Do You Have a Wooden Leg?

Ron DartMy friend Doug Young has posted a number of sermons over the years for people to download. One that I remember well is from 1984. It is called Wooden Leg by Ron Dart. Here is his summary.

What's your excuse? God expects us to be productive. Humans share a need to be creative. What if we produce nothing? Do we make excuses? Dart explores two kinds of fear – paralyzing and action-motivating. The action of love casts out fear.

For those that wish to download here is a link. 

Abraham Loved Ishmael

The example of Abraham’s two sons—Isaac and Ishmael—gives us a unique chance to explore the effects of culture on people. Abraham was promised by God that his descendants would be as numerous as the sands of the sea and the stars of heaven. Yet his wife Sarah could not have children. Today, if modern surgical methods are not possible, many in a similar situation hire a surrogate mother. This is exactly what Abraham did. Genesis 16 tells us:

1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian slave named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, “The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my slave; perhaps I can build a family through her.” Abram agreed to what Sarai said. 3 So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years, Sarai his wife took her Egyptian slave Hagar and gave her to her  husband to be his wife. 4 He slept with Hagar, and she conceived.

It was even Sarah’s idea! Abraham and Sarah thought that they could work it out without God. They may have even reasoned that this was what God wanted! So at Sarah’s urging, Abraham had sexual relations with Sarah’s slave—Hagar. Before we point the finger at Abraham and Sarah, we need to understand that what they did was the accepted marriage practice of the time. A History of the Jewish People By Abraham Malama page 39 tells us this: “Nuzi marriage contracts make it mandatory that a barren woman present her handmaiden to her husband for the purpose of child bearing.” This practice of surrogate motherhood was probably written in the marriage contract that Abraham and Sarah signed. They were pagans living in Mesopotamia when God spoke to Abraham and told him to go to Palestine. The duty of the upper class wife of the time was to provide her husband with a slave girl to bear children if she could not. Their culture told them that this was right. This is why Sarah approached Abraham, it was her duty.

Even though the culture of Abraham and Sarah encouraged this sin, it was not what God had in mind.  Abraham had to send Ishmael away when he became a teenager. This could not have been easy for him. Ishmael was his pride and joy for years before Isaac was born. But there could not be two first born sons. One had to go. How Abraham must have cried as he watched his son march into the distance. Maybe Ishmael turned to wave one final goodbye before he was out of eyesight. How would you feel as your son waved goodbye—forever?

While our culture minimizes sexual sin, it is a serious matter. Everyone needs to remember Ishmael before they commit a sexual sin. Sin is not done in a vacuum. Sin has consequences. Sin is wrong because it hurts. The Israelis and the Arabs are still paying today for Abraham’s sin—3800 years later! Are you willing to raise any children that may result from this sin? Even if you take precautions, birth control does not always work. How are you going to tell her parents, or if you are married, how are you going to tell your wife? Or worse, will you have to tell your spouse that they need to be tested for some terrible venereal disease? Don’t be confused by our TV culture that tells us wrong is right. Abraham was led astray by the example of his culture. Don’t make the same mistake he did. Babylon the Great uses our culture to remake us in its image. We need to leave behind this portion of our culture because sin has consequences—remember Ishmael. 

In The Name of Jesus?

Open Sesame, Abra Cadabra, Shazam, Alakazam, Presto Chango ... Jesus Christ.

What do all these names have in common? All have been used as magic words—words that are said to give their users power over the gods—or God! Power to force God to do the user’s will. Is this what is meant when we use the Biblical phrase—“In the name of Jesus”?

Noted medieval Catholic magician Henry Agrippa wrote that  “the proper names of things are very necessary in Magical Operations.” (The Philosophy of Natural Magic, University Books, Seacaucus, New Jersey, 1974, Page 212) Sir James Frazier in his book on ancient religions (The Golden Bough) wrote: “Thus it assumes that all personal beings, whether human or divine, are in the last resort subject to those impersonal forces ... by anyone who knows how to manipulate them by the appropriate ceremonies and spells.” (MacMillan Publishing, New York, 1978, page 59)

Do these concepts have anything in common with what Jesus said?: “And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do {it}.” (John 14:13-14) “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and {that} your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.” (John 15:16)  “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give {it} you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24)

Is God your slave? Will He obey your every whim? Is that what these scriptures mean? Can you “name it and claim it”? Can someone come saying they are doing things “in the name of Jesus,” and yet not be converted? “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.” (Matthew 24:5)

 So it is not coming saying the words “in the name of Jesus” alone that is really important. Instead these scriptures must mean something else.

The story is told of the women who went to church and “got saved.” She was a regular in attendance for weeks. Then, suddenly, she quit attending. The Pastor, concerned about her welfare, went to visit her. She told him that she did not believe in God anymore since she had prayed “in the name of Jesus” for a Cadillac, and did not get it!

How very much are we like that lady. How very much I am like that lady.  Some years ago I wanted to marry a particular young lady. Naturally I prayed about it often. I even thought about the verses we just read. I also thought about: “Ask and you shall receive!” and  “Shall a father give his child a stone when he wants bread?” So I thought that God would give me what I wanted. And yes, I even used the name of Jesus. (To make sure I covered all my bases I even sometimes used the Hebrew name Yahshua!) Can you guess what happened? That’s right, nothing! Why didn’t I get what I wanted?

Since the prayer I mentioned had not been answered, I thought and prayed some more on the same subject. Was what I wanted best for me? I knew it was not God’s will for my life. I had known all along that it was not God’s will, but I wanted it anyway! Finally, I decided to pray for what I knew was God’s will—even though it was the last thing in the world I wanted and the exact opposite of what I had been praying. I prayed that the young man I knew she wanted would marry her. Can you guess what happened?  Yes, and it happened quickly. 

Figure of Speech

If I told you that my project was “tied up in red tape,” immediately you would picture that the government paperwork was delaying me. However, someone from another country might picture someone strangling on red tape. Just as in the case of “red tape”, so “in the name” is also a figure of speech. They should not be taken literally. In English we also use “in the name of” in a similar way. If one of our Ambassadors goes to a foreign country “in the name of Barack Obama,” does he mumble “Barack Obama, Barack Obama” over and over again?

Just as an ambassador comes “with the authority of” our president, so do we when we pray to our Heavenly Father. We come in the authority of Jesus Christ, our elder brother. As His younger brother or sister we have the right to call upon him to intercede for us in heaven. Since He is our Elder Brother, we can rely on him to grant our request. But we must always remember that only He has perfect knowledge and knows what is best. If my daughter asks for a candy bar one hour before dinner, she won’t get it. God will not answer our prayers and give us something that is bad for us no matter how much we want it. Thinking that God is our slave is a part of the false doctrines taught by Babylon the Great. We need to leave these kind of false doctrines behind. 

So, is it wrong to pray “in the name of Jesus”? No, but when we do, remember that it is not the group of sounds that says “Jesus” that is important. Neither is the exact pronunciation important. Instead it is important that we should know who He was, who He is, and who we are in relation to Him. That is what gives the “name of Jesus” power. There is no magic involved in “the name of Jesus,” whether in English or Hebrew. But if we ask in His name great and wonderful things will happen!