How Should Christians Pray in These Challenging Times?
3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.7 It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. 8 God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.9 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10 so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
In this age of
social media, the impact of your thinking and action as an individual,
intentionally or not, is bigger than you could ever think of, whether for good or bad.
This is true especially when you are in a position of influence, say you’re an
adult, a father or the head of a nation.
Yesterday, as I
started my day, I happened to stumble with a devotional video made by a fellow
pastor. What he did caused me to take the passage he selected and as I usually do
in my study of biblical text, I went to Biblearc
and started phrasing it. In just a matter of I think 10 minutes, I was able to
make a draft of this current article that I am now updating. The draft of
course is raw and rough; it needs to be polished, reviewed, and edited.
In updating this
article, I am thinking of including insights taken from the historical context
of the letter, immediate literary context and word study, and of course, to
arrange it homiletically and apply it to our current situation. The problem is
time. I think I can’t make it even in an hour or two.
Our passage is
about prayer. Specifically, it is about the prayer of the apostle Paul. By studying
this passage, we somehow see a glimpse of the apostle’s character by the way he
prayed. His prayer is characterized by gratitude, joy and spiritual concern for
the welfare of the saints at Philippi. Know that when the apostle Paul wrote
this letter, he was imprisoned for the sake of the gospel. What worst injustice
could a political regime commit than considering it a crime and to imprison
someone who actually preach about the righteousness of God? Is such injustice
sufficient enough for the character of Paul’s prayer to change? That instead of
being grateful, joyful and concerned for spiritual welfare of the church, Paul
should stop praying, start whining, and do social justice activities instead?
Christians who
still affirm that the Bible provides the norm for faith and life should take
the word of God as their model in shaping their prayer life even in a time
where there is widespread injustice. Since this is the case, let us take then
the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 1:3-11 to guide us how we should
pray in these trying times.
1. Pray with
thanksgiving
Regardless of the
situation around you, whether the government is overreaching its power, the
institutional church conspiring in silence in what you perceive as rampant
injustice in the land, and the academe is actively propagating ideology that
undermines life, freedom and prosperity, still the character of your prayer
should not change. Just like the apostle Paul, even though his imprisonment is
unjust, still this did not prevent him from offering thanksgiving and to remain
joyful while suffering in prison. In this same letter, he commanded Christians
at Philippi not to “be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by
prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God”
(Philippians 4:4). He also reminded them that regardless of the conflict in
leadership that you experience in the church, do not forget to “rejoice in the
Lord always” (Philippians 4:4). I think this is a good reminder for us in this
time where there is too much negativity about the economy and anxiety about the
future of our family.
The apostle’s
attitude of thanksgiving in his prayer is caused by his remembrance of the
saints at Philippi. Perhaps, he had a good memory of them and that’s why every
time he remembers them, he could not help himself but thank the Lord.
Despite the current
crisis caused both by COVID-19 and the lockdown, still there are so many things
we should be grateful for. We should be grateful that we are still alive and
the needs of our family are being provided. We should be grateful that our
companies or schools are still in operation and we still have a job. Does this
mean that we are being calloused and we are closing our eyes in the midst of
all the wrong things that are happening in our society? No, as Christians, we
should not close our eyes to the ugly realities of life, but we should see
beyond all of these and must maintain our vision that God is still sitting on
His throne, reigning despite of the contradictions that we see around us.
2. Rejoice
Second, regardless
of what is happening to you and around you, you should still rejoice. This
attitude will also reflect in your prayer. Paul’s prayer is not only full of
thanksgiving; it is also full of joy. The reason for such joy is due to the
partnership of the saints at Philippi in the ministry of the gospel. This
church provided the financial assistance for Paul's mission. This was his
supporting church. Paul called such partnership as good work and it is God
Himself who began such good work in them and this truth guaranteed the
completion of such good work. Amen!
The mind of the
apostle Paul was so focused about his life’s mission, to propagate the gospel.
And he even rejoiced in his unjust suffering just to fulfill this mission. In
fact, for the apostle Paul, the intention of the preachers themselves are
secondary; the primary thing for him is that the true gospel of Christ is being
preached. And even in such kind of situation, the apostle Paul rejoiced! He
said:
Reading the above
passage reminds me of the modernist controversy in PCUSA in the 1930s. J.
Gresham Machen was at the center of that controversy. Many PCUSA ministers at that
time could not understand Machen’s decision to establish the Independent Board
for Presbyterian Foreign Missions while there was already an existing one. In
the eyes of Machen, the existing Board for Presbyterian Missions was no longer
fulfilling its primary task due to the influence of liberalism. Machen could
not rejoice in such situation. Perhaps, the intention was noble, but in the eyes
of Machen, the existing foreign mission board was no longer preaching the
gospel of Christ.
Considering the
immediate literary context, part of the character of Paul’s prayer was its
spiritual focus, the growth of knowledge in Christian love. Such growth will
give a church discernment. Looking at Machen’s story, was he becoming unloving
by refusing to tolerate the modernist gospel? I don’t think so. Machen like the
apostle Paul was convinced that love must grow in knowledge and such knowledge
will give you discernment whether the gospel that is being preached is the
gospel of Christ or not. If it is not, then no matter how noble the intention
is, we cannot rejoice. If it is, just like the apostle Paul, we rejoice
regardless the motives are true or not.
The elements of gratitude
and joy in Paul’s prayer were so strong for the church at Philippi was in his
heart. In fact, the apostle was confident to call God as his witness that his
love for the saints at Philippi is the same love that Jesus has for his
Bride.
3. Pray for
discernment
Lastly, Paul's
prayer was spiritually specific. The primary focus of his prayer for the
Christians at Philippi is for their love to grow in knowledge. In this prayer,
we are safeguarded from two spiritual diseases that afflict mankind of all
ages, including Paul's generation and our time. When people think of love, they
usually contrast it with the mind. They don't appreciate the idea that true
love can actually grow in knowledge. I see libertines of today guilty of this
offense by misusing the language of love. They use it either as a license or
excuse to justify their immoral lifestyle.
Another common
disease of mankind, which I think scholars are most prone too is what the
apostle Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 8, a knowledge void of love. Such
knowledge puffs up; it is proud, arrogant and boastful. It looks down on
people. But in Paul's prayer, we see that love is not blind and true knowledge
only grows in the soil of love. Thinking people who suffer betrayal are prone
to fall to this second kind of disease.
The reason why the
apostle Paul focused on the growth of love in knowledge is because it is only
by this that Christians at Philippi and in all ages can have discernment of
what is best, pure and blameless. And by having this, we will become productive
in Christian life. And we learn four things here about Christian productivity:
- One,
Christian productivity is a result of the kind of love that is growing in
knowledge.
- Two,
Christian productivity is the spiritual outcome of thinking holy
thoughts.
- Three,
Christian productivity comes through Jesus Christ.
- And
four, Christian productivity is to the glory and praise of God.
Amen!
After reading and reflecting on Philippians 1:3-11, as Christians, we
should pray like the apostle Paul in this time of crisis. Our prayer should be
characterized by gratitude and joy and should be spiritually specific focusing
on the continuous growth of knowledge in Christian love. It is only by recovering
this kind of prayer that we can see productive Christians in these challenging
times.
Note: I am thinking of studying
further the meaning of the phrase “filled with the fruit of righteousness” and
will later include such study in updating this article.
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