 Rev. Matthew J. Hook |
The
Prayer of Jabez, Part II: Sermon:
Scripture: |
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This sermon is the second of a two part series on Jabez, a man in the Old Testament, who prayed a prayer to the God of Israel. He has been taken from relative obscurity to prominence by the success of the book The Prayer of Jabez by Bruce Wilkenson. The book is topping more than one of the New York Times’ best seller lists. The book has not been without criticism… Let me open with the headlines of the religion section of the Oakland Press from June 9, 2001: “Some say prayer book urges ‘stunning selfishness.’.… The book, which likens prayer to a stockbroker’s request for a huge portfolio, suggests God is just waiting to bestow ‘exponentially expanding blessings’ to just about anyone willing to put in the request.” (Quoting the Associated Press’s article). “One camp of conservative theologians believes 'Jabez' is stunning in its selfishness, using verses as a religious excuse for wanting lots of money and material goodies. ... American culture is very oriented toward paychecks and big houses. This basically gives those same secular values a religious shellacking. So you can feel good as a religious person and at the same time go after all the stuff in the world...The theory" (according to the Associated Press’s view of the book) "is that it’s perfectly OK to ask God for tangible blessings, just use them well.” Ohhh. About the only thing they don’t say about God’s “blessing” is anything about sneezing. Selfish Prayers… Let’s talk about the goal of the prayer: God’s blessing, expanding territory, God’s hand, and God’s help keeping away from evil. If you extract the prayer from the Scriptures, it sounds like nothing more than what the article states. For us to understand the prayer (and how to discuss it with others who view it as “stunningly selfish”), we need to first examine the prayer within the context of scripture, and within the Christian concept of the Kingdom of God. Without the Holy Spirit guiding you, the Bible looks like a bunch of do’s and don’ts. But when the Spirit of God opens the Scriptures to you, you see God’s truth. The “do’s and don’ts” are simply a reflection of God’s character. They are ways of becoming closer to God. They are ways that we can reflect God in the world around us. It is not our own doing; it is what Christ does in us. Hear some verses: Paul to the Philippians says “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:21. To the Galatians (2:20) he writes “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now life in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.” The blessing is not about me, or you, or Bruce Wilkenson. Jabez prays “Oh, that You would bless me
indeed.” The “blessing” is not about us. The blessing is God’s way of sharing the Kingdom, and drawing people in. The Kingdom of God is God’s rule of grace (mercy, love, compassion, and patience) in the world. It is like the Garden of Eden was: full of happiness, truth, and no evil. At the beginning of his ministry Jesus said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the Gospel to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are down-trodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4:18-19). Jesus fulfilled these words. Jesus embodied the Kingdom of God. He compared it to a mustard seed, to leaven in a loaf of bread, to a pearl of great price, to a banquet feast. The Kingdom of God was enacted by Jesus in his earthly ministry. According to Romans 12:2, you and I can prove what is the good and perfect will of God by acting out the Kingdom here on earth. When we treat people the way they get treated in the Kingdom, according to Jesus’ descriptions, we literally “bring in the Kingdom.” The first problem many people will have with the prayer is because they think that God’s blessing has to do with material blessing. When Jesus said “I have come that they may have life, and might have it abundantly.” John 10:10, he wasn’t talking about a big foot house in Birmingham. For the rich young ruler, experiencing God’s blessing meant selling all he had to go with Jesus. He couldn’t do it, walked away from Jesus, and walked away from a better life, full of blessing. When we ask for God’s blessing, we have a choice, because God is already at work in the world around us. We can obey and listen to God and go where God is already at work, or we can choose to stay right where we are. When God wants to bless you, you can’t stay where you are and go with God at the same time. You have to adjust. Most of the time like the rich young ruler, we walk away from experiencing God. The problem is ours: we miss out on experiencing God. We miss out on the blessing. The other problem some of us have about blessing is we can’t imagine what God would do in our lives were we to claim the blessings that God has waiting for us. Bruce Wilkenson asks us to think of it this way: “Instead of standing near the river’s edge, asking for a cup of water to get you through each day, you’ll do something unthinkable – you will take this prayer and jump into the river!” Most of us want God, but we don’t want too much God. We don’t want to get weird. But let me tell you. Some of you don’t have to worry. You can’t get any weirder! Jabez then prays “Oh, that You would
enlarge my territory!” For us this may not have anything to do with real estate. A plea for more territory is where you ask God to enlarge your life so you can make a greater impact for Him. What could God do through you if you had more influence, more responsibility, and more opportunity to make a mark for the God of Israel? The emphasis is on doing God’s work for God’s glory. You can do anything, including Christian stuff like preaching and singing for your own glory; but it hinges on who ultimately gets the glory. God is the one building His church. God is the one who is moving people to enlarge our territory. It’s a subtle thing to shift into the thinking that says “Look what we’re doing,” even when we say it in a humble way. We shy away because living like this doesn’t add up. In our thinking we think that our abilities + experience + training + personality and looks + our past + expectations of others = our assigned territory. But, if you look throughout Scriptures, God never operated like that. God’s great leaders were all flawed. Moses had a speech impediment. David was a murderer. Gideon’s army was too big. God wants to use ordinary people who believe in an extraordinary God who will do His work through them. What God is waiting for is an invitation, which is what this portion of the prayer is. God’s equation is more like this: My willingness and weakness + God’s will and supernatural power = my expanding territory. We
must be bold. When
was the last time you attempted something you knew would
fail unless God intervened? When you experience that, you will have experienced the God
of the universe working in your life. Jabez prays, “Oh, that Your hand might be
with me.” Bruce Wilkenson, who’s dealt with many ministries over the years, writes “Having dared to ask for an enlarged ministry, more than a few Christians have faltered at this point in their spiritual transformation. They’ve received blessings on a scale they hadn’t imagined possible. They’ve seen God stretch the limits of their influence and opportunities. But suddenly a rush of wind under their wings stops. Helpless, they start to plummet.” Stumbling into overwhelming circumstances. Crisis. Misled. Abandoned. Angry… If you ever feel like that, you may be just where God wants you. Remember who’s glory you’re after – God’s. If you feel like the wrong one for the job, when you arrive in new territory, you have to be dependent on Him. It can be so frustrating and so wonderful at the same time. Dependence. It’s not something we successful Americans like to admit. Dependence goes against everything we’ve been taught: It goes against common sense. It contradicts your previous life experience. It seems to disregard your feelings, training, and need for security. It sets you up to look like a fool and a loser. Yet it is God’s plan for his most honored servants. Oh, Lord, that your hand would be upon me! Paul
writes in 2 Corinthians 3:5-6 “Not that we are sufficient
of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves,
but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient
as ministers of the new covenant.” Jabez prays “Oh, that You would keep me
from evil.” After all, if your life transcends the ordinary and starts to encroach on new territory for God, guess whose turf you’re invading? This is why success and blessedness are some of the greatest perils, because they “tend to dull our keen sense of dependence on God and make us prone to presumption. Remember, whose glory are you striving for? The
most effective war against sin is to pray that we will not
have to fight. Proverbs
basically says, don’t walk away from evil, RUN!
Jesus himself taught us to pray “Lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil.” In conclusion, let me ask an important question. Will you let God work in your life regardless of what God chooses? That’s when the blessing of God is manifest. God holds back nothing from those who want and earnestly long for what He wants. Selfish
prayers? They
may not be too bad, considering all of us need God’s love,
mercy, and healing. Let us pray: Oh Lord, bless us indeed. Enlarge our influence for you. Put your hand upon us, and keep us from evil. Thank you for your promises and your faithfulness. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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