Prayer and Humility
Notes
Transcript
Handout
This Sunday school lesson talks about the power of bold and humble prayers. What I keyed in on was how Abraham used that power.
Genesis 18:16-25
Genesis 18:16-25
God has a role for Abraham and his family to play in his plan—a ministry. This is the first time he brings him into it.
S&G are unjust and cruel.
Abraham advocates for mercy—within the judgment of God.
This is a very Christian thing to do. (Matthew 5:43-48)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
This is the ministry of reconciliation.
Ministers of Reconciliation maintain the flow of God’s GRACE through his people to OTHERS. (Genesis 18:16-25, Matthew 5:43-48)
How can we be ministers of reconciliation? Let’s look to the ministers of reconciliation in the Law of Moses: the Levites.
Levites were not priests. They sometimes served in the Temple, but mostly they lived among the people.
The priests worked at the site of God’s reconciliation with his people. The Levites worked among the people, to maintain the flow.
They taught the Law.
They handled all slaughtering
They maintained the cities of refuge
They had veto over war.
They were a safeguard against the pride, and selfishness of the people.
Ministers of reconciliation act of out of God’s GRACE, not their own FEAR or PRIDE. (Numbers 35:6-15)
Imagine the pressure they were under!
Why did God choose them to hold the line? Because they had been humbled.
Shechem (Genesis 49:5-7) lost their inheritance
“Simeon and Levi are brothers—
their swords are weapons of violence.
Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
and their fury, so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob
and disperse them in Israel.
Sinai—they proved their devotion to God.
They had no land, no accumulated wealth. No access to power, no tribal pride.
They depended on God for food.
They could be devoted to God’s grace.
This is the same position Abraham was in.
Ministers of Reconciliation must be HUMBLED—they must give up their PRIDE. (Genesis 49:5-7; Exodus 32; Luke 18:9-14)
Christians are also Levites.
Jesus is the high priest—he reconciles us to God.
We are the Levites—we live among the people of the world and maintain the flow of his grace.
To do that we need to be humble.
We find this in the parable
Luke 18:9-14
Luke 18:9-14
The Pharisee was still controlled by pride. He was going to do whatever kept him looking good.
The tax collector had given up his pride. He would be able to give grace on God’s terms.
The story of the Levites gives us a cautionary note, because they lost their position as Israel’s conscience.
It happened when Israel let their pride and fear get the better of them (1 Samuel 8)
They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.”
But the people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We want a king over us. Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles.”
The kings were not sojourners—they were invested.
Saul rejected the instructions of the priests.
David brought the Levites under royal control
Solomon abolished the tribal system.
Jeroboam abolished the Levitical priesthood.
They lost their conscience, and feel into sin and oppression.
Ministers of reconciliation must resist the daily temptation of PRIDE, POWER and FEAR. (1 Samuel 8; Luke 9:23-24)
Every day we face a fresh temptation to invest in this world, to pick up our pride again.
This is why Jesus said,
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it.
