20 November 2010
Psalm 107.33-43, 108; Mal 3.13-4.6; James 5.13-20; Luke 18.9-14

How do we measure blessing? That is one of the criticisms that Malachi levels at the people, that they call the arrogant blessed. We live in an extremely materialistic culture that measures blessings by money and possessions and it is true that we no longer have value for humility and chosen simplicity. Could the Lord speak this same criticism against our culture, including the church. Our values need to be re-arranged and we need to set our eyes on the kingdom of God, not the kingdom of man. We are approaching the remembrance of the coming of Jesus into the world, let us remember the humble setting into which He came and in which He always lived. People constantly attempted to measure Him based on the humble estate of His life and for that reason missed the blessing of God. Let us allow the Lord to re-shape our idea of blessedness in this time.

Is our desire to be humbled or exalted? The tax collector knew himself to be a sinner, the Pharisee believed himself to be righteous but what standard did he use for measurement, the tax collector. We can all feel pretty good about ourselves if we measure our lives against other sinners but our one standard, the only standard God has ever given, is Himself, perfect in righteousness, pure in holiness. Ask Isaiah how he felt when he came into God’s presence (see Isaiah 6). Ask John in the book of the Revelation how it feels to be in the presence of holiness. When we come to pray we come alone before the Lord and yet we have an advocate at the throne, Jesus Christ who is our righteousness and we come to the Father as sons and daughters if we come believing in Jesus. We can come humbly before Him confessing our sins because of Jesus’ sacrifice. We need not have pretense about ourselves, there is no room for pride.

Praying for and with one another is a wonderful antidote to pride. When we humble ourselves to ask others to pray for us we are saying to them that we believe their prayers will be heard in the same way ours are. We are allowing ourselves to believe certain things about them that has equalized us before the Lord. Confessing our sins to one another (selectively I might add as it is not commended to have multiple people to whom you make confession, trust is essential) is another way of reminding us who we are and that we are not superior to others. James reminds us that Elijah, great as he was, had a nature like ours and his prayers were heard. Those we call saints are not above and beyond our reach, they had nature like ours and yet they transcended that nature by the power of the Holy Spirit. Are they our standards or do we set our sights lower?

I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!