Prayer and Faith (Part 5): Faith, The Title Deed

I’ve been talking about how the Greek word “assurance” in Hebrews 11:1 conveys the idea of a title deed:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... (Heb 11:1 ESV)

In 2005, we moved from California to Ohio. Now, escrow closed on our old house on the Friday that we left town to head for Ohio. But escrow on our new house didn’t close until Monday. So from that Friday to the following Monday, we were officially homeless. Yet we didn’t fret and agonize whether we were going to have a home to live in or not. Even though we couldn’t see the new house and we didn’t possess it yet, we had “the assurance (i.e., title deed) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1)

But here’s the other thing: we never would have taken complete ownership of the house had we not showed up to sign the final papers at the escrow office on Monday morning. Remember the “blank check” analogy both both Boyd and Sittser used? Doesn’t the legal aspect of a title deed described by hypostasis more closely fit Boyd’s view than Sitter’s?

I believe it does.

Incidentally, after we signed the paperwork, they gave us the keys to the house.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. -Matthew 16:18-20

Prayer and Faith (Part 4): Faith, The Title Deed

Photo by .A.A.

In my previous post, I talked about how the Greek word assurance in Hebrews 11:1 conveys the idea of a title deed:

The word “assurance” in this verse is the Greek word hypostasis. It commonly appears in ancient papyrus business documents, conveying the idea that a covenant is an exchange of assurances which guarantees the future transfer of possessions described in the contract. Moulton and Milligan suggest rendering this verse as: “Faith is the title deed of things hoped for.” (Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, 1963, p. 660).

Wikipedia defines title deed as “documents showing ownership, as well as rights, obligations, or mortgages on the property,” and “a formal document that serves as evidence of ownership.”

Title deeds do not necessarily imply possession. Possession is a right that accompanies ownership, but just because you possess it does not necessarily prove that you actually own it. In other words, possession is the actual holding of a thing, whether or not one has any right to do so.

For example, if you buy a car, your name is on the title, but if you give that car for your teenage son to use, then he has possession.If you bought the car with a loan, then the bank holds the title as security, but you possess the car. If the car gets stolen, the thief now has possession (albeit illegally). In these examples, the rightful owner of the property could retake possession, using the title deed to enforce his or her rights.

Does that sound familiar? In my earlier post, I quoted Greg Boyd saying that “prayer is not just a two-way transaction – it also involves the principalities and powers that hinder what God is able to do on the earth.”

When Satan enticed Adam and Eve to sin, he usurped the legal authority of the planet. But when Jesus died on the cross, he returned the title deed of the earth back to us. So anything Satan possesses, he does so illegally. He may possess something, but that does not signify ownership. According to the definition of possession, he may hold a thing without any right to do so.

So title deed suggests that, even though you are the legal owner or have legal rights to a thing, you may not acutally possess it. When you look at it that way, it puts prayer in a whole new perspective, doesn’t it?

In 2005, we moved from California to Ohio. Now, escrow closed on our old house on the Friday that we left town to head for Ohio. But escrow on our new house didn’t close until Monday. So from that Friday to the following Monday, we were officially homeless, but we didn't fret and agonize whether we were going to have a home to come to. Even though we couldn’t see the new house and we didn’t posses it yet, we knew that we had “the assurance (i.e., title deed) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

But here’s the other thing: we never would have taken complete ownership of the house had we not showed up to sign the final papers in the escrow office on Monday morning. Rememebr the “blank check” analogy that has been used by both Boyd and Sittser? Doesn’t the legal aspect of a title deed described by hypostasis more closely fit Boyd’s view than Sitter’s?

I believe it does.

Incidentally, after we signed the paperwork, they gave us the keys to the house.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. -Matthew 16:18-20

Prayer and Faith (Part 3): Praying According to Covenant

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

In The Better Covenant, Watchman Nee expresses the idea of praying “according to his will” within the context of our covenant relationship with God. Rather than a God who is reluctant to answer our prayers, Nee sees God as taking delight in our “requesting Him to perform according to all His promises in the covenant.” Using a similar blank check analogy as the previous authors I quoted, he says:

May we all remember that we have the right to pray according to covenant. We may ask God to act according to His covenant. But if there is no faith, our prayer will be of no avail. God has reserved everything in the New Covenant in just the way a person deposits his money in a bank. If the person believes, he can draw it out continually.

It’s no coincidence that all three of  these authors liken prayer as a type of financial transaction, for God himself expresses the spiritual transaction between himself and Man in similar terms:

What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. (Rom 4:3-5)

He goes on to say (v. 23-24) that God will also credit righteousness (i.e., equity) for us as well. (See my earlier blog post, The Economics of Self Worth.)

Hebrews 11 is a commentary on the function of faith in relation to the covenant of God:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen... (Heb 11:1 ESV)

The word “assurance” in this verse is the Greek word hypostasis. It commonly appears in ancient papyrus business documents, conveying the idea that a covenant is an exchange of assurances which guarantees the future transfer of possessions described in the contract. Moulton and Milligan suggest rendering this verse as: “Faith is the title deed of things hoped for.” (Vocabulary of the Greek Testament, 1963, p. 660).

Nee puts it like this: “…all who know what a covenant is know how to pray – they may ask God with boldness.” (pp 33)

So God responding to our prayers becomes a matter of his covenant, not his sovereignty. It’s not even based on grace.

Prayer and Faith (Part 2): “Lord, teach us to pray...”

In my previous post, I talked about two different authors’ opposing worldviews on how prayer and the spirit world operates:

Gerald Sittser believes everything that happens fits into God’s secret plan, a divinely ordained blueprint, which is hidden from us. Our prayers, he says, may not always be answered because God’s sovereign will may dictate otherwise.

Gregory Boyd believes in a warfare worldview, in which Satan is actively thwarting God’s will. He says that principalities and powers – not God’s sovereign will – is what hinders what God is able to do, and that prayer is about cooperating with God to help accomplish his will.

According to Boyd, the problem with Sittser’s blueprint worldview is that...

“...it is difficult to pray passionately that the Father’s will would be done ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ (Mt 6:10) if one believes that the Father’s sovereign will is already being done in bringing about the very thing against which one is now praying.” (pp 370)

When American troops were deployed in Viet Nam in the 1960’s, they were not sent there to fight and win a war - they went there to “contain” communism and prevent it from spreading. Contrary to what they’d been trained for, the military was not empowered to act or go on the offensive, because it might conflict with the government’s agenda of containment.

As a result, the soldiers lacked a clear sense of what the war was about... why are we here? As one history professor observed: “In the field – ‘in country’ there seemed to be no secure places – the enemy was everywhere.”

I can’t help but see the similarity to – and the results of – Sittser’s worldview: Christians lacking a clear sense of direction... the enemy seems to be everywhere, but we’re not sure of exactly how to pray or act...  because it might conflict with God’s true agenda.

Because of this, the church is too quick to accept unanswered prayer as the norm. Yet, if we are to take verses like 1 John 4:14-15 at face value, then prayer which lines up with the Word is to be answered, isn’t it?

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him. -1 John 4:14-15, Italics Mine

Prayer and Faith (Part 1): “Lord, teach us to pray...”

Photo by Lel4nd

Chapter 11 of the Gospel of Luke starts out with Jesus praying in a certain place and, when he finished, one of his disciples asked, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” It seems that, over 2,000 years later, we still can’t quite figure it out.

In his book, When God Doesn’t Answer Your Prayer, Gerald Sittser uses the analogy of prayer being like a “blank check.” He writes:

We know we can’t ask God for just anything. We must make reasonable requests. In short, we must pray according to God’s will. If prayer were a blank check, we would need two signatures to cash it in. One would be our signature; the other would be God’s signature. God himself must sign off on our requests. He must give final approval. (pp 124)

Gregory Boyd, in his book, Satan and the Problem of Evil, also uses the blank check analogy:

God’s will is like a business check that must be cosigned in order to be validated. We the church are the cosigning party, and prayer is our signing. Hence the essence of prayer is, as Jesus taught, to align our will with the Father’s will—to cosign his will, as it were—so that his rule is established “on earth as it is in heaven”. (Mt 6:10) (pp234)

Although they use the same analogy, Boyd sees God as giving us a blank check – already signed – in order to empower his people to act in his behalf. We are the co-signing party which finalizes the spiritual transaction. Sittser, on the other hand, sees God as withholding his signature until he’s certain we’re spending it responsibly.

Jerry Sittser holds a master of divinity degree from Fuller Theological Seminary. Greg Boyd holds a master of divinity degree from Yale Divinity School and a Ph.D from Princeton Theological Seminary. If two bible scholars such as these cannot agree on something so fundamental to Christianity such as prayer, what hope is there for the rest of us?

The reason why Sittser and Boyd do not agree is because each one has a different view of how the spirit world operates. Sittser believes that everything that happens on the earth somehow fits into God’s secret plan – a divinely ordained blueprint, which is hidden from us. Although we ought to pray for things like a friend’s healing or that a loved one’s life be spared, God’s sovereign (i.e., hidden) will may dictate otherwise. Therefore, he may withhold his signature on the blank check.

Boyd, on the other hand, believes in a warfare worldview, in which Satan is actively (and often successfully) thwarting God’s will. For this reason, Boyd views prayer as fundamentally a warfare activity. Quoting another author, he says that prayer is not just a two-way transaction – it also involves the principalities and powers that hinder what God is able to do on the earth. God wants his will carried out on the earth, but he wants it carried out in cooperation with him. His will is not accomplished unless we are in communication with him on it.

There are plenty of issues Christians do not agree on... and when these are non-salvation issues, then I think we ought to agree to disagree. But when it involves an issue as vital as prayer, I find it difficult not to weigh in. What do you think? Can God’s will can be hindered in any way? Or is everything that happens divinely ordained? Your worldview, be it Boyd’s or Sisster’s, will affect how you pray.

Stay tuned... I’ll weight in on this topic in Part Two.

Life or Lord?

Photo by gustaffo89

Recently on Facebook, a relative posted the following in her status box:

Okay, Life… I give up. Do whatever the ?#@*&%! you want with me.

I guess she was having a bad day. I probably didn't help. I commented that, if she substituted “Life” with “Lord” and eliminated the “?#@*&%!” then she had nailed it.

It occurred to me how we as Christians can fall into this type of thinking…

We act as if Life and Lord are the same thing, interpreting everything that happens to us in life as God’s will.

But God is Love, not Life. God is separate from his creation. The idea that God and his creation (i.e., Life, Nature) are the same is not Christianity, but Pantheism.

You see, Pantheists do not believe in a creator God. They believe that God and Nature are one, that all living things contain a divine spark within them. But the Bible teaches that God created the world and that the world is fallen. The Bible calls Satan “the god of this age,” and says that “the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” So why do we assume that whatever Life throws at us must somehow be God's will?

Turning Off Sin’s Power

Photo by Tony₃

Psalm 103: says “...as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.“ It’s clear from both the Old and New Testament that God has made provision for the forgiveness of sin.

But the good news of the Gospel is more than just freedom from sin’s penalty. It’s also freedom from its power.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once wrote:

The belief that God will do everything for man is as untenable as the belief that man can do everything for himself. It, too, is based on a lack of faith. We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith, but superstition.

God has done everything to provide the victory, but it seems that, in order to walk in it, we also have a part to play.

Here’s what the Word of God says about The Problem, God’s Part and Our Part in overcoming sin’s power.

The Problem

What your flesh wants is contrary to what the Spirit wants, and the Spirit wants what is contrary to what your flesh wants. They are opposed to each other. As a result, you don’t always do what you want. ~Galatians 5:17

I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. ~Romans 7:22-23

Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him. Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to death. ~James 1:14-15

God’s Part

The Holy Spirit will give you life that comes from Christ Jesus and will set you free from sin and death. ~Romans 8:2

You are tempted in the same way that everyone else is tempted. But God can be trusted not to let you be tempted too much, and he will show you how to escape from your temptations. ~1 Corinthians 10:13

Because Jesus experienced temptation when he suffered, he is able to help others when they are tempted. ~Hebrews 2:18

Jesus understands every weakness of ours, because he was tempted in every way that we are, but he didn’t sin. ~Hebrews 4:15

Our Part

So whenever we are in need, we should come bravely before the throne of our merciful God to receive mercy and find kindness, which will help us at the right time. ~Hebrews 4:16

Consider yourselves dead to sin’s power, but living for God in the power Christ Jesus gives you. ~Romans 6:11

Therefore, never let sin rule your physical body so that you obey its desires. Never offer any part of your body to sin’s power. No part of your body should ever be used to do any ungodly thing. Instead, offer yourselves to God as people who have come back from death and are now alive. Offer all the parts of your body to God. Use them to do everything that God approves of.

Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. ~Romans 6:12-14

You used to let the different parts of your body to be slaves to sin and evil. But now you must make every part of your body serve God, so that you will belong completely to him. ~Romans 6:19

Offer your bodies to God as a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ~Romans 12:1

Don’t become like the people of this world. Instead, change the way you think. Then you will always be able to determine what God really wants—what is good, pleasing, and perfect. ~Romans 12:2

Instead, live like the Lord Jesus Christ did, and forget about satisfying the desires of your flesh. ~Romans 13:14

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. ~Galatians 5:16

‘Nuff said?

“I See You... Satan!”

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church, has been taken to task for denouncing Avatar in a recent sermon [pdf] as “the most demonic, satanic movie I’ve ever seen.” Mark Moring of Christianity Today criticized his comments on his blog:

...did I find it “overtly demonic”? Heck no — and even on the contrary. I saw some distinctly Christian themes in the ideas of self-sacrifice, unconditional love, incarnation, and even a model for missions.

When Star War was released in 1977, one response from Christians was an attempt to capitalize on its success by trying to relate ‘the force’ to some aspect of Christianity. (You may remember a book entitled, The Force is Jesus.) Unfortunately, these attempts are doomed to fail because even non-believers can see through the subterfuge and realize that ‘the force’ and Jesus are nothing alike.

In a interview years later, Star Wars creator George Lucas said that every major religion used the concept of ‘the force’ as an evangelistic and proselytizing tool — confirming his view that “if you believe there’s one God, then all religions have to lead to the same place.”

Mark Moring, in his Christianity Today blog post is trying to do the same — reconcile the central themes in Avatar to aspects of Christianity. And while I don’t think he’s intentionally trying to come to the same conclusion as Lucas, he’s coming dangerously close to doing so, and leading others to to the same.

I think he’s missed the mark (no pun intended, Mark...), because the things he calls “Christian themes” — self-sacrifice, unconditional love — are not Christian themes at all... they are universal Human needs and desires. Let’s look some of them:

Unity and Love Among People
Although they do have internal conflicts, the tribe is united in a common purpose. The authority of the leaders is respected when final judgement on a matter is pronounced.

Connection to the Supernatural
In Avatar, the Na’vi are connected to their deity, Eywa, via a global network of interconnected synaptic energy. Contrary to what many Christians think, non-belivers are looking for spirituality. As in Paul’s day, we have a plethora of idols: Wiccaans, New Age, etc. People are looking for spirituality in all the wrong places.

The Ability to Defend what Belongs to You Against a More Powerful Adversary
Like the Native Americans in the 19th Century, the Na’vi homeland is threatened by outsiders who want to drive them away and take the planet’s resources. As believers, aren’t we supposed to do the same?

Knowing and Being Known
The traditional Na’vi greeting is, “I see you,” meaning I see into your soul; I see who you are. People crave to be loved and accepted for who they are.

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I find it strangely disturbing that Moring would come so strongly against Pastor Driscoll, even praising non-Christian Houston Chronicle faith-and-art blogger Menachem Wecker for his criticism of Driscoll. Wecker believes that Avatar should be “applauded for celebrating a spiritual approach to life,” but as Driscoll points out, just because it’s spritual doesn’t mean it’s good.

Attacking Avatar was not Driscoll’s main point... he merely used it as a sermon illustration to show how Satan and his demons operate. Driscoll simply pointed out that Avatar clearly advocates Paganism and that Paganism is satanically inspired. He never said that the characters themselves were satanic (but you wouldn’t get that from Moring and Wecker’s criticism).

Personally, I thought Avatar was a great film, but I didn’t buy into its message; and I’m concerned about any Christian who cannot disern what that message is and thinks Avatar expounded “Christian themes” and had “Christian undertones.”

One of the commentators on the Christianity Today blog hit the nail with this statement: “Perhaps we would do well to watch Avatar with discernment and see its popularity as an opportunity to engage others thoughtfully about biblical truth.” Well said.

Let’s Meet on Mars Hill

A special edition of Avatar (containing 9 minutes of extra footage) was released in theatres this weekend. I missed seeing the original on the big screen – much less in 3D – so I took the family to see it on Saturday.

Even before the re-release, Avatar became the highest grossing film in history (2.8 billion), beating out James Cameron’s other film, Titanic. Cameron is currently planning two sequels to complete the trilogy. Considering its popularity, this could become an even bigger cultural phenomena than Star Wars.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the three films I just mentioned all have a spiritual theme. If you recall the end of Titanic, Rose is reunited with Jack in death on the Grand Staircase, along with the others who had died. The ‘force’ of Star Wars was most certainly derived from Hinduism and Buddhism. And the main spiritual theme of Avatar comes from Pantheism, the idea that there is a divine “life force” in all living things. According to Wikipedia, Pantheism is...

...the view that the Universe (Nature) and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god.

In Avatar, however, Cameron takes it up a notch by explaining this phenomena scientifically – the trees on the planet are interconnected to one another with “more synapses than the human brain.” The planet’s natives, the Na’vi, are able to connect to this, upload and download data, access memories of their ancestors, like a “global network.”

All of this, combined with some anti-militaristic, pro-environmentalist sentiments, has made Avatar a target of criticism from the Christian community. But if that’s the only response we have, we’re missing an incredible opportunity.

The book of Acts describes how the apostle Paul visited the city of Athens. It says he was “greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” So he went to the marketplace and began reasoning with the people there. They became intrigued enough to bring him to a meeting at the Areopagus (Mars Hill) where they asked him to explain this “new teaching”:

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.”

When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, "We want to hear you again on this subject." At that, Paul left the Council. A few men became followers of Paul and believed. Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others. (Acts 17:22-34)

During worship the following Sunday, the Spirit of the Lord showed me that the reason Avatar can gross 2.8 billion dollars is not simply because it’s a good movie. It’s due to spiritual hunger. If we’re made in his image, then we are spiritual beings... so it’s only natural we’d be drawn to things of a spiritual nature. But if criticism is the only response we have to spiritual ideas that contradict Christianity, then we are missing the larger opportunity to engage in meaningful dialog and present people with the Truth.

After all, isn’t that what Paul did so many years ago on Mars Hill?