Lines Wide Open

Genesis 18:20-32; Luke 11:1-13; Colossians 2:6-19

Central Baptist Church, Lowesville, VA

29 July 2007

Recently, we have been getting phone calls about an important business matter. “Unfortunately,” the message continues, “all lines are busy at the moment. Please stay on the line for our next available representative.” I don’t normally hang around to speak with someone who is too busy to talk with me. On the other hand, God is in the business of initiating calls for fellowship and waiting for us to recognize his presence. Do we take advantage of the open lines we have with God?

Abraham was unsettled regarding Yahweh’s character. He does not seem to have been all too confident in God’s mercy, grace, and forgiveness. While Abraham had determined to serve Yahweh, he had not yet grasped the fullness of Yahweh’s character. Yahweh initiated conversation regarding Sodom and Gomorrah and laid bare plans for judgment. God had decided to share with Abraham of his plans, not keeping his will secret. Most likely thinking of his nephew’s family, Abraham began to plead for grace. It would seem Abraham was concerned that in judgment God might overlook a minority group as insignificant to the larger plan. Abraham feared Lot “might fall through the cracks.” Surprisingly, however, Abraham takes no initiative to rescue Lot and warn him of impending doom.

Abraham pleads with God for grace to spare the city on account of 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, then 10 individuals who might be righteous. Yahweh is not put off by such bargaining. It is Abraham who is astounded at God’s grace and openness to hear and value human concerns. Perhaps it is because of this very bargaining that Abraham feels it unnecessary to warn Lot, for there must surely be ten righteous persons in the cities! Yahweh’s initiative of grace goes further, however, as he removes Lot’s family from the impending destruction. In God’s economy, mercy and grace take precedence over judgment.

The conversation with Abraham did not alter Yahweh’s plans regarding Sodom and Gomorrah. It seemed to Abraham that he had made a difference in God’s planned response. The change, however, was not in Yahweh, but in Abraham. In this interaction between God and man, it was the man who was changed as he recognized the superiority of Yahweh’s use of grace and mercy over judgment. It was in this open fellowship that Abraham’s faith in Yahweh grew. It was in this interaction that trust in God’s care and provision allowed Abraham to rest confidently in a growing understanding of God’s character. Have we learned with Abraham to trust that God exceeds our sense of compassion for others?

After September 11, 2001, we launched a “War on Terror” to address our insecurities and sense of injustice. We cried out for judgment, revenge, and comfort. Few seemed to share Abraham’s concern for innocent suffering in the execution of judgment. Few sought after the character of God’s response. Fewer were willing to accept God’s offer of comfort and a greater quality of security. In Abraham’s day, God displayed a degree of grace to which Abraham did not aspire. He was surprised by God’s open revelation of his will and plans. Do we expect God to share his will and plans with us, or are we afraid of discovering what God’s will might be?

Jesus taught the disciples to pray in response to their uncertainty. The confidence of Jesus’ prayer was uncommon at best. It was this issue of confidence that Jesus addressed most directly in teaching on prayer. The disciples were to bring their concerns before God in the knowledge that God was already working to meet their needs. Prayer was not to used as a tool to change God, but a reminder of God’s character and identity.

Jesus’ model prayer is a recognition of God’s uniqueness, our submission to God’s reign, God’s willing provision, God’s grace, and our dependence upon that grace. Insistence in prayer is not about making some change in God, but about fellowshipping with the one by whom we need changing. It is in relying on God to meet our needs that we gain true confidence for life. In this reliance we learn to depend not upon resources we can see, but upon God’s unlimited resources for meet the demands of his greater kingdom.

There is blessing in communicating with God. In fellowship with the Almighty we learn to lean of God’s provision, to trust God’s will, and to prepare ourselves for living forever under the fellowship of God’s reign. It is not about a wish list, it is about trust and confident fellowship. Do we allow prayer to be more than expressing a wish list?

Igreja Batista de Vila Mariana brought a child into one of its ministry centers. Workers were concerned when the child would only drink a few sips of milk from a glass provided. They wanted to know why he drank so little. “We don’t have much milk at home. I drink to this level, my brother drinks to here, and my sister drinks to here. The rest is for the baby.” “We have plenty of milk here. You drink all you want.” Do we really expect God to provide for our needs any more than that child?

While Abraham was discovering the character of Yahweh, Paul writes of Jesus as the supreme revelation of God. In Jesus we see the fullness of God’s character and will. In Christ we meet the full character of God and find the pattern for our own living. While Paul is concerned with some aberration of the gospel that was being preached, we need not know much about that as about Christ Jesus himself. It is in Christ that God’s fullness was clearly communicated. It is in Christ Jesus that we find new life as all else is placed in subjection to God.

Paul reminds the Colossians that the statement of our immersion in Christ Jesus is that we have put all else to death in order that we might live in and through Christ Jesus. It is in Him that we have access not just to heaven as a place to spend eternity, but to God’s fullness in immediate fellowship. Not only do we have access to God in prayer, but God has come to us in Christ Jesus to become an integral part of our lives. Paul speaks to this as growth and life itself coming from that very union with Christ Jesus. All those other religious issues of rites, rituals, traditions, and proper procedures are worthless prattle in contrast with God’s very presence enacted through faith in Jesus Christ. All else can be no more than a shadow of what is to come, for the completeness of God is already present in Christ Jesus. It is this God, fully present in Christ Jesus, who died for us. Do we allow him to be present in our lives?

The Bible often pictures our relationship to God as that of a bride. As the bride of Christ, we are often preoccupied with the mansion in which we will live with Christ. Unfortunately, we are not overly concerned with getting to know the one to whom we are giving our lives. Heaven is not so much a destination, as it is an eternal relationship of fellowship with God. God has granted us direct access to divine fellowship before the throne of heaven. Do we fellowship with God in preparation for eternity?

What character of response do we expect from our prayers? God invites us to fellowship with him for eternity. Are we preparing ourselves for that kind of intimacy? We are offered direct access to heaven. Much more than a destination, heaven is eternal fellowship with God. Are we getting ready for that? The lines are wide open.

—©2007 Christopher B. Harbin