Do the dead pray for us, and should we pray for them?

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Do the dead pray for us?

In Surprised by Hope, Tom Wright notes that there is no biblical warrant for supposing that the faithful departed are actively engaged in praying for us.  In particular,

We should be very suspicious of the medieval idea that the ‘saints’ can function as ‘friends at court’, so that, while we might be shy of approaching the King ourselves, we know someone who is, as it were, ‘one of us’, to whom we can talk freely and who will maybe put in a good word for us.

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Lk 16:19-31 – What (if anything) does this story tell us about the afterlife?

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Lk 16:19 “There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 16:20 But at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus whose body was covered with sores, 16:21 who longed to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. In addition, the dogs came and licked his sores.

16:22 “Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.…

Dare to believe all that God has said about himself

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‘All of God’s acts are consistent with all of His attributes. All that God does agrees with all that God is, and being and doing are one in Him. He cannot act out of character with Himself.

‘I think it might be demonstrated that almost every heresy that has afflicted the church through the years has arisen from believing about God things that are not true, or from over-emphasizing certain true things so as to obscure other things equally true.…

Praise in heaven

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Summarising ch. 8 of Created to Praise, by Derek Prime

Psa 84: 4 – ‘How blessed are those who live in your temple and praise you continually!’

Full development

Some acts of worship – e.g. the Lord’s Supper – belong to this life alone. But praise will be our eternal employment; it will reach its full development in heaven (Rev 19). It will massive, enthusiastic, ceaseless (Rev 4:8).

Reserve

The Bible shows reserve in its description of heaven.…

Mt 1:17 – ‘Fourteen generations’

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Mt 1:17 – ‘So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to Christ, fourteen generations.’

The differences between Matthew’s and Luke’s genealogy of Jesus have been discussed elsewhere.

But what should we make of Matthew’s division of his genealogy into three groups of fourteen?

Matthew says that between Abraham and David were fourteen generations; between David and Exile were another fourteen generations; and between the Exile and Jesus were yet another fourteen generations.…

James 1:26 – The bridled tongue

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Notes of a talk first given in 1979.

James 1:26 – ‘If someone thinks he is religious yet does not bridle his tongue, and so deceives his heart, his religion is futile.’

‘The pen is mightier than the sword’ – reminds us that writing has often proved a more powerful weapon than fighting.

A still more effective instrument of good or evil is the tongue.

This verse teaches us that a bridled tongue is a measure of our standing as Christians.…

Isa 41:7 – ‘The craftsman encourages the metalsmith’

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Isa 41:5 “The coastlands see and are afraid;
the whole earth trembles;
they approach and come.
41:6 They help one another;
one says to the other, ‘Be strong!’
41:7 The craftsman encourages the metalsmith,
the one who wields the hammer encourages the one who pounds on the anvil.
He approves the quality of the welding,
and nails it down so it won’t fall over.”

Many years ago, I heard a sermon which took verse 7 as its text. …

Eph 2:10 – ‘You are God’s poem’

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‘We are [God’s] workmanship’, exclaims the apostle in Ephesians 2:10.

‘Workmanship’ translates the word poiema, which, according to this article:

‘signifies that which is manufactured, a product, a design produce by an artisan. Polema emphasizes God as the Master Designer.’

‘As the artist seeks to express himself in his work, so God expresses Himself in us.’

‘You are His poem.’

‘Masterpiece- showpiece; blockbuster, success; gem, jewel, prize, treasure…these are the synomyms (words that mean the same) for masterpiece.’

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Theology of Prayer 11 – Reflex benefits of prayer

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Summarising ch 11 of Theology of Prayer, by B.M. Palmer

1. Prayer deepens the channel of our religious nature

‘It is the moral and religious element which draws the final distinction between man and the brute.’ In the animal there is the faint trace of reason and affection.

If man’s highest activity is the religious activity, then prayer deepens the channel of this supreme function. ‘Prayer lifts the soul into the immediate presence of God, to feel the power and bear the imprint of all the divine perfections, singly and combined.…

Three ways of being ‘church’

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Back in the 1980s, ‘Church Growth’ thinking helpfully distinguished between three ways of being church.

(a) The Cell

  • based on weekly (often weeknight) meetings, membership of around 12
  • will have relatively close association with one of the congregations (e.g. members will typically attend, and contribute ministry to, the same congregation)
  • purposes: pastoral, praise, prayer, outreach, study, social
  • oversight by cell-group leaders, under Associate Pastor, under incumbent

(b) The Congregation

  • based on weekly meetings, attendance of around 30-100
  • meetings will typically be held on a Sunday, on church premises.
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