do we find underneath? Are we meeting and fulfilling our purposes or not? Are we dysfunctional like the temple was? The first question that must be answered is are we more focused on who we are worshipping or … anything else?

Now our passage isn’t over. Because after Jesus curses the fig tree, He offers two clear practices of a true worshiping disciple. Mark 11, v. 21 had Peter saying, “Rabbi, you killed it.” VV. 22-24. Jesus said the temple was to be a house of prayer. Jesus’ disciples are to have the same mindset. Just because the temple will no longer exist in the first century doesn’t mean you abandon faith in God and prayer and all that. Jesus says, My followers must pray and pray earnestly. Why? Because that means you’re humble. Your dependent. You have faith in God. And God acts on behalf of those who have strong believing faith in Him as expressed in prayer. Faithful prayer is a crucial function of a true disciple.

Look at v. 25. God always hears our prayers, but in this passage, there are two characteristics of an absolutely strong prayer life: faith and forgiveness. And the community that contrasts with the dysfunctional temple is built on this foundation of following Jesus and being characterized by faithful prayer and forgiveness—did you catch those words. Anything…against anyone. One of those verses that you like to take a Sharpie to, but you can’t. 

[Side note: some believe that the “mountain to be moved” in this passage is actually Jerusalem/Mt Zion with its imminent destruction. It would make sense in the context of Jesus somewhat promising the overthrow of the temple. I don’t think I’m fully convinced, since He says similar prayer and fasting things in other contexts.] 

The main point is that His new community still holds to these practices of prayer and forgiveness. These would survive the future destruction. These are the evidence of a heart of worship.

So there’s really three questions.

What’s your focus when you come into a “worship service”? If the answer’s not Jesus, then walk back out and try again.

As you follow Jesus, how much do express dependence on God for help, and do you even have faith that God can help you?

And what’s hindering proper worship in your life more than forgiving somebody? Probably nothing. So take care of that.

So imagine yourself as some kind of fruit tree, doesn’t have to be figs. You don’t even have to be in season. But Jesus could come inspect you at any time, and if you have the label of Christian or church member on you, there’s expectations of following Him, praying, having faith, forgiving. Signs of a true worshipper, ready to welcome others inside the community and point them to the Savior properly because your heart is clean. What will He find?

Philippians 4:4-9

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

— ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4‬:‭4‬-‭9‬‬

 One of the most well known passages in the book and maybe the NT.

Paul is bringing the book to a close, illustrating how the themes of sacrifice, humility, and joy can be lived out. He opens the chapter by encouraging the two women to settle their differences. I don’t think their situation is “the” reason for the writing of the book, but it’s an example of why chapter 2 was so important. 

Rather than thinking more highly of ourselves and bickering, we can rejoice in the Lord. He even says it twice to get it into the Philippians’ heads (and ours). Joy is such a difficult concept to understand and apply. I’ve had the discussion a million times, and I suppose the next section on contentment would be the key to that (as well as some of what Paul says here about being gentle and putting anxiety on the Lord). 

Reasonableness/gentleness to all people. This verse always seemed out of place in this paragraph. Need to see how it fits into Paul’s flow of thought.

Lord is near is usually a thought of judgment. God is coming. But that doesn’t fit the context of the passage of the book. God’s coming has to bring peace (v. 7) or relief from anxiety or joy. 

Don’t be anxious—I think there’s certainly a different term for the anxiety we hear today and many battle and this more general language. We need to be very cautious when discussing these things and willing to listen to those around us. There is no “one solution” for all. 

But Paul’s words should be heeded. Prayer and dependence on God will relieve so much worry and stress from our minds/hearts. “About anything”—adds a level of impossibility to the command, but that’s what he says. That’s the goal. No fears. No worries. Rejoicing in all things. I have recently met some elderly folks who look back over their lives and say there are no complaints. No worries. Just peace. That’s a tremendous statement and a worthy goal.

With thanksgiving. Yes, I’ve made the gratitude journals. Many times. They do help, focusing on blessings and not what I “lack.” But again, this cannot be the only solution. Paul is speaking generally, not solving mental illnesses for all time. 

But it’s always a good idea to be grateful. Cultivating this mindset will certainly put us on a path of joy and peace and contentment with life rather than stress/worry/frustration.

Peace of God guards hearts and minds. I don’t know if this can be put into words, and I hesitate to even try, because then it becomes “tangible” or able to be discerned whether I “have it or not.” The point is it’s not explicable. 

Finally—doesn’t have to mean this is the last sentence. Obviously, it’s not. It could mean “above all.” Need to research more exactly what it is. But Paul does want the Philippians to focus on wholesome thoughts. Pure. True. Valuable. Worthy. When God is guarding our minds, it’s so much easier to filter valuable things through them. When peace reigns in our heart, it’s easier to focus on what truly matters and what brings joy.

Paul gives one final plea for his friends to imitate him. By living a life of excellence, not just maintaining a pure heart/mind, they will show themselves to be a people of God.

Peace of God is turned to God of peace in this last verse. Of course, God is always with us. So this conditional imperative must be something more than just His presence.  

Ephesians 5:15-21

“Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise, taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil. For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is. And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭15‬-‭21‬ ‭NET‬‬

Who did you want to be when you grew up? Not what but who. Anybody? I don’t think I really had anyone specific. Some people have an awesome sports icon or music person.

VV 1-2 of this chapter command the Ephesians to be “Imitators of God, as beloved children.” Now we all know that kids like to copy what their parents do. Little girls will slip into mom’s high heels. Kids will put on adult hats, or sit behind the steering wheel. 

But be imitators of God. Doesn’t that seem kind of far-fetched, Paul? What does this require of us? That I know God as my Father. That I can act like Him. This flows from Paul’s prayer in chapter 3 that I would be filled with the knowledge and character of God. That the immense majesty of God’s glory would strengthen me, so that I could understand His love. Because v. 2 commands me to walk in love, remembering Christ’s tremendous sacrifice. Again, imitating what’s been done for me. 

Now I want to jump down to vv. 15-17. The rest of this chapter fills in the gaps of living as God’s children in a terrible and sinful world. We are His children, though. We should be different.

We should be careful to live with a mindset of wisdom, not foolishness. There are traps and dangers lurking all around, potholes and ditches. Sinking sand. If we are not careful, always alert, we can trip, we can fall. You all know that our culture, our world, our entertainment, the philosophies and worldviews of our day are crawling with error and deceit. And lies lead to wrong behavior. Paul says, Be careful. 

Now, when he says, Make the best use of your time, is that like, “Man, I really need to wake up at 6:00 to get a healthy breakfast, to squeeze in a good solid workout before going to school/work? Get all my chores done? Buy three planners and time all my events perfectly, so that I don’t waste a second of the day?” I just don’t get the feeling that Paul is talking about my personal schedule in an entire chapter on imitating God. 

So as a child of God in a perverse world, how would I not waste an opportunity?

Discovering God’s will is always a topic of interest for people, but I think we make it more complicated than it needs to be. There are a few verses that tell us exactly what it is—we just wrestle sometimes with daily decisions that affect our personal path for years to come. That’s okay.

But v. 17 is the key. The path to understanding God’s will is not rolling dice, asking a bunch of questions, praying a gazillion prayers and not making decisions until you feel warm and bubbly, or reading the Bible until that one special verse sticks out. That’s not how the Bible works. A lot of times, God’s will is as simple as not being foolish. And that means analyzing your past, present, and future in light of strong biblical truth and realizing what’s best for your life. It’s biblical wisdom. What decisions are you going to have to make in the next six months? Are you prepared to do that carefully? Wisely? In a way that imitates God’s character and love or the philosophies and deceit of the world?

Ephesians 5:18 is tricky, because it has been misunderstood based on the preposition “by the Spirit.” I use the illustration of pouring a glass of water from a pitcher. If I represent the glass, most people would see the water as the “Holy Spirit,” in that I am to be filled with the Holy Spirit. (And the typical meaning of that is parallel to the drunkenness half of the verse—He controls me/guides me.)

But Wallace’s grammar confirms that the little preposition (see this post on the preposition) after this passive verb rarely means “content.” And when we step back to see Paul’s use of “filling” verbs in Ephesians, we gain more insight. Paul’s prayer in chapter 3 has already said we should be filled with the knowledge of God—and that verb is used with a noun of content. So the water in the glass is the knowledge of God. The character of God. Paul wants us to be filled with that. The Spirit then is the pitcher being used to fill us with the knowledge of God. This is a preposition of means. It answers how we are to be filled. (There’s one more use of “filling” in Ephesians in chapter 4. Jesus is the one “filling” all things, so one could say that Jesus is the one completing this process.) 

Paul says, I want you believer not to be drunk. Those people can’t control their bodies. They can’t control their mind. That only leads to more immorality and wickedness. But I want your mind and your being to be filled with the knowledge of God, and I want the Spirit to be the one who leads you on the path of understanding who this God is. This will lead you toward wisdom. This will lead you to be distinct from the world. This will allow you to reflect His goodness  and love in a world that doesn’t know much about either.

And then Paul gives the most perfect three point sermon. You may read vv 19-21 and think he’s just giving lots more commands on what we should do. But these are all related to the command to be filled by the Spirit. And they all give a picture of what it will look like when the Spirit is filling us with God’s character. They answer the questions, So what? Or To what end? (These are participles of result)

V. 19.  You know how you know if the Spirit is filling the individuals of our church with the character of God? We sing tremendous songs of faith to Him with all of our heart. Can you sing? Now I don’t mean, Do you have much talent? Few of us do. But when you consider how much you know of God, how much He has shown His love for you, is there a joy inside that spills out in song? Forget how it sounds. Even in times of trial and testing, a song of faith can help you recognize the goodness of God and the mercy He has extended to you.

V. 20. Being filled by the Spirit immediately results in our dropping to our knees and acknowledging that we did nothing for anything that we own, that we did nothing for our eternal life or spiritual inheritance. God deserves all praise. Are you thankful? Or is the Spirit still in the process of filling you with a much better perspective of who God is?

V. 21. The third action that results from a proper understanding of God’s character is the Spirit enables us to submit to one another. Look around. In this text I don’t see any distinctions. So what does this mean? It’s easy to look down on others, judge certain individuals for this or that, and think, “Oh, yea they’re doing that job in the church or serving in that capacity makes sense.” But how does every member submit to every other member, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic status, etc?  

Because what’s our tendency? Oh, well, I’m going to look out for me, myself, and I. And, sure, I love these people. We’re all Christians. But at the end of the day, I’m still going to get what’s most important. Paul says, That’s not the character of God. That’s not wise. That’s very very foolish.

Be careful how you walk. Pray for the Spirit to fill your mind with attitudes that reflect that nature of God. So that you can sing to Him. So that you can thank Him for His many many blessings in your life. So that you can treat others as much more important that yourself.

Participles of Means and Cause

Participles can function as either an adjective, adverb, or noun (depending on context [and technically a gerund in English speak]), which allows for various endings (e.g., -ing, -ed, -en,-d, -n, -t). 

This post focuses on two functions of participles that modify verbs. Therefore, they will be used as adverbs. Rather than being boring and translating with a simple -ing, it is more helpful to insert a word or two to help the reader see the connection between the dependent and independent clause (assuming that connection is clear). If it's not, then leaving it plain vanilla is probably best.

Means: Extremely common use of participles, and answers "How an action is accomplished." This is distinct from manner, which gives an accompanying characteristic or attribute of the person performing the action (e.g., "rejoicing").

Perhaps my most favorite example is 1 Peter 5:6-7.

Ταπεινώθητε οὖν ὑπὸ τὴν κραταιὰν χεῖρα τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα ὑμᾶς ὑψώσῃ ἐν καιρῷ, 7  πᾶσαν τὴν μέριμναν ὑμῶν ἐπιρίψαντες ἐπ᾽ αὐτόν, ὅτι αὐτῷ μέλει περὶ ὑμῶν.  "Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, "by means of/by" casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you."

The command is to "humble yourselves." The participial clause "casting anxiety" answers how we are to be humble. Prayer, in this case, is an act of humility. It's an expression of dependence on God. For Peter's letter as a whole, and his audience in their situation, this would be a great comfort.

ἀλλὰ ἑαυτὸν ἐκένωσεν μορφὴν δούλου λαβών, ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων γενόμενος· but he emptied himself "by means of/by" taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men (Phi 2:7) The main verb is so vague, and the participle answers how Jesus emptied himself. There are other options here (result, temporal, but those are not nearly as probable--sometimes for grammatical reasons). The "problem" with means here is that "emptying" usually doesn't include "taking" or adding something to the equation. When we understand the background of Philippians 2 as an early hymn (maybe one of the earliest creeds), we can allow for poetic license.

Cause: Another extremely common adverbial use of the participle is to give the reason an action occurred. By "reason," I mean the action looking backward that caused a current reality. All tenses are adequately represented as causal participles, and Wallace notes that this participle usually precedes its main verb.

Ἰωσὴφ δὲ ὁ ἀνὴρ αὐτῆς, δίκαιος ὢν καὶ μὴ θέλων αὐτὴν δειγματίσαι, ἐβουλήθη λάθρᾳ ἀπολῦσαι αὐτήν. "But Joseph, her husband, "because he was" just/righteous and not wanting to shame her, desired to put her away privately (Mat 1:19)

For deeper explanation, see Wallace, Greek Grammar, 628-32.

 

1 John 5:14-15

 “And this is the confidence that we have before him: that whenever we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in regard to whatever we ask, then we know that we have the requests that we have asked from him.”

— ‭‭1 John‬ ‭5‬:‭14‬-‭15‬‬

I don’t like discussing verses like this. We either end up talking in circles (making no sense to those who don’t understand Christianese) or talking ourselves into a corner/ a position that can’t be defended based on other passages or basic theology.

Surrounding verses (and overall themes of John) emphasize this word “know” bc of the heresies/opponents that John is attacking. Can talk about that in a passage of chapter 2 (probably vv 18-19). But other paragraphs in ch 5 seem to be closing thoughts and somewhat disconnected.

Grammar: v. 14 is third class condition. Present tense with ean is general present. This is why NET translated as “whenever.” V. 15 is first class condition, even though it still has ean (this is rare). 1st class is assumed true for sake of argument—never translate as since, even if the protasis (first half of conditional) is actually true. This would ruin logical force of conditional. 

At first glance, it seems John is saying the same thing twice in back to back verses. Would need to do deeper study to see if v 15 has slightly different/deeper meaning. Point is we have confidence that God hears us and that we will receive what we ask because He hears us.

Because of the conditional, there’s probably good grounds for emphasizing that phrase “according to His will,” but per my previous posts, it always seems like a cop out in Christian circles. Either the praying person isn’t spiritual enough, didn’t pray right, had wrong motives, etc. On the flip side, I thought God always hears His children…or anyone praying for that matter.

1 John 3:21-22 help understand this passage, since key terms are repeated: confidence, prayer, obedience. There must be some connection with obeying God’s will (i.e., the commandments, which for John is love) and knowing God’s will. Again, this also attacks the lifestyle and teaching of the opponents.

We could also use the following v. 16 to narrow down the “requests.” Not saying this is all that John means by “asking,” and I’m not trying to limit God by any means in order to, again, talk in circles or back into a corner. But John may be at least focusing here on one particular request: praying for those living in sin, which may end up leading to their destruction.

In either case, John must be making a point to his audience that they need. Maybe opponents are feeding more lies. We need more study on the book and context as whole before making blanket statements. We know what prayer is and God’s character. We know we pray and don’t get everything we ask. We don’t need to call anyone or anything a liar.

We don’t need to accuse solid Christians or having terrible motives or living in sin or not knowing God’s will. Maybe we can pray for God’s kingdom and spiritual maturity in ourselves and others, not so much physical things.

James 5:13-18

 “Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praises. Is anyone among you ill? He should summon the elders of the church, and they should pray for him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up – and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great effectiveness. Elijah was a human being like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain and there was no rain on the land for three years and six months! Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land sprouted with a harvest.”

— ‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭18‬‬

Maybe one of the most difficult passages in James. 

Prayer is a common theme in James (sometime find a list of passages and what he has to say). The believer is always reminded to have an attitude of faith. God’s response is always described as one of mercy/generosity.

The point of the passage is v. 16. Prayer “accomplishes” much, but I am always weary of how we phrase these things today because we emphasize what we say or how often we say it or even that we say it, and not the God behind the response. God is the generous/merciful/healing one (and yes, I know what James said).

Anointing with oil: I’ve heard it as referring to regular medicine, since doctors used oil in 1st cent. It could also be a simple ritual before the church to connect a prayer to God’s power (somehow). Oil is a symbol often of God’s presence and activity. So perhaps not medicinal, sacramental, or psychological.  (Cf. Mark 6:13)

Some denominations are terrified of this passage (i.e. praying for healing). Some churches and groups of churches can rely too heavily on it and even abuse people’s psyche. This cannot be reduced to a guarantee of healing (not to mention seeing the book of James as wisdom literature.) 

If someone is not healed, that cannot mean the person does not have faith. If someone is healed, that doesn’t necessarily mean the person should right a book on how to have faith. The point is that the church should pray and (shock) be accountable to one another. Grow in community. Prayer leaves a situation in God’s hands (4:3), and He can do incredible things.

Is this a more moderate view than what James seems to say? Perhaps. But it is wisdom literature. Do miracles exist? Absolutely. Experience has to inform our understanding of what he intended for this church. Imagine a church where praying together and being accountable was the norm.

Philippians 1:3-5

 “I thank my God every time I remember you. I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you because of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.”

— ‭‭Philippians‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬-‭5‬‬

Greek is ambiguous whether this is Paul remembering them or them remembering him. Either way, it’s clear that Paul and Philippians had very special relationship.

Lots of words like every and all in these three verses. Paul uses hyperbole to emphasize love for them. Carried throughout letter.

Participation could be just that they were all saved and spreading gospel like Paul was. But Paul thanks them for financial gift later, so probably they had funded Paul’s trips or ministry to some extent.