Extraordinary Request and Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways in Ordinary Places

Recap: Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways

In what was really the first half of what is turning out to be a two-part blog post, Extraordinary Request and Ordinary Things in Ordinary Ways, I noted the extraordinary request that we see in Matthew 6:9–10, the beginning of the Lord’s prayer:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

And I noted that this awesome request will come to pass. God’s name will indeed be hallowed in all the earth, his kingdom will come in its fullness, and his will shall certainly be done on earth as it is in heaven (Revelation 21:1–4). I then asked the questions: “What should we do in the meantime? What do we do in anticipation of that day? How do we participate in this glorious, inevitable reality?” The answer, that I suggested Scripture points us to is this: We should do ordinary things in ordinary ways.

We see this clearly in the relatively ordinary prayer requests in Matthew 6:11–13 that follow this initial extraordinary request:

Give us this day our daily bread,

and forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

In short, I concluded that:

through seemingly ordinary things (active dependence on God for physical and spiritual provision) in seemingly ordinary ways (seeking him in prayer and in the Word, and fighting sin through confession, repentance, forgiving others, and turning from evil), God makes us look more and more like his Son, Jesus. In this way, God works out this extraordinary request that his name would be hallowed, that his kingdom would come, and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And he will grant it in its fullness at Christ’s return.

Well if this is the ordinary stuff that we are to be doing? Where should we do it? By now you are probably not surprised to learn that it gets even more ordinary. Indeed, God wills that we hallow his name, usher in his coming kingdom and will on earth, by doing ordinary things, in ordinary ways, in ordinary places. Consider one of Paul’s letters.

 

Ordinary Places: The Household of Faith and Your Home

We’ve seen an epic request in the Lord’s Prayer, now consider one of the more epic openings to a book of the Bible. Does it get any more glorious and sweeping than Ephesians? Paul begins with nothing short of Spirit-filled praise in Ephesians 1:3:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places…

Paul then goes on to unpack those spiritual blessings in one of the densest and richest sections of Scripture in the Bible. Paul heralds God’s sovereign, predestining love toward those he adopts into his family through his Son, Jesus. Just take a minute to read through Ephesians 1:3–14.

God’s love toward rebels and his sovereign plan of redemption to reverse the curse of sin and death is nothing short of breathtaking—anything but ordinary. To add to the grand content of this letter, Paul closes by exhorting us to “Put on the whole armor of God” in order to be fit for spiritual warfare. Through this gospel armor we are prepared to withstand the devil and fight against “cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:11–12). Cosmic powers? Spiritual forces of evil? Heavenly places? Again, this is anything but ordinary.

With such a divine beginning and supernatural, cosmic end, the middle of this letter must be off the charts! Where would Paul have us live out our predestined identities? Where would he have us wage this warfare? We might be tempted to first think of some place wild and hostile to the gospel. Perhaps in a foreign country on mission or among the unreached? These seem fitting. Indeed, these are certainly places God will call some of us, and I pray he does so more and more for the sake of his name, the advance of the gospel, and the joy of all peoples. As we look in Ephesians, though, we find, sandwiched in between these extraordinary realities, some seemingly very ordinary instructions. Paul instructs us to work out this sovereignly predestined salvation that fits us to wrestle and overcome cosmic, spiritual forces of evil first and foremost in the household of faith and at home.

Paul says, given this awesome predestining love of God, you and I should therefore “walk with humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love” with all eagerness to maintain the unity God has given in the one body of the church (Ephesians 4:1–4). For us, this works itself out in our local church. That’s it. Be humble, gentle, and patient with one another, and by doing so, you will build the church up in love (Ephesians 4:16). Ordinary things. But, oh, it gets even more ordinary.

Given this cosmic spiritual warfare that we are in the midst of, Paul has this to say: “Wives, submit to you husbands, as to the Lord…Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church…Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right” (Ephesians 5:22, 25; 6:1). That’s it. As we rush headlong, fully armored, into battle against Satan and his demonic legions, the marching orders Paul gives us are to be Christlike to those in our household—our families. Imperfect husbands and imperfect wives, show Christlike love toward one another through self-sacrifice and humility in order to build one another up in the faith. And, children walk in humility before imperfect parents by obeying them. These are, normal, ordinary things, in ordinary ways, in ordinary places.

 

Conclusion

So, in the first half of this post we saw that God wills to bring about Matthew 6:9–10’s extraordinary request through seemingly ordinary things in seemingly ordinary ways. In such things and ways, God makes us look more and more like his Son, Jesus and ushers in his kingdom. And where will all of this work itself out in our lives? Ordinary places.

God will certainly call many of us to different contexts to live this out. He will sweep some of us up into his call to global missions and plop us down among an unreached people group of a completely different ethnicity and culture. I pray that he does this to more and more of us. But whether near or far, whether on mission in a foreign country or perpetually local, the primary place that God will have us grow in Christlikeness and participate in this awesome, inevitable reality of his coming kingdom will be among fellow believers in the local church and among our own families in our homes. Indeed, it is “through the church” that “the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places” (Eph 3:10). God does this through ordinary things, in ordinary ways, in ordinary places. And again, in the end none of this is very ordinary at all.

Gospel Resolutions for the New Year

The year 2022 will soon exit stage right, and the year 2023 will make its grand entrance and take center stage. Time indeed marches on. And with this inevitable transition also comes the equally inevitable, and infamous, “New Year’s resolution.” Undoubtedly, we will soon be inundated with a deluge of suggested New Year’s resolutions whether we like it or not. In fact, just a quick Google search has already revealed the likes of “40+ New Year’s resolution ideas to help you achieve…”; “23 New Year’s Resolutions for 2023”; “55 Best New Year’s Resolution Ideas for 2023”; “50 Best New Year’s Resolution Ideas to Start 2023 off Right”; “27 New Year’s Resolutions…”; “72 Ultimate Best List…” — the lists go on and on. And apparently there is no consensus as to how many “resolutions” should be suggested. With all the noise, we as Christians might wonder what we should think about making resolutions.

In one of his “Look at the Book” passage studies at DesiringGod.org, John Piper digs into 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 to ask this question, “Should Christians make resolutions?” I’ll sum up his study here. But first, the passage reads:

2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 — 11 To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, 12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Based on 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12, Piper answers the question of whether or not we as Christians should make resolutions with a resounding “YES!” And, Piper unpacks this passage in order to show how Christians should go about making those resolutions. First, when we make (what I will call) gospel resolutions to do good, we do so from a posture of faith. We recognize, as Piper points out, that we are fully and prayerfully dependent on God to fulfill our gospel resolves by turning them into works of faith. This is what Paul prays here. Paul prays that God would “make” the Thessalonians “worthy” of God’s calling. Piper equates “make worthy” to “walk(ing) in a manner worthy of the calling” in Ephesians 4:1. Piper helps us avoid a legalistic landmine here by observing that “worth,” is not a testament to our worthiness based on performance. Rather, it is a testament to the worth of the calling. In Piper’s words, “To be worthy of a high calling is to walk in a way that calls attention to the worth of the calling.”[1] So, when God ultimately does fulfill our gospel resolve for good and produces a work of faith, Christ is glorified in us, and we are glorified in him (v. 12). In short, Piper distills the how of making gospel resolutions in this way:

When we make resolutions, we make them (1) “by God’s grace”; (2) “through faith in God’s power”; and (3) “for God’s glory”.[2]

Amen! Now, I would like to dig a little deeper. As Piper points out, at the bottom of all of our gospel resolve for good is the grace of God. And this grace is yours because of God’s resolve. That is, ultimately, our gospel resolves to do good and our works of faith can be traced back to God. All of our gospel resolves to do good and all of our good works do not originate with us. Rather, they were first forged in furnace of God’s gracious resolve to do good to us. But don’t take my word for it.

One of richest passages of Scripture regarding our salvation is Ephesians 1:3–14. Here, Paul sweeps the reader up into his worship of God by heralding the glories of God’s sovereign plan of salvation. The passage is dense. Indeed, in the original Greek, it’s actually one long sentence. Paul waxes eloquent the glories of God and riches of salvation in Christ. There’s certainly much to tease out. But, if you were to put your finger on the pulse of Paul’s praise, it would likely beat to the rhythm of this declaration:

“4…In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ…6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us…” (Ephesians 1:4–5, 7–8).

Notice, I left out a portion of v. 5. What does that bit read? Do you recall? Verse 5 in full states, “5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”. Consider the word “purpose”. This is the same word that Paul uses in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 that we translate “resolve”. It’s the Greek noun εὐδοκία (eudokia). It conveys the idea of good will, good pleasure, desire, and/or satisfaction. That is, it was God’s good pleasure, his desire, to do good to you by making you his son or daughter through Jesus Christ. Or, to say it another way — taking our cue from 2 Thessalonians 1:11 —, it was God’s resolve to save you. And what did God save you for? Well according to Scripture, he saved you in part for good works.

Paul declares in Ephesians 2:10,

10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Ephesians 2:10).

Gospel salvation translates into gospel works. And just like our salvation, God has prepared — before the foundations of the world —good works for each of us to walk in. Remember Paul’s prayer in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12. His prayer was that God would make the Thessalonians worthy of their calling. That is, Paul prayed that Christians would walk in a manner worthy of the gospel (Ephesians 4:1). God does this by fulfilling our every resolve for good by turning them into good works of faith that he prepared beforehand. Christians make gospel resolutions to do works of faith because this is what God predestined us to do. To not resolve to do good is to go against our very nature. God resolved to save us for good works; therefore, we in faith resolve to do those good works with full confidence that he will bring those good works to fruition.

So, 2023 approaches steadily and somewhat rapidly, whether we are ready for it or not. New Year’s resolutions abound, and as Christians, yes, we can and should make resolutions as well — and not just in honor of the new year. We should always be making resolutions. But let us make gospel resolutions. So, as we step into this new year, let us resolve to do good works of faith. And rest assured, Christian, that God already has good works for you to do. Thus, through your faith in Christ, God will birth gospel resolves in your heart this year. And, God will fulfill those gospel resolutions, by turning them into those works of faith he has prepared in advance. So enter 2023 full of confidence not in your ability to do good works, but in his power to fulfill your every resolve. Resolve to do good works because he first resolved to save you for good works.

[1] John Piper, “New Year’s Resolutions: 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12,” Look at the Book, https://www.desiringgod.org/labs/new-years-resolutions.

[2] John Piper, “New Year’s Resolutions.”