THE 21st CENTURY NOTION OF PRAYER

   One of my favorite television programs this summer is the PBS presentation of “Grantchester.” Set in the 1950’s, it’s main character is Sidney Chambers, the vicar of a church in Grantchester, a village just outside Cambridge. Sidney helps Inspector Geordie Keating in solving mysteries, much like Father Brown.

   In a recent episode, Sidney is found struggling with a moral question: should he pursue an intimate relationship with a divorced woman prior to her divorce. We see him in the church praying for guidance. Aloud he prays: “Tell me what to do.”  However, believing himself to be alone, someone behind him states: “Some days I wish He’d answer back.”

   It seems to be the notion of many in the 21^st Century – desiring some type of audible, physical or observable answer to every one of our prayers – and instantly while we ask. Where this notion has come from is difficult to determine, but it does not come from Scripture. There is much evidence in Scripture that supports the idea that we are to wait upon the Lord for His guidance, including – but not limited to – the answering of prayers. 

Here are some examples:     

    1)     Isaiah 8:17 -  This chapter is a section which deals with the coming of Messiah. Isaiah wrote:

    “And I will wait for the Lord who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will even look eagerly for Him.” 

    2)     Isaiah 40:31 – Isaiah states a promise to those who wait: 

    “Yet those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary”

    3)     David wrote in Psalm 27:14:

     “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.”

    4)     A particularly key verse is Psalm 130:5:

     “I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word do I hope.” 

      This verse is important to the principle of waiting because it directs us to be active while we wait. For us to have hope (confident expectation) in His Word, presupposes that we are involved in studying His Word in order to understand fully His workings in our lives.

    5)     Paul provides a corresponding observation in Romans 8:25:

     “But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

   But it is so difficult to wait. And yet there are blessings for those who learn to wait and are active while they wait. The activity believers should occupy their lives as well as their time of waiting is in the study of His Word. Gaining a fuller knowledge of His Word provides us with His standards for our lives. We’ll know what is expected of us in our moment-by-moment walk of faith. We’ll know that He ‘has our back’ as Peter stated: “Casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you” (1 Peter 5:7). Instead, we would simply seek His strength to obey His Word and the resolve to wait upon Him.

MECHANICS OF TEMPTATION & SIN: JAMES 1:13-15

Verses 13-15: Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.

 

 “Let no one say” doesn’t come through as forceful as it should in the English. This is a command that we are never in the midst of turmoil and testing to blame God for inflicting trials upon us with the intent purpose of causing us to fail and to fall into sin. He allows the testing for the sole purpose of our advancement to spiritual maturity.

The statement that He cannot be tempted by evil is an affirmation of His righteous character. And since He cannot be tempted by evil, as we His creatures can and are, He could never be implicated in tempting someone to commit sin. This is an emphatic statement of fact: “He Himself does not tempt anyone.”1

The blame for moral failure is now fully explained in verse 14. The mechanism of how sin comes about begins with the creature and not with the Creator. James states the believer is tempted by their own activities.

First, by being ‘carried away’ denotes literally, to draw or drag out. This is the only time this word is employed in the New Testament. It is a hunting term, which describes a hunter trapping the beast by outsmarting it in order to execute the kill. As it relates to believers, it implies their being drawn out from their fellowship with the Lord. The Greek indicates that the believer is caused to be carried away or ensnared into temptation.

Second, the individual is said to be ‘enticed.’ This word is a fishing term meaning to use bait to trick or beguile your intended catch. When a fisherman places a lure on his fishing line, he intends to beguile or to mesmerize and hypnotize the fish in order to attract them to take the bait on the hook. This verb also indicates that something causes the believer to be enticed into temptation.

That something, James states, is ‘his own lust.’ The word ‘lust’ means a craving or an intense desire. It is used in the New Testament as a desire for something evil, as we find in this verse, or a desire for something good, as Jesus stated:

“I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.” (Luke 22:15)

It is not difficult to deduce that our own lust implies some selfish inclination, and not an inducement of God tempting the believer so that he might commit sin.

In the 1960’s the comedian Flip Wilson, popularized the phrase "The devil made me do it." All too often, I hear believers claiming to being tempted by the devil. James dispels this notion. The blame game is over; the guilt resides with us.

It is worth noting that we have a promise from Scripture that God will sustain us in the midst of our temptations. In this we should take comfort in this promise:

No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

The Mechanics of Sin

James continues the mechanism of sin with the next phrase: ‘when lust has conceived.” The actual meaning of the Greek word ‘conceive’ is to seize, to grasp or to apprehend. But it is also used in a figurative sense for the conception which takes place in the woman’s womb, when the seed of the male ‘grasps’ the seed of the woman to begin the development of a child. And here, James uses this figurative example for the manner in which lust conceives and gives birth to sin. The following diagram provides a picture of the process:

And then the final step in the process: ‘when sin is accomplished.’ This word means to achieve the natural purpose, to come to completion, or to be fully formed. The English Standard Version continues the birthing process by translating the phrase: ‘when it [sin] is fully grown.’ Just as there is a chain of events that takes place when a woman is pregnant, the development of a person’s temptation goes through stages until it is ‘fully grown’ into sin.

When a child is born there is a new life. But in contrast, lust gives ‘birth’ to sin. When a child is fully grown, he experiences life fully. But, when sin is in its fullest stage the end-result is that it brings forth2 death. This is a spiritual phenomenon designed by God as the consequence for human sin (rebellion). The following diagram demonstrates the entire process which James has described in verses 14 and 15:

Normally death is thought of as the loss of physical life. If James was referring to physical death, then no one would be alive today. All have sinned (Romans 3:23), believers and unbelievers alike. However, the death which James mentions here has a meaning that Scripture employs many times: separation. It implies the “exclusion from the presence and favor of God in consequence of sin and disobedience.”3

 For the believer in Jesus Christ, this ‘death’ characterizes the God’s disciplinary action and the immediate loss of fellowship with Him. We have been commanded elsewhere in Scripture by the apostle Paul to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), and “do not quench the Spirit” (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Since the Holy Spirit is the energizing member of the Godhead, He cannot empower us when we reject Scriptural directives. To be energized by the Holy Spirit demands for believers to be holy and pure: 

But like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (2 Corinthians 7:1)

And also from the Lord Jesus Himself:

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:19)

In this verse, ‘sanctify’ is the word which means ‘to make holy’ or ‘to render pure,’ inferring to separate from sin. Our Lord states that believers may be made holy and pure in the truth. The obvious question now is: What is truth?

It is very difficult even today to separate fact from fiction. We have trouble differentiating what is truth within every segment of society: in the workplace, our government, the media, entertainment, and even within the Church. How are we to know ‘truth’? Are we even able to know ‘truth’?  Happily we can. For there is a standard which God has provided man: His Word. Only His Word can enabling man to discern truth based upon His divine and authoritative viewpoint and repudiate unreliable human viewpoint.

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[1] Wallace, D. B. (1996) Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, p. 321-323.

[2] Apokuéō in the Greek [ἀποκυέω] is a Present Active Indicative. The verb ‘brings forth’ is only used by James in the New Testament, here and in 1:18.

[3] Zodhiates, S. (2000). The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, G2288.

 

© 2023 David M. Rossi