A Powerful Church

“The Lord added to [the church’s] number day by day those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47).

In an article entitled, What Did They Mean, “Believe in Christ?” (April 17, 2020) on the Midwestern Theological Seminary’s resource website, For the Church, Jim Elliff wrote:

“In the early days of Christianity, scores of people believed. It is the suddenness of belief that shocks you. In a moment, before a day was over, or before a few days had elapsed, so many turned from paganism or centuries-old religious traditions to Christ. ... In all cases, it seemed that it was a sudden experience that turned them from unbelief to belief.”

The article develops what believing in Jesus meant—fully embracing His person, His values, and His vision. When one genuinely believes in Jesus, he becomes a follower, or in Elliff’s words, “Believing is buying in fully to the way of Christ, his vision for the world and for life.” This requires that believers count everything once valued as worthless because they now embrace the superior worth of Jesus.

Turn the focus now to the church. Why was the church more powerful and influential in its beginning than it is today? The Lord has not changed (Hebrews 13:8). His purpose for His church has not been thwarted (Matthew 16:18). His commission has not been withdrawn (Matthew 28:19). So, why is there such a difference between the powerful early church and her seeming fruitless modern version?

The reason is found in Revelation and the letters to the seven churches (Chapters 2 and 3). It did not take long for these congregations besieged by the enemy to succumb to serious errors. All the epistles in the NT support this fact.

The churches referenced in Revelation are typical of churches throughout the gospel age. Of the seven, only two (Smyrna and Philadelphia) escaped Christ’s criticism. The rest either failed in obedience to Christ or tolerated corruption of His doctrine. For example, cold Ephesus abandoned the love she had in her founding. Dead Sardis did not complete her assigned works. Luke-warm Laodicea did not recognize her miserable condition. On the other hand, Careless Pergamum allowed false teachers. Tolerant Thyatira encouraged shameless doctrines. Nevertheless, whatever the error or sin, there remained in each church a few saints faithful to Jesus. They had ears to hear, receiving Christ’s instruction to overcome and persevere for which they were promised rewards in the glory of the eternal kingdom (2:7, 17, 24–29; 3:4–6, 20–22). So it is today.

Thus, in Elliff’s closing words, the key to this faithfulness is “seeing the beauty and power and excellence of Christ.” A friend recently posted: “If you don’t miss the church when you miss church, there’s sure to be something missing somewhere else.” What is missing is one’s devotion to Christ. A church is a congregation of devoted Christ-followers united to enthusiastically worship of Christ, longing for Him through prevailing prayer, hungering to know more of Him in His Word, loving and serving Him and His people through fellowship, and selfless stewardship of possessions (Acts 2:42–47). Oh, that God would grant us in these last days a revival that would return His church to her original condition for His glory.

Struggle in Prayer

Colossians 2 begins with Paul’s statement of intention with respect to the churches in Colossae and Laodicea that had never seen the apostle personally (v. 1; note 1:4, 7). He expressed a great struggle (ESV; the AV has conflict; the Greek is agon, meaning “to contend” or “to fight”) for (not against) these saints. The context begins with 1:29 where Paul alludes to his intercessory prayer life in the behalf of these churches. Although prayer is not specifically mentioned, the terms he employed are used of his prayer life (Romans 15:30). His praying involved, laboring “to the point of exhaustion, agonizing [Greek; agonizomai, the participle form of agon, used in 2:1] with the energy He [God] works in me” (a literal translation). Laboring and struggling (agonizing) describe serious praying that few believers understand or experience.

Of course, this does not mean that one’s prayers are more effective if somehow one is able to “wrestle with God” in order to persuade Him to meet some need. Rather, Paul describes a spiritual striving in and with God’s power, not for personal benefit, but interceding for others. It recognizes the total impotency of efforts in the flesh to achieve the desired result. True prayer is and must be directed to the Father (Matthew 6:9), in the Son’s authority—name (John 14:13, 14), and in the power of the Holy Spirit (Jude 20). When the Spirit is at work, one’s praying will be mighty and effectual.

True “treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (v. 3) is what Paul desired for these saints. He wanted them to have full assurance and understanding with respect to the will of God in Christ. The evidence of God’s will in them was their “being knit together in love.” Paul could see in them “good order and the firmness of faith in Christ (v. 5). Sadly, this state was endangered by some who would “delude [them] with plausible arguments,” that is, specious discourse leading them into error. (The Greek term translated delude is paralogizomai, means to cheat by false reckoning.)

Thus, Paul sought to encourage (ESV; the AV has comfort; the Greek is parakaleo, meaning “to come along side” to help them (aid, counsel, or comfort, in this case, by prayer) “to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery” (v. 2, ESV). Absent, Paul interceded in prayer for them, enlisting the Lord to intervene and divert them from the danger threatening them. This was the will of the Lord and prayer was the means God used to help these saints.

This passage teaches us that prayer, the kind that is done in the Spirit—wrestling and striving—the kind that characterized Paul’s life and ministry—is what we need in our present hour. God requires this of us. We are duty bound as soldiers of the cross to press this warfare in the heat of battle. We must also be on guard against the enemy’s efforts to deceive and distract us. We must not despair. We must not surrender ground. We must stay strong, stand firm, and continue “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” (Ephesians 6:18). May we be faithful to this call.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9–13) is commonly recited in liturgical worship services. However, the Lord Jesus gave it to His people, not as a ritual prayer, but as a model on which to base their prayers. Although I have no objection to repeating the prayer (as I have done many times), Jesus specifically stated, “pray then like this.” In other words, use this as a template and pray your own prayer. This understanding is supported in Luke 11. The chapter opens with our Lord’s disciples observing His praying. When He finished, they asked, “Teach us to pray.” It is not readily obvious how the creature is able to approach the unseen Creator to address his needs and concerns. Nevertheless, Jesus makes it very clear that His people are invited to come into God’s presence and plead their cause. In Luke 18:1 Jesus “told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.” He closed the parable with this assurance: “Will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? . . . He will give justice to them speedily” (vv. 7, 8). In John 15:7 Jesus taught, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” What a promise!

So, let us examine the model. It is basically divided into three sections. The first section honors God and provokes the need of the one praying to recognize and understand His superior and exalted status. Jesus introduced a powerful and glorious truth—the eternal God is our Father. It also elevates the importance of His will over everything.

The second section humbles the heart of the creature by acknowledging his utter dependence upon God for one’s physical needs, even life itself. Bread is the symbol what is needed to sustain life (John 6: 35, 51). Jesus is the Bread of Life—the source of one’s greatest need, life from spiritual death.

The third section extends the humbling to the greater need of the soul for forgiveness of sins, the need to escape temptation, and the deliverance from the evil one, Satan. The prayer ends in the AV with an affirmation that the kingdom, power, and glory belong to God. (Although the statement is absent in many early manuscripts, it appears very early in the first century in Christian liturgy. It is suggested the sentence comes from David: “Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all” [1 Chronicles 29:11]).

Prayer is hard because it requires humbling since true praying is utter dependence on God for everything. Praying is difficult because narcissistic human nature exults in self-adoration, the pride of independence, and the rush of self-confidence. Much “praying” is but a request for divine assistance in the pursuit of one’s own life plan. However, only those who do the will of God will enter the kingdom of God (Matthew 7:21). Thus, the ones possessing this eternal life must and will focus on the priority of God’s kingdom over all personal desires by eager submission to His will. All godly beggars thankfully accept only a daily provision without worry or concern for tomorrow. These broken saints also bask in the wonder of God’s forgiveness and thus extend that mercy to all personal offenders. Lord, teach us to pray.

The Fear of Sudden Terror

“Do not be afraid [yareʾ, verb] of sudden terror [pachad, noun] or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught” (Proverbs 3:25, 26 ESV).

The Authorized Version reads, “Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence and shall keep thy foot from being taken” (Proverbs 3:25, 26).

Several words in the Hebrew language are translated fear. The verb translated afraid is yireʾ, which describes a state of mind—afraid, terrified, or in the shock of awe. Scripture consistently forbids one to fear anything but God. “The fear [yirʾah, noun] of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” (Psalm 111:10).

Spiritual wisdom results from practicing the fear of the Lord. Proverbs begins with an exhortation for the wise (the God-fearer) to hear and increase learning (1:5, 6). This is followed by a factual statement: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction” (1:5, 6). Fools hate knowledge (1:22). A fool is one who rejects God and chooses to follow his own course (iniquity). Because the fool refuses to listen to the Lord and ignores His counsel and reproof, the Lord declares, “I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror [pachad, noun] strikes you, when terror [pachad, noun] strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me” (1:26–28).

Pacḥad is the experience of terror, particularly the abject terror of those experiencing the wrath of God: “In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear [pachad] before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. And the land of Judah will become a terror [chagaʾ, a reeling or spinning due to fear] to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear [pachad] because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them” (Isaiah 19:16, 17).

In other words, the fear and terror experienced in a calamity, that is, whatever causes distress or burden like the pandemic we are experiencing, must not be experienced by the people of God. These calamities fulfill the purpose of the Lord. And, those who listen to the Lord and fear Him exclusively—who practice the fear of the Lord, being wise in the ways of God—will not fear. Rather, they will trust the Lord because He is their confidence, their hope; and He will keep them from the ruin of destruction. Sudden terror, however, will be the ruin of the wicked.

“Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught” (Proverbs 3:25, 26 ESV).