Were Jesus' Prayers Answered: Protection

Part 2 in a 5 Part Series

In the previous post in this series, we started looking at Jesus’ prayer in John 17.  I cannot imagine that Jesus’ prayers would ever go unanswered, and yet some of the things He prayed over the disciples and us as believers according to verse 20 don’t seem to be so, but like many of our prayers, I think Jesus’ prayers were answered, just not the way we’d expect.

One of those prayers is in verse 15: “My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” (John 17:15)

Do you feel like you’re being protected from the evil one?  Or do you keep reading Job over and over telling yourself God is trying to prove something about you to Satan by letting him have his way with you?

But what we overlook a lot of the time is that Job was never in any danger from Satan.  God is the one who brings him up in conversation with Satan: "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil" (Job 1:8), and after Satan’s initial onslaught, God again says, “"Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason." (Job 2:3)

God never had any intention of giving Job up or letting Satan do anything that was going to endanger him. 

How can I say that?  I promise I’ve read Job and know all about the horrible things that happened to him, but I don’t think God’s protection is all about having a comfortable life with no suffering.  I think God’s protection is summed up in what Jesus prays a couple of verses earlier in John 17: “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.” (John 17:12)

Judas was considered as “unprotected” and lost to the evil one.  Satan’s greatest weapon against us has nothing to do with suffering or hard circumstances in life.  Even with Job, the enemy wasn’t trying to make him miserable; he was trying to make Job curse God and die.  Satan’s only weapon against us is to get us to sin.  And you can bet he will use suffering and pain to do it.

But Jesus prayed that we would be protected from falling into Satan’s hands.  The disciples said and did some things that Jesus called them out on as sin, but He said that He had protected them by the name God gave Him—Yeshua or Yahweh Saves—and it is by that name that we are protected too, not because of any measure of perfectness on our part; rather we are protected by the perfectness of Yahweh who saves us: our strong tower, our shield, our deliverer.

Praise God!

Flee From Idolatry

Have you ever been told that an idol is anything you put above God?  So it would be something like you watch television more than you read your Bible and pray, maybe you spend more time following sports, more time shopping, more time with family, etc.  

But is that what God says idolatry is? 

In the Old Testament, the Israelites were constantly falling into idolatry.  They made themselves a golden calf only 40 days after hearing the audible voice of God on Mt. Sinai and called it God.  But these idols weren’t always exalted above God.  The Asherah poles or trees were planted right beside the altar of God.  (Deuteronomy 16:21)  Or they had household idols while still worshiping the Lord (Judges 17:5-13)

The point is that these idols were not replacements or exalted over God.  They were exalted against God by being worshiped at all.

The sermons you’ve heard suggesting that idolatry is anything you exalt over God are at least partially correct in that idolatry can be something other than just a graven image.  The Bible says that idolatry is an issue of the heart:

"For anyone of the house of Israel or of the immigrants who stay in Israel who separates himself from Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts right before his face the stumbling block of his iniquity, and then comes to the prophet to inquire of Me for himself, I the LORD will be brought to answer him in My own person. I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 14:7-8)

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. (Colossians 3:5)

But don’t think you have to somehow just give God a little more love then your idolatrous habits.  God doesn’t want a little more of your love.  He says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)  If anything in your life takes a fraction of your love away from God, even the size of a mustard seed, it is an idol. 

That’s not to say you can’t love other things, but if you do not love those things through the lens of God’s love, it’s idolatry.  Does God love television?  Does God love what you’re watching on television?  Does God love football? Does God love shopping?  Does God love your family? If you think the answer is a “yes”, the next question is “how does God love those things?”  That’s how you should love them.  Anything else is idolatry.

Why do you think Jesus talks about vomiting lukewarm Christians out of His mouth in Revelation 3:16?

Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry. (1 Corinthians 10:14)

Degrees of Sin

In terms of God’s justice, it can definitely be said that there are degrees of sin and judgment.  On several occasions Jesus says things like:

And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless I say to you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you. (Matthew 11:23-24)

And He says to Pilate, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above; for this reason he who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." (John 19:11)

John says, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death.” (1 John 5:16-17)

The Catholic Church differentiates sins of greater and lesser degrees in terms of “mortal sins” and “venial sins”. Mortal sins are at their base derivative from the ten commandments, whereas venial sins are derivative from lesser points of the law, both old testament and church traditions.  And most Protestants tend to think along those same lines, though they don’t have a systematic theology built around it.

I think at the heart of it all; we all believe that the punishment should fit the crime: the child rapist and serial killer deserve far worse than the teenager who steals a candy bar at the grocery store, and God certainly agrees; there’s a lot of scripture that backs this position up.

Yet when it comes to the ultimate judgment, things aren’t quite so balanced.  The rapist, killer, and shoplifter are all sentenced to stand side-by-side in hell, along with the guy who lived a good life except he called his brother a “fool” on occasion (Matthew 5:22).  James says, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” (James 2:10)

Where’s the disconnect?  I don’t think hell has different levels like Dante Alighieri suggests in his Inferno, but it’s easy to see where he would come to the conclusion.  How can God justly sentence everyone to the same punishment no matter what their sins were? 

I think the answer to that question can be found in mankind’s very first sinner.  Adam ate a piece of fruit and brought death into the world.  Let me say that again.  Adam ate a piece of fruit . . . fruit mind you . . . he ate a piece of fruit and brought death into the world. 

Now you can say, “yes, but it was the disobedience part that was the sin,” and I’ll agree, but every sin great or small is disobedience.  I’m looking at degrees of disobedience, and I can’t think of anything labeled “sin” in the Old or New Testament that is as minor as that first one.  He ate a piece of FRUIT!

Next time you think your little white lie, your little sexual fantasy, your being slightly upset with your brother, your not being charitable to one person in need, or your whatever sin it may be isn’t so bad, remember that first sin in the garden.  It only took one bite of a piece of fruit to sentence billions to hell.  Do you think God isn’t miffed about your “little” sins?

Luckily, God sent His Son to pay the price for our sins—great and small.  If you believe on Him, turn from your ways, and follow Jesus, He will be faithful to forgive you and empower you to be called a child of God.  If you’ve never surrendered your life to Christ, fill out the Contact form, and I’ll get in touch with you about how you can.