The Vision (6.14.24): Apostolic Instructions on Prayer (1 John 5:14-15)

 

Image: Butterfly bush, North Garden, Virginia, June 2024

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 5:14-15.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us (1 John 5:14).

As John comes to the close of his first General Epistle (1 John) he adds a brief exhortation on prayer in 1 John 5:14-15.

Our charismatic friends sometimes seize upon teaching like this and promote a “name it and claim it” theology of prayer. They will say that God is obligated to do whatever the believer asks, making the Lord into a cosmic butler.

John’s teaching on prayer, however, includes two vital qualifications:

First, there is the prepositional phrase, “according to his will.” If we ask anything according to God’s will he hears us.

Asking according to God’s will means asking for the things that God wills and has decreed for our good (cf. Romans 8:28). The mature believer does not ask for what is frivolous, superficial, or driven by selfish motives. He asks for things that are according to God’s will. He prays, as Christ taught, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10).

John is echoing here the teaching of our Lord himself in John 14:13-14, where Christ taught the disciples that they might ask “any thing in my name” and he would do it. The qualifying phrase “in my name” has the same functional meaning as “according to his will.”

Christ himself modeled this kind of praying in Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion, when he said, “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).

Second, there is the promise, “he heareth us.” John’s promise is not that the Lord will merely do whatever we ask or petition of him. The promise is that he will hear us.

Sometimes his answer to us must be “No,” because it is not according to his will. Or it might be, “Not yet,” or “Not in the way you expect,” but in a better way, according to God’s perfect will for our lives.

In Matthew Poole’s Commentary on these verses, he notes, “God answers his children according to that general meaning of their prayers, not always according to the particular (which may be often a much mistaken) meaning.”

Think how terrible it would be if a parent gave to his child everything that he asked. The child might unwisely ask to eat ice cream and candy at every meal. To have no bedtime. To play video games all day rather than do his homework and his chores. To have social media or internet access to things that might warp his mind and heart. Sometimes a loving and wise parent says, “No.” Or, “Not yet.” Or, “Here is something better for you.”

In James 4:3 the apostle said, “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your own lusts.” And yet, John does proceed in v. 15 to write, “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

John is reminding us that we have comfort simply in knowing that our heavenly Father hears us. And he will grant the petitions that we desired of him in such a way that is in perfect accord with his will, and we will praise him for it.

This type of confident faith in the Lord led the Psalmist to write, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119:17).

Can you imagine the level of maturity it takes to say something like that?

Let us be bold to bring large petitions to our God, but to ask according to his will and to be comforted simply by knowing that he hears us.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (4.21.23): Watch and Pray

 

Image: North Garden, Virginia, April 2023.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 26:36-46.

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (Matthew 26:41a).

In Matthew 26:36-46, the Evangelist records Christ’s wrestling in prayer in the garden of Gethsemane before he is arrested and taken to the cross. Spurgeon wrote of this passage, “Here we come to the Holy of Holies of our Lord’s life on earth.” He added, “No man can rightly expound such a passage as this; it is a subject for prayerful, heart-broken meditation, more than for human language” (Commentary on Matthew, 405).

At Gethsemane the Lord Jesus was speaking with the Father, expressing his complete resolution to the Father’s will, declaring, “thy will be done” (v. 42).

He also speaks to his disciples on that terrible night. After commanding Peter, James, and John to watch with him (v. 38), he returns three times to find them sleeping. Sleeping here is, no doubt, not just a sign of physical tiredness but also of spiritual sluggishness.

On Christ’s first return to find the disciples sleeping, he exhorted them, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation” (v. 41).

The first command to “watch” is the same verb as in the Olivet Discourse, when he told his disciples, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doeth come” (24:42). This is a call to be spiritually alert, to be vigilant, to be active in the faith, as we live in “this present evil world,” between Christ first advent and his second coming.

The second command is to pray. Christ assumes that his disciples will be committed to prayer. In the Sermon on the Mount, he said, “And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be like the hypocrites…” (6:5).

The sense we get is that the two things are related. The spiritual discipline of prayer feeds and nourishes spiritual watchfulness over our souls. Give up prayer and you fall into spiritual slumber.

Every homeowner knows that having a house in decent working order means you have to do the basic maintenance that is required. This includes everything from basic cleaning and changing lightbulbs and filters to replacing shingles or siding, and all manner of other things.

To maintain our spiritual house, we must engage in basic maintenance. We need worship. We need intake of the Word. We need the ordinances. We need prayer, both private and corporate.

So, let us watch and pray, attending to the spiritual disciplines, including prayer, to keep us alert and active in the faith till Christ returns with power and great glory.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.17.21): Lord, save us: we perish

 

And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish (Matthew 8:25).

In Matthew’s account of Christ in the tempest in Matthew 8:23-27, we have the setting (v. 23), the crisis (v. 24), the appeal (v. 25), the intervention (v. 26), and the reaction (v. 27).

Let’s examine the appeal of the disciples, which begins “And his disciples came to him, and awoke him….” (v. 25a).

This is a reminder that the disciples of Christ can always come to their Master in the times of their distress. In Matthew 28:11 Christ will say to his followers: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” We must not hesitate to come to him.

Notice the petition or prayer that the disciples offer. This is a model prayer for the individual who is seeking salvation from the Lord. It is also a model corporate prayer for the church, as it cries out for the Lord to deliver his flock from trouble.

The petition has two parts:

First, there is crying out to God for salvation: “Lord, save us.”

Later in Matthew 14, Christ will come walking to the disciples on the sea and invite Peter to come and walk to him. As fear grips Peter, he will cry out, “Lord save me” (14:30).

Peter had an individual prayer for salvation. Here, it is all the disciples petitioning Christ for their collective salvation. There is no more fundamental prayer for the disciple or church. Lord save me. Lord save us.

Second, there is an acknowledgement of the state of their need: “we perish.”

This is a declaration of the believer’s state apart from Christ. We are perishing. The same verb appears in the classic verse John 3:16 when it says, “that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

Why are we perishing? Because the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23).

If you doubt that we are perishing, go and look at some old photographs. Go to your class reunion and wonder where all these old people came from. You’re still the same age (at least in your mind!). The truth is we are all perishing. The Puritan era preacher Richard Baxter famously said that he preached as a dying man to dying men.

Christ, however, is with us in the tempest. And we can call on him. Do you have trouble knowing how or what to pray? Let me offer a suggestion. Take the words of the disciples and use them. Say them over and over again, till they become like your breath: “Lord save us: we perish.” And see if Christ will not arise and rebuke the winds and the sea and give to you a mega calm.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Book Review: Joel Beeke, Striving Against Satan: Knowing the Enemy--His Weakness, His Strategy, His Defeat

 

You can read the review on my academia.edu page here.

JTR

The Vision (7.16.21): Discernment in Petitionary Prayer

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 7:7-11.

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you (Matthew 7:7).

Christ here teaches that his disciples should pray with boldness and confidence. He starts with three consecutive imperatives or commands, each followed by a promise.

Petitionary prayer is like asking. It is like seeking. It is like knocking.

And each of these things also perhaps suggests different aspects of petitionary prayer.

Asking is perhaps the most common way of speaking about petitionary prayer in the NT. It implies a defined request. You know what you want, and you make a specific request for it.

Think of your birthday. Your family says, “What do you want for your birthday?” And maybe there is something specific you really want. You ask for it. You make a specific desire known. This is what I want.

Seeking has a different connotation. It implies that one has a need, but perhaps he does not know how to find it or even how to articulate it. He needs something, but he is not quite sure what that thing might be. So, he goes out looking or seeking for it.

Knocking has yet another connotation. It implies a closed door. There is a way through which one wants to enter, but the pathway is blocked. The door is closed. And one knocks in hopes that it might be opened.

So, we might say there are asking prayers, seeking prayers, and knocking prayers.

Some might take this teaching out of context and use it to promote what is called a “name it and claim it” theology of prayer.

All I have to do is ask, and God is obligated to give what I ask.

All I have to do is seek, and God is obligated to let me find.

All I have to do is knock, and God is obligated to open the door.

But this where we must apply the Reformation principle of Scripture interpreting Scripture, or what Paul called “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). Christ made it clear that he promised to grant the petitions of those who prayed “in my name” and who were abiding in him, and his word in them (cf. John 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-24).

Prayer is not “name it and claim it.” It is not like rubbing a lamp to find a genie in a bottle who is compelled to grant you three wishes. It is not about making God do our bidding, but about our being so conformed to Christ and his will that we want what he wants.

Let us then pray with boldness and confidence, asking, seeking, and knocking.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (5.28.21): The Spiritual Discipline of Prayer

 

Image: Rose, North Garden, Virginia, May 2021

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 6:5-15 (audio not yet available).

And when thou prayest… (Matthew 6:5).

In the opening verses of Matthew chapter 6 (vv. 1-18), Christ gives guidance for three spiritual disciplines or acts of piety to be practiced by his disciples. Those include: almsgiving (vv. 1-4); prayer (vv. 5-15); and fasting (vv. 16-18).

The second of these two disciplines is prayer. Christ begins, “And when thou prayest….” (v. 5). This reminds us of the teaching on almsgiving, “But when thou doest alms…. (v. 3).” Just as it is expected that a disciple will give alms, it is also expected that a disciple will give himself to prayer. Prayer is not optional in the Christian life. There can be no such thing as a prayerless Christian.

Prayer is both speaking to God (giving to him praise and thanksgiving; offering to him petitions, intercessions, and supplications), and it is listening to God. It is being still and knowing that he is God. It is listening as he speaks in “a still, small voice” as he did to the prophet Elijah (2 Kings 19:12).

As part of Christ’s teaching on prayer in the Sermon on the Mount, he provides his students what we call the Lord’s Prayer as a model prayer (Matt 6:9-13), a pattern which we can follow.

One commentator has referred to the Lord’s Prayer as “the compositional center” of the Sermon on the Mount (Alfeyev, Sermon on the Mount, 217). Indeed, it is nearly dead center in this sermon. There are 54 verses from the mouth of Christ coming before the Lord’s Prayer (from Matt 5:3—6:8) and 47 verses that come after it (from 6:14—7:27). We might round it to about 50 verses before the Lord’s Prayer and about 50 verses after.

Not only is the Lord’s Prayer the “compositional center” of the Sermon of the Mount (Matt 5—7), but the teaching on prayer is at the center of the teaching on piety in Matt 6:1-18 (with almsgiving coming before it and fasting after it). Something is being told us about the centrality of prayer in the Christian life.

Let us then have the attitude of the disciples who came to Christ asking, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke 11:1), and let us take up the spiritual discipline of prayer.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (12.11.20): Is any sick among you?

 

Note Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on James 5:13-20.

Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up (James 5:14-15a).

There are several things to be noted here:

First, notice that it is the duty of the person who is sick and in need to call upon the elders of the church to pray for him. The elders are not clairvoyants who know without being told what the spiritual needs of the flock are. It is something of a stereotype in some churches with immature or even unconverted “members” that they get upset if the pastor does not initiate visiting them or calling upon them if they are sick. But James says the duty here is upon the sick to make their need known to the elders.

Second, it assumes that in the church there will be a plurality of elders.

Third, it assumes that a special part of the elders’ work will be prayer. This follows the pattern of the apostles in Jerusalem who set apart seven men to wait on the tables of the widows so that they might give themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:4).

Fourth, it suggests the manner of prayer. That the elders pray over the sick and that they anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord (v. 14).

The emphasis here should not be upon the use of oil. This kind of reading leads to ungodly superstition. There were those who have twisted this verse to teach the doctrine of so-called extreme unction, that there must be special prayers for those who are sick unto death.

I agree with Matthew Poole that anointing with oil was an “outward rite” used by some in those times (cf. Mark 6:13), while many other healings took place under the ministry of Christ and the apostles only at a word or with the touch of the hand. This was not “an institution of a sacrament” but a command to the elders of apostolic times.

Again, the emphasis here should not be upon the mention of oil, for God is surely not dependent upon any outward means and can do as he pleases, but the emphasis should be upon prayer being offered in the name of the Lord, that is, according to his will (cf. John 14:13-14).

Fifth, it suggests the outcome of prayer (v. 15a): “And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.” The prayer of faith means the prayer offered up in faith (trust) in God, and with resignation to his will. The verb “to save” has a double meaning. It can refer both to saving the body from sickness and death, at least temporarily, but, more importantly, it refers to saving a man from the second death, the saving of his soul, and the granting of eternal life.

We were talking about Job last week and the temporal reversal of Job chapter 42 so that “the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning” (Job 42:12), but even Job did eventually die.

Consider John 6:44: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Even if the Lord does not raise his servant from the sick bed, he will surely, in the end, raise him from the grave!

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (8.9.19): I have heard thy prayer

Image: Overlooking the Badlands, South Dakota, August 2018.

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 Kings 9.

“And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplications, that thou hast made before me” (1 Kings 9:3a).

After he had built the temple, the Lord appeared a second time to Solomon and declared to him that he had heard his prayers.

All throughout Scripture the Lord is presented as a hearer of the prayers of his people.

Think of the books of Judges, describing the days of Othniel: “And when the children of Israel cried unto the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer to the children of Israel, who delivered them, even Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother” (Judges 3:10).

Think of Hannah, crying out for a child in 1 Samuel 1:10: “And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.” And the LORD heard and gave her a son, Samuel, which means, “God hears.”

Think of the early church gathered at the home of Mary the mother of John Mark in Acts 12, praying for the deliverance of Peter from prison. God answered that prayer, Peter was miraculously released, and came to the door of Mary’s house, met by the bewildered Rhoda (see Acts 12:13-17).

Think of the Psalms, like:

Psalm 31:22: “For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.”

Psalm 34:17: “The righteous cry, and the LORD heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles.”

Do you think of your prayers as bouncing off a glass ceiling or a brick wall, or do you think of them as the cries of an infant, heard and responded to by a loving Heavenly Father?

The Lord heard Solomon’s prayer. And he will hear our prayers.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (6.28.19): Ask what I shall give thee

Image: CRBCers visiting residents at Epworth Manor last Sunday afternoon and handing out potted plants with Scripture verses made at VBS (6.23.19).

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 Kings 3:

1 Kings 3:5: In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

1 Kings 3:9: Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

1 Kings 3:10: And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night (v. 5a) and says to him, “Ask what I shall give thee” (v. 5b).

Solomon offers a prayerful response. One commentator observed: “we may rightly take Solomon’s prayer as instructive in the art of prayer” (Dale Ralph Davis, 1 Kings, 34).

Solomon begins by rehearsing the Lord’s goodness in fulfilling his promise to David his father, that he would have a son sit on the throne of Israel (vv. 6-7a; cf. 2 Sam 7:12ff).

We also see Solomon’s humility as he says, “and I am but a little child…” (v. 7b). Think of how dependent a child is on his parents to care for him. Such was Solomon’s dependence on the heavenly Father.

Solomon further notes the honor of his having been set “in the midst” as king among God’s people (v. 8).

Solomon then asks the Lord to give him a heart of understanding (or, a “hearing heart”), so that he might judge the people and discern between good and evil (v. 9). The word “heart” does not have the sentimental meaning of modern usage, but it refers to the seat of the intellect, affection, and will.

Solomon was asking not how he might be served but how he might serve God’s people through obedience.

This pleased the Lord (v. 10). We want to be God-pleasers and not man-pleasers. We want to have the smile of God on our words and deeds. Solomon had this peculiar favor!

Now consider how you might respond should the Lord say to you, “Ask what I shall give thee.” What do you need or want most from the Lord? Would you ask for something that merely pleases the flesh? Or, would you ask the Lord to give you an understanding heart, so that you might best serve him and his people?

Consider James 1:5: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Opening Ceremonies: Cove Creek 2019

Image: Teams gathering on the field for opening ceremonies at CC (4.6.19)

Baseball season has arrived. Opening Ceremonies were held yesterday (4.6.19) at Cove Creek park, where my family has been playing ball for over fifteen years. This is my fifth consecutive year as head coach of the Cove Creek Major League Pirates. (11-12 year olds). There is something special about this last step before moving on to the "big field."

Cove Creek benefactor and commissioner John Grisham missed opening ceremonies this year to be in Minneapolis for UVA’s final four appearance.

The Pirates lost our morning opener 4-0 to the A’s, but the team looked good.

Opening ceremonies always begin with an opening prayer (great thing about a private park is that you can still have public prayer) and the national anthem. I’ve given the opening prayer several times over the past years and was honored to be asked to do so again this year. Here was the prayer I offered yesterday:

Gracious and loving God,

Today we can say with the Psalmist, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof: the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).

We give you thanks for your creation, for giving to us healthy minds and healthy bodies, and for giving us wholesome recreations to enjoy like baseball.

We ask your blessings, in particular, upon this upcoming season at Cove Creek.

We give you thanks for all the benefactors, staff, officials, and volunteers who will serve here this season.

We thank you for the coaches and parents for their instruction and support.  Help us to encourage excellence in competition without being overbearing or unkind.  Make us to be circumspect in our criticism and liberal in our praise.

We ask that you would watch over and keep the physical safety of the young men and women who will take the field here. Help them to honor their parents and all those in positions of rightful authority.   Help them to strive for excellence in proportion to their abilities, to be fair in competition, encouraging to their teammates, and generous in both victory and defeat.

Help us to remember the command of Christ, first, that we would love you with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and, second, that we would love our neighbor as ourselves.

We ask this in Christ’s name, Amen

Now, play ball!

JTR

The Vision (1.18.19): Christ's Posture in Prayer

Image: North Garden, Virginia, January 18, 2019

Note: Devotion taken from sermon on John 17:1-5 from 12/30/18.

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee (John 17:1).

We learn about fitting prayer through Christ’s actions and example as he begins his High Priestly Prayer (John 17).

His prayer was one spoken aloud: “These words spake Jesus….” There is a place for quiet prayer, for meditation, for speaking from the heart for only God to hear, but there is also a place for spoken prayer. Prayer is preeminently vertical, but when spoken aloud it is also horizontal, meant to exhort and encourage others. Christ spoke in this prayer to the Father, but he spoke also to his disciples.

And he “lifted up his eyes to heaven.” We usually think of prayer with eyes closed and head bowed, but Christ prayed with his eyes open and his head uplifted to the Father. Scripture gives warrant for many ways to express prayer. In Luke 18:13 Jesus says that the publican when he prayed, “would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.” In 1 Timothy 2:8 Paul speaks of men praying everywhere “lifting up holy hands.”

Calvin notes that Christ’s posture indicates “an uncommon ardor and vehemence.” He adds that it was fitting for Christ to pray in this manner “for he had nothing about him of which he ought to be ashamed.”

Calvin also says that when we pray we should not be so much concerned with the “outward gesture” as “the inward feeling” which directs “the eyes, the hands, the tongue, and everything about us.”

Let us learn from Christ’s example in prayer, as in all things.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (1.4.19): Christ, A Man of Prayer

Image: The "Cenacle," a traditionally suggested site for the Upper Room in Jerusalem.

John alone records Christ’s “High Priestly Prayer” in the upper room in John 17.

In his Expository Notes introducing John 17, J. C. Ryle observes: “The chapter we have now begun is the most remarkable in the Bible. It stands alone, and there is nothing like it.”

Ryle then points out that the Puritan expositor Matthew Henry observed, “this was a prayer after sermon, a prayer after sacrament, a family prayer, a parting prayer, a prayer before a sacrifice, a prayer which was a specimen of Christ’s intercession.”

Calvin notes that “doctrine has no power, if efficacy be not imparted to it from above.” So, we learn here from Christ’s example here that the ministry of teaching (doctrine) must be accompanied by the ministry of prayer.

The prayer can be divided into three parts:

Christ’s prayer for himself (vv. 1-5).

Christ’s prayer for the original disciples or apostles (vv. 6-19 (see esp. v. 9).

Christ’s prayer for future disciples (vv. 20-26). Christ prays for us! This anticipates his intercessory office in this age (Heb 7:25).

Throughout the Gospels Christ appears as a man of prayer. Typical is Luke 5:16 which says, “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness and prayed.”

So impressed were his disciples with Christ’s prayer life that they asked him to instruct them in this spiritual discipline. Luke 11:1: “And it came to pass as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

Christ did indeed teach his disciples what we now call the Lord’s prayer or the model prayer (see Matthew 6:9-13).

And he taught them by example through his spontaneous prayers. Compare Christ’s spontaneous prayer at the return of the 70 disciples whom he had sent out: “In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight” (Luke 10:21).

Christ even prayed for his enemies on the cross (see Luke 23:34).

Christ was a man of prayer, and we his disciples must “follow his steps” and be men and women of prayer also.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (9.30.16): Now the God of peace ... make you perfect ...

Devotion taken from last Sunday morning's sermon on Hebrews 13:20-21.

Hebrews 13: 20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Here at the close of Hebrews (13:20-21) we find a prayer.  It may be broken down into three simple parts:

First, there is the subject or actor:  The God of peace (v. 20).

Second, there is the action that is requested:  make you perfect (v. 21).

Third, there is the object of the verb:  you (v. 21).  The “you” here originally referred to wavering Hebrew Christians and, through the miracle of the inscripturation of the Word, it is applied to every generation of believers down to this present time.

Let’s meditate on this petition:  “Now the God of peace … make you perfect…”

The verb here is interesting.  There is another verb which means to perfect or be perfected.  It is teleio-o.  It has the sense of to be mature or to reach moral perfection.

But the verb here in Hebrews 13:21 is katartiz-o.  You can hear the root of the English word “artisan” in there.  It means to render, to make sound, to make complete.  It is also used in Greek to refer to mending or repairing something that has been broken or rent.  In those cases it means to make complete or to restore.

This verb is used in Matthew 4:21 and Mark 1:19 to describe how James and John were mending their broken nets.

In 1 Corinthians 1:10 Paul uses this verb to speak of his desire that the fractious Corinthians have no divisions among them and be “perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

In Galatians 6:1 Paul uses this verb to urge that “if a man be overtaken in a fault” that those who are spiritual among them should “restore such an one in the spirit of meekness.”

In 1 Thessalonians 3:10 Paul speaks of having prayed night and day for those brethren that God might “perfect what is lacking in your faith.”

Think again now of the context of this book and of the original recipients:  wavering Jewish Christians.

Their profession of faith might have appeared in their own eyes and in the eyes of others as something broken, torn, un-useable.  But the inspired author prays to a God who told the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy to a valley of dry bones, to a Christ who told a lame man to take up his bed and walk and who told dead Lazarus to come forth from the tomb, to the Father who raised Jesus, that Great Shepherd of the Sheep, from the dead.

He prays that that same God will “make perfect” these hearers.  The God of peace is a God who mends, completes, and repairs beleaguered disciples. 

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle