Pentecost 10–Followers of Christ Pray Boldly

The believer prays boldly. The Prayer of the Day beautifully centers worship for this Sunday: God’s ears are open; let us then boldly ask for the blessings he promises.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

O Lord, your ears are always open to the prayers of your humble servants, who come to you in Jesus’ name. Teach us always to ask according to your will that we may never fail to obtain the blessings you have promised; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

VERSE OF THE DAY

Alleluia. Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Alleluia. (John 6:68 cf. NV)

THE GOSPEL: LUKE 11:1-13

The disciples came to Jesus looking for help in learning to pray. Jesus responds coupling the spiritual-gift petitions of the Lord’s Prayer with examples of the boldness with which our Father invites us to ask, seek, and knock. Rooted in the Word, these requests come from hearts of faith that have been taught to seek not only what we need but even what we want. Our confidence is this: we can come again and again before our Father’s throne of grace knowing that every good and perfect gift comes from our dear Father to his dear children.

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Artist	James Tissot  (1836–1902)
Title	Français : Le “Pater Noster”English: The Lord’s Prayer
Object type	painting
Genre	religious art
Date	between 1886 and 1894
Medium	opaque watercolor over graphite on gray woven paper
Dimensions	Height: 21.6 cm (8.5 ″); Width: 16.4 cm (6.4 ″)
Collection	Brooklyn Museum

FIRST LESSON: GENESIS 18:20-32

There were just certain ways that things were done in the ancient East. This was not it. Abraham’s continued pressing of God for concessions would have seemed presumptuous to any earthly master. Yet Abraham was as bold as this when talking to God! On hearing of the Lord’s plans for wicked Sodom, Abraham shamelessly presses the Lord to live up to the meaning of his name. Our confidence is the same as we boldly come before our heavenly Father’s throne seeking his free and faithful grace. We come, then, knowing that our dear Father will answer our prayer in the way that is best for us. Though the Lord did not find even ten righteous ones living in Sodom, Lot and his daughters were ultimately saved.

Description	English: God’s Promises to Abram, c. 1896-1902, by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (French, 1836-1902), gouache on board, 4 13/16 x 5 7/8 in. (12.3 x 15 cm), at the Jewish Museum, New York
Date	between circa 1896 and circa 1902
Source	The Jewish Musem Jacques Joseph Tissot
Author	James Tissot  (1836–1902)

QUOTES TO CONSIDER

An Audience with the King

So the King has become approachable for us. Perhaps you recall a scene from the classic movie The Wizard of Oz. This author can remember being terrified as a child at the image of the great and powerful wizard of Oz. Out of the billowing smoke and fire spouts peered the terrible face of the wizard as Dorothy and her friends approached him in the Emerald Palace. Remember how they walked with tiny fearful steps, knees knocking, down the glass paneled hallway? The wizard’s appearance was not inviting. One so terrifying is not approachable. Who can forget the Tin Man shaking and rattling in fear? Who can forget the moment when the Cowardly Lion finally turns tail, runs frantically down the hall, and jumps through a window? If God appeared to us as the wizard did to Dorothy and her friends, we would probably respond like the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion.

What a difference there is in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her friends return from the Wicked Witch of the West’s Castle to present the broom. At first they appear trembling, as they were at the first visit. Thanks to Toto, however they soon find that the one who appeared so fearsome was really a kindly old man behind a curtain. Suddenly he is approachable. Without pushing the illustration too far, it’s somewhat similar with God and us. God has not changed. Through Jesus, however, we see God in a new way. Through Jesus, the King whom we knew only as our condemning judge because we rebelled so terribly against his laws is now seen as our benevolent Father. Jesus has revealed to us God’s love. For Jesus is evidence of God’s incredible love. Jesus is the proof of God’s desire to have us as his children.

Jesus has effected this new relationship between the King and us. We are still subjects of his kingdom, but we are much more. To us who were once rebels has been given the title of children of God. Therefore the King is our heavenly Father. “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1) This is the reason Jesus does not teach us to address God as “Oh, almighty and powerful King and ruler of all rather he tells us to come as children. He teaches us to say “Our Father in Heaven.

Joel V. Petermann in Prayer an Audience with the King, p. 37-38

SECOND LESSON: COLOSSIANS 2:6-15

This second reading in the three week series from Colossians points out the reason we can be so bold in prayer. God has given us the fullness of Christ. In him we were circumcised, buried, and raised to life. Sins forgiven, we have been made children of God who have every right and encouragement to ask of God—as a child would ask his dear father.

Artist Commentary: Visual Exegesis

No long description today, just a brief thought to consider….think about the imagery that the Holy Spirit leads Paul to use here. The “record of debt” or “handwritten decree” that stood against us–in the context of our standing before God–would be the record of our sin. This, Paul says, God set aside. How? By nailing it to the cross….

This is staggering imagery. Some have said that the picture intended here is that the note recording our sin is metaphorically nailed to Christ as He hangs on the cross–and that may be what Paul intends. But it seems to me that the intention is to present Christ Himself as the one who becomes the record of our debt…it is our incarnate Lord who becomes our sin (2 Cor.5:21), who bears our sins in His own body (1 Peter 2:24), and whose flesh is inscribed by the pen of Justice so that He Himself becomes the record of our rebellion–the record that is abolished on the cross.

For those who are trusting in Christ as Lord, God, Savior, and only hope…the record of their sins–past, present, and future–have been set aside, nailed to the cross.

Christopher Powers

Artist Commentary: Visual Exegesis

This past weekend I was reading a book on Paul’s theology of the cross when I came across an arresting sentence by theologian James D.G. Dunn regarding Colossians 2:15. Dunn wrote: “The transformation of values–from the cross as the most shameful of deaths, to the cross as a chariot leading the defeated powers in chains behind it–is about as audacious as one could imagine.”

I remember reading a C.H. Spurgeon sermon that used this imagery but I wasn’t sure how far he had embellished the concept. However, after reading Dunn’s evaluation and then going back to Colossians 2:15 to check on the Greek, it was clear that this is actually what the Holy Spirit intended when he inspired Paul to use this metaphor.

The imagery is of a conquering general riding through the streets in his chariot, dragging the defeated kings and warriors behind him–making them a “spectacle.” THIS–Paul tells us–is what God did to the spiritual powers and authorities of this world through the cross of his Son.
Christ is the conquering general, his cross of self-giving love is his victor’s chariot, and held captive in his train are all the demonic rulers, all the false gods, all the angelic accusers of his people–now stripped of final power and exposed to the watching world as a defeated enemy….and crushed under this King’s pierced heel is that ancient serpent, Satan himself.

I doubt if we will ever plumb the depths of what happened when our Lord and our God was lifted up on the cross. The songs and hopes and doctrines and poems and pictures and lives of Christians for two millennia have been occupied with nothing else–and still we are only water-striders on the surface of the Pacific Ocean of his glory. However, one of the things the Holy Spirit would have us know about the death of our Lord is that–agony though it was, horror though it was, “hour of darkness” though it was–it was also the Triumph of the King of Glory, the decisive defeat of false gods, and the cosmic exhibition of Satan as a conquered foe. May God give us grace to see, savor, and sing–in every sphere of our lives–the multifaceted beauty of the crucified Christ who lives forevermore.

Christopher Powers

SUPPLEMENTAL SECOND LESSON: JAMES 5:13-18

C.S. Lewis said that in prayer God gives us the dignity of causality. Using the example of Elijah’s earnest prayers, James encourages a bold prayer life on behalf of others in keeping with the will of the Lord. The righteous are invited to boldly pray for the sick in both body and soul, and God promises to hear those prayers of men made righteous and to respond with forgiveness and healing. Such dignity God gives us! No wonder James can make such a sweeping statement: Is any of you in trouble? He should pray.

PSALM OF THE DAY: Psalm 6

PSALM 6: LORD, HOW LONG? (Lyric Video) My Soul Among Lions

Psalm 6 (Heal Me) (feat. Deryck Box) – The Psalms Project

HYMN OF THE DAY

Christian Worship, #410, Our Father, Who from Heaven Above, Koine

Other Thematic Hymns and Songs

Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace – Red Mountain Music

Come Boldly To The Throne Of Grace Taken from the Gadsby Hymnal # 675 Words – D. Herbert, printed in the Gadsby Hymnal, 1838. Music – Clint Wells and Brian T. Murphy, 2004

Before the Throne – Shane & Shane

Questions to Consider

(Please share your answers/thoughts in the comments below)

1. What is God saying to me in these lessons?
2. For what do these lessons lead me to give thanks?
3. What sins do these lessons lead me to confess?
4. For what do these lessons lead me to pray?
5. What is the connecting thought that sticks out the most in these lessons? What major theme(s) connect(s) all the lessons?
6. Which piece of artwork did you find to be most beneficial? Why?