I'd like to begin by asking you to please follow with me in a very brief but fictional interview.
The interviewer asks Gaston Getty, "Who is your best friend and why?"
Gaston Getty replies, "Gavin Givens. Well, he's just the coolest guy. He's kind and generous, and when I'm needing help, he's always got my back."
The interview is over. Now the interviewer asks Gavin Givens, "Gaston Getty tells me you're his best friend. Have you been friends for long?"
Gavin Givens replies, "Really? I didn't realize he considered me his friend. But we have known each other a long time. I didn't realize because all he ever does is ask me for stuff and to get him out of pinches. He always expresses gratitude, but I didn't realize he considered me his friend."
Now that the interview has ended and all the fiction is over, I would suggest that Gaston identifies Mr. Givens as a friend based on what Gavin does for him. All of us would be happy to have a friend or a confidant who is always there for us. But just to turn it around a little bit today, I would also ask the question: What do we do for such a friend? Mr. Givens sounds more like a patron than a friend.
So getting down deeper into it, who is God to you and to me?
Let's turn to the scripture that references true worship of God. Let's go to John chapter 4 and read verse 23.
"But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."
So there is a worship that is in spirit and truth, and the Father is actually seeking this. That word for worship is a transliterated Greek word, proskunio, from Strong's G4352. And it's derived from G4314 and probably a derivative of G2965, meaning to kiss, like a dog licking his master's hand, to fawn or crouch to. When we think of worship and get to those words, it makes a little more sense to us — that is, literally or figuratively, to prostrate oneself in homage, to give due reverence, to adore. That is worship.
So this compound word takes the image of a dog's intentional, devotional licking of his master's hand. It's not based on habit or happenstance. They're doing it for a reason. Think about why a dog licks their master's hand. It's their form of affection. A good dog watches everything their master does. They follow the master wherever their master goes. They aren't just thankful their master feeds them and gives them water. They aren't only happy when their master is petting them. My dog, Brexit, she fits all those. She likes all that. They aren't only happy when they're being petted. A good dog fawns over and obeys their master because they desire to please the master.
All of you have probably experienced that at some point in your life or seen it with other pet owners. I'm not saying, and the scripture isn't either, that we are God's pets. I'm saying we can learn something special about the kind of relationship we can have with the Father and Jesus Christ. It's not just about God's provision, which is good — protection or deliverance. That's probably a common approach to worship in the world today, whether to the true God or to a false god. A lot of petitioning. That's prayer: "You're going to protect me. You're going to take care of me. I'm coming to you for that." And that's all they do.
See, God is our Father. Christ is our brother. That makes us children and siblings of the family of God. Does our communication with God reflect a two-sided relationship? Or is it just one-sided, like the interview sort of indicated? Do we think God is the coolest because He blesses us, or do we think God is the coolest and we'd really like to be like Him? There's a little bit of a difference in approach.
King David, admittedly in the lowest point of his life because of his own sins, said this to God in Psalm 51, verse 10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Now we don't want to gloss over those circumstances. They were bad circumstances. But let's focus on what he asked, something for which we can always ask as well, even when we haven't sinned. Create in me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. That's not a selfish request. That's not the same thing as, you know, help me be wealthy, help me have friends, whatever people will ask. This is something for improving ourselves. That's not only asking for daily provision, not only asking for protection, which are good — it's also asking God to help me to be like you, Daddy, my Father. It's asking God to help me to be like you, big brother. Because if you've known Jesus, you've known the Father. Jesus tells us that. They're the same character, the same behavior. Everything's the same as far as their righteousness.
Jesus emphasizes essentially the same thing David asked for, but he also expresses our participation in the process of God changing us. Let's turn to John chapter 14 and read verses 23 and 24.
"Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.'"
You know, Jesus, when he talks about obeying his commands, he's saying they're from the Father. There's not a distinction. The Father doesn't have other commands that you don't have to do anymore. These are My commands. That's what you do. His commands are the Father's commands. There's no change. Jesus was the word made flesh — we can reference John 1:14 for that. Our example to live by, our big brother to adore. So if he wants us to obey his word, he is expressing there is a relationship of mutually beneficial love, us for God and God for us.
Now I just want to touch upon one of the many ways we can actively worship God, and that is through communication. Let's turn to Philippians chapter 4, verse 6.
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God."
This is an interesting statement that I don't know if you've ever done it, but I've done it. I've said, okay, pray, but also have supplications and thanksgiving. Paul uses prayer in this statement as the broad term — the whole conversation with God — and then defines two parts of that term: requests or petitions and thanksgiving. He emphasizes two aspects of prayer, but these two things don't reflect the width and breadth of prayer. This is just his subject for the moment. Instead, they serve the focus of his advice.
So go to verse 7: "And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ."
So literally in practicing this type of prayer, you will have peace of mind and your heart will be guarded.
And then in verse 8 it says, "Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."
But think about that. You do those things as a practice, and you can even do them in prayer. This adds to the quality of your thanksgiving for sure. And it may help your petitions make more sense to you when you ask them of God. And maybe they will be presented to God in such a way that is more helpful. That last verse does sound like something in addition to prayer, but maybe it is something that helps that prayer.
When Jesus shared the model prayer in Matthew 6, the most repeated word can often be overlooked. It's one of the most repeated words, if not the most repeated. Us. The word in the model prayer is "us." Remember, this is a private prayer, and yet it says "us." So it's shared and private, and it isn't only about provision, protection, or deliverance. It includes asking God to forgive us as we forgive others — an acknowledgment of our responsibility, all of us, to act like God acts. This is one quality that God has. He can forgive. He's got a grand idea about what he's doing with mankind, and he can forgive those who want forgiveness.
So think about that. When Jesus' example prayer focuses on all of God's children, not just me, it shifts our whole orientation from me to everybody, to each other, to all of God's children. If I'm not careful, my prayers can become only about what God can do for me, and especially if we're under stress or feel we need something. I'd speak to the children right now. You can talk to God and tell him everything you need, but you can also just be thankful for what happened today. You can be thankful for your parents, and you can be thankful for your friends. You can talk to God about that. If I'm not careful, those prayers can be only about me.
But prayer is the perfect time to bring what I've experienced, what I've learned, and offer it back to God, and to pray on behalf of all His children, not just myself.
So what might this look like in practice? Begin and end where Jesus did. This is about the model prayer — honoring God's name and His plan with thankfulness, not just a warm-up and a closing. Those frame the prayer, including the Father and His holiness and what His plan is. Begin and end it, and I'm just adding the word thankfulness. Do it thankfully. So you can ask for him to do things, but you can also be thankful he's promised to do them.
Then bring to God our needs: provision, forgiveness, deliverance from temptation. But bring them as "us," not "me," because "us" includes me. I'm not getting out of anything. We're praying as part of an invested family. Don't forget, bringing up forgiveness expresses our desire to be like God, to live as God lives.
Ask God to speak to us through His word, and thank him that we have it. We have God's word. Jesus was the word made flesh. We don't just have godliness written down in the word. We have the example of Christ's life. We have the example of all of those who followed him and wrote the words in the New Testament to exemplify that life, to emulate that life. We have examples.
Also go where David went, but this time say, "Create in us a clean heart, O God." We're thinking of each other. We want everybody to succeed at this.
Review the changes God has already made in your life yesterday, this week, in the past as you've contemplated it. Go beyond the issues of forgiveness. That's not just making requests. That turns into a conversation because God is talking back to you. We could talk about how the Spirit of God can help you, and that's a communication from God, but he's talking back to you right here in this Bible and in the examples that were given to us. This takes the conversation past provision, further than protection, and beyond deliverance.
Express to God you want to be like him. That is the prayer of someone in a relationship, not just someone making a withdrawal. Approach God not only as our provider, because he most certainly is, but as people who desire even more than a good dog desires to please his master — to be like our Father in heaven and our Lord Jesus Christ.
