Hebrews 13:18-19 Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way. 19 I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon

The previous session saw Dr Tong expounding on verse 17, relating to leadership. When the author of Hebrews finished writing about leadership, he requested that the readers pray for 'us'. Dr Tong noted that the order of the verses in scripture is very important, and he often ponders about why the writer would describe things in a certain order. After writing about leadership, it would seem natural that the author of Hebrews would ask the readers to obey him, since he firmly established himself as one of the leaders. But the true leader would not lead others to himself, but to God. Although he walks ahead of everyone else, he does so to lead others as a calling. This was why he revealed that he is not after the flock's money, adoration or blind submission. What a true leader would covet would be the prayer support from others.

Dr Tong said that ever since he was young, he has been observing how churches split. His observation is that people violate the rule that the anointed one of God ought to be honoured. This is something that King David practiced. Although he was persecuted by King Saul and had many opportunities to take revenge, he would not harm Saul, leaving vengeance to the LORD. He understood that Saul was the anointed one of God, and he honoured that status. Dr Tong related that when he was a child, his brothers and him would often discuss about the sermons that they have heard, and would often criticise the preacher. Whenever his mother was around, they would surely get a stern rebuke from her for blasphemy against God's anointed servant. So Dr Tong said that he has been trained to leave errors made by anointed servants of God to the judgment of God and not to men. Jesus Christ said that even when a Pharisee sits upon the seat of Moses, the people were to listen to him (Matthew 23:2).

The church father Augustine was faced with the same dilemma, as preachers of his age who adhered to Novatianism did not lead exemplary lifestyles. People asked Augustine if the holy communion or baptism conducted by these people had any effect. Augustine answered that when a person conducts sacred duties in the name of the LORD, the effect of these activities would be based on the LORD, and not on these imperfect people. The flip side of this argument would be that some preachers would continue to lead decadent lifestyles, since the rites are God's matter, and not men's. Many preachers like to tell others not to judge them since they are the anointed ones of God. It can be rather confusing, but Dr Tong said that those who kept claiming that but behave badly are truly evil, while those who would be careful not to bring harm the anointed ones of God are truly good.

Since the medieval times, many churches segregate their people into the laity and the clergy. This creates an illusion that there are people who are more holy than the rest by classification. In reality, we are all equal, except that the clergy is made up of people who have been called to preach the gospel. They are not better or higher in spiritual status than the rest of the laity. The author of Hebrews therefore did not take an arrogant stand, but pleaded with his readers to pray for him. This is remarkable because these days, it is the laity that often request prayers from the pastors. Very few pastors would ask the lay people to come to his house to pray for him. Dr Tong affirmed that preachers are just like everyone else, facing difficulties, trails, temptations. In fact, they are often weaker than lay people when faced with the same temptations, primarily because people have such high expectations of them. When a pastor's sin is exposed, people would be rather unforgiving in their criticism.

Dr Tong said that he used to think that we need to appreciate our pastors more, and sympathise with them more, since as a preacher, he understands the difficulties a pastor goes through. But he realised later that James 3:1 says that teachers will be judged more harshly. Therefore, God demands much more from spiritual leaders. A true leader would therefore be humble, and be very demanding upon himself. Most preachers expect a lot from his flock, but does not set a good example themselves. When a preacher wants to live up to God's standards, he would find that he needs lots of support from his people.

The support he seeks should not be financial, which is what most preachers seek for. The author of Hebrews sought for prayer support instead, just like how Joshua was supported by Moses' prayers when he battled the Amalekites. The servant of God needs God's people to uphold him in prayer, in tearful supplications, so that the LORD would bless His own servant and empower him. No leader is beyond the need for prayer support. Dr Tong said that when he was young, his family had a servant who was a Roman Catholic. This lady told Dr Tong that the Roman Catholics could go to their priest for confessions, and absolution of sins. Dr Tong said that this fulfills what Romans 12:8 refers to as encouraging or counseling, and it does help many people relieve their anxieties. But Dr Tong was curious about this matter, and asked the servant what happens if the priest had problems? To whom should the priest go? The servant replied that a priest would never have any problem in life.

After he became a preacher, Dr Tong tried to understand this issue further. To whom should the pastor turn when he has problems? To his wife, or to his parents? Dr Tong said that the answer must be to his people. requesting prayer support from them. The next question to ask would be why should Christians pray? Typically, the more theology a person knows, the less he would pray. Somehow, it is difficult for people to balance academic understanding with acts of faith. Is it possible for the head to be united with the knees? Can our faith in our heart be one with the thoughts in our mind?

Dr Tong preached on three occasions on the theology of prayer, and he said he is not satisfied with all of them. We all have many questions relating to prayer, questions like if God is omniscience, why should we pray? If God's grace is the reason why we can come back to Him, then why should I ask for grace from Him? Is it true that by our earnest prayers, the hand of God can be moved? Dr Tong is not certain if it is at all possible to be able to generate a complete theology of prayer, but we can find some fundamental principles from the revealed WORD of God, although it would take days just to scratch the surface of this mystery.

The first important principle is that when we kneel to pray, we are acknowledging the sovereignty of God Almighty. The motivation for prayer is the understanding that we are to be submissive to God's will, since He is the power above the powers of the world, the Almighty. A person who does not understand that would not submit to God's will, and does not feel he needs God, and thus would not pray. Such a person is like an atheist, since he does not have God in his heart. He would also not be able to live out the truth in his life. Prayer is thus an act of submission, the way the three friends of Daniel submitted to God rather than to King Nebuchadnezzar's golden idol. Prayer is the submission of our dignity, ourselves, our power, our freedom under the sovereignty of God.

Secondly, we pray because we believe that God is gracious and would grant more grace to us. When the LORD made us, He already was gracious and granted us wisdom, talent, abilities, health. But we want His supernatural grace, beyond what we already enjoy from Him. So when we pray, we do not rely on our own abilities, or boast about our own talents. We are asking for more from His throne of grace.

Thirdly, we pray because we acknowledge that we are finite, and we want to enter into God's abundance. A person who prays acknowledges that he needs God, and need to go from the finite into the infinite, and ask that the LORD grants us that faith in Him. Every time we pray, we are coming to encounter the Infinite one, and we are going through a process when we are brought to the realisation that we are the creatures, and He is the Creator.

The author then wrote about how he has a clear conscience and would live honorably in every way. This is the true mark of a spiritual leader, to be above board in everything we do. There are many preachers out there who know exactly what to say or do to attract people, and to get more money. Many people do not spend time thinking or examining carefully the sermons and claims of these people based on biblical principles. We need to ask ourselves if these people are truly serving the LORD with a clear conscience in accordance to God's WORD. If so, we are to support them in prayer and submit to their authority. The author ended the verse by changing from 'we' to 'I', showing us that he was indeed a leader that was known personally, and was not writing in a vacuum.

Dr Tong ended the session by urging the people to ask the LORD to help us seek out true leaders, and be able to co-work with them to share in God's ministry.

Disclaimer: This summary does NOT represent the official position of STEMI (Stephen Tong Evangelistic Ministry International), and is the personal opinion of the author, expressed without prejudice. Expressed opinions are meant for academic discussions only.