SS Lesson 12: Love Stories: Pastor Paul Penno.mov

SS 12 Expanded: Love Stories: Pastor Paul Penno.mov

GOD AS ARTIST

GOD AS ARTIST

“The great Master Artist calls our attention to the soulless flowers of the field, pointing out the beautiful tints and the wonderful variety of shades one flower may possess. Thus God has revealed His skill and care. Thus He would show the great love He has for every human being.

“Every flower is an expression of the love of God” (Letter 24, 1899). {5BC 1086.9}

“Educate the children and youth to consider the works of the great Master Artist, and to imitate the attractive graces of nature in their character building. As the love of God wins their hearts, let them bring into their lives the beauty of holiness. So shall they use their capabilities to bless others and to honor God.” {CG 48, 49}

Think about your Elder Brother, the Son of God who became the Son of man. The Bible says He was a “carpenter.” The Greek word is TEKTON from which we get our word “tectonic.” Jesus was no bumbling rough carpenter; He was an architect and building contractor (look up the word in your dictionary). At 30 years of age He was capable of being the biggest, most successful architect and building contractor in Galilee, the richest man. But when He came to His last hour He had nothing to bequeath of His wealth except His clothing. He had said that the foxes have their holes and the birds their nests, but He had not where to lay His head. He gave all He had. Let’s “remember” Him.

It’s a never failing encouragement to “arise and go down to the potter’s house . . . to hear [the Lord’s] words” (Jer. 18:2).

(a) You are a “vessel” He has been forming on the potter’s wheel. He has a happy purpose for you to be useful in His great work of lighting the earth with the glory of His “everlasting gospel” message.

(b) No matter who you are, as a vessel you have in some way been “marred,” because “all” of us “have sinned, and [do] come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The only “vessel” the Potter has succeeded in turning on His wheel that has turned out perfect is Jesus Christ Himself. His experience on the “wheel” is illustrated in Isaiah 50:4, 5, where the Father awakened Jesus “morning by morning . . . to hear as the learned.” The Father taught Him during those early hours. He constantly resisted our temptation to be “rebellious” and “turn away back.”

(c) The divine Savior-Potter never throws any marred vessel (us) in the trash, no matter how lowly it may have become in its being “marred.” There’s always a useful purpose left that you and I can serve. There is the “good news” encouragement.

(d) Always the Potter “[makes] it again into another vessel, as it seem[s] good to the Potter to make” (v. 4). This is redemption in action.

(e) Every “vessel” is made to receive something, from which it can be poured out in some act of service to others. It’s a container to be filled and emptied continuously.

(f) But the “vessels” are living beings who have been given freedom of choice who can “resist God’s will.” “But who are you, my friend” asks Paul, “to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” (Rom. 9:19, 20, GNB).

(g) Obviously, the “clay pot” needs to be reconciled in heart to the Potter! This is accomplished in an amazing way.

(h) The Potter Himself has become clay; the Son of God Himself has emptied Himself in those seven steps of condescension in Philippians 2:5-8, “even [to] the death of the cross” which involved enduring being “made” the “curse of God” (cf. Gal. 3:13). Tried and tempted, feeling “forsaken” by God, He has known to the full what no other human being in history has known to the full—what it feels like for the Potter to throw someone into the trash. He “took” upon His sinless nature our “sinful flesh” that He might “in every way be tempted that we are, but did not sin” (Heb 4:15). Then He died the world’s “second death” for every man (2:9), so that no one of us might have to feel what it’s like to be thrown in the eternal trash heap (cf. Rev. 20:15).

(i) Each of us is an empty vessel each new morning of life. But “God has poured out His love [agape] into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us” (Rom. 5:5, GNB). He fills each empty, willing vessel.

Jesus said something very strange that has puzzled many people since the day He said it: “Whosoever shall fall on this Stone [Himself, His history as Saviour of the world] shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Mt. 21:44).

The leaders of the nation were planning to kill Him; Caiaphas, the high priest, hated Him; Pilate the Roman governor would deliver Him, knowing He was innocent, to death; and King Herod would agree to His death. The greatest judicial travesty in all history! Jesus had just reminded them of the well-known story of building Solomon’s temple. One large stone had baffled the workmen—they couldn’t figure out where to put it and they abandoned it in the weeds, to the heat of summer and the frost of winter and the storms. Finally they discovered that it was the “head stone of the corner,” where it proved to be an exact fit. So, said Jesus, He is the “head stone which the builders rejected.”

So far, it is clear. But why the idea of anyone “falling on the Stone and being broken”? Well, Peter was an example of such a person. Arrogant and proud, he was sure he would never give in to pressure and deny his Lord, but before the rooster crowed in the morning he had denied Jesus three times. Peter wept bitterly when he realized the sinfulness of his own heart. His repentance was deep. He “fell upon the Stone and was broken.” The love of self was broken up; his heart was broken. It was reported in early times that ever afterward there was a tear glistening in his eyes. On the other hand, look at Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod: all they have is the final judgment. Christ will not grind them to powder—what will do it is their own history. He will not say a word to condemn them in that final judgment; they will do it themselves. They will salvage nothing for eternity.

A wise writer has used this text about the Stone in appealing to church members to let the Holy Spirit melt their proud hearts, and to teachers in Christian schools whose self-centered pride hides Jesus from the view of their students, and to ministers and church leaders who repeat Peter’s denial of Christ. It’s an either/or judgment we all face: self must be humbled eventually. Either “by our own voluntary choice to take up the cross on which self is crucified,” or to go on making self the center of our heart’s devotion. The former calls for tears of melted-heart repentance now; the latter points to “powder” being blown away like dust in a windstorm, an eternal record of nothingness. Herod, Caiaphas, and Pilate have given us an expensive object lesson.

Then David’s psalm goes on to offer encouragement: “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing and it is marvelous in our eyes” (Ps. 118:22, 23). Its builders despised the most important stone in Solomon’s temple at first! It lay out in the weather, abandoned and resented. Christ applied the text as a prophecy to Himself (Mt. 21:42); it also was fulfilled in Wycliffe’s subsequent history; but as a principle it applies to God’s work in these last days. No “stone” can become the “headstone” of the “temple” unless it is first “rejected by the builders”! In other words, a repentance on the part of “the builders,” the leaders of” “the church of the Laodiceans,” must precede the finishing of the great gospel commission (Rev. 3:14, 19; 18:1-4). The Good News is that it is certain; and it will be “marvelous in our eyes.” Thank God for eyes that can see it—for a life redeemed from the accident wreckage! (And you? If you but knew it, you too are “alive from the dead”).

Back to that “lost” temple stone out in the weeds, that “the builders refused” which finally ended up in the most honorable place in Solomon’s Temple: please don’t think of the “builders” as evil men; no, not at all. They sincerely desired to see the great Temple finished; but they were ignorant, uninformed; thought themselves “rich and increased with architectural skill.” In the end when the “stone” of “most precious” truth is recovered and fitted in place, all will see that “it is the Lord’s doing,” not in any way the cleverness or goodness of faithfulness of man. Then will be heard the glad anthem, “We will rejoice and be glad” (Ps. 118:24), like the glad Hallelujah choruses of Rev 19:1-9. The day is coming! The Lord give us grace to let Him hold our hand until then!

In the early centuries there was some serious talk that the Book of Hebrews doesn’t belong in the Bible. Even today in the year 2000 some dear Christian people don’t like the main theme of the Book of Hebrews: perfection of character. They say it’s impossible, that God can never have a group or body of people on earth who have “overcome even as [Christ] overcame,” who reflect as in a mirror the beauty of Christ’s perfect character of self-denial. They say that as long as Christ’s body on earth is composed of people who have a fallen or sinful nature, that it will be impossible for them to be perfect in character. But for all such the Book of Hebrews presents a formidable challenge: no less than eleven times we read there that perfection of character in His people is the goal that Jesus is working toward. (You can read them, 5:14; 6:1; 7:11, 19, 25, 28; 8:9; 10:1, 14; 11:40; 13:21). How does He accomplish this seemingly impossible task? The answer: through His ministry as Great High Priest (also a theme that makes Hebrews unique in the New Testament, for nowhere else in the NT is He so designated).

We modern people have a problem identifying with the word “priest.” especially “high priest.” It embraces so many “offices” that Jesus fills, for He wears many hats: He is a Counselor, a Teacher, a Leader, an Executive, but best of all, He is a Physician not only of our bodies (He was called “the Great Physician”), but also of our souls. In other words, Jesus as our Great High Priest is functioning as our Divine Psychiatrist. That’s what Hebrews 4:15 is telling us: “We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” “Wherefore He is able to save them perfectly that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them” (7:25). Your problem and mine is simply this: are we willing to humble our hearts and confess that we need the services of a Psychiatrist? Most people will angrily say “No!” They’re okay, they insist, “rich and increased with goods” spiritually and mentally; they don’t need healing. But the Book of Revelation is in tandem with the Book of Hebrews, and there we read that we are woefully in need of such a Divine Psychiatrist (3:14-21).

But the Book ends with the assurance that Jesus will have a people on earth who, as a body, respond to His appeal, accept His ministry of “perfection,” repent, and prepare for His second coming (7:1-4; 14:1-5, and 19:7-9).

We thank the Lord for preserving for us the Christian experience of David, the Psalmist. He is brutally honest with himself: he confesses that he is a sinner of sinners, that he deserves to have the Lord remove from him forever the blessing of the Holy Spirit (Psalm 51:11). This meant—his eternal salvation.

He makes no effort to hide the guilt of his double crime—his sin of adultery, his coveting of his neighbor’s wife, plus the sin of adultery with her, plus the terrible sin of his murdering the lady’s husband (we can’t say one sin was worse than the other!). David is reduced to the lowest place and he doesn’t try to hide it.

In Psalm 27 he teaches us in a simple way how to be happy in the Lord:

(1) He begins by recognizing the truth: The Lord [alone] is his light of life, and his salvation. A good confession of faith; let this be our confession, to begin with (vs. 1).

(2) He accepts the Lord’s New Covenant promises and contradicts Satan’s effort to make him afraid (vss. 2, 3).

(3) He states the truth in powerful terms: even if an enemy army comes against him, he chooses that his heart shall not be afraid (that’s how to conquer fear: choose not to let your heart be troubled, says Jesus in John 14:1-3).

(4) David makes the choice: what he wants above all else in life is simply to “dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (vs. 4).

(5) And that’s not to become wealthy: no, his prayer is to behold “the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple” (vs. 4). The infinite wealth of the Lord is for anyone to take, and it makes Him happy to see someone on earth who appreciates Him enough to desire Him more than what this earth can offer us.

(6) “The time of trouble” scares many serious-minded Christians; it doesn’t hurt to think about it ahead of time, BUT think as David does—in absolute confidence that the Lord whom you worship “in His temple” will “hide you in the secret of His tabernacle” (vss. 5, 6).

(7) You are not to feel proud because of this holy preference the Lord has for you; it’s simply His “family love” for you since you are a member of His family by adoption (see Eph. 1:3-6)!

(8) Your heart is moved to sing, because His love (agape) has redeemed you (vs. 6).

(9) But yes, there is something for you to do: when the Lord said to you, “Seek My face,” you responded immediately, no dilly-dallying about it, “Your face, Lord, I WILL seek!” (vs. 8). Your heart was one with the heart of the Lord!

(10) You think of the loving care your earthly father and mother lavished on you, but good as they were, your parents could only go with you a certain distance: they had to leave you to go on alone with the Lord in ways they could not understand (vs. 10).

(11) David confesses that he would have “fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living” (vs. 13), that is, unless he had believed that he would see the answer to all his prayers while he was still living—before the Lord comes. Sobering thought!

(12) But what you can’t see with your earthly eyes, see with eyes of faith. Psalm 27 is a treasure; adopt it as yours.

The gospel truth is embedded in these few words (2 Cor. 5:18-20):

“All things are of God.” In other words, from beginning to end it is the work of the Lord to reconcile us alienated humans to Himself. He takes the initiative in this work of healing wounded souls.

He “hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, . . . and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation” (vss. 18, 19).

But you object, “I have not yet been reconciled! I still have the ‘carnal mind [which] is enmity against God’ (Rom. 8:7). I still love the things of this world. I still would rather watch TV than read the Bible; if the Lord were to take me to heaven today, I am not sure I would be happy there!”

The beginning of our positive response to the Lord’s plan of salvation is honesty of heart; we can sing “I have been redeemed” when in fact we haven’t yet realized it by personal faith.

Scholars would like to describe that as “objective” salvation, although that word is not in the Bible.

They use that word to try to describe the reality of the Lord’s plan of salvation: He is “the Savior of the world,” He has saved us; the Samaritans were right when they declared of Him that He is “the Savior of the world,” even though most people in the world didn’t recognize Him yet as such, still they told the truth.

There are two things that are yet to happen:

(a) The Lord would never dare to descend down the skies in glory at His second coming unless first the people of the world had had the chance to hear the gospel proclaimed in all its powerful beauty. The Lord is fair to all; He must be sure that everyone has an equal chance to hear. His people will one day have to apologize to the world for thus hindering and delaying this message, and thus delaying Christ’s second coming.

(b) Revelation 18:1-4 tells us that before the second coming of Christ the entire world will be “lightened” with the glory of the fourth angel’s message: “And . . . I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with His glory.”

That mighty angel came down 120 years ago to begin His final work of lighting the earth with glory; but the Lord is such a Gentleman that He will never force entry into anyone’s home unless He is first invited.

He wasn’t. And that’s why we’re still here, and the earth is still in darkness.

Life today is solemnly exciting—more than at any time in 6000 years: this is the cosmic, grand “Day of Atonement.” It’s the antitype of ancient Israel’s one Day of days when the nation was in such heart-stopping excitement that they ate nothing all day. They (and God, too!) were on trial in an awe inspiring Day of Judgment. But now the real thing is going on.

In Israel, it was the one Day of the year when everything got straightened out and all questions were answered. At Day’s end, the nation was in heart-oneness with God. In miniature, “the great controversy” (between Christ and Satan) was finished. Sin and sinners were no more. The entire nation was clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beat throughout. Sin and sinners were as no more. Life and light and gladness flowed from the Lord. It seemed to Israel, all things in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy declared that God is love—on that one grand day of the year, the Day of Atonement.

Now the message from our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, is this: “be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20). “Atonement” is not obscure Latin, Greek or Hebrew—it’s pure simple Anglo-Saxon, “be at-one with God.” It’s time for your doubts to be resolved, those deep feelings that He has not been fair with you. It’s time to join that distraught father in Mark 9 who cried with tears (when everything seemed against him), “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief” (vs. 24). It’s time for “Jacob” the Supplanter to wrestle with God and get a new name, “Israel.”

But can we shake ourselves by our shoulders and just DO it—reconcile ourselves to Him? It means a change of mind (Greek, metanoia) which actually is repentance. Now wait a moment: do we have a self-start button to press for “repenting ourselves”? Acts 5:31 says it’s a “gift” from our “Prince and Saviour.” A “gift” is not what you work for.

Which reminds us: the Israelites never “cleansed” their own sanctuary: the high priest alone always did it. It wasn’t a works-trip for them. Yes, bitter as this pill may be for do-it-yourself legalists: we have to LET Him do it for us and in us on this cosmic Day of Atonement. He takes the initiative and we cooperate “through faith.” So stop resisting the blessed Holy Spirit. Your High Priest loves you more than you ever dreamed He does. To understand, “behold” and “comprehend” what happened on His cross.

This little tid-bit of “bread” will come too late for those who are giving special attention to the Lord’s last-days message to the shepherds of His flock in Laodicea. But don’t trash it—if you are alive spiritually you’ll be studying that message until earth’s last day.

* Jesus says something strange in Revelation 3:20. It grips our attention—“Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” He is quoting the Old Testament, but not the Hebrew text. He decides to use its Greek translation instead. And therein lies a profound revelation.

* Jesus has quoted His Old Testament Bible from the Song of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 2. The ancient Greek translation (known as the Septuagint, LXX) has three little words that are not in the Hebrew version—“at the door” (epi ten thuran, if you want the Greek). And why this miniscule but tectonic choice on the part of this divine Author? Why does He quote the Greek version? This: Jesus reveals Himself here as the disappointed Lover who has just come from His safari to His Beloved. It’s night; it’s cold; it’s raining; He is hungry; He is lonely; He wants her. But she doesn’t want Him, apparently. He is hurt.

* Standing outside in the cold, He says He goes on knocking, knocking “at the door.” The object of His love has just gone to bed, is in that twilight zone between waking and sleeping. Then she hears Him. (You can’t understand this unless you’ve lived in a mud hut with a cow-dung floor!). She is annoyed; why does He bother her at this hour? She doesn’t want to get her feet soiled on that floor—she’s comfy in bed. Finally, however, she stops thinking of her own selfish laziness, and thinks of Him outside. Belatedly she gets up to go to the door to let Him in. And, lo, He is gone. He got tired of waiting, waiting. (Yes, there is evidence that Jesus and the angels do get tired waiting).

* Hundreds of years ago a few thoughtful scholars in Europe discerned that the Laodicean message is tied to the Song of Solomon. Has it somehow eluded us? This is a love story! It brings us to chapter 19:7-9 where the long-disappointed Bridegroom is perplexed what to do with His dilatory Bride-to-be. He can’t force her to marry Him. The next move is hers.

"God as Artist"

Sabbath School Today

With the 1888 Message Dynamic

Glimpses of Our God

Lesson 11: "God as Artist"

  

And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day (Gen 1:31).

The idea of God as an artist was introduced to humans when He created the earth. On the first days of creation, God pronounced His handiwork "good" (Gen 1:10, 12, 18, 21, 25), but His final characterization contained the superlative "very" good. In our society, we have become so accustomed to exaggeration that we might not recognize God's relatively mild description as simply being true, not an exaggeration.

Very good includes beautiful. In describing the special garden God planted for Adam and Eve, He "caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; …" (Gen. 2:9). Even food was part of the artistic plan. God could have fed His creation by sending manna or concentrated pellets every day, but He wanted to have His creatures make the connection between the beautiful trees and food. How characteristic of a loving God that He provided their food from majestic trees that formed the protective covering of their garden home. What delight Adam and Eve must have had discovering various plants and trees and learning what they produced and how they were different from the others, yet all were beautiful. These discoveries must have been part of what they shared with their heavenly Father each evening. Prompted by what God created, they enjoyed beautiful fellowship with Him in the beauty of holiness. We can still have that communion with Him as we enjoy His creation if we are willing acknowledge Him as the creator.

Like everything else it touches, sin perverts what God has made. Lucifer's admiration of his own beauty started his fateful journey into open rebellion against God (Ezek. 28:17). Eve was attracted to the tree which she found "was a delight to the eyes" (Gen 3:6). Until the flood, the earth retained much of its created beauty, but after, the result must have been devastatingly ugly to Noah and his family. The God of beauty vowed to never again curse the ground. He started by setting His rainbow in the clouds. Parts of the earth developed beauty in spite of the scars; even barren rocks, jagged mountain peaks, and deep fissures inspire awe and can be appreciated as beautiful.

Fortunately for the human race, the creative artistry of God is not limited to outward appearance. "He is a lover of the beautiful, and above all that is outwardly attractive He loves beauty of character; He would have us cultivate purity and simplicity, the quiet graces of the flowers" (Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 85). The message of 1888 clarified the great truth that Christians can live victorious lives through Christ Jesus "the law of the Spirit of life" (Rom. 8:2). It rejected the concept that character development is based on human effort motivated solely by the influence of Christ's holy life.

That character is symbolized by the white linen robe of Christ's righteousness, which is "'that garment that is woven in the loom of heaven, in which there is not a single thread of human making.' … That garment was woven in Jesus; in the same flesh that you and I have, for He took part of the same flesh and blood that we have. … Christ is to be in us, just as God was in Him, and His character is to be in us, just as God was in Him, and His character is to be woven and transformed into us through these sufferings and temptations and trials which we meet. And God is the weaver, but not without us. It is the cooperation of the divine and the human--the mystery of God in you and me--the same mystery that was in the gospel, and that is the third angel's message" (A. T. Jones, 1893 General Conference Bulletin, p. 207).

The character was woven by God without our input, but it will not become ours without us. The beauty of it is that we are to have the garment as complete as Christ is. The weaver is God as He knows the pattern He wants for each of us. Many times we think the threads seem all tangled and out of shape, and there is no beauty to our character as we see it. But the pattern is not of our making. We are not the weaver, God is and His pattern is Christ, and "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father" (Matt. 11:27, KJV). We cannot shape our lives on the pattern, because we do not know Him, or see clearly enough to shape it correctly, even if we could do the weaving. God sees the pattern in its completeness before it is done. We can rest in the assurance that God will complete the work He has started in us (Phil. 1:6) so the resulting tapestry will be perfect, complete and beautiful. Our responsibility is to not resist what God is doing in our lives.

"Brethren, let him weave away. Let Him carry on His blessed plan of weaving through all our life and experience the precious pattern of Jesus Christ. The day is coming, and is not far off, when the last shuttle will be shot through. The last thread will be laid on, the last point in the figure will be met completely, and sealed with the seal of the living God" (Jones, op.cit.).

"By His perfect obedience, He has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ the heart is united with His heart; the will is merged in His will; the mind becomes one with His mind; the thoughts are brought into captivity to Him; we live His life. This is what it means to be clothed with the garment of His righteousness. Then, as the Lord looks upon us, He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah (E. G. White, Signs of the Times, Nov. 22, 1905).

--Arlene Hill

Note: Bible texts are from the New American Standard Bible, unless noted otherwise.

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SS Lesson 11: God as Artist: Pastor Paul Penno.mov

"The Promise of Prayer" by Pastor Penno (notes)

10. THE PROMISE OF PRAYER

Someone asks, “Why do we pray? Does prayer move the hand of God so that He would do things that otherwise He would not do? What does prayer tell us about the character of God?”

The question is nearly correct, but not quite. If we change the “would” to “could,” we get closer to the truth. God wills to do all the good things for us that we ask Him to do when we pray, even long before we pray. He wants to; but our prayers make it possible for God to do things that He wants to do. So it’s not a matter of what God would do for us, but what He could do for us.

The question is, “Why?” Well, look at those people in Acts 12 praying all night for Peter to be released from the murderous hand of King Herod Agrippa I. He had been appointed king of Judea and Samaria by the Emperor Caligula of Rome—a legal appointment. Rome was the ruler of the world. That had not been God’s plan; in the new covenant God made with Abraham, Abraham’s descendants should rule the world and there would not have been an evil empire of Rome; Israel would have ruled the world under the new covenant. But Israel had abandoned the new covenant and embraced the old covenant. So God was forced to respect the autonomy of Rome because Adam had sold out to Satan so the latter is “the prince of this world,” says Jesus (John 14:30).

But Christ legally wrested the sovereignty of this world from Satan by virtue of His sacrifice; therefore He can respond to prayers from His people who pray to Him in the name of Jesus. All the while Peter was in jail, God wanted to deliver him; now when His people seriously asked Him to do so “in the name of Jesus,” He was free to act and He did.

Conclusion: our prayers do not “move” God to do what otherwise He would not want to do or is too indifferent to do. They bring us into heart cooperation with God, they put us on the side of God in “the great controversy between Christ and Satan.” The problem is, that same “cooperation” may mean much more than the tiny little thing we happen just now to be praying for!

What do you do when prayer after prayer seems to go unanswered? Sometimes it seems that the more you pray, the more elusive is the answer you seek. God has foreseen that problem and directs us to His Word, the Bible, to find understanding. That is how the Father spoke to His Son at His baptism in the Jordan River—by quoting two Old Testament texts together, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17; Ps. 2:7; Isa. 42:1). A wise writer has said the words that the Father quoted to Jesus that day are spoken to us as well (The Desire of Ages, p. 113).

Thus, your first step is to believe that you are His “beloved” child in whom He is “well pleased.” When you pray, you MUST believe that (Heb. 11:6; James 1:5, 6). Many unanswered prayers are “prayed” in dark unbelief. It's not that the Father is mad at you, no; the problem is that your dark unbelief breaks the connection. You pray “in Jesus’ name,” don’t you? Well, that means that you identify with Him in your praying. You MUST, no matter how it stretches your faith to believe it, and to say it.

Second, you grasp the truth that Jesus went through the exact experience you have had of seemingly unanswered prayers. It was on His cross—when He cried out, “Why have You forsaken Me?” He said, “The servant is not greater than his lord” (Jn. 13:16). Don’t resent tasting of His experience!

Third, you learn as Jesus did, to believe God in total darkness. You may ask, “Why must I learn THAT lesson?” The answer: God is preparing you to endure throughout the “time of Jacob’s trouble,” when the only “light” will be that generated by your own personal faith in God's word, as it was with Christ on His cross. You could never endure through that without this special pre-trial training.

Fourth, as you pray for more and more blessings yet to come, you never forget the ones you have already received. The greatest is that He has already saved you from the eternal grave that the second death means. That is an essential part of genuine faith—that constant realization that you are as one “alive from the dead” (Rom. 6:13).

Devout Jews celebrate their day of atonement, Yom Kippur. Their concern on this day is to confess their sins, to be forgiven. It’s quite the same as devout Christians who also want to be forgiven and restored to the favor of God, except that the latter trust the Lord Jesus Christ to do it for them.

To this observer, nothing has come to light in Jewish Yom Kippur practice or thought that evinces a concern for the Lord Himself to experience a lifting of heart-burdens on the sacred day. The concern is either self-centered, that is individualistic; or us-centered, that is, a concern for Jewry in general. God is not thought of as Someone who Himself is desperately in need, and hungry for “at-one-ment.” The day of atonement is all one-sided: the people’s need is served, not God’s.

Christians in general are also self-centered. Our prayers are ego-centered; bless me, and bless my loved ones.

It about takes your breath away when you realize what it means! Here is a prayer that is a complete turnaround from the kind of prayers we are used to praying.

Instead of in their usual stance asking the Lord to give them something, the apostle John catches the disciples in a casual snapshot as they pray the Lord to receive something Himself. Water might as well start running uphill, you feel, as for a “backward” prayer like this to come from ordinary people like you and me: “In the meanwhile His disciples prayed Him, saying, Master, eat” (John 4:31).

Almost all the prayers the Lord receives in His communications center are the opposite: “Master, give us something to eat!” God is thought of as mankind’s great Santa Claus, and it is hoped that Christmas will come every day. “Thanks, Lord, for what You gave me yesterday. Now, for today I need this and that. And thanks again for keeping me in mind! Amen.”

When we learn to widen our horizons and pray for somebody else, God must be delighted. Fortunately, such prayers are offered—prayers for someone else to be healed, for someone else to be fed, even prayers for the whole world. The Lord Jesus taught us to pray for others, and these prayers are good; people who can pray for others are growing up spiritually. A child makes tremendous progress when he can ask for a toy for his brother or sister or a neighbor child.

But too often, even when we ask for something for our fellowmen, we still have not moved far from our radius of egoism. If our prayer isn’t self-centered, it’s at least us-centered, and each of us knows his turn will come. We human beings, like pets at feeding time, feel our dependence on the Master of the household. At prayer time we line up together along the fence looking toward the big house, hungry for another handout. It’s fortunate for us that the Lord is on the other end of the line, gracious and happy to give us our daily bread.

But if we don’t ask the Lord for things for ourselves and for others, what can we pray about? The disciples’ “backward” prayer opens up a whole new world of understanding.

“Master, You Eat!”

The Master rarely hears a prayer like this one—a prayer in reverse gear: “Master, You eat, because we can sense that You are hungry. You’ve had a long, hard journey today, and it’s hot and dusty. Look, we’ve been to the shops in town and bought bread, butter, milk, raisins, figs, almonds—a tasty safari feast. Master, we’ve been thinking about You, and we understand how You feel. We know it’s no fun to be tired and hungry. Master, You eat!”

It’s a rare child who thinks of giving his benefactors anything. He may give Santa Claus credit for his Christmas gifts, but he finds it hard to think in terms of Santa-centeredness. Fat, jolly Santa with his toy factory at the North Pole—how can Santa need either toys or food? And what else could he need?

It’s almost as difficult for us to imagine the Lord Jesus as being in want. Since He is infinitely wealthy, who of us could give Him anything He needs, unless we think like the children in the Christmas ads who leave Santa a sandwich and a bottle of soda when he comes down the chimney? We give our little tithes and offerings, but who can seriously imagine that these trifles enrich the Lord? We expect perhaps a momentary smile of indulgent approval, after which He passes on in infinite plenitude, omniscient, omnipotent, with crowds of eager angels hovering around Him like secretaries and aides waiting at His beck and call. Even a Croesus couldn’t add a feather’s weight to God’s treasure.

But here the Son of God sits in human poverty by Jacob’s well. He is not playing thirsty; He really is thirsty. Does He have to stay thirsty? Can He really feel thirst as we do? If so, why should He not by a touch of His finger transform the old well into a refrigerated drinking fountain? If He really feels hunger, why not speak to a stone and transform it into a golden brown loaf of freshly baked bread? The power to do it was at His command.

In the days before the Model A, Henry Ford once took a party of wealthy friends for a drive in the country. One of the world’s richest men, Ford could have summoned chauffeurs to drive a fleet of his Lincoln limousines. Instead, for some whimsical reason, Henry took a Model T.

As often happened with his customers’ automobiles, the balky little machine broke down on the road. Unequipped to repair it himself, the famous car manufacturer found himself dependent on the services of a village mechanic. Determined not to capitulate to his joking guests, old Henry resisted the temptation to phone his factory to ask for Lincoln sedans to “rescue” the party. He faced the breakdown as any motorist would have to, and waited for the mechanic to repair the car.

His guests enjoyed the spectacle of the world’s most famous car maker playing incognito to the unsuspecting country mechanic. “Charge him plenty,” urged one of the passengers, “he’s rich!”

“Then why doesn’t he drive a good car?” asked the puzzled mechanic.

Christ Could Have Summoned Angels

In His hunger and thirst, Jesus could have summoned an army of angels to rescue Him any moment He wished. When, several years later, a mob brandishing swords and clubs shoved Him along to Caiaphas’s house, He told His disciples about the rescue mission standing ready should He flash a “help” signal heavenward: “Don’t you know that I could call on My Father for help, and at once He would send Me more than twelve armies of angels?” (Matthew 26:53, GNB). Isn’t it a good thing we are not capable of yielding to such a temptation? We would keep the angels busy getting us out of all kinds of testing difficulties, as popular imagination long ago conceived of fairies running impossible errands for privileged people. One wonders if the angels enjoyed watching the Creator of the world sitting by the well in Samaria waiting for someone to come along and offer Him a drink of water. Must the Lord of heaven and earth sit there on a hot day as helpless as any other pilgrim?

Yes, He must. The rules of the contest with Satan require that He lay aside His divine advantages. He chooses not to do anything supernatural to help Himself, even should He starve. He refuses to call “headquarters” and ask for a fleet of angel limousines to rescue Him. He must meet life’s problems exactly as we must meet them. The Father entrusts Him to the hospitality of the human race, and if they fail Him, He must perish as anyone else. When men at last crucify Him, He dies there on the spot.

Christ Has Become One of Us

The infinite Son of God has surrendered Himself to be enmeshed in our finite helplessness. Quite a risk this, that the Father took when He sent His Son to be the guest of sinful humanity. Did He make a mistake?

Fortunately, no. Our disciple heroes and other people took good care of Him and even urged Him to eat. Very likely the Samaritan woman herself was one of them. Can you imagine how she must have felt later that evening when Jesus was a guest in her village?

“Why, Master, I’ve just remembered—that drink of yours! I forgot all about it! Can You ever forgive me? And—what about lunch? Have you had anything all day? I’m going to cook you a proper supper now!”

Wouldn’t any good-hearted woman react the same way?

Not once, but probably many times, the disciples prayed this backward prayer, “Master, You eat. You get some rest; You go to bed. We’ll stay up and finish the dishes or do the laundry. You take a vacation. You get those new clothes You need.” It is likely that living with Him for three and a half years, they found many occasions for thinking about His needs. We read of social occasions when dinners were served in His honor in homes where He was welcomed as a guest. Anybody with simple human compassion who met Him on His earthly path would soon find a way to pray to Him a backward prayer.

But we are not so concerned now with stories of long ago. Just let us meet Him and see Him as He is today. Then our childish, self-centered prayers will appear badly out of date.

God Had Faith in Us

The disciples’ backward prayer, “Master, You eat,” gives a glimpse of even more astonishing prayers yet to come from human hearts. When I said that the Father entrusted His Son to the hospitality of the human race, I said something serious. What it means is that the Father brought Himself to trust that our fallen human nature would escape the rut of its self-centeredness and respond to the needs of His Son.

This is what lies behind this backward prayer of the disciples. Sending His Son to this world presupposed on God’s part a “backward faith” to begin with. Faith is what we usually think of as man’s part to have and to use. It is we who have faith in God, for it is He who is trustworthy. (To a limited extent we have faith in one another too.) But what a staggering thought to realize that God has faith in man or He would never have sent His Son to us. This faith of God in man was exercised before the foundation of the world, when the Father and the Son agreed together to make an infinite sacrifice for man should he fall.

When John said, “We love Him, because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19), he could also have added, “We believe in Him because He first believed in us.” Paul has the same idea when he says, “What if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief [literally, their non-faith] make the faith of God without effect?” (Romans 3:3). There’s a play on words here in the original Greek that is beautiful: “Shall man’s non-faith cancel God’s faith?”

Which of us could bring himself to trust a converted thief enough to put in his hands every cent we possess, and expect him to keep it for us? Could you trust human nature that much? If you were trying to evangelize a band of notorious kidnappers, could you bring your-self to entrust your newly born son or daughter to their arms while you left for an extended trip overseas? That illustrates what God did!

Look at the Baby in the cattle pen at Bethlehem. Most people in the town slept just as well that night, not caring whether He survived or not. It was a rough way for any baby to get started in life. But there were some who did care, and they proved that God made no mistake when He entrusted His precious Son to human hospitality. Although humans eventually rejected and crucified Him, all along His way there were some whose kindness spilled over into a concern for the needs of the Son of God. It’s a beautiful sight to see Him cradled as a baby in the arms of a tender, loving human mother, and to see affectionate friends linger near Him all His earthly days, even to the end.

Christ-centered Prayers Today?

“Well,” you say, “what about us today? Do you imply that we, too, can get beyond the pets-at-feeding-time complex? Can we actually conceive a prayer that is Christ-centered instead of us-centered?”

I have no way of knowing what is in your heart except as I look inside my own. If I’m wide of the mark from now on, just write me off as the worst sinner you have seen. But I must own up to the truth that most of my prayers have been self-centered. What has kept me going as a Christian has usually been anxiety for my own salvation. What has driven me to keep the Sabbath, to pay tithe, to turn down the world’s pleasures, has been mostly my own desperate need for eternal security. I have been the hungry one. My soul has been too little to think or feel big enough to pray, “Master, You eat!” Day after day it’s been, “Master, I’m hungry!”

Perhaps you are beginning to suspect that you and I have something in common. I may even assume that I am talking to a fellow sinner. If so, let’s face up to it that this motive of following Christ in order to save our own skins or to achieve security, to get a reward or escape punishment, isn’t strong enough to withstand real temptation when it comes along. Such a motive will collapse even though it may enable us to stay in the church for some years. Our friends may even say of us, “If anyone will get to heaven, so-and-so will.”

But we will have overlooked one strategic fact: The one who professes Christ from such a motive will have a price for selling out sometime. While a few may hold out longer, waiting for a higher price to be bid than others, the adversary knows how to maneuver us into a situation where the bidding will eventually reach our figure.

For some that price of selling out may be pathetically low—just the humdrum temptations of day-to-day living. For others it may be the fascination of money, the sweet ease of luxury, the thrill of prestige. For still others it may be illicit sex. The anticipation of the moment jams out the signal from heaven's broadcast, and the thought of expected reward in heaven or of dreaded punishment in hell fades out. If both signals are on the same wavelength of appeal to self, is it any wonder that lust drowns out the other? Both “zero in” on the egocentric plexus. In this area of temptation, a self-centered religious faith is as strong as a sand castle battered by ocean breakers.

Such a “faith” has always been useless. But the tests of the past were not always severe enough to show it up. A New Testament writer coined a brilliant phrase to describe the futility of such a self-centered “faith.” He called it being “under the law.” If Paul had been a cartoonist, he might have pictured the self-centered, fear-motivated, reward-earning Christian as being pinned under a giant boulder labeled “the law.” Another way of putting it is that he is under the “old covenant.” Millions of sincere, earnest Christians today need to break loose from being “under the law” which is serving God either from fear of hellfire or for hope of reward. It’s a futile way of life. It’s ludicrous, but so tragic that we can’t laugh (although Satan probably laughs at us, in anticipation of our going over to his side in the end).

Selfish “Faith” Cannot Endure

In these last days all selfish “faith” is headed for an almost overwhelming test. For many, unless they see the truth now, it will mean the ultimate defeat. To our superficial judgment, egocentric faith may have been “good enough” for our ancestors, as we sing the spiritual, “Give me that old-time religion; it’s good enough for me.” But it can never endure the tests of the final crisis unless it is purified from the dross of self-centeredness.

This test that the book of Revelation says will come to everyone living on earth will probe every man’s soul for his/her hidden weakness. (A severe test called “the mark of the beast” is mentioned in Revelation 13:16-18.) Millions who today would be shocked at the suggestion of selling out their souls to the clever enemy of Christ have no idea what they would do if the bidding were to go high enough. The test will produce a heart-gripping fear unprecedented in human experience. The anxiety of a million sleepless nights of worry will be distilled into this final attempt of Satan to defeat God’s followers by fear. This final allurement of the appeal to security will play on the whole gamut of human temptability. It’s Peter all over again tempted to deny Christ. Whether we sell out to Satan now for the trifling low bids of sensual temptation or hold out a little longer and sell out in the highest bid of Satan’s finally perfected Temptation Supreme—this makes no difference in the end. Unless we find deliverance, all who are content to remain “under the law” will eventually deny and betray Christ.

Someone may say, “I feel rather lost now! I admit I’m self-centered, and my prayers revolve around myself and my little circle. I can’t deny I’m in this religion largely for what I hope to get out of it. But what else is there for me to do?”

We Need to See

First, before we talk of doing anything, there is something for us to see. And having seen, as surely as our hearts are honest, this whole pathetic problem of a self-centered life will change through believing what we have seen.

What is there to be seen?

The Son of God crucified upon a cross. But how do we “see”? A movie cannot present it. If there had been a TV crew at Calvary shooting the entire scene just as it happened, even a full-color film wouldn’t enable us to “see” it. Most of us would lackadaisically munch on popcorn during the telecast, and when it ended click the remote to another channel. In fact, the people who actually saw the real event at Calvary weren’t converted merely by gawking. If seeing the physical event were necessary to convert us, we would have an excuse for complaining to God because He hasn’t shown us a film of the crucifixion scene or reenacted it for each of us to watch. Why didn’t He keep a film for us, ready to program it on the world’s TV stations when TV should be invented?

Seeing Christ crucified is something greater than any camera crew can capture. Although eleven disciples saw it happen with their own eyes, a man who wasn’t present came to understand it best. He “saw” it focused. We will let his eyes be ours: “We thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15).

A World-shaking “Equation”

This man saw something more revolutionary than Einstein’s E = MC2 or his theory of relativity. From the scientist’s innocent-looking little equation came the power of nuclear fission. But from Paul’s simple equation came greater power—a moral force that turned the ancient world upside down and will turn your life upside down as well.

The equation seems disarming in its simplicity: “If One died for all”—it is the same as saying that had He not died for all, all would now be dead. In other words, “One died for all” equals “we all deserve to be dead.” The life we live is not our own. With X-ray perception Paul saw you and me crucified when he saw Christ crucified.

The implications become staggering. Involved in the “equation” is the fact that we have nothing that we can truly call our own. What Paul says is that if Christ had not died for us, we would be in our graves at this moment. A little reflection will show that this is not pious sentimentality, but cold fact.

Think back 2,000 years. Consider the corruption that degraded the world of that era. We think it’s pretty bad in our world today, but in the hopelessness and depravity of that ancient world mankind was fast sinking into a pit of human pollution that unchecked would have destroyed human life as we know it. The inspired analysis of pagan Rome’s influence on the world is that it would “devour the whole earth, and . . . tread it down, and break it in pieces” (Daniel 7:23). Christ actually did something to save that ancient world from destruction. His principles began working quietly in the Roman Empire to restore sanity and self-control. Even though His infant church was bitterly persecuted, the healing forces that He introduced began to permeate society. Christ truly “brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10). This is what Calvary really means.

How Much that You Have Is Really Yours?

Think of your own life now. Be honest and perceptive enough to trace every good thing about your life to its ultimate source. A millionaire’s son inherits a fortune, but he has the sense to recognize that he inherited it rather than earned it. But suppose a man has the intellect and ability to earn a fortune—did he not also inherit the ability? Ultimately there is little difference between inheriting a fortune ready-made and inheriting the ability and circumstances to make a fortune. The gospel simply says in both instances: the fortune is not really yours. If Christ had not died for you, all you would have that is yours is the grave.

This is stupendous. When I speak of myself I unwittingly appropriate what is His property. This body that I call “my own,” this brain of “mine,” “my” personality—none is truly mine.

Take my education or my character. At first thought I might suppose that here is something no one can take from me, and therefore it must be really “mine” in the true sense of the word. Haven’t I worked to acquire it? But again I am mistaken. I have “learned” all this from my environment, and my environment has been enriched with the presence of Christ working through all the agencies that have blessed my mind and my soul. It’s all the way from prenatal influences working in genetic inheritance to home upbringing, the influence of society, the schools, and every conceivable aspect of human life. The Holy Spirit is in the world and is producing a constant tension and conflict with the influences of evil. Every agency that has blessed my life—each is the purchase of Christ’s cross.

This being so, once I have seen the “equation” of the cross, how can I regard anything that passes through my hands as mine? Am I really entitled to any more than a corpse can grasp?

We have been told that one-tenth of the money we earn belongs to God and nine-tenths belongs to us to do with as we please. The “equation” clarifies that confused thinking. Tithe is a token recognition that all I have belongs to Christ, and that His love alone shall dictate the use of the nine-tenths I have ignorantly claimed as my own.

How Much Do We Deserve?

Another naive idea I have cherished also collapses: “I deserve a good time.” “There is more pleasure in walking with Christ than our little cups can hold.” But the “good time” identified with selfish pleasure is only bitter dregs. Many good, sincere people still can’t tell the difference. Even those brought up as Christians can’t discern the distinction except in the light from the cross.

If “one died for all,” then “they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them.” In that light it is sheer fantasy for one to imagine that he deserves selfish pleasure. Can the bewitching spell of that fantasy be broken?

Yes, if Paul’s word “should” is not misunderstood when he says “that they should not . . . live unto themselves.” Here is no painful obligation, panting, struggling to do something bitter and burdensome. “One died for all, . . . that they which live” shall not, yes, cannot “henceforth live unto themselves.” The cross has passed an annihilating judgment on the egoism that is our problem, and has thus broken its spell over us. A stronger signal now comes through on the antenna, and the little “self” signal is drowned out.

What the far-seeing apostle really says is that you find it impossible to go on living a self-centered life after you have “seen” the cross. Anyone who has seen the “equation” simply cannot remain a lukewarm, half-and-half Christian.

Power in the Cross

Following our Lord is thus no longer forcing ourselves to try to do what is right, punishing ourselves, pushing ourselves against our will to do what we don’t want to do in order to get to heaven or to avoid being lost. The cross equation comes with a built-in power pack: “The love of Christ constraineth [motivates] us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

No one who has seen Christ crucified, and who believes what he sees, can again be plagued with those vague feelings of remorse and self-hate for doing what he knows he shouldn’t. The nagging sense of “ought,” like low-hanging clouds shadowing the soul, is lifted. While it might be wrong to say that it becomes easy to do right (following Christ is never coasting downhill), it is true that the love of Christ seen and believed is a power plant that propels one on the upward path. Temptation obstacles flatten out before the power of this new “constraint.” Decisions that have been agonizingly difficult for us become simple when Paul’s equation is remembered: One died for me, otherwise I wouldn’t be here at this moment. How can my life be my own? Christ’s love has bought me. How can I possibly withhold myself from Him?

The lapse of 2,000 years since Paul’s day makes no difference in the power of the equation. None of the tempting allurements we face today can in any way stand up against it. Even if the devil had another thousand years to invent more subtle temptations to ensnare us, this simple truth we “see” at Calvary would nullify them all because it shorts out the circuit of our self-centeredness.

This is how the cross shifts the focus of our viewpoint. In fact, vision just begins when our self-centered complex is overcome. We can begin to look at things through the eyes of Christ. We are able to perceive something impossible to see otherwise. It is this:

He has a need today that is greater than at any time in the past since the Father entrusted Him to us. Jesus is still hungry; and the hunger He knows is the unsatisfied, unrequited love of a Bridegroom hungering for His bride to yield Him her wholehearted, entire love. We are enabled to sense that He deserves a reward, not we! He deserves a human-heart response to the “travail of His soul” that has not as yet been yielded Him.