Last Sunday we tackled Ephesians 3:14-21 which is one of Paul’s two prayer for the Ephesians in the epistle. Paul seamlessly moves from words to the Ephesians to prayers for the Ephesians in this text. As we looked at the apostle Paul as a man of prayer this morning, we discussed two heretical threats to a vibrant prayer life. Both threats, interestingly enough, de-personalize God in their own way leading to a God who we cannot come to know and embrace.
Threat #1-Deism
Remember that song Bette Midler used to sing called "From a Distance"? "God is watching us, God is watching us, from a distance". Good tune. Poor theology. The first sectarian threat is Deism. Deism depersonalizes God and serves as a serious threat to a life of prayer. Deists believe that God is the Creator and sustainer of this universe, but is distant from His creation.
Like a grand clock maker, He designed and wound up this universe, but now it's sort of left it alone to tick on its own. His involvement in the day to day affairs of men is limited to let's say "emergency life and death sorts of situations". Overall, he lets this earth alone and is somewhat aloof from our personal lives. Is this your understanding or view of God? Distant, somewhat too aloof to take notice or be involved in the stuff of your life? If so, you are not alone. Recent research done by Notre Dame sociologist Christian Smith indicates that a group of people dubbed by Smith as "moralistic, therapeutic deists" comprise the largest segment of young adults in America. (Check out http://johnortberg.com/?p=56 for more information).
Deism, or some abridged version of it, is alive and well in America. And, one sign and symptom of deism is a feeble prayer life. And, that makes sense. After all, if we transform God into a remote being out there who has little to nothing to do with our personal lives, the logical conclusion is that prayer is an exercise in futility. Of course, the God of Deism is not the God of the apostle Paul in Ephesians whose prayers glorify the love and power of a God who is at work in us. Paul's God is Emmanuel. A word meaning "God with us". Is your God Emmanuel? Or is He distant, aloof, removed sort of God?
Threat #2 Gnosticism
Secondly, prayer is threatened by Gnosticism. Gnosticism is an ancient heresy that has re-emerged throughout church history and is alive and well today. Philip Lee, a scholar who has studied gnosticism in depth, discusses five primary elements of this ancient heresy. I've summarized some of Lee's thoughts below.
• Gnosticism embraces a deep chasm between body and spirit. Essentially Gnosticism is dualism. It believes that the spirit-world, the invisible is inherently GOOD. And the creation, the visible, created of the flesh world is inherently BAD.
• Gnosticism believes there is a secret lore, a special knowledge (gnosis) that can save us from this hopeless condition of the body/flesh. However, it requires a certain pathway/method to discover.
• Gnosticism always leads to escapism. It urges us to remove ourselves (mentally, spiritually) from this world and get in touch with the true world of the Spirit. Often results in privatized, over-preoccupation with self. Each person must be his/her own guide.
• Gnosticism holds that this secret knowledge is known only to the “elite” who attain this inner knowledge and the methods of tapping into this knowledge.
• Gnosticism believes that enlightenment is the private pursuit of each individual. Each adherent to its teachings are free to discover truth as he/she sees fit and is not subject to the accountability of a community or the guidelines of an authoritative text.
As you notice above, gnosticism's goal becmes the personal pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment, instead of the pursuit of a personal God. The ultimate blessing of gnosticism is not someone, but a something. God is that impersonal, mysterious force that we can "tap" into that unlocks the right doors and opens the right corridors to enlightenment. Another way of saying it? God is the means to an end. Not the end itself.
Do we not see this kind of heresy alive and well around us today? God becomes a means to our own private, personal pursuit of self-actualization. We see this in many forms both inside and outside of Christian circles. Gnostic prayers are not true prayers because all true prayer must be sourced in the personal and the relational.
We see this in Paul in Ephesians. He clings to a relational God and lifts up his prayers in a deeply relational way both to God and on behalf of his brothers and sisters in Christ. Christian prayer must always be marinated in the personal. . .in the relational. If not, we will miss God entirely. Stated a different way, Christian prayer must always be informed by the incarnation. That is to say, that our prayers always mouthed towards a God who entered our mundane and small messes through Jesus Christ. He is a God who does not reveal himself to only a select few who now hold the secret instructions to "tap" into Him. No. The Christian God is a God who enters into human history in the most personal of all ways...as a person Himself! Our God's deepest desire is to get personal with us. . .his creation. And so, He became a living, breathing, human to show us how up-close and personal He really is. He is a God "which we have heard with our ears, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have touched with our hands" (I Jn. 1:1,2). Gnostic's know such God. In search for rapturous, mysterious someTHING they overlook the personal someONE.
Deist? Gnostic? Christian? Take a close inventory and assess where you find yourself. Our prayer life does indeed reflect the kind of God we worship.
3 comments:
"Like a grand clock maker, He designed and wound up this universe, but now it's sort of left it alone to tick on its own."
I hate this theology. It's just lazy and cynical and it destroys an open mind.
Wonderful post, Heath!
Phew. I love reading and hearing your teaching, Pastor Heath. This one makes me a little anxious. At some level, it strikes my "performance-based" issues. Perhaps, I might add that the process of change is painful and the daily surrender of "self" will required to serve others is indeed painfully "against the grain".
But.....I think that God really does want us to enjoy our lives.
But..... then I think of those who have been martyrs or self-sacrificing (like Mother Teresa) or those who are in situations (war, famine, poverty etc.) and I wonder.
Guess it boils down to knowing Him and walking as close as we know how to walk so we hopefully will obey what He asks us to do.
Hoping that's it in a nutshell.
I dont truly know what you talking about right here. This cant be the only way to think about this can it? It appears like you understand a lot, so why not explore it more? Make it more accessible to everyone else who might not agree with you? Youd get a lot more individuals behind this should you just stopped making common statements.
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