Paraphrase: (1/19/01)
30 By my Lord Jesus, and by the love of the Spirit, I beg you to labor hard with me in prayer for me, 31 to be safe from the unbelieving Jews in Judea, and acceptable in my service to the saints. 32 For I long to come to you full of joy, if that be God's will, and to enjoy a time of rest among you. 33 And may the God of peace be with you. Amen.
Key Verse: (1/19/01)
15:30 - Strive together in prayers to God, led by the Lordship of Christ and the love of the Spirit.
New Thoughts (1/20/01)
Wow! So many things to pursue in this short little snippet of Scripture! The first and simplest thing to note, is an addition to our previous study. At that point, we posited that Paul may have realized what was in store for him in Jerusalem. Here, we see that indeed he did expect difficulties in that city. How great the confidence in God that allowed him to walk in knowingly, and to have sent word beforehand, expressing his assurance of reaching Rome full of Christ's blessings! How great the power of the prayers that accompanied him in that journey, covering his position over years of trouble in that country, and delivering him in the full power of God to fulfill his own prophetic declaration!
As we sit on the day of our president's inauguration, today, it is quite appropriate that we are set the example of proper prayer. We have here several examples of the way Paul prayed. And ever, there is that condition to his requests: 'if it be God's will.' When he calls for the assistance of his brothers here, it is a call to contend for victory in prayer, and how are they asked to so contend? By the Lordship of Christ, by the love of the Spirit, and by the will of God. We, in this current age, have lost the wisdom of this. Too often, we purposefully refuse to call upon the will of God to condition our requests of Him, for we have been misled into believing this shows weakness of faith, or perhaps weakness of understanding. 'Oh, we know this is His will, so we don't need to seek Him out further on that. His Word says so, so it must be the right thing to pray.' Ah, what arrogance we have! Presuming to know the full counsel of His intent for the situation! How could we hope to know that without a greater amount of previous prayer than any are likely to have given the matter? Even then, are we foolish enough to trust our easily misled feelings to tell us beyond doubt what it is God would have done?
But, there is, as always, a balancing of this seeming uncertainty. For, where Paul always seeks the confirmation of God's will in his prayers, yet he expresses his confident knowledge of God in his actions. This is that same balance displayed in Nehemiah, so well expressed in the footnotes of Harper's Study Bible: "Pray as though you could never work, and work as though you had never prayed." We cannot sit about like sluggards, awaiting the absolute certainty of knowing God's heart on the matter. That way lies totally ineffective Christianity. Nor can we steam ahead without worrying ourselves as to what He desires. Indeed, we must take action, but we must be willing to change our course when and if He gives us to understand that we were mistaken in our understanding.
Throughout this election process, we've had calls to pray that this candidate be elected, that this official be appointed, and so on and so forth. Some of these calls have assuredly come from those who have dedicated much prayer to the matter before declaring their chosen direction. And there is certainly no ill in expressing our preferences to God. He does understand His creations. He has been one of us, to assure us of that very thing. But, woe to us if we place our preferences above His will. Hezekiah placed his preferences above God's will when he sought a lengthening of His days. God allowed him this willfulness, but it did not turn out to be in Hezekiah's best interest, for his latter days all but ruined the reputation as a man of God that he had established up to that point. I am reminded of the line I read in C. S. Lewis' "The Great Divorce" earlier this month: "There are two types of men, those who say to God 'Your will be done,' and those to whom God says 'your will be done.'" Oh, may I be found to be in that former category! May we all, who have taken it upon ourselves to pray for this country's leadership, be found in that category. For, we can be certain that it is God's will for us to pray for those leaders. He has instructed us to. But, in so doing, let us seek His will for that leadership, seeking assuredly - pleading, even - that that will be to our good, but even if it seem to be for ill, let it be in accord with His will.
There's another bit of a corrective to be found as we look into the definitions surrounding this passage. For we tend to consider joy as something leading to outbursts of emotion, at least I do. When we think of the joy of a child opening a present, and finding it to his liking, we see the blooming wide-mouthed smile, the great eyes that so express delight to our senses. And yet, we see here that joy, the joy that Paul seeks to be participating in upon arrival in Rome, is a calm delight, not the tail-wagging, puppy dog delight of reunion, not the awe-struck delight of meeting a long known but never met celebrity. Rather, the calm delight which is the expression of the peace that the God of peace has given, that particular peace which Paul elsewhere explains so well, that peace which comes of our confidence in and before God. The peace God gives is in knowing that we have no further need to fear His retribution, for we are confident in our salvation. And that same confidence also gives us the peace to be content in every situation, just as Paul expresses it in 2Th 3:16. He has learned the secret of being content in little or in abundance, in rest or in trial, and the secret of that contentment is the peace of God! The joy, the calm delight, that Paul knows he will be able to bear with him no matter how his arrival at Rome is wrought, is the product of that peace, that blessed assurance that no matter what may come in this short life, eternity awaits in the joyful presence of the Lord. It is a gift of God, that we can enjoy such a peace here. It is only by His provision of salvation that we can know it. It is only by His continued presence in us that we can continue in that peace. Oh, Lord, let us abide with You in Your very presence. Even as we spend our short days on this earth, let us so live as to experience daily the reality of Your promise never to leave or forsake us. God, may that phrase be more than a phrase, more than words on a page. May it be the very truth of our daily life, may we experience that truth within ourselves as we go through each triumph and trial, knowing You equally present to us in either case.
The last thing I want to explore here is the intimacy of rest. We know rest is a component of peace. We know that God rested on the seventh day, and we know we are called to enter into that rest, ourselves. I really liked what Pastor Najem said in this regard last week, that it's not so much a matter of ceasing from all activity, as it is a breaking to enjoy the fruit of one's labors. But look at the rest we are called to enter into! It is the rest of intimacy, the rest that is shared, as a husband and wife share, the rest of enjoying mutual intercourse. We enter into a rest of heart to heart conversations with our Lord, that deep connection that only long years together can engender. Oh, for the day when we go to meet our bridegroom, entering into that sweet rest of long companionship with our beloved! Even so, Lord, come quickly, for we long for Your embrace. Amen.
