The “Other” Lord’s Prayer, continued

Here’s something fun to do. If you want to get a roomful of Christians to pipe down, just ask them this: “How is the sharing of your faith going? Any great stories you would like for the rest of us to hear?” There’s no greater buzz kill than that.

We can write and sing about sharing our faith. We can vote to set aside money in the church budget for those ends. We can applaud the efforts of missionaries and clergy. We can give a hearty amen to sermons about evangelism. But statistics tell us that few will ever get around to actually doing it, to actually sharing their faith – perhaps as anemic as 5% of professing Christians. The Scriptures refer to the life, death resurrection and teachings of Jesus as the Gospel, as the Good News. Most of the time, when we have a bit of good news we find it difficult to keep quiet. We’re busting to share it. But for some reason, for whatever reason, with eternal good news, we become mutes.

I’m not here to pile on. I don’t do guilt all that well as either the giver or the receiver. As one motivational speaker put it so eloquently, “Don’t SHOULD on me.” Well, I shan’t! No, we’re here to sleuth out something we might be missing with this whole evangelism thing. And, as we return to John 17 and this lengthy, closing prayer of Jesus – we come across a clue. Let’s listen in once more as Jesus prays over his disciples. As you recall, the herd has been thinned down to 11. Judas has left the building and in so doing the entire ministry. So, we find Jesus praying this: I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. John 17:9
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Do you find it odd that Jesus tells the Father that he is not going to pray for the very world for which he is about to die? However we choose to label it, the line I am not praying for the world” sort of jumps out from the text. His prayer efforts are not for the unbelievers. His burden is not for the unevangelized. His focus is entirely upon those who’ve chosen to believe, for the already evangelized. Odd? Maybe. But if we keep tugging at this thread we might find something incredibly liberating. What if this is a model for our prayers as well?

 

To be continued…