SCRIPTURE TEXT Matthew 6:5-13
Prayer is religion in action.
Prayer is as old as civilization itself. Man has always found much which perplexed him, natural phenomena he could not explain. To help release himself from the fear of the unknown, primitive man often placed his faith in ONE who could help. In the beginning he prayed to fire, wind, the moon and the sun; thunder lightning streams, lakes, mountains, and trees. He attained communion with "another" who could bring about something that man alone could not achieve.
Man today is still beset by problems, anxieties and fears fears as binding as those man has faced through the ages. Although science has given him many answers, he is still surrounded by much that bewilders him.
This was the condition of the disciples in out scripture reading.
The disciples seeing and realizing that Christ spent much time in prayer, and witnessing the fact that Christ received great spiritual strength from his communion with the heavenly Father, desired also to pray after this manner. On various occasions they desired that Christ should teach them to pray. It is natural that they should have this desire, for all men should pray. God made man to be in communion with Himself, He did this first of all because He cherishes that communion. But the importance of prayer lies in the further fact that man is dependent upon God. Men ought to pray always because one single step apart from His wisdom and gracious providence would start man in the direction of destruction.
Jesus first of all set the pattern for prayer in verse 5-7. We are not to stand and pray to be seen of men. Rather we are to pray to our father in secret. He tells us our prayers should be communion with God not just a recital. And he tells us our Father knows our needs and will honor the fervent prayer of a righteous man. Prayer is not to inform God or persuade him. He knows and loves us, but he has set prayer as a mysterious law of approach to him. It has something that prepares the way for the answer. The important distinction in this connection is that, although we should pray, we must put our trust in God rather than trusting in prayer. The question may follow, why should we have to ask him or tell him if he know?
The simple answer is that God has made it a law, in a sense as truly a law as the law of gravity. It is a prescribed method of approach to our Maker, and we may assume that there is something in the very effect of prayer that prepares us to receive the blessing we seek. Two of the universal requirements for victorious prayer are clean hands and a humble heart. In I John 3:22 we read that we have a standing access to answered prayer, if we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
And so Jesus tells them beginning in verse 9 when you pray, pray then like this--. And so he gave to us what we call today the Lord's Prayer, it is brief as prayer goes, it is simple and meaningful. The prayer begins by declaring God as our heavenly Father. This was Christ' usual address to God when he prayed. he establishes God as the divine Ruler and Maker and enthrones his name with the words "hallowed be Thy name". Our Father is the highest and dearest name we know, embracing both father and mother and embodying both justice and mercy. Our first petition then is-- Hallowed be Thy name. The second and third petitions-- Thy kingdom com, Thy will be done.
God's kingdom cannot come to man until man does God's will. Thus we petition that God's will be accomplished in our lives that His kingdom may come. This should be a joyous petition, for the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace.
The fourth petition-- Give us this day our daily bread.-- This prayer is concerned with our day by day needs both temporal and spiritual. The bread that we seek is bread for the body and bread for the soul. This is supplied to us in direct proportion to our submission to God's will.
The fifth petition-- And forgive us our debts, as we forgive or debtors.-- We seek in this prayer forgiveness of sin, both sin against God and sin against our fellow-man. Forgive us our debts-- but along with this is the prayer, as we forgive or debtors. The two forgivenesses go together, we cannot hope to obtain forgiveness if we refuse to forgive. An unforgiving spirit closes God out of our lives. He is ready to forgive but often we are not ready to be forgiven. Eph. 4:32 tells us: "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted forgiving one another, even as God for Christ' sake hath forgiven you."
The sixth petition-- And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. This prayer is probably best explained as the plea of conscious weakness. We do need testing. It is no sin to be tempted, it is sin only when we fall prey to temptation. This prayer admits our weakness and asks God's help for deliverance.
For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. amen.
This ascription to the Lord's Prayer was almost certainly not in the original prayer. But we may be glad for the addition. This doxology of the Lord's Prayer is the churches praise for his risen power.
No one has yet exhausted the power of prayer in a lifetime.
"Your contribution," says Dr. Laubach, "can be titanic beyond all imagination. It depends upon one thing only-- how much time and heart and mind and soul and strength and prayer to give to God's world task."
And so in this manner Christ taught his disciples and us to pray.
Man ought always to pray-- Luke18:1-8 says "and he (Jesus) told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said in a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man, and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying vindicate me against my adversary; for a while he refused, but afterwards he said to himself, though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming."
And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily."
We too can talk with God-- for ourself --that our experience of Christ right now may be as fresh and vital as the air we breathe.
For others that we right now may share the concern of Christ for others.
For the world-- that continuing peace of Christ may become the peace of the whole world.
Finally-- see that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another, and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Let us join in prayer-- Dear Lord, who makest all the commandments of the law to consist in love toward God and toward man, grant to us so to love Thee with all our heart, with all our mind, and all our soul, and our neighbor as ourselves, that the grace of charity and brotherly love may dwell in us, and all envy, harshness, and ill will may die in us. And we beseech Thee, so to fill our hearts with true affections that by constantly rejoicing in the happiness and good success of others, by sympathizing with them in their sorrows, and by putting away all harsh judgments and envious thoughts we may follow Thee, who art the Way the Truth and the Life. In Jesus name--
Amen.
Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit and go with you.
Amen.
Nottingham Methodist Church 7/14/1963 -- Evening
Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
What is a Methodist
Scripture Text J.B Phillips
The Letter to Ephesus 2:1-10, pg 412-13
To each Methodist layman the organization of his own local church seems more important than the big over all structure of Methodism as a whole. This is understandable. He lives his life in the local church, attends to it's finances, and if he is a Steward, Trustee, or other church officer, he has a direct part to play in the church work. He knows in a general way the Methodist Church is a big institution with bishops and boards, with conferences and huge budgets. But too often the average layman feels that the Methodist organization is too complicated for him to understand; and because he does not necessarily have to understand it, he is inclined to dismiss it from further thought.
Yet it is not too difficult to understand and every methodist should know in a general way how it functions.
The Methodist Church, though large, is a closely knit organization. The basic unit of organization is the local church, or "charge", as it has been called in Methodism. A charge may be one or more local churches. If it is one it is termed a station charge, if more than one it is a circuit charge.
Charges are grouped geographically into districts each supervised by a minister known as the District Superintendent. Districts in turn compose a larger grouping, called the Annual Conference. This is presided over by a Bishop.
Annual Conferences in turn make up larger regional divisions known as Jurisdictions, of which there are six in the United States.
Who then are the people that comprise the Methodist Church?
A Methodist is the postman, the baker, the garbage man, your neighbor, your employer, your fellow-workmen, your closest friend. Methodists are peoples of all walks of life, and of all races.
But they are Methodist in varying degrees. To illustrate what I mean let me quote an often heard statement it goes something like this, "I don't have to go to church, I can be just as good, better than some of those hypocrites that belong to your church." The sad part of this is that we could not completely deny this statement, for we do have in the Methodist Churches varying degrees of Methodist members. This statement however is material for a sermon of it's own which we will not take up at this time.
Let us ask ourselves what is the cause of this varying degree of response to the total responsibility of the member to the Church. Is it because people are uninformed about their church? Is the church lax in it's responsibility to supply proper education and opportunity for learning? I think not. Is it possible that we repeat the Apostle's Creed Sunday after Sunday without an understanding of the belief and faith interpreted to us in it?
It is my opinion that it is not because the church does not make proper effort to inform people, but rather it is the people who do not make the effort. Learn.
They are to busy as a general rule to even make an effort to come together in Christian fellowship in more than a Sunday morning service.
It seems to be a an ever widening and disturbing belief, disturbing to me, on the part of many church people to feel that they have met their obligation to church if they manage to attend four Sunday mornings out of five. Really it makes as much sense as the nursery rhyme that has Little Jack Horner sticking his thumb and pulling out a plum and saying what a good boy am I.
I would term church attendance with this attitude, coming before god with nothing, if you come with nothing, not expecting or seeking, you go away as you came with nothing. If we were to come with real old Methodist zeal we would be found often in the house of the Lord seeking his will and serving as he calls us.
One of the best known and most often quoted sayings of John Wesley, was that in which he describes the Methodist as "the friend of all and the enemies of none". It seems to me we have gone far--far afield from the spirit of this quote in our modern world. At every point of life we are faced with conflicts of interest and motive. Men are grouped together in opposing camps, nations against nations, class against class, neighbor against neighbor. It seems at times that we forget that no man can unto himself, everybody influences us and we influence everybody we meet. We are the only Bible that many people ever read.
Again I ask who is a Methodist, and I would reply he is all these people we have mentioned. But he is yet some thing more. Let me illustrate what I mean with a story told by Dr. Baker in one of his books. He speaks of a friend of his who when presented with enlistment form in the first World War, entered in the space opposite religion the word "Christian". It caused confusion amounting to havoc at the local recruiting office, and they brought him the form to amend. "But I don't wish to alter it", he protested. "It is as a Christian I desire to be entered". They told him this was impossible because they did not have that category on the form.
But I say to you a Methodist is also a Christian.
A Methodist is a Christian who believes in regeneration, the new birth, through which one becomes a child of God. In the witness of the Holy Spirit that seals him as a Child of God. He believes in the possibility of final perfection, that he can be "made perfect in love" in this life. He believes in the doctrine of repentance, that he has a Godly sorrow for sin committed coupled with a will to sin no more. He believes in the universality of redemption--that Christ died for all, not simply a chosen few.
He believes in Justification by Faith, that it is by God's grace that we are saved. Faith is the lever here. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. (EPH 2:8) First God offers, then we believe, then we accept. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
Methodism like the whole Christian religion is the fruit of man's response to God's initiative.
It is not required of a Methodist that he hold fast to a set form of rules and regulations. The Methodist Church is noted as a Church that "thinks" and let's think.
And yet if we as Methodist, as a church, would make our mark here for Jesus we must learn of him, we must hid his word in our hearts, we must learn all we can, for if we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ we must be willing to put loyalty to him above everything else.
We must be Christian, Mothers teaching Gods word to our children, we must be fathers with a faithful witness. We must be children at work and play who have the Love of Christ in our hearts. We must be workers who have a concern and compassion for all our fellowmen around the world. If we are to count for as Methodist and Christian we must "stand for Christ". All the waking hours of everyday. We must show Christ in our lives always.
Our watch word must be
"Christ Above all"
AND FOR ALL
Nottingham Methodist Church 1961, Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio
The Letter to Ephesus 2:1-10, pg 412-13
To each Methodist layman the organization of his own local church seems more important than the big over all structure of Methodism as a whole. This is understandable. He lives his life in the local church, attends to it's finances, and if he is a Steward, Trustee, or other church officer, he has a direct part to play in the church work. He knows in a general way the Methodist Church is a big institution with bishops and boards, with conferences and huge budgets. But too often the average layman feels that the Methodist organization is too complicated for him to understand; and because he does not necessarily have to understand it, he is inclined to dismiss it from further thought.
Yet it is not too difficult to understand and every methodist should know in a general way how it functions.
The Methodist Church, though large, is a closely knit organization. The basic unit of organization is the local church, or "charge", as it has been called in Methodism. A charge may be one or more local churches. If it is one it is termed a station charge, if more than one it is a circuit charge.
Charges are grouped geographically into districts each supervised by a minister known as the District Superintendent. Districts in turn compose a larger grouping, called the Annual Conference. This is presided over by a Bishop.
Annual Conferences in turn make up larger regional divisions known as Jurisdictions, of which there are six in the United States.
Who then are the people that comprise the Methodist Church?
A Methodist is the postman, the baker, the garbage man, your neighbor, your employer, your fellow-workmen, your closest friend. Methodists are peoples of all walks of life, and of all races.
But they are Methodist in varying degrees. To illustrate what I mean let me quote an often heard statement it goes something like this, "I don't have to go to church, I can be just as good, better than some of those hypocrites that belong to your church." The sad part of this is that we could not completely deny this statement, for we do have in the Methodist Churches varying degrees of Methodist members. This statement however is material for a sermon of it's own which we will not take up at this time.
Let us ask ourselves what is the cause of this varying degree of response to the total responsibility of the member to the Church. Is it because people are uninformed about their church? Is the church lax in it's responsibility to supply proper education and opportunity for learning? I think not. Is it possible that we repeat the Apostle's Creed Sunday after Sunday without an understanding of the belief and faith interpreted to us in it?
It is my opinion that it is not because the church does not make proper effort to inform people, but rather it is the people who do not make the effort. Learn.
They are to busy as a general rule to even make an effort to come together in Christian fellowship in more than a Sunday morning service.
It seems to be a an ever widening and disturbing belief, disturbing to me, on the part of many church people to feel that they have met their obligation to church if they manage to attend four Sunday mornings out of five. Really it makes as much sense as the nursery rhyme that has Little Jack Horner sticking his thumb and pulling out a plum and saying what a good boy am I.
I would term church attendance with this attitude, coming before god with nothing, if you come with nothing, not expecting or seeking, you go away as you came with nothing. If we were to come with real old Methodist zeal we would be found often in the house of the Lord seeking his will and serving as he calls us.
One of the best known and most often quoted sayings of John Wesley, was that in which he describes the Methodist as "the friend of all and the enemies of none". It seems to me we have gone far--far afield from the spirit of this quote in our modern world. At every point of life we are faced with conflicts of interest and motive. Men are grouped together in opposing camps, nations against nations, class against class, neighbor against neighbor. It seems at times that we forget that no man can unto himself, everybody influences us and we influence everybody we meet. We are the only Bible that many people ever read.
Again I ask who is a Methodist, and I would reply he is all these people we have mentioned. But he is yet some thing more. Let me illustrate what I mean with a story told by Dr. Baker in one of his books. He speaks of a friend of his who when presented with enlistment form in the first World War, entered in the space opposite religion the word "Christian". It caused confusion amounting to havoc at the local recruiting office, and they brought him the form to amend. "But I don't wish to alter it", he protested. "It is as a Christian I desire to be entered". They told him this was impossible because they did not have that category on the form.
But I say to you a Methodist is also a Christian.
A Methodist is a Christian who believes in regeneration, the new birth, through which one becomes a child of God. In the witness of the Holy Spirit that seals him as a Child of God. He believes in the possibility of final perfection, that he can be "made perfect in love" in this life. He believes in the doctrine of repentance, that he has a Godly sorrow for sin committed coupled with a will to sin no more. He believes in the universality of redemption--that Christ died for all, not simply a chosen few.
He believes in Justification by Faith, that it is by God's grace that we are saved. Faith is the lever here. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. (EPH 2:8) First God offers, then we believe, then we accept. "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."
Methodism like the whole Christian religion is the fruit of man's response to God's initiative.
It is not required of a Methodist that he hold fast to a set form of rules and regulations. The Methodist Church is noted as a Church that "thinks" and let's think.
And yet if we as Methodist, as a church, would make our mark here for Jesus we must learn of him, we must hid his word in our hearts, we must learn all we can, for if we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ we must be willing to put loyalty to him above everything else.
We must be Christian, Mothers teaching Gods word to our children, we must be fathers with a faithful witness. We must be children at work and play who have the Love of Christ in our hearts. We must be workers who have a concern and compassion for all our fellowmen around the world. If we are to count for as Methodist and Christian we must "stand for Christ". All the waking hours of everyday. We must show Christ in our lives always.
Our watch word must be
"Christ Above all"
AND FOR ALL
Nottingham Methodist Church 1961, Nottingham Village, Cleveland, Ohio
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