Unanswered Prayers and the Glory of God

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". . .true answers to prayer are those that bring the greatest glory to God, not those that satisfy my immediate desires." - Paul G. Hiebert

Hiebert tells the story of his missionary experience in India.  A child in the local village was ill and the village decided to make animal sacrifices to a local goddess, Meuseum, the goddess of small pox.  The Christian missionaries in the community initially refused to comply with the request of the villagers as such a sacrifice to false god is prohibited by Christian practice.  When the Christians in the area attempted to compromise and offer meat for the sacrifice without participating in the sacrificial ritual itself, a local Christian Indian refused to let them do so.  Christian missionaries were unable to purchase food in the markets or draw water from the local wells as punishment because Meuseum required all members of the community to participate in the sacrifice if healing were to occur.  The Christian Indian and Hiebert prayed for healing for the little girl, but it was to no avail; the girl died.

Hiebert felt incredibly defeated.  One looks at the biblical examples of the true God versus false gods and sees God demonstrate His power time and time again, winning the hearts of those who oppose Him.  Hiebert's unanswered prayer caused him doubts: "Who was I to be a missionary if I could not pray for healing and receive a positive answer?"(1)

During a visit with the Christian Indian, Hiebert noticed his sense of joy and victory.  Hiebert, defeated and frustrated, questioned the local as to the source of his triumph.  He replied thusly: "The village would have acknowledged the power of our God had he healed the child, but they knew in the end she would have to die.  When they saw in the funeral our hope of resurrection and reunion in heaven, they say an even greater victory - over death itself - and they have begun to ask about the Christian way." (2)

Hiebert notes that it is "too easy to make Christianity a new magic in which we as gods can make God do our bidding."  He concludes with the quote which opened this post: "I began to realize in a new way that true answers to prayer are those that bring the greatest glory to God, not those that satisfy my immediate desires.” (3)

The Scriptures teach that we can ask for anything in accordance with the will of God and it will be given to us (cf. 1 John 5:14-15).  Yet our experiences of asking and not receiving tell us that we cannot ask for whatever we desire and have it given to us each and every time.  An argument of those who oppose Christianity is the seeming divorce between our experiences and the concepts taught by the Scriptures.  If God says ask and receive, yet you do not receive, how can the words of your God be true?

There are many who solve this problem by stating that the person praying lacks the type of faith that moves God.  While there are verses that indicate faith certainly has an active role in the supplication process, we must be careful not to slip into an anthropomorphic system of prayer in which the faith of the believer is more powerful than the object of that faith: the one, true living God.  God cannot be manipulated into answering a prayer because of a person has prayed the right words, quoted the right Scriptures, and applied the promises of Scripture as he or she sees fit to a given situation.

A farmer prays for rain because of a drought in the Midwest killing his crops and thus his livelihood and a vacationer prays for good weather to enjoy his trip to a theme park in the same area on the same day.  When it rains, whom has God failed?  In our limited knowledge, we vacationers cannot cast stones at God for not answering our prayer nor can our friends (like the friends of Job) come along and cast stones at us for our supposed lack of faith.  What result will bring the greatest glory to God?

Contemporary theologies, particularly of the prosperity variety, imply (and sometimes explicitly teach) that God is glorified when He answers our requests.  How human-centered and selfish!  This is not Christianity, but a brand of pagan magic in which God is moved by spells of supposed promises and our verbose ramblings (cf. Matthew 6:7, “babble like pagans”).  Only God is in the position to answer what brings Him glory!  Hence, John writes that when we ask in accordance with God’s will He grants our requests for God can truly know what and who will glorify Him.

The next apparent question, “How can we ask in accordance to God’s will?” is the wrong question if we ask only to discover the secret to getting what we want out of God.  The right question is “How can my requests honor God in my life?”  And if our requests are not given to us, we ask how we can glorify God in the resultant situations.  The native Christian Indian glorified God during the death of the village girl, rather than mourning an unanswered prayer as Hiebert had done.  And the Christian Indian experienced the blessing of sharing the gospel with those perplexed at such joy!  Anyone can offer a bull and say a prayer to get what they want, but only a person filled with the Spirit of God can walk with confidence, triumph, and peace when prayers go unanswered. 

Unanswered prayers need not discourage us.  They present another opportunity to trust the Lord and glorify Him in a world that is watching us with an eye of scrutiny and skepticism.  I understand that there are times that seemingly unanswered prayers result in hurt and confusion; this hurt and confusion is a topic for future elaboration.  The point here is as follows: when we place God and His glory at the center of our prayer lives, we will see our prayers answered for our requests will be for increased means to glorify God in all situations.  “God, I want do your will and glorify you in the midst of it.”  This is a prayer that God will always answer.  We pray this before, during, and after all other prayers, so when the preferred reply is not given, the conduct of the supplicant will reflect Spirit given peace and glorify God.

________
(1) Paul G. Hiebert, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle,” in Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader 4th ed. (Pasadena: William Carey Library: 2009): 414.

(2) Ibid.

(3) Ibid.

Story from: Paul G. Hiebert, “The Flaw of the Excluded Middle,” in Ralph D. Winter and Steven C. Hawthorne, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement: A Reader 4th ed. (Pasadena: William Carey Library: 2009): 407-414.

Philippians: There is so much in a biblical greeting

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I am beginning a study of Philippians, not for seminary or for preaching, though the study will assist me in both of those duties.  It is easy to substitute seminary study and sermon preparation for my own devotional reading, but my spiritual walk has declined in allowing such a practice.  Therefore, I am studying Philippians for my own growth and closeness with God.  Before I begin sharing my thoughts and notes, some background information is necessary for at least a minimally informed study.

The letter of Philippians was written to the church at Philippi, a major city located in Macedonia, by the Apostle Paul in approximately AD 61.  The Philippian Church was established by Paul in AD 50 during his second missionary journey.  The Philippian Christians were generous towards Paul, supporting him financially while he was imprisoned for sharing the gospel.  A gift was carried to Paul by a man named Epaphroditus, who had been charged by the Philippians to minister to Paul with acts of service.  Epaphroditus became incredibly ill when serving Paul, which greatly delayed his return to the Philippian Church.  Due to a probable miscommunication, Epaphroditus was highly concerned about returning to Philippi.  Perhaps he thought that his illness and delay was a disappointment to the church or there may have been those suspicious if Epaphroditus was ill at all.  Paul instructs the Philippians to receive Epaphroditus as a man of honor, reassuring that his illness was certainly significant.  The letter was not sent to the Philippians as a thanks for the gift; far too much time had passed and an immediate note of gratitude was likely sent.  Rather, the more likely reason for Paul's letter was to prepare them for Timothy's visit, to share his desire to visit the church once again, and to address the issue of two quarreling women who were causing church tensions.

Philippians 1:1-2: "Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Firstly, we note that Paul and Timothy are identified as the authors of the letter, though scholars are certain that the letter is only written by Paul.  Timothy was a well known church leader, was planning to visit Philippi,  served with Paul, and may have been Paul's amanuensis (or scribe).  Paul identifies himself as a servant of Christ Jesus, an expression of humility compared to his other letters where he immediately identifies himself as an apostle.  We see that Paul is careful with his choice of words towards the Philippians; he is not asserting authority but is demonstrating humility by referring to himself as a servant while highlighting the supremacy of Christ Jesus.

The word "saint" is a highly debated word, particularly between Catholics and Protestants.  We must allow the Bible to speak for itself and not project our own theology onto the Scriptures.  The Greek term for saint, hagiois, is preceded by the term pasin meaning "to all."  Therefore, there is no separation from one person or another.  "To all the saints at Philippi" with no special emphasis on the term pasin (all) indicates that Paul is not writing to a spiritual elite.  These were not "canonized" individuals who achieved a saintly status postmortem; rather, they were very much an alive people with ongoing issues and happenings in their church.  We must remember that Paul often refers to Christians as "saints," not because of their personal piety but because they are spiritually unified with Christ, who is perfectly holy and righteous.  Since there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1) and those who place their faith in Jesus are now "in Christ" (Romans 6:11), we can rightly conclude that the sainthood of Christians is not earned by their merit but by their relationship with Christ Jesus.  Therefore, "all saints" is truly addressed to every single believer at the Church at Philippi.

The use of the terms overseer (a better translation is bishops) and deacons is interesting because it teaches that there were New Testament offices of leadership.  Paul's recognition and separation of them from the remainder of the church implies that Paul not only recognizes their authority, but he reinforces and respects it.  Let us remember that Paul is the highest earthly authority for the Philippian Church; he founded the church himself and taught many of the Philippians the gospel.  Regardless, he does not dismiss the authority that is in place - he supports it.  This reinforcement and respect for authority in the church seems to be an extension of Paul's humility in the earlier part of the greeting (where he chooses not to assert his authority as an apostle).  We can then tentatively conclude that the letter's initial tone is likely one of respect and fondness.  As an aside, while these church offices were established at Philippi, there is no command thus far that we must establish our churches in the same way.  There is not a prescriptive statement; no command is given.  Rather, we see this as an illustration of a means by which we may set up a church's positions of authority.

We note that Paul greets the saints with grace and peace.  The usual Greek greeting in a letter (chairein) is replaced with a spiritual greeting (charis), noting the grace or mercy a sinner receives from "God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ."  This greeting is a reminder that all are lost and that grace and mercy (redemption) comes from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Note that both the Father and the Son are involved in delivering grace and mercy, which presents quite the challenge to those that deny the deity of Jesus.  Both figures are required for the saving of sinners and both figures are together issuing grace and mercy.

Lastly, note that Jesus' name is repeated three times in the greeting alone. This repetition of Jesus' name is an expression of Paul's Christ-centered theology.  Jesus is the center of Paul's writings, ministry, and theology.

There are some principles we can glean from this one verse for our own lives today:

1. When we address others, we do not need to impress them with our authority.  For instance, to consistently remind others that you are the pastor, the small group leader, or the person in charge of "thus and so" may not always be the most effective means to reach people.  While there are times when asserting our authority may be helpful as it may contribute to our credibility or our decision making power (i.e., "I'm your mother, you need to listen to me" or "I'm the pastor, of course I can answer questions for you"), such assertion may not always be necessary.  If the most superior apostle can leave out his title, we can too.

2. No matter what authority we have, we are firstly servants of Christ Jesus.  We are freed slaves (to sin) who now have the ability to worship God.  We must never allow our positions of influence to cause us to think more highly of ourselves than sinners unnecessarily redeemed by the work of another (Christ Jesus).  Like Paul, we must identify ourselves as Jesus' servants.

3.  Remember that we are saints and all those who follow after Christ are saints as well.  Regard one another and yourself in a manner becoming of a saint, but do not allow such saintliness to develop moral superiority or pious arrogance.  Recall application number 2 - we are sinners who are redeemed, yet our attitude of joy and the relief of forgiveness must cause us to be rejoicing sinners, not down-trodden self-defeatists.

4. We are to respect  the authority in place, even if we ourselves established the authority.  If we are the boss and we place someone in charge of a project, we are not to usurp their authority or undermine them.

5. Grace and peace come from the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.  If we are in need of either or both, we can find them in the loving arms of God.  We cannot have peace by embracing God the Father but rejecting Jesus or by loving Jesus and ignoring the righteous Father.

All this from two verses.  I am always amazed by how much we can glean from the Scriptures when we study them in their original languages.  I am indebted to H.A. Kent, Jr. and his commentary for the information regarding Greek translations and the background of the letter.

God bless us and help us as we seek to understand His word and apply it to our lives.

References:

Kent, Jr., Homer A. Philippians: Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1978.