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At Ligonier, we know that your work in the church is crucial to advancing God’s work in this world. Godly leaders are on the frontline of ministry. So that we all might continue to be a blessing to the world and to our brothers and sisters in Christ, we must effectively live out the essential truths of the gospel. On October 12-14, join Mark Dever, Steven Lawson, Iain Murray, and R.C. Sproul for three full days of spiritual leadership based on these all-important truths. 

This conference is open to all church leaders — ministers, teachers, elders, deacons, youth directors, music directors, Bible study leaders, women’s ministry directors, and more — as well as anyone who wants a better understanding of what it takes to keep the local church unified, holy, and at peace.

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Continued from If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray?

The Efficacy of Prayer

We have to guard against taking a fatalistic view of this matter of prayer. We cannot allow ourselves to dismiss prayer from our lives simply because it might not seem to have pragmatic value. Whether or not prayer works, we must engage in it, simply because God Himself commands us to do it. Even a cursory reading of the Bible, particularly the New Testament, reveals a deep emphasis on prayer, supplication, and intercession. It is inescapable that prayer is an expected activity for the people of God. Furthermore, our Lord Himself is the supreme model for us in all things, and He clearly made prayer a huge priority in His life. We can do no less.

But it is also true that Scripture teaches us that prayer does “work” in some sense. Let me cite three examples.

We all know that the apostle Peter boldly declared that he would never betray Jesus, that he was ready to go to prison and even to death for his Lord. But rather than praising Peter for his determination, Jesus rebuked him and said, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times” (Matt. 26:34). Luke’s account adds an interesting detail to this exchange. Jesus said: “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31– 32). Jesus warned Peter that a time of “sifting” was coming in his life, that Satan was going to attack him. But Jesus was sure that Peter would turn from his sin and turn back to Jesus. How could Jesus be sure of that? Well, He had prayed for Peter, that Peter’s faith would not be shaken. Jesus was right—Peter did indeed turn back to Jesus and he did much to strengthen the brethren. Jesus’ prayer for Peter was effective.

Not only do we see the prayers of Jesus effecting change in this world, we also see the prayers of the saints working. In the early days of the church, Peter was thrown into prison, but the believers gathered for a season of intense prayer on his behalf. They poured out their hearts before God, begging God to somehow overcome the adversity of the situation and secure the release of Peter. You know what happened: While they were involved in this intense prayer, there was a knock at the door. They didn’t want to be disturbed from their prayer time, so they sent the servant to the door. When she went to the door and asked who was knocking, Peter answered and the servant recognized his voice. Overjoyed, she left the door closed and ran to tell the others that Peter was outside. The disciples refused to believe it until they opened the door and saw Peter himself standing there. God answered the prayers of His people, delivering Peter from prison by the help of an angel, but when he appeared at the house where the believers were gathered, these people who had prayed so earnestly for his release were fright- ened and shocked that God had actually answered their prayer. That’s the way we are so often; when God answers our prayers, we can hardly believe it.

Moving to a didactic passage, James strongly encourages the people of God to pray:

Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? 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 will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. . . . Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. (James 5:13–18)

After these stirring words, which strongly emphasize the effectiveness of prayer, James goes on to speak of the prophet Elijah. He stresses that Elijah was a man just like we are—he wasn’t a super-saint or a magician. However, his prayers were extremely powerful. He prayed that God would stop the rain, and no rain at all fell for three and a half years. Then he prayed that God would send rain, and torrents fell.

Given these scriptural passages, and the many, many more that clearly show that prayer does achieve things, we are not free to say: “Well, God is in control. He’s sovereign, immutable, and omniscient, so whatever will be will be. There’s no point in praying.” Scripture universally and absolutely denies that conclusion. Instead, it affirms that prayer does effect change. God, in His sovereignty, responds to our prayers.

To be continued...

*****

Excerpted from The Prayer of the Lord by R.C. Sproul.

One cannot be a Christian and have no fruit. Indeed, all Christians yield some measure of all the fruit of the Spirit. It is not that one receives the fruit of love and another the fruit of joy. All the fruit is to be manifest in all Christians.

The degree of the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit may vary from Christian to Christian, and even episodically in the individual Christian’s life. The Holy Spirit produces the fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is part of the Spirit’s work of sanctification. Sanctification is not a monergistic work; it is synergistic: It involves and requires the cooperation of the believer. We are working out our salvation while at the same time God is working within us.

All of our labor in sanctification would yield no fruit if God were not working in us. Ultimately, it is His fruit in that He is the source of it and power for it. But the full measure of the fruit of the Spirit requires that we work. We are to work not casually or occasionally. Our labor is to be done in fear and trembling.

Coram Deo: God is at work within you. Are you cooperating?

Hebrews 10:10: “By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

Hebrews 10:14: “For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.”

1 Corinthians 6:11: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Some of the people in the biblical narratives seem to bargain with God. For instance, Hezekiah reminds God of what a good king he has been. Is it proper to pray in this fashion?

Scripture is brutally honest with us, revealing the faults and vices of the saints, as well as their virtues. We see inappropriate conduct even from great men such as Abraham, Moses, and David. Thus, the fact that the Bible tells us that various men tried to bargain or negotiate with God should not communicate to us that this is the appropriate way to deal with Him. Scripture is simply revealing this common human tendency, not sanctioning it. The fact is, people do this all the time. I’ve found myself trying to make deals with God, saying, “God, if you’ll just give me one more chance, I’ll do this, this, this, and this.” God doesn’t listen to that kind of prayer, for we are in no position to bargain with Him. To attempt to do so is to insult His character.

Scripture also contains examples of people almost lashing out at God in prayer. Is it ever legitimate to complain to God or to express anger to God?

We have manifold references in Scripture to believers bitterly complaining and almost accusing God of unfairness or harshness. We sometimes look at these instances and think, “Well, if Moses can do it, if Job can do it, then it must be my prerogative as a Christian to voice my bitterness and complaints.”

But we need to notice not just the complaints the biblical saints sometimes make, but the responses God gives. Let’s take Job’s complaint as an example. As Job struggled with his afflic- tions, he found it impossible not to grumble that God would let one as righteous as he was suffer so greatly. Eventually, however, God answered Job’s complaints with stern words: “Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me” (Job 38:2–3). What did Job say? Did he continue to complain? No. Instead, he declared: “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. . . . Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (42:3b, 6). He was severely rebuked for the attitude that he expressed to God. Likewise, Habakkuk the prophet complained bitterly that God was not being just by allowing wickedness to go unchecked. He demanded an answer from God, and when God gave it, Habakkuk said, “My body trembled; my lips quivered at the voice; rottenness entered my bones; and I trembled in myself” (Hab. 3:16a).

It’s vital that we understand prayer in terms of the qualifications that are found throughout the Bible. By considering the scope of the Bible’s teaching on this subject, we may conclude that it is acceptable to bring all our cares to God, including matters that may move us to frustration or anger. However, we must not come to God in a spirit of complaint or anger against Him, for it is never proper to accuse God of wrongdoing.

*****

Excerpted from The Prayer of the Lord by R.C. Sproul.

Our 2010 Washington D.C. conference is only two weeks away. How are we to live in an anti-Christian society? Join Thabiti Anyabwile, Robert Godfrey, Albert Mohler, Burk Parsons, R.C. Sproul Jr., and R.C. Sproul (live via video feed) as they address this very timely issue in our day.

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"All human beings are made in the image of God, and all human beings know God created them, whether or not they want to admit it. We know that God created us with an insatiable desire for goodness, truth, and beauty. By nature we know we need these three things and that we need them absolutely." This is how Burk Parsons begins to introduce the subject of this month's issue of Tabletalk which looks to God as the foundation of all that is good, true, and beautiful.

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How does the sovereignty of God relate to our daily lives? We understand from Scripture that God is sovereign, that He rules and reigns over all things for His glory and the good of His people. We also understand, having studied the Lord’s Prayer throughout this book, that God invites us to come to Him in prayer, bringing our petitions before Him.

As soon as we set these two ideas—the sovereignty of God and the prayers of His people—side by side, we run into a very sticky theological question. Objections are raised from every quarter. People say: “Wait a minute. If God is sovereign, that is, if He has ordained every detail of what is taking place in our lives, not only in the present but in the future, why should we bother with prayer? Furthermore, since the Bible tells us that ‘all things work together for good to those who love God’ (Rom. 8:28), shouldn’t we content ourselves that what God has ordained is best? Isn’t it really just an exercise in futility, and even arrogance, for us to presume to tell God what we need or what we would like to happen? If He ordains all things, and what He ordains is best, what purpose is served by praying to Him?”

John Calvin briefly discusses this question of the usefulness of prayer in light of God’s sovereignty in his Institutes of the Christian Religion:

But some will say, “Does He not know without a monitor, both what our difficulties are and what is meet for our interest, so that it seems in some measure superfluous to solicit Him by our prayers, as if He were winking or even sleeping until aroused by the sound of our voice.” Those who argue in this way attend not to the end or the purpose for which the Lord taught us to pray. It was not so much for God’s good, as it was for our good. (Book III, Chap. 20)

Calvin argues that prayer benefits us more than it benefits God. We can see this readily enough, at least for some of the elements of prayer. Consider, for instance, the elements of adoration and confession. God’s existence is not dependent on our praises. He can get along without them. But we can’t. Adoration is necessary for our spiritual growth. If we are to develop an intimate relationship with our heavenly Father, it is essential that we come to Him with words expressing reverence, adoration, and love. At the same time, it is necessary for us that we mention our sins before His throne. He knows what they are. In fact, He knows them more clearly and more comprehensively than we do. He gains nothing by our giving Him a recitation of our sins, but we need that act of contrition for the good of our souls.

The intricate problem of the relationship between the sovereignty of God and human prayers comes not at the point of adoration and confession, but at the point of intercession and supplication. When I see someone in need and begin to pray for that person, I am interceding for him. I offer my requests to God on that person’s behalf, pleading for God to act in His mercy, to do something to change that person’s situation. Furthermore, I do the same for my own needs, as I perceive them. However, the omniscient God already knows everyone’s situation, having ordained it. Therefore, are these prayers of any value? More fundamentally, do these prayers work? Do they ultimately have any impact on my life and on the lives of others?

To be continued...

*****

Excerpted from The Prayer of the Lord by R.C. Sproul.

St. Augustine was born in A.D. 354 in the town of Thagaste in North Africa to a pagan father and a Christian mother.  From these inauspicious beginnings, he would eventually become one of the most influential thinkers in the history of the Church and Western civilization.  The ramifications of his debates with the Donatists and the Pelagians are still felt to this day in the Church.  His Confessions remains a spiritual classic among Christians of widely varying traditions.  His magnum opus, The City of God laid down the political and religious foundations for the following 1000 years of medieval history.  Those involved in serious theological debate continue to appeal to the writings of Augustine for support.

It is too easy, however, for those of us who live over 1500 years after his death to read his works in a vacuum, without taking into consideration the context in which they were written.  We sometimes forget that Augustine was the Bishop of a small port town in North Africa called Hippo Regius and that he was living in a turbulent time in the waning days of the Western Roman Empire.  We forget that he had to deal day in and day out with the pastoral pressures and distractions of a sinful congregation.  We forget that he lived within a particular cultural, historical, religious and philosophical context that shaped his life and his work.Peter Brown has written a magnificent book that helps us to remember all of these things and to see Augustine within his own cultural context.  The original edition of Brown's biography was published in 1967, and since then it has attained the status of a modern classic.  Brown was inspired to offer a new edition with an epilogue because of the discovery in 1975 and again in 1990 of a number of previously unknown letters and sermons of Augustine.  He also desired to comment on the changing state of Augustinian studies in the last thirty years.

The body of the text has remained unchanged.  Those interested in discovering where the author's thought has either developed or changed altogether are directed to the two new epilogues.

The biography itself is a delight to read.  In addition to having a prose style that is almost poetic at times, Brown's mastery of the relevant materials makes it possible for him to effortlessly draw the reader into the everyday life and thought of the late fourth century.  Drawing upon sources ranging from official legal documents to simple inscriptions on tombs, he paints a vivid portrait of the cultural air that Augustine breathed.  Augustine is shown to be a flesh and blood human being with the same kinds of struggles and questions that many men and women throughout the centuries have faced.

Part One of the book presents a fascinating glimpse into Augustine's early life -- his relationship with his mother Monica, his education, his friendships, and his early devotion to Manichaeism.  Because Augustine spent some nine years among the Manichees, Brown devotes a fair amount of space to explaining the origin and theology of this dualistic religion.  He explains Augustine's attraction to it as an answer to the problem of evil as well as the reasons for his ultimate disillusionment with this religion.

Part Two covers the years 386-395, from Augustine's arrival in Milan to his consecration as coadjutor bishop of Hippo Regius in 395.  In this section, Brown discusses Augustine's introduction to Neo-Platonic thought, his conversion, his baptism, his important controversy with the Donatists, and the writing of the Confessions. 

In Part Three, Brown discusses the years between 395 and 410. He goes into some detail detailing Augustine's battle with the Donatists, a strict Pharisaical faction that advocated  withdrawal  and separation from the world.  The goal of Augustine's Catholic Christianity, in contrast, was to transform the world.  The debate between the Donatists and the Catholics was one of the fiercest battles in the first centuries of the church, and its outcome would determine the very nature of the medieval church.

Part Four covers the final years of Augustine's life from the years 410 to 420.  The world changed dramatically in 410 when the barbarian Alaric entered Rome.  This was the beginning of the end for the western half of the Roman Empire.  The biggest immediate impact that this event had on Augustine was the flood of refugees who fled to North Africa.  Pelagius himself, who would later become Augustine's greatest nemesis, passed through Hippo at this time.  Unfortunately (because it would have surely been an interesting encounter), Augustine was away at the time and never met him personally.  In these chapters, Brown focuses much of his attention on Augustine's battles with Pelagius and his followers, and he briefly discusses the later works of Augustine that included such books as the Retractions.

It is almost impossible to overstate Augustine's influence upon the Christian Church.  Peter Brown has done the Church a great service by providing the world with a wonderful portrayal of the man and his work.  If there are any weaknesses in the book, they are almost inconsequential.  One may hope, of course, that eventually the author will incorporate into the body of the text what he has learned in the 35 years since the publication of the first edition.  He expresses the changes in his thoughts in the new epilogues, and it should be noted that these changes do not significantly detract from the overall worth of the book.

Augustine was undoubtedly the greatest theologian of the early church.  As great as he was, however, he understood better than many of his heirs his own limitations.  I can think of no better conclusion to this review than to remind readers from one of his newly discovered letters what Augustine himself had to say about his own authority and the authority of other non-scriptural works:

We, who preach and write books, write in a manner altogether different from the manner in which the canon of Scriptures has been written.  We write while we make progress.  We learn something new every day.  We dictate at the same time as we explore.  We speak as we still knock for understanding... I urge your Charity, on my behalf and in my own case, that you should not take any previous book or preaching of mine as Holy Scripture... If anyone criticizes me when I have said what is right, he does not do right.  But I would be more angry with the one who praises me and takes what I have written for Gospel truth (canonicum) than the one who criticizes me unfairly (p. 451).