Let us turn to Luke, chapter 10, verse 21.
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said,
“I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent
and didst reveal them to babes.
Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.”
We know that this is one of the prayers of our Lord, and also His worship, since He was quoting Psalm 8:2. So here we have the Word, prayer, and worship.
Father, once again we come into Your presence and thank You. It is such a wonderful opportunity that we may sit, as Mary did, at Your feet.
We pray, Lord, this afternoon, that You will speak to our hearts. We are all here listening. Thank You, Lord. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
I think we all know that the topic this afternoon is the Word, prayer, and worship. The topic assigned to me is using the Word in prayer and worship.
We want to approach this topic by learning some lessons from the devotional life of our Lord. We all know that the devotional life of our Lord was so secret, so deep, and so hidden that we can only glean something through His Word.
This afternoon we will especially be occupied with the Gospel according to Luke. Probably through this Gospel we will learn a little more concerning the hidden life of our Lord.
If we really want to know what a tree of life is, probably the best illustration is found through this wonderful Gospel. We all know that God wanted to present Christ as the Son of Man. Therefore, there is a special emphasis in this Gospel.
Only through this Gospel do we have the record of the early life of our Lord, and finally His ascension. It is the most complete account of our Lord’s life on earth.
Luke was a medical doctor. He was very observant. He had witnessed many processes of life: birth, growth, aging, and the end of life. Now he gives us his report in the Gospel according to Luke.
In this Gospel, he shows us the most perfect life he had ever seen or witnessed. His chief object was the Gentiles and the Greeks. In the Greek world they pursued perfection; they wanted everything perfect, and they pursued the perfect man.
Even their gods were created according to the image of man. Now it is the report of Luke, this wonderful medical doctor, to tell the whole world that there is only one life—the life of Christ—which is presented in this wonderful Gospel.
Only in Christ, only in our Lord Jesus, do you find the perfect Man. You can see how He was born, how He grew into maturity, and finally how He reached the goal. This is indeed a wonderful book in the Bible, telling us of the wonderful life of the universe. The life is in Him.
In this wonderful book, we are told of nine occasions on which Jesus offered prayer during the crises of His life. Seven of these are recorded by Luke alone.
They include His baptism, after a day of miracles, before choosing the apostles, before Peter’s great confession, at His transfiguration, when the seventy returned and made their report, before teaching the apostles how to pray, in Gethsemane, and on the cross.
In these crises of our Lord’s life, we discover our Lord praying. He did leave an example of prayer to us. If we trace carefully this wonderful Gospel according to Luke, we will discover the secrets of His prayer life.
But not only that: we discover another aspect of the hidden life of our Lord. It is not only His prayer life, but also His life in the Word. Prayer and His life in the Word are just like two wings of a bird. Here we find the secret spring of that wonderful life, that great life.
Through these two aspects of the life of our Lord, we discover that it is a dependent life. It is a life that demonstrates what a tree of life is. By the mercy of the Lord, this afternoon we will trace through this wonderful Gospel, especially dwelling on His life in the Word.
Later we will mention how our Lord used the Word in prayer and worship. Since Christ is presented in this Gospel as the Son of Man, this is truly a wonderful pattern and a wonderful model before us. By the mercy of the Lord, we can learn how to live such a wonderful life: a life of prayer and a life in the Word together.
At His baptism, Luke records:
Now it came about when all the people were baptized,
that Jesus also was baptized,
and while He was praying, heaven was opened.
This is the first occasion.
But the news about Him was spreading even farther;
and great multitudes were gathering to hear Him
and to be healed of their sicknesses.
But He Himself would often slip away into the wilderness and pray.
This was after a day of miracles.
And it was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray,
and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.
This was before choosing the apostles: a whole night in prayer to God.
And it came about that while He was praying alone,
the disciples were with Him,
and He questioned them, saying,
“Who do the multitudes say that I am?”
This was before Peter’s great confession.
And while He was praying,
the appearance of His face became different,
and His clothing became white and gleaming.
When the seventy returned and made their report:
At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said,
“I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent
and didst reveal them to babes.
Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.”
And it came about that while He was praying in a certain place,
after He had finished,
one of His disciples said to Him,
“Lord, teach us to pray,
just as John also taught his disciples.”
Another well-known occasion is in Gethsemane. I think we all know that story, so we will not read it now.
Then the last occasions are on the cross:
But Jesus was saying,
“Father, forgive them;
for they do not know what they are doing.”
And again:
And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said,
“Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.”
Having said this, He breathed His last.
These are the nine occasions Luke records. Here we find the prayer life of our Lord.
If we recapitulate these passages, we discover that His prayer life is coupled with His life in the Word. You can never separate these two, because they are joined together. This is the life of our Lord.
This afternoon we especially dwell on the life in the Word of our Lord. We want to see what secrets the Lord has passed on to us.
Before going into the details, let me remind you that the life of our Lord in Luke can be divided into three stages very clearly: from His manger to His baptism, from His baptism to His transfiguration, and from His transfiguration to His ascension.
That means from chapter 1 to chapter 4, the first thirty years; then from chapter 4 through chapter 9, another three years; and then from chapter 9 through chapter 24, the last six months. Altogether, thirty-three and a half years.
The first stage lasted about thirty years—long, long thirty years. We do not know much about this stage, but when we speak of His life in the Word, we have to begin here.
We have the report from Isaiah 53:
He grew up before Him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
This is the description of the first stage of our Lord’s life. We do not know much about it, but somehow we can glean something from the record of the Word.
Then we come to the second stage, from His baptism to the Mount of Transfiguration—about three years. For the first thirty years He was hidden; now, for three years, He manifested Himself before the world.
He worked, He labored, He healed, He comforted. He walked from one village to another, preaching the gospel of the kingdom from place to place. He was busy doing the will of God and serving the purpose of God.
Brothers and sisters, He was so perfect, so ideal. No wonder, when He passed through the world, so many blind, sick, lame, paralyzed, and weak people were revealed. Why? Because here you find a perfect life walking through the world.
Then comes the last stage, lasting six months. This is very important, brothers and sisters. When He reached the Mount of Transfiguration, as far as He Himself was concerned, I believe our Lord had reached His goal. That life was so mature, just like mature grapes.
For Himself, He could have ascended to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration. But for your sake and for my sake, in order to accomplish the work of salvation, instead of ascending to heaven, our Lord took another turn.
This time He took the way of descent. From Mount Hermon He descended, and finally He went through the winepress of the cross.
His life was rich and wonderful, like grapes. Yet those grapes had to go through the winepress. They had to be crushed in order to pour out life to others. Our Lord had to go through the way we call the way of the cross.
What is the way of the cross? The best description is found in this wonderful Gospel. From Luke 9 to Luke 24 is a long passage that describes the journey toward Jerusalem.
Matthew and Mark tell us much of what happened in Galilee, and John tells us what our Lord did in Judea and Jerusalem. But Luke uniquely tells us of what happened beyond the Jordan. Our Lord took a long way, and He encouraged His disciples: “Let us go to Jerusalem.”
This is the way of the cross. For Himself, He did not have to go through it. But in order to distribute His life to us and pass His life to us, He had to go through the winepress of the cross.
No wonder, brothers and sisters, when we receive our Lord Jesus, we are no longer thirsty. We are able to testify to the world how wonderful His life is.
There is a uniqueness in the life of our Lord. Our life is different. When we come into this world, we enter horizontally, and when we leave this world, we leave horizontally. But our Lord entered this world horizontally, yet He left it vertically. He ascended into heaven.
This life grew and grew until it entered the very presence of His Father. The characteristic of this life is a dependent life.
What is a prayer life? Prayer is a dependent life. What is His life in the Word? It is also a dependent life.
Our Lord said:
My teaching is not Mine,
but His Who sent Me.
And again:
When you lift up the Son of Man,
then you will know that I am He,
and I do nothing on My own initiative,
but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.
Can you imagine that our Lord, as the Son of God, needed teaching from His Father? Yet in the Gospel according to Luke, He took the position of the Son of Man. He said, “I speak these things as the Father taught Me.”
His life was always dependent on the Father. His prayer life showed this dependence, and His life in the Word also showed this dependence.
Consider a child. A baby is helpless and dependent. In contrast, many animals are able to stand almost immediately after birth. But a human child begins life in complete dependence.
Why are human babies born helpless and dependent? It is a wonderful demonstration. In this world there are two trees: the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The question is whether we choose a dependent life or an independent life.
Our Lord lived a dependent life. It had two wings: first, His prayer life; second, His life in the Word.
It is not easy to trace through the Gospel and obtain all the information concerning this hidden life. Yet we can discover something.
Sometimes we see a reservoir full of water. We do not know how the water accumulated there. We do not know what happened behind the dam. But when the gate is opened and the water rushes through, then we realize how much water had been accumulating over many days.
Likewise, when we admire a great tree, we see only what is above the ground. We often forget that beneath it is a deep root, invisible to human eyes.
When we see the life of our Lord, we see thirty hidden years underground. Nobody knew what was going on there. That power was invisible to men, yet visible to His Father. He grew up before the Father as a tender shoot.
How He accumulated the Word of God and lived that life in the Word, we do not fully know. But when He came out into public ministry, the gate of the dam was opened, and the water flowed out. The Gospel records it for us.
Only in Luke are we told what happened when our Lord was twelve years old. Before that, as with every Jewish boy, He was educated in the Word of God.
Jewish boys were expected to know the first five books of Moses and to memorize Psalms 113 through 118. They were also encouraged to find a personal verse from the Bible.
Almost every Jewish child was taught to search the Word of God, to seek a phrase or a verse, and to say, “This belongs to you. This is your verse. This is your possession.”
Our Lord was trained just like every average Jewish boy. Then, when He became a son of the law at twelve years of age, His parents could not find Him for three days. Finally, they found Him in the temple.
And He was sitting in the midst of the teachers,
both listening to them and asking them questions.
I have taught in the university for a long time. When you have good students, they ask questions. If they are completely quiet, sometimes it means they do not understand anything. A student who knows how to ask questions has begun to understand.
Our Lord was in the midst of the teachers, listening and asking questions. As the Son of God, did He need teachers? Of course, as the Son of God, He did not need to ask questions. But as the Son of Man, He took the position of dependence.
And all who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers. This means that although the Bible does not tell us much, something had been developing in that hidden reservoir. Something had been going on, but it was hidden.
This is the secret spring of life. It is the motor of our life. It is not meant to be displayed. It is most sacred—something between our Lord and His Father.
When our Lord came out into public ministry at about thirty years of age, the gate of the dam was opened. The flood of water came out. If you go through the whole Gospel, you will discover a treasure: how our Lord considered the Word of God before His Father, how He studied it, and how He found its keys.
At His baptism, we read:
Now it came about when all the people were baptized,
that Jesus also was baptized,
and while He was praying, heaven was opened.
And the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove.
Here we find an open heaven. How we wish to live a life under an open heaven. The Bible says, “While He was praying, heaven was opened.” This is the secret: we have an open heaven when we have a prayer life.
Through that wonderful communication and fellowship with the Lord, heaven is opened. The Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove. This indicates consecration, refreshment in the Holy Spirit, and also His anointing for ministry.
Then a voice came from heaven:
Thou art My beloved Son;
in Thee I am well pleased.
This voice from heaven is not merely a voice. It is a combination of two passages from the Old Testament. The first is Psalm 2:7:
Thou art My Son;
this day have I begotten Thee.
The second is Isaiah 42:1:
Behold, My Servant, Whom I uphold;
My chosen One, in Whom My soul delighteth.
The Holy Spirit combined these two portions into one heavenly voice. God had already spoken in His Word, and now He spoke again personally to His Son.
In Luke there are two words used for “word.” One is logos. For example, Luke 3:4 speaks of “the book of the words of Isaiah.” Logos refers to the Word God has spoken in Scripture.
Then there is another word, rhema. In Luke 24:8, we read, “And they remembered His words.” Rhema means the living word—the Word God speaks again through His written Word.
What is rhema? When our Lord was praying, the Word that had been spoken through Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42 was spoken again by God to Him. That is rhema.
When we study the Word, we receive logos. I believe that before our Lord was twelve years old, He had gone through the Scriptures and was filled with the logos of God. But when He prayed, consecrated Himself, and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, the Word became living and personal.
Rhema is not merely a word from yesterday. It is a word for today. It is a living, personal word through which God speaks to us subjectively and gives us strength.
We need both logos and rhema. Even if we are rich in the written Word, that does not guarantee that we are rich in the living Word. We need open heaven. We need prayer.
This is why studying the Word is very different from studying chemistry, physics, or other subjects. When the risen Lord expounded the Scriptures to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, they said:
Was not our heart burning within us
while He was speaking to us on the road,
while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?
I studied physics and read many books of physics, but the more I studied physics, the colder I became. I never had my heart burning within me because of physics. But rhema means God speaks to us again, and something burns within us.
Let me give a simple illustration, especially for the young people. There was a young sister who was very fearful. At night she could not sleep unless she had some sense of security. So she put her Bible under her pillow and slept much better.
Some people sing, “Standing on the promises of the Word.” She was sleeping on the promises of the Word. Then one day she grew in the Lord and began to study the Bible. God spoke to her through the words, “Fear not.”
She discovered that the Bible contains many occurrences of the expression “Fear not.” She told herself, “I can take one verse every day.” Then she took the Bible away from her pillow because every day she had a living word from the Lord.
There was also a faithful servant of God in mainland China who passed through much trouble and suffering. When he came out of prison, another brother asked him, “Brother, what have you learned through all these years of suffering?”
He answered in Chinese with three words meaning, “Fear not. Do not be afraid.”
If you know what happens in certain places in the world, and if you pass through certain kinds of tribulation, you may well be afraid. But why are we sometimes not afraid? It is because the Lord speaks to our hearts through His Word: “Do not be afraid.”
Then we have an open heaven. Heaven speaks, and this becomes our strength.
Immediately after His baptism, our Lord was tempted. Yet He came out triumphantly. The first Adam fell, but the last Adam was victorious and won the battle.
What kind of weapons did our Lord use? We all know the answer. When He was tempted, He said:
It is written,
“Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”
Our Lord quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 accurately. In Old Testament times, the Bible was not divided into chapters and verses as it is today. If you wanted to know the Scriptures, you had to memorize them.
Notice that it is not merely “word,” but “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” The Greek word is rhema. Only the living Word can satisfy the hunger of our hearts and sustain us.
The second and third times our Lord was tempted, He again used Deuteronomy—Deuteronomy 6:13 and Deuteronomy 6:16. He answered temptation by the Word of God.
Today, not only young people but all Christians live in such a world that we cannot survive unless we have the living Word of God. If you worry about your children, the most important thing is to help them be filled with the Word of God.
As parents, you can never be with your children every moment. But when temptation comes, nothing can help us except the living Word of God.
Even the enemy of God quoted Scripture. Therefore, our Lord answered, “It is also written.” We need one part of the Word of God to interpret and balance another part of the Word of God. We are kept by the Word of God.
After the temptation, our Lord entered the synagogue. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. He opened the book and found the place where it was written.
Isaiah has sixty-six chapters. It is one of the longest books in the Bible. At that time there were no chapter and verse divisions. Yet our Lord knew exactly where to turn, where to begin, and where to stop.
He turned to Isaiah 61:1-2 and read:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.
He knew where to stop. The next phrase says, “and the day of vengeance of our God.” But that refers to the day of the Lord and to the second coming of Messiah.
In His first coming, our Lord came as the Lamb of God. When He comes again, He will come as the Lion of Judah. Then He will proclaim the day of vengeance of our God.
Our Lord knew His Bible so well that He stopped at precisely the right place. This opened our eyes to the two comings of Messiah: His first coming and His second coming.
We should be filled with the logos of Christ—the Word of Christ in a rich way—so that the Holy Spirit can make that Word living to us as rhema.
When our Lord closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down, the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed upon Him. Then He said:
Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.
Something happened. By this means our Lord revealed Himself through the Word.
When we come to the second stage, at the Mount of Transfiguration, we again hear the voice from heaven. Again, it is a combination of Psalm 2 and Isaiah 42.
Then we come to the third stage, the way of the cross. There was an occasion that might appear to be one of the lowest points of our Lord’s public ministry. He had healed many people and performed many miracles, yet many did not believe.
But at that very time, the Bible says, He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit:
I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent,
and didst reveal them to babes.
Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.
Here we find not only prayer but also worship. Even at what seemed to be a low point, His spirit rose up, and He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit.
If we learn how to pray, sooner or later we will learn not only to pray but also to praise—to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. We are called to walk in the same way of the cross.
At the moment when there seemed to be no response, our Lord not only prayed; He worshipped. And He quoted Psalm 8:2:
Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babes
Thou hast established strength,
because of Thine adversaries,
to make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
To our eyes, a baby is weak and helpless. Yet God establishes strength through babes. The way of the cross is the way of power. The path to power and glory is through the cross.
In this incident, we find the prayer life of our Lord, His worship of the Father, and His worship of the Father’s ways. He joined prayer and worship with the Word of God.
When our Lord came to the cross, He came to the winepress. He had reached the peak of humanity at the Mount of Transfiguration. His glory had been shown through Him. Yet for your sake and for my sake, He descended and took the way of the cross.
When He was in great agony on the cross, He still had time for others. He said:
Father, forgive them;
for they do not know what they are doing.
His life was a life poured out for others. Like grapes going through the winepress, His life was poured out for you and me.
Finally, His last word on the cross was:
Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit.
This was not merely His own word. It was from Psalm 31:5:
Into Thy hand I commit my spirit.
That is how our Lord concluded His earthly life before His resurrection. On the cross, He still prayed. He repeated the Word of God. Prayer and the Word were the two wings of His life.
Almost every Jewish boy would recite this verse before going to sleep: “Into Thy hand I commit my spirit.” Then he would sleep and wake up the next morning.
When our Lord prayed this prayer, He too went to sleep. But after three days He awoke in resurrection.
After His resurrection, we are told that He began to expound the Word of God. He explained the Scriptures throughout the whole Bible.
In our language, we might say that He conducted a Bible class. Yet our Lord did not conduct Bible classes before His resurrection. Why? Because the Word of God is always on resurrection ground.
The Word of God has stood the test of fire, persecution, the enemy, and science. It went through death, yet it is in resurrection.
Therefore, you can never teach the Bible as you teach physics or history. No. The Word is always on resurrection ground. When we receive the Word, we are quickened, even when we are dead.
After the resurrection, the riches of the Lord’s Word were passed on to His disciples. Thank the Lord. If we go through the whole life of the Lord, we discover that it is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.
Speaking of resurrection, I know my time is gone, so let me say a few words. Jonah typified Christ. Our Lord said that there would be only one sign given to that wicked generation: the sign of Jonah.
Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish. What was he doing? Some people imagine that he was struggling with the acids in the fish’s stomach. But if you read your Bible carefully, you discover that he was praying.
This is a very strange place to pray—the belly of a fish. Yet Jonah prayed there.
The prayer in Jonah 2 is a beautiful prayer. Some people are so overwhelmed by the story of the fish that they forget Jonah’s prayer. The fish of Jonah is sometimes more famous than the prayer of Jonah.
Why is Jonah’s prayer important? Because he prayed in a place where no human words could adequately be offered. Only the Holy Spirit could pray through him.
If you study Jonah’s prayer, you discover that it is a combination of the Word of God in the Old Testament. Psalm after Psalm is joined together. When the Holy Spirit prays through us, He always prays with the Word of God.
This is why we are often poor at the breaking of bread. We do not know how to pray. How much we need the Word of God, because the Holy Spirit takes us to pray with His words.
Finally, let me say one sentence to the young people. While you are still young, while you are still in the morning of your life, go to your Bible—especially the Psalms, all 150 psalms.
Try to memorize the prayers and praises in that book. I tell you, brothers and sisters, if you do that, the next time you come to the breaking of bread and worship with the people of God, you will discover that the whole thing will be changed.
I have traveled to many places in the world, but there is one place I will never forget. There was a small group of believers meeting together. They were poor, small, and few, but one thing touched me deeply.
When I attended their breaking of bread, it was so rich. Why? Because even the children prayed. They prayed one verse from here and one verse from there. It was wonderful—just like the prayer of Jonah.
There is a practical side to this. This is the use of the Word in prayer and worship.
Father, we thank You for such a wonderful opportunity to remind us again of the importance of the hidden life with You.
May we all learn to live a prayer life and a life in Your Word together with You. May we also live under an open heaven. May heaven always be open to our hearts. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.