Scripture Introduction
A little boy kneeled with his mother beside his bed to say his bedtime prayers: “Lord, bless mommy and daddy and baby Susie; and God, GIVE ME A NEW BICYCLE!” Amen.
Mom was surprised; Billy never prayed so loudly before. So she said, “You don’t need to yell, son; God’s not deaf.”
“Oh I know he’s not, mom. But Grandma’s in the next room and she’s definitely hard of hearing.”
As we enter the Christmas season, some of us may be yelling, either at God or grandma. So I thought we should spend one Sunday in our mini-series on prayer consider how to make sure God hears you. Proverbs 15.8 as our text. [Read Proverbs 15.8. Pray.]
Introduction
In the 1930’s, Clarence Edward Noble Macartney, preaching at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, in a sermon entitled, “The Word That Conquers God,” said:
• What is the word that unites far separated souls around one common seat of mercy?
• What is the word that brings man’s storm-driven ship into the haven of safety and peace?
• What is the word that turns back the shadow of death on the face of life’s dial?
• What is the word that gives songs in the night and that lifts the load of guilt from the conscience-smitten heart?
• What is the word that puts a sword in our hand when we face temptation?
• What is the word that gives strength to bear our daily burdens?
• What is the word that lifts us up when we have fallen?
• What is the word that makes us co-workers in the Kingdom of God?
• What is the word which sets the captive free?
• What is the word that companions the soul in its hours of loneliness and that comforts it in the day of sorrow?
• What word sets a lamp of forgiveness and reconciliation in the window for the prodigal and the wanderer?
• What word makes the angels rejoice when they hear it on lips of a contrite sinner?
That mighty, all prevailing, God-conquering word is, ‘prayer.’ ‘The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.’” (Reprinted in Warren Wiersbe, Classic Sermons on Prayer, Kregel Publications, 1987).
Macartney quotes the Apostle James at the end of that moving testimony. James is eager to encourage prayer. Earlier, he tells us to pray when we are suffering and to pray when we are cheerful. And if we are sick, we should not only pray ourselves, we are to call the elders to prayer on our behalf. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (as a modern translation renders it). Or, in the old King James, “The effectual fervent prayer of righteous man availeth much.”
Then, after exhorting us to pray, and telling us that the prayer of a righteous person is effective, James’ next word is: “Elijah.” Those familiar with the Bible know that Elijah was a singular figure in the Old Testament. Elijah prayed and revived a dead boy. Elijah prayed fire down from heaven on the priests of Baal. Elijah survived forty days and nights on the strength of one meal. Elijah split the Jordan and crossed on dry ground. Elijah rode to heaven in a fiery chariot. And Elijah (with Moses) comforted Jesus at the transfiguration. He was an extraordinary man.
Now follow carefully the reasoning. First, we ought to pray (when ill or well, happy or sad). Second, the “prayer of a righteous person has great power.” Third, Elijah…. At this point, I expect James to say, “Elijah’s prayers were heard because he was so righteous, so holy, so different than I am.”
1) We ought to pray; 2) When holy men pray, God acts; 3) Elijah must have been extra-holy, for his prayers shook heaven and earth. Therefore, I conclude, my prayers fall flat because I am not upright enough. And that agrees with my “quick and dirty” interpretation of Proverbs 15.8. So I best get busy being better.
But James says something different. “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth” (James 5.16b-17). Did you hear? Elijah had a nature like ours. In other words, each of us can pray as powerfully as Elijah. That is unexpected, but potentially very exciting.
Now the relationship between prayer and Elijah bears directly on our text: “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him” (Proverbs 15.8).
I intuitively understand that Adolph Hitler could sacrifice a mountain of goats and give a million dollars to our building program, but to no avail. Hitler’s wickedness defiles even his acts of outward obedience so that they offend God — who (by the way) looks on the heart.
On the other hand, we know Jesus’ prayers were well-received. So we are not surprised to read in Hebrews 5.7: “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications,…and he was heard because of his reverence.” Jesus was holy, obedient, upright—and the Lord accepted his prayers.
So when I read Proverbs 15.8, I picture something like a teeter-totter where I begin on the balance point. When I am more like Jesus, holy and undefiled, my prayers are heard; but when I am more like Hitler, selfish and sinful, I stink up heaven and earth, even in my worship. If that is correct, however, I have a problem—I am not very upright.
Andrée Seu commented in World Magazine this week on trusting God when the bad consequences do not match particular sins (World, December 1, 2007, 43): “There is One who saves from all my folly, no questions asked. There is One who knows that I committed at least 10 worse sins that day than the sin that brought me down: I coveted, I lusted, I gossiped, I judged, I lied to avoid some unpleasantness, I neglected my kids, I was lazy, I drove so as to endanger. For none of these was I subjected to public opprobrium; for none did I blanket the town with apologies. He it is I trust with the mind-boggling asymmetry of consequences.”
Notice her admission of “at least ten worse sins.” Surely the key to prayer is not my goodness? I am no Elijah and certainly not a Jesus; I will never be heard because of my reverence. I have not uprightness sufficient to delight God.
The Pharisees tried that. One prayed at the temple: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” He claimed a right to God’s ear because he was upright. But Jesus condemns him (Luke 18.10-14).
Where, then, do we find hope for pleasing God so that he will hear our prayers? We begin by noting that…
1. You Can Do The Right “Stuff” and Still Displease God (Proverbs 15.8a)
In the Bible, the “sacrifice” symbolizes the whole of worship. Approaching God always required an offering. Singing was important; prayers were necessary; reading the Word was critical — but the sacrifice was the heart and soul of worship.
So when Solomon rebukes the sacrifice of the wicked as an abomination, he is saying that even the best and most holy duty, even if done with perfect conformity to the law, can offend God. The very worship which God demands, even if performed exactly as God describes, may insult and displease. How is this possible? Because of this truth: acts which are good in themselves carry a foul stench when coming from a bad motive and heart.
You know this. Others have done for you the duty required, but with such disdain that the obedience is rebellion. You kids know of times when you have done outwardly what your parents asked, while inwardly you resist and revile.
Like the young boy standing up in his high chair during dinner one evening, much to his parents’ chagrin. They tried the usual antics to get him to sit down: begging; reasoning with him over the dangers of standing in a high chair; fussing; and even threatening. But tonight, for some reason, the child would not sit. In exasperation the mother reached over, grabbed the boy by the arm and drug him into the sitting position. At which time he yelled, defiantly, “I may be sitting down on the outside, but I’m still standing up on the inside!”
We can sit down on our orange chairs with our sacrifices of prayer and Bible reading and worship on the outside and still stand up — angry or bitter or unhappy or pouting or disinterested or self-righteous or bored — on the inside. God looks on the heart. No outward obedience can cover an inner wickedness. Is all hope lost then?
2. You Can Delight God
I listened to a White Horse Inn radio broadcast this week. The host went to a public place and asked people what they thought the Bible was about. In more than a dozen responses, everyone agreed that the Bible is essentially a moral guidebook; its is primarily the rules for right and wrong; its main point is to provide the standard for how we measure up.
No wonder so many Christians feel pressured to lower the standards. God’s demands are unattainable. I cannot measure up. If delighting God depends on my goodness, then I am driven to despair, for I am not good. The solution, as it turns out, is not found in God’s nature, not mine.
Pastor John Piper illustrates it by describing God as a mountain stream rather than a watering trough. We glorify a trough by hauling water to and from the well, filling it again and again. Its nature is to receive and hold water delivered by us. We honor its nature with our buckets of good works.
But God is a mountain stream, water rushing past at thousands of gallons a minute. The stream is not honored when I haul a bucket of water to the top and dump it in. Such effort would mock its superabundance. Instead, I honor the stream by drinking liberally, even recklessly, from its overflow.
We delight God in prayer, but not by bringing him our good works in our small buckets. We delight God by trusting him to supply our every need; we honor God by coming to him empty and dry. We can pray effectively and with power because we have a nature like Elijah, sinful and needy.
3. You Delight God By Glorifying His Nature (Proverbs 18.5b)
“Whoa, pastor, your proposal disagrees with this text. This does not say that the prayer of the broken honors God, nor that the prayer of the sinful pleases him. It says, the prayer of the upright is his delight.”
Right you are. But who are the upright?
Is the Pharisee who offers God his goodness and obedience counted upright? Jesus said, “No.” Is Elijah counted as upright even though the text specifically says that he had a nature like ours? James says, “Yes.”
David’s prayer (after egregiously breaking the 7th and 6th commandments) says that God delights in the broken and contrite heart. Isaiah condemns Israel’s worship because they propose to cover rebellious hearts with outward conformity to the law. The Lord then says (in Isaiah 66): “This is the one to whom I will look [with favor]: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” Solomon (who wrote this Proverb) notes in 2Chronicles what is necessary for prayer to be acceptable to God: “If my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray,… I will hear from heaven and answer.”
Psalm 32 begins, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” So the Psalm is about forgiven sinners, not perfect people. Now listen to the end: “Many are the pangs of the wicked; but steadfast love surrounds him who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” Psalm 32 is for the “upright” and “righteous”, but that cannot be the sinless and perfect, for the Psalm begins with forgiveness of our transgressions.
Who, then, are the upright? Those who trust in God; those who tremble at his word; those who are weep and mourn over their sin; those who are poor and needy; those who are contrite and humble.
Over one million gallons of water per second pour over Niagara Falls. Place yourself at the crest with your three year old as she says, “Mommy, can I put my handkerchief in the water to cool my brow?” Will you say, “No dearest, we must not risk draining the great lakes”? The nature of Niagara Falls is such that you would insult it to fear bringing your dry hanky.
What does it mean to be upright? Not propped up by self-confidence, self-assurance and self-righteousness. Rather, it is to be upheld by his righteous, omnipotent hand. Those who wait on the Lord find that he renews their strength, he mounts your prayers to heaven on wings of eagles, he causes you to walk and not be weary. So trust and tremble; humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, and he will lift you up and delight in your prayers.
4. Conclusion
Joanie Yoder (Our Daily Bread, July 10,1999) tells of a woman’s retreat she attended where one lady was carrying a Bible and a bucket: “It was easy to understand why she was carrying the Bible, but why the bucket? With a twinkle in her eye, she explained, ‘The bucket reminds me to draw all the living water I possibly can.’ Then pointing to a crack in the bucket, she said, ‘Like me, my bucket leaks, reminding me to keep coming back to the Lord for more!’
The upright whose prayers are heard are not those anxiously pressing putty into the cracks, in hopes that their buckets might finally hold water so they can climb to heaven with buckets of uprightness. The upright are those who tremble at the word, who trust the Lord, who have faith to bring their buckets to him who is a never ending stream.
Nancy Spiegelberg expressed well the faith of the upright:
Lord, I crawled across the barrenness to You
with my empty cup, uncertain in asking
any small drop of refreshment.
If only I had known You better,
I’d have come running with a bucket.”
