As Christians we are called to be Christ-ian, to be
Christlike.
That begs the question, what is Christ like?
It’s possible to see six things that sustained Christ and
enabled him to be the person he was - it is those six things that we can draw
on in order to build up our Christian lives as well.
An interesting exercise to see how we are getting on in each
area of the Christian life – we did a very specific thing last week and asked
people to look back over the last week and just see how they are doing –
Prayer
Godly thoughts and Godly living
Relying on the Spirit
Making a difference in the world
Sharing God’s love
with others
Living out our faith every day.
Each week as we approach Advent we are going to focus on one
of those six elements and share some practical things we can do in order to
strengthen that element of our Christian lives.
Today, we begin with Prayer.
It’s fascinating to see the way in which you can trace the
importance of prayer in the life of Jesus … nowhere is that more apparent than
in Luke’s Gospel.
In Luke’s Gospel more than anywhere else he is seen drawing
on prayer at key moments in his life and ministry: before his baptism (3:21),
After all the people had been baptized,
Jesus also was baptized. While he was
praying, heaven was opened, 22and the Holy Spirit came down upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a
voice came from heaven, “You are my own dear Son. I am pleased with you.”
just before he comes
face to face with those Jewish leaders he opposes (5:16),
But the news about Jesus spread all the
more widely, and crowds of people came to hear him and be healed from their
diseases. 16But he would go away to lonely places, where he
prayed.
before choosing the Twelve Disciples (6:12),
At that time Jesus went up a hill to pray and spent the
whole night there praying to God. When day came, he called his disciples to
him and chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles:
before he shares with those close friends the inevitability
of his suffering and death (9:18).
One day when Jesus was praying alone, the
disciples came to him. “Who do the crowds say I am?” he asked them. 19“Some say that you are John the Baptist,” they answered. “Others say that
you are Elijah, while others say that one of the prophets of long ago has come
back to life.”
20“What about you?” he
asked them. “Who do you say I am?”
Peter answered, “You
are God's Messiah.”
21Then Jesus gave them
strict orders not to tell this to anyone. 22He also said to them, “The Son of
Man must suffer much and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
teachers of the Law. He will be put to death, but three days later he will be
raised to life.”
Jesus is seen at prayer on the mountain top when his
ministry is endorsed by Moses and Elijah (9:29),
While he was praying, his
face changed its appearance, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly
two men were there talking with him. They were Moses and Elijah, 31who appeared
in heavenly glory and talked with Jesus about the way in which he would soon
fulfil God's purpose by dying in Jerusalem
before he shared with his disciples his insights into prayer
(11:1),
One day Jesus was praying in a certain place.
When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to
pray, just as John taught his
disciples.”
in the Garden
of Gethsemane
Then he went off from
them about the distance of a stone's throw and knelt down and prayed. 42
“Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not
my will, however, but your will be done.”
and on the cross (23:46).
Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father! In your hands I place my spirit!” He said this and died.
At the last supper John
records a very special prayer of Jesus (John
17).
After Jesus finished
saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give
glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you.
2 For you gave him
authority over all humanity, so that he might give eternal life to all those
you gave him.
3 And eternal life
means knowing you, the only true God, and knowing Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
4 I have shown your
glory on earth; I have finished the work you gave me to do.
5 Father! Give me
glory in your presence now, the same glory I had with you before the world was
made.
6 “I have made you
known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave
them to me. They have obeyed your word,
7 and now they know
that everything you gave me comes from you.
8 I gave them the
message that you gave me, and they received it; they know that it is true that
I came from you, and they believe that you sent me.
9 “I pray for them. I
do not pray for the world but for those you gave me, for they belong to you.
10 All I have is
yours, and all you have is mine; and my glory is shown through them.
11 And now I am coming
to you; I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world. Holy Father!
Keep them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they
may be one just as you and I are one.
12 While I was with
them, I kept them safe by the power of your name, the name you gave me. I
protected them, and not one of them was lost, except the man who was bound to
be lost — so that the scripture might come true.
13 And now I am coming
to you, and I say these things in the world so that they might have my joy in
their hearts in all its fullness.
14 I gave them your
message, and the world hated them, because they do not belong to the world,
just as I do not belong to the world.
15 I do not ask you to
take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil
One.
16 Just as I do not
belong to the world, they do not belong to the world.
17 Dedicate them to
yourself by means of the truth; your word is truth.
18 I sent them into
the world, just as you sent me into the world.
19 And for their sake
I dedicate myself to you, in order that they, too, may be truly dedicated to
you.
20 “I pray not only
for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message.
21 I pray that they
may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in
you. May they be one, so that the world will believe that you sent me.
22 I gave them the
same glory you gave me, so that they may be one, just as you and I are one:
23 I in them and you
in me, so that they may be completely one, in order that the world may know
that you sent me and that you love them as you love me.
24 “Father! You have
given them to me, and I want them to be with me where I am, so that they may
see my glory, the glory you gave me; for you loved me before the world was
made.
25 Righteous Father!
The world does not know you, but I know you, and these know that you sent me.
26 I made you known to
them, and I will continue to do so, in order that the love you have for me may
be in them, and so that I also may be in them.”
It is this wonderfully close relationship in prayer that
Jesus has with his Father that prompts his disciples to ask Jesus to show them
how to pray (Luke 11:1-13)
One day Jesus was
praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to
him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John
taught his disciples.”
2 Jesus said to them,
“When you pray, say this: ‘Father: May your holy name be honoured; may your
Kingdom come. 3 Give us day by day the food we need.
4 Forgive us our sins,
for we forgive everyone who does us wrong. And do not bring us to hard
testing.’ ”
5 And Jesus said to
his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight
and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread.
6 A friend of mine who
is on a journey has just come to my house, and I haven't got any food for him!’
7 And suppose your
friend should answer from inside, ‘Don't bother me! The door is already locked,
and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.’
8 Well, what then? I
tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are
his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are
not ashamed to keep on asking.
9 “And so I say to
you: ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door
will be opened to you.
10 For all those who
ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to
anyone who knocks.
11 Would any of you
who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish?
12 Or would you give
him a scorpion when he asks for an egg?
13 Bad as you are, you
know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the
Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him
As you read through
the story of Jesus, especially as Luke tells it, but also in the other Gospels
as well you cannot help but sense that prayer was fundamentally important to
Jesus – it was more than anything what sustained him in the life he led, the
ministry he shared, in all he did.
I want to home in on one of those moments – and I want to
turn to Mark’s Gospel for his account of what happened – and so we turn to Mark
14:32-36 and what happened in the Garden
of Gethsemane
They came to a place
called Gethsemane , and Jesus said to his
disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
33 He took Peter,
James, and John with him. Distress
and anguish came over him,
34 and he said to
them, “The sorrow in my heart is so great that it almost crushes me. Stay here
and keep watch.”
35 He went a little
farther on, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that, if possible, he might
not have to go through that time of suffering.
36 “Father,” he
prayed, “my Father! All things are possible for you. Take this cup of suffering
away from me. Yet not what I want, but what you want.”
I just want you to share with the person next to you – what
impresses you most about this passage?
In the workbook that Karen has shared with us for these few
Sundays [James Bryan Smith with Lynda
Graybeal, A Spiritual Formation Workbook
– a Renovaré Resource for Spiritual Renewal)
the writers draw our attention to verse 36.
First, Jesus has a complete confidence in God
All things are possible for you
Second, Jesus is absolutely honest in his prayer …
Take this cup of suffering away from me.
Third, Jesus puts himself completely into God’s hands and
wants simply to do the will of God
Yet not what I want, but what you want.”
So, if we are to be Christ-like what practical things could
we do this coming week to strengthen our prayer life?
- Set aside five to ten minutes each day for prayer: read and reflect on a Bible verse, simply talk with God … and in silence, listen.
- Spend five to ten minutes each day in silence – as very close friends can communicate without words, so too in silence we can be in the presence of God.
- Pray the same prayer for ten minutes each day: ‘the idea is to focus our thoughts on God so that God can enter our heart. See below.
- Try the Lectio Divina approach described by Angela Ashwin in “Woven into Prayer”
Quieten yourself with a few deep breaths.
Meditation: stay
with those words and repeat them peacefully to yourself aloud or in your mind
and reflect on what God is saying through this text.
Verbal Response:
in response talk to God in whatever way you want.
Contemplation:
move into quiet communion with God, resting in his presence, coming back to
those words.
Faithful One, so Unchanging
On the order of service sheet I have suggested a number of
passages that you might use to do this simple reflection …
Psalms:
23, 46, 100
any or all the verses
Promises
of Jesus
Matthew 11:28-30
Mark 10:45
Luke 15:24
Words
of Blessing
Romans 11:33,36
2 Corinthians 1:3,4
Ephesians 3:18-19
Philippians 4:4-7 or 8-9
The
Jesus Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on
me.
We are going to select one of those and do a very simple
Lectio Divina exercise. Using the guidelines in Angela Ashwin, Woven into Prayer
First, sit comfortably – and then take some deep breaths in
your own time – breathing out, and breathing in.
As I read the words of 2 Corinthians 1:3-4 listen out for
any particular words that catch your attention.
“See if any word leaps out at you, or seems to be particularly apt for
you today. Try not to analyse it – there
will be a chance for that later.
Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ,
the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes!
He helps us in all our troubles,
so that we are able to help others who have all kinds of
troubles,
using the same help that we ourselves have received from
God.
Meditation: stay
with those words and repeat them peacefully to yourself aloud or in your mind
and reflect on what God is saying through this text. “Allow the word or phrase to find its way to
your inner being.”
Verbal Response:
in response talk to God in whatever way you want, in response to what has been
offered to you.
Contemplation:
move into quiet communion with God, resting in his presence, gently coming back
to those words whenever your mind wanders.
Put all those things into the hands of God – not what I
want, but what you want. In the name of
Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.
Hymn What a friend we have in Jesus
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