The Lord’s Prayers
Remember Pastor David Platt? Several months ago I told the story of how he unexpectedly had been asked by President Trump to pray for him during a service in June of 2019, setting off a firestorm of controversy within his own congregation. As a result, he said,
I was labeled a far right-wing conservative and a far left-wing liberal in the same week.
I listened to his sermon the following Sunday and am going to start this chapter by quoting from his message, (*1) since it’s a message to a local congregation. Direct quotes from his sermon are in quotation marks; my commentary is not.
“This last week didn’t create problems, it uncovered them. The Church is not healthy.” Platt isn’t only referring to his own congregation. Capital C Church refers to the whole Christian Church – in this case, the Church in America.
“The Bible doesn’t say ‘don’t have conviction or feel strongly about things’. Romans 14:5-6 is counter-intuitive, because it says to have ‘deep conviction.’ Doesn’t that make unity even harder? Not if we follow the rest of the guidance from the Word.” Platt used Romans 14 as the basis of his message, because the Church in Rome was struggling with different divisive issues, and the principles apply powerfully in our own day and situation.
“WHEN OTHERS IN THE CHURCH HAVE DIFFERENT CONVICTIONS ON ISSUES THAT ARE NOT CLEARLY AND ESSENTIALLY ADDRESSED IN GOD’S WORD, LOVE THEM. Listen to and respect others. James 1:19 says be quick to listen, slow to speak (and we could add be slow to tweet, be slow to post). The culture entices us to share our thoughts behind a screen instead of face to face.” (Capital letters were used in Platt’s sermon notes for that Sunday.)
“Find someone who believes different than you do, and just listen. If you can’t find someone different than you, broaden your relationships.”
“Refuse to disparage or quarrel with others. (Romans 14:1) We live in a culture of contempt.” We can decide that we simply are not going to disparage or quarrel with others. And that is indeed half the battle. Whether in my own family, with other leaders in the Church, or wherever I go, I can decide that if I disagree, I don’t have to voice my opposition. (*2) I’ll share my opinion when asked, but otherwise follow the advice of Proverbs and keep quiet. (*3) But that truly is only half the battle…
“Even if we aren’t sharing our thoughts, we can be feeding our pride about how right we are and how wrong others are. Pray for a deep spirit of humility and a commitment to never disparage brothers or sisters in Christ.” We talked about humility a couple of posts ago. There are things we can do to humble ourselves, but ultimately God will have to work on our hearts for humility to come from within. Humility is the other half of the battle.
“Build your relationship with others on what is clear and essential in God’s Word.” Granted, we don’t all agree on that, even within the Church. But among humble Christ-followers willing to dialogue, there’s remarkable agreement on what’s essential and what’s peripheral. This quote isn’t from Platt, but applies:
In essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity. (*4)
“Is the core problem not disunity but idolatry? Have we at any point let our politics and our opinions become idols in the Church today? Do we love our politics or our opinions as much as or more than we love Jesus and what He has clearly and essentially said in His Word?” This is the problem of identity theft that we discussed earlier. The answer to Platt’s rhetorical questions is a resounding yes, but keep in mind, Platt was preaching this to people he personally knows and loves and with whom he has direct personal contact. All of that is much riskier than writing it in a book.
Finally, “Look for opportunities to please others in the church who have different convictions than you. (Romans 15:1-2)” Even and especially with those where our deeply-held convictions are polar opposites, taking a position of service and generosity is following in Jesus’ footsteps, who did exactly that with each and every one of us.
In case something happens and you never get to read anything else in this post, I wanted you to hear highlights from Platt’s sermon right up front.
In the last couple of blog posts, I shared that if we want to be part of the solution (part 1, part 2), we first have to stop being part of the problem. My premise is that one of Jesus’ prayers, the one recorded in John 17, points us in the best direction for the country to have a prayer of ending its ever-more-damaging Donkey Elephant War.
What if even at this point, eight plus chapters in, you’re not convinced that the war should end? Or at least not end with a cease-fire? What if
a) you might see the best solution as the other side surrendering after getting sufficiently trounced in the court of public opinion? Or
b) perhaps you see value in relatively even numbers on both sides assuring that Washington doesn’t get much done – an over-active Washington might be a bigger concern than a stalemated one.
Both a) and b) above have enough merit to need some additional conversation. Hopefully I’ve made it clear thus far that I’m not simply advocating compromising on everything, toning down our convictions, and/or pretending that there aren’t any differences of real consequence. While I don’t think the answer is one party pummeling the other one into submission, the positions I advocated previously (religious liberty, care for the unborn, protection of marriage, caring for the poor, caring for the refugee/immigrant, protecting racial equity) are worth fighting for. All of them. And that’s just a start. The point is that no one party holds a monopoly on Jesus’ values. So one party eliminating the other one isn’t the solution.
And I agree very much with the idea that robust discussion from different perspectives is healthy. Jesus’ prayer in John 17 wasn’t that we all be alike, it’s that we all be aligned. Politically speaking, that means aligned toward the goal of a healthier country for everyone. A 50/50 split if there are only two parties in the running clearly has some merit, as only three times in the last 50 years has the country opted to keep the same party in control of the White House and both houses of Congress. (*5) Voters clearly appreciate the founders’ concern for balance of power, distributing it roughly equally between political parties for most of the country’s history. I’m not troubled by a donkey-elephant contest; it’s when the contest becomes a war, with casualties, that we ought to be concerned.
Image: Tama66/Pixabay
Jesus was praying specifically for His followers, not for political parties, and His prayer was not that we come to agreement on philosophies, political or otherwise, but that we love one another. Love implies listening, respect, humility, service, and so forth. Since Jesus has followers in both parties – in large numbers – our current political climate is unacceptable.
Early on in Jesus’ most famous sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, (*6) He says of His followers that they’re the salt of the earth and the light of the world. (*7) In other words, the Church flavors and influences and guides the world. He doesn’t say we ought to be these two things, He says we are. I believe disunity in the Church has contributed to disunity in the world. When we should have been flavoring the world to respond more like Christ, we’ve been favoring the world in its unChristlike ways. I’m thoroughly convinced that disunity and immaturity are circular, meaning that both lead to more of the other one. (*8) Therefore, I believe the immaturity of the culture is partly the responsibility of the Church.
Two other prayers of Jesus provide further illumination. The one we’re most familiar with is the one we’ve dubbed The Lord’s Prayer, even though it’s the prayer that He taught, not one that the Bible ever records Him directly praying. The prayer goes like this (though this probably isn’t the version you learned, if you learned one):
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. (*9)
Let’s apply each part to our current situation. The first request is that God’s name be kept holy. I would argue that that’s exactly the opposite of what happens when party loyalty and Kingdom-of-God loyalty get mixed up. “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” is why I decided to write this book. Jesus never separates “spiritual” things from “earthy” things, as if He’s concerned about the former and unconcerned about the latter. Jesus became human – clearly He’s interested in what goes on down here. Let’s take one of the most spiritual things you can imagine – Jesus, the Son of God, praying – and apply it to one of the least spiritual things you can imagine – partisan politics.
“Give us today our daily bread” again shows Jesus’ concern for the most practical needs of life (and also speaks to His concern for those who lack the daily needs of life.) “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” could make for some exciting policy discussion, don’t you think? We typically take that request spiritually, and it certainly includes a spiritual application, but Jesus in His ministry used examples of both spiritual debt caused by sin as well as monetary debt. (*10) It’s a both/and, not an either/or.
“Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” YES! That’s exactly how we need to be praying every time we turn on the TV, comment on Facebook, or engage in conversation at work over the proverbial water cooler. We need to recognize partisanship as temptation, and pray for deliverance.
Another relevant prayer Jesus prayed happened later the same evening as His John 17 prayer – probably within the next hour or two. He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, agonizing over the suffering He was about to endure momentarily, and He prayed,
Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done. (*11)
Surrendering of our own wills is one of the hardest things we ever have to do, but we’re invited to do that all the time. Jesus compared it to taking up our own crosses, (*12) because it’s a form of death to ourselves and our demands that things go our way. In the Garden, an angel came and strengthened Him, not to spare Him the hardship, but rather to give Him the strength to endure it. In fact, it was after the angel appeared that His prayer became so anguished that He literally sweat blood. (*13) Divine intervention often isn’t to relieve us of hard and painful situations, but to give us the strength to endure them. It will not be an easy task to break through years of encrusted partisanship and forge a new path of conversation, but the Lord is not only calling us forward, He’s equipping us to carry out the call.
https://radical.net/sermon/on-unity-in-the-church/, June 9, 2019.
Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”
Proverbs 17:28, “Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”
The quote is often attributed to St Augustine, but actually dates much later to Rupertus Meldenius in 1627.
Jimmy Carter had four years of Democratic control of both houses of Congress between 1977-1980, and George W Bush had six years of Republican control of both houses of Congress between 2001-2007.
Ephesians 4 makes this point clearly. Chapter 2 of my last book, If It Was Easy, Jesus Wouldn’t Have Prayed For It lays out the argument.
Matthew 9:2 and Luke 7:40-43 as two examples.