Pray then like this: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.
Introduction:
It is always hard for people to keep their lives balanced. When we get out of balance, some disastrous things can happen. Let me illustrate that with an example of something I used to experience almost every working day of my life.
The offices of the association of churches that I served in Alabama are located across the road from, and almost even with the end of the runway of, the local airport. Airplanes and helicopters fly in and out of the airport every day that the weather allows, and they are usually quite loud. The traffic pattern for one type of Army helicopter that used that airfield brought the departing aircraft directly overhead of our offices at a low level, which made them hard to ignore.
Like what often happens with people who live near railroad tracks, I had gotten so accustomed to the sound that I really didn’t hear it anymore, until my wife came to the office one day to help me with a project. She asked, “Is it always this loud?” I replied, ruefully, “Yep! Every working day of the year!”
Airplanes of all shapes and sizes land at that airport, but there is one thing that they all have in common: they all have two wings. Balance is a vital factor for aviators, because an airplane that is not in balance from side to side and from front to back will crash. Like I mentioned when we saw Christ controlling creation, the laws of physics are immutable for humans, and the recent crash of an airliner illustrates that point.
When that airplane touched down on the runway, the right landing gear buckled, and that wing hit the ground, and it was torn from the fuselage. The left wing stayed attached, and it continued to give lift, which caused the airplane to flip over on to its back. Blessedly, there were no fatalities, but it was a very near thing to a massive disaster. All of this was caused by the airplane becoming aerodynamically unbalanced.
The same is true for our spiritual lives and our ministries as well. We must find the right balance. For example, we are reminded often that we must balance outreach and evangelism with discipleship and sanctification. This is true, even if it is hard to do. In the past I believe we have over-emphasized getting people baptized, while at the present time I fear we are over-emphasizing “going deep in our spiritual lives.” We humans are frail and limited, and like Goldilocks, we find it hard to get it “just right.”
Jesus, being God, kept everything in balance as He travelled the road to the Cross, and as He taught His followers to pray, that balance is clearly demonstrated in our focal passage for today.
Balance is Seen in God’s Personality:
In a Roman arch, all the stones are held in place by the keystone at the top. Without it, the other stones have no adhesion, and they fall apart. The keystone, to put it simply is the key, and without it Roman arches aren’t!
In our world, everything is held in place by God. Without God our world falls apart because God is what holds it together. God is the key element in our world, and because He is, our world is.
Since God is the key personality in our world, and since God is the key element in all that exists, we must understand Him. If we get His personality wrong, and if we misunderstand who He is, then we get everything else wrong as well. f we start from the wrong place with God, we will end at the wrong place with God.
A saying in the US Army is, “The most dangerous thing in the Army is a 2nd Lieutenant with a map and compass.” Once, in training, I proved that to be the case. One question on a practical skills test was to identify the height of a hill at a grid coordinate on a topographical map. I plotted the point wrong, and so I got the question wrong. You can’t give the correct answer when you are in the wrong place!
As Jesus taught His followers to pray, they were reminded that God is our Father. In this case, Jesus was using anthropomorphic language, and so we must remember that God is greater and more loving than any human father that has ever lived.
James 1:17 reminds us that,
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
And Paul, in Galatians 4:4-7 encourages us to approach God in confidence, saying,
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
Our God is the Father who closed the door on the Ark with His own hand. At the same time, we must remember that our God is also our Lord. When Peter was preaching on Pentecost he said,
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” (Acts 2:36)
In 1 Corinthians 15:27-28, Paul also taught the church at Corinth that,
For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that he is excepted who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him, that God may be all in all.
To be Lord means to be in charge. It means to be respected, and it means to be venerated. This means that Jesus had the right to tell us in John 14:15,
If you love me, keep my commandments.
This also means that Jesus and God deserve our worship. As Paul taught in Romans 11:33-36,
Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” “Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
So how does God balance being Father and Lord at the same time? If it was easy, anyone could do it, but it isn’t. It is impossible for us, but God and God alone can be Father and Lord at the same time. We must keep this balance in mind as we worship and serve Him!
Balance is Seen in God’s Purpose:
Even if we can maintain a balance in our understanding of the personality of God, we often lose that balance when we think of God’s purpose in heaven and on earth. We know that, according to the story of Lazarus and the Rich Man, a great gulf is fixed between heaven and earth. The people on one side of that boundary exist separately from the people on the other side of it. But is there any difference in God’s purpose or in His will from one side to the other? This is an important issue, and it is one in which people struggle to find balance.
Some people are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good. The medieval theologians that debated the question of how many angels can dance on the head of a pin are one example of this statement. Another example would be the people who spiritualize every issue and every problem. Sometimes a flat tire on a car or a broken toilet don’t have a deeper spiritual meaning.
When my wife and I were serving with the International Mission Board in Europe, another colleague and I had to travel to France by rail to attend an important conference. Multiple delays occurred during our trip, not the least of which were those caused by labor unrest and strikes among French railroad workers. We arrived late, and we missed the van that took most of our fellow attenders to the meeting site. My colleague and I had to negotiate the Paris Metro, which is tough when you don’t speak or read French!
When we finally arrived, I turned to my friend and said, “I guess the Devil didn’t want us to attend this meeting.” To which he replied, “No, Otis, I think that all that happened to us today was just a sign that we live in a broken and dying world which needs the saving touch of God.” To be honest, I think my colleague was right. Sometimes a bad day is just a bad day!
On the other hand, some people are simply hell-bent. They aren’t trying to avoid eternal damnation, but instead, they seem to work overtime in trying to dig themselves a fiery pit. John Newton was one such person.
Before John Newton, the writer of the hymn Amazing Grace, found Jesus, he was one of the most profane men on earth. He was a sailor on a slave ship, and he was such a vile person that, when the ship reached Africa, his own shipmates sold him into slavery! Newton’s language and deportment had to be extremely bad for the sailors of that era to plot to get rid of him. He must have counted himself blessed that they didn’t throw him overboard.
A third group of people think that what they do in their bodies doesn’t impact their spiritual lives. After all, don’t we believe that once we are saved, we are always saved? Those who have this attitude ignore what the Scriptures say, as for example, in 1 Peter 4:1-7,
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does. The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
God’s purpose is the same on earth as it is in heaven. God’s will is the same on earth as it is in heaven, God’s standards are the same on earth as they are in heaven. Who can keep these in balance? Only those whom God assists!
Balance is Seen in God’s Provision:
We often say that the only two certainties of life are death and taxes, but this overlooks several facts, not the least of which is that God blesses us. God created this world and places us in it so we can enjoy it. Our current bodies are designed for this world, and while human sin has marred God’s perfect creation, it is still a blessing to us.
Jesus also told us that an important part of His ministry is to bless us. In John 10:10 He proclaimed that,
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
In our cynicism, we overlook God’s blessings in our lives, but Jesus taught us to pray in a way that reminds us of that fact. Another fact we overlook is that God expects us to bless others. This was inherent in God’s covenant with Abraham and that expectation continues until today.
When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandments in the law were, He replied,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37b-40)
I am a Baptist, and one of our major doctrines is the autonomy of the local church. Each Baptist church is self-governing under the Lordship of Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit. I agree with this position, but I also know that sometimes we Baptists turn inward, becoming insular and isolationist, and that we forget our broader responsibilities to the world.
Often, I see Baptists who seem to think, “As long as everything is going well in our church, then all is right with the world.” Truth be told, we can substitute many different terms for “church” in that statement above, including, “life,” “family,” “school,” “job,” “community,” or even “hobby,”
Our God, however, has a perspective much broader than our own. He is Sovereign over everything, and He has a fatherly concern for all Creation, and for all peoples. While we often have blinders on, God sees everything, and He cares about everything and everyone. Because Jesus is our Lord, good stewardship of our lives and our testimonies for Him dictate that if God cares about something, or someone, we also need to care about them as well.
Jesus’s teaching about prayer showed us the need for balance in our understanding of God’s personality, God’s purpose, and God’s provision.
Next, we find that we need to seek balance in God’s protection.
Balance is Seen in God’s Protection:
This world is a dangerous place. The year that my wife and I moved to New Orleans to attend seminary, that city was experiencing a wave of criminal violence. At one point a murder a day was being committed there. After we arrived there, we learned that there had even been a suspicious death on campus a few years before. Some of my fellow students had moved there from very rural areas, and they were very frightened by such news. Frankly, however, I never felt like I was in danger during our time there.
Although New Orleans clearly had a crime problem, news reports revealed that most of the violence was occurring among people who were involved in a criminal lifestyle. Almost all the rest stemmed from relationships that had gone wrong. Although it was never proven, the on-campus death probably fell into that latter category. So, since my wife and I were not criminals, and since we had been taught by our home church about how to develop a strong marital relationship, we were never in any real danger.
As Jesus taught us to pray, He reminded us that God leads us in the paths of righteousness. If we ask Him how to live our lives to the fullest and the best, He is eager to tell us. This was true under the Old Covenant, and it is true under the New Covenant as well.
In Psalm 23 we clearly see God leading us into righteousness, and thus into a secure and abundant life:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Likewise, James 1:5 and James 3:17-18 say,
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him . . . But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
So, God leads us with His wisdom, and when we follow it, we are blessed with protection. But what happens when we don’t follow His direction? Well, as a fictional but famous Alabamian, Forest Gump, said, “Stupid is as stupid does.” When we color outside the lines, we pay the price, and we suffer the consequences. What does God do then? Does He abandon us?
No! Never! As we see time and time again in the Scriptures, God hates our sin, but He loves us! When we repent and turn to Him, God rescues us from our recklessness.
By far, the best approach to avoid trouble is like something my father often said, “If you had done it the way I told you to do it in the first place you wouldn’t have had a problem.” Of course, my father, like God, would also help me out of the problems that I caused myself!
We’ve seen that balance involves knowing what things to do and what things to avoid. What about knowing what things to prioritize?
Balance is Seen in God’s Priorities:
The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson, among others, has been quoted as advocating that we should “do all things in moderation.” However, balance is not the equivalent of doing all things in moderation, and in fact, what Emerson said was, "moderation in all things, especially moderation.” In other words, as Ecclesiastes 3 tells us,
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.
We have noted before that Jesus came to seek and save the spiritually lost, but because He was God, He was also powerful and compassionate. The Gospels are replete with examples of Jesus healing the sick, making the lame to walk, and making the blind to see. This was particularly true when He ministered in Galilee, but this happened in other places as well.
Sometimes, however, we find Jesus withdrawing from the crowds, as in Matthew 12:12-16,
While he was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy. And when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” And Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately the leprosy left him. And he charged him to tell no one, but “go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as Moses commanded, for a proof to them.” But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Jesus did not do all the same things all the time, but He did what was necessary to fulfill His ministry. He always followed God’s priorities for Him. Clearly, we, like Jesus, must follow the guidance of our Father in Heaven, and that is shown by the two halves of the prayer that Jesus taught the people.
The first half, and the one which has the priority, instructs us to honor God, to worship Him, and to obey Him. The second half, which is about our earthly lives, is essential, but it is built upon the first. And, in case this fact was not apparent to people, Jesus went on to declare in Matthew 6:33,
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
So, instead of doing all things in moderation, we need to seek God’s face and ask Him what His priorities for us are. God wants us to jump in with both feet about some things, but, conversely, there are other things which He wants us to avoid like the plague. So, we stay in balance by knowing God’s priorities in our lives and pursuing them with all our heart.
Conclusion:
This prayer is called the Lord’s Prayer, but it really isn’t that. Jesus was already managing all these issues expertly and perfectly. He didn’t need to pray this prayer, but His followers did. He didn’t need help in staying in spiritual balance, but the people around Him did. These facts are as true for us today, as they were for those who were with Jesus as He walked the road to the Cross.
Every blessing,
Dr. Otis Corbitt
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