Prayer: The True Calling of God’s Church
I used to have a picture hanging in the back of my youth room in Ohio. It was over the doors that we came into and out of so it was the last thing that you saw as you left the room. It was a picture of Christ. It was a beautiful picture. He was smiling out at you and it was a picture that, to me, captured the love that Jesus had for His people. It’s the way I like to picture Christ, one of my favorite images of Jesus. All of us have certain images of Christ that stick in our minds, ones that remind us of different aspects of His person and that mean different things to us for different reasons. There are those who relate to the picture of the smiling shepherd with a staff in one hand and a little lamb over His shoulders. We think of the care that He gives us and the protection that He offers and of the fact that He pursued us when we were lost in order to bring us into the fold. That is a powerful image. Others enjoy the softness of the new born baby in the manger. We picture the Christ child nestled down in the straw sleeping peacefully and are reminded of the incredible miracle of His birth. It’s another beautiful image, packed with meaning.
Some picture Him with the children on His lap, taking the time to show that they are important to God and to the growth of His Kingdom. Others would say that their favorite way to picture Christ is as He performed His many miracles. Maybe you picture Him reaching out and touching the Leper, a man no one else would touch. Maybe it’s the image of Him touching the man born blind, or commanding the crippled man, whose friends lowered him through a hole in the roof, to “Take up His mat and Go Home.” Maybe you see Him feeding the five thousand, or (with a tear in His eye) raising Lazarus from the dead. I think one of the most enduring images that will always evoke a response from those who have a relationship with God, through Christ, is the image of Him on that first Easter morning. He has won, death and Satan have been defeated, the pain and penalty of sin has been erased. The morning has come and we see Jesus alive and well against the backdrop of an empty tomb with a stone that has been rolled away. What a picture of triumph and hope, what a contrast to the much harder image to think of, the one of Him on the cross. Very soon we will be celebrating Easter and remembering this picture of the Risen Lord, the Son of God, the Spotless Lamb, it’s is an incredible image of our Savior.
I think that one of the most amazing glimpses that we’re given of Christ, one of the images that sticks out in my mind is one that we find it hard to reconcile with all of the rest of them. It’s the image of an angry God. It’s the image of Christ in the temple courts, consumed with a passion for the house of God, to the point of drastic action. It’s the image of Him running from table to table and overturning them. Money and animals that were being sold for the sacrifices would have been flying everywhere. This is not the Jesus we paint portraits of and hang on our walls. The Gospels don’t say anything about the disciples helping Christ as He tears apart the courtyard and my guess is that they are standing there in stunned silence like the rest of the crowd. There are so many Bible stories that I would have liked to have seen, but this one ranks near the top. It is a very different image of Christ, it’s a picture of passion and zeal. And in the words that He speaks to those looking on, He reveals what it is that brought about this unexpected rebuke of those selling in the courtyard.
Matthew 21:13 "It is written," he said to them, " `My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a `den of robbers.’ "
People had taken God’s house and they had turned it into something that it was not supposed to be. Jesus says that it was to be a house of prayer. It was to be a place where the presence of God could be felt and the lines of communication with God were open. Where people of every nation could come and kneel before the Creator of Heaven and Earth and have their prayers heard. This was to be a part of the foundation of the house of God, part of the plan from the beginning. That standard, that call, extends to the church of today as well. It extends to the House of God, here in this place, this building that is set apart for worship and communion with God. We are called to be a house of prayer. We are not called to be a house of preaching or a house of programs, but of prayer. To be a house of prayer, we have to be filled with people who pray, so this call also extends to each of us in our personal lives as well. Christianity and prayer are not mutually exclusive.
There’s a story told of a missionary in the jungles of Africa. One day, during a trip, he got separated from his group and found himself face to face with a snarling lion. Not knowing what else to do, he did what many people would do, he called out to God in this time of desperate need. He prayed and asked that God would make this a Christian lion. Seems logical, a Christian lion would certainly be less likely to tear him limb from limb. To his amazement, the lion dropped to its knees and began to pray. Relief flooded over the missionary until he heard the words coming from the lion’s mouth, “…and bless this food to my body, Amen.”
Now, I know that’s a silly story, but the indication to the missionary that his prayers had been answered, was that the lion began to pray, and I just wanted that to stick in your minds, the life of a Christian, will be marked with prayer. It’s what Christ was passionate about, it was a pattern in His life, and it needs to be a pattern in our life and to be our passion as well.
Last week we looked at three of the fours legs that supported the growth of the early church. They’re found in Acts 2:42.
AC 2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
We looked at the fact that if we try and stand on anything other than these, our ministry will eventually come crashing down around us because we would be building on a foundation that was not designed to support and sustain our growth. The early church was supported by a devotion to the apostles teaching, what we have today in God’s Word. They were devoted to fellowship. They lived together and spent time together and made each other a priority in life. This devotion encompasses all of those things we talked about in our look at building community in the church. They were also devoted to the breaking of bread, in this context, the act of celebrating and partaking of communion together and enjoying the intimacy and unity that is a part of remembering the loving sacrifice of Christ together.
Prayer is the last leg we find in this verse. I mentioned last week that this is probably the weakest leg that we’re standing on right now. This is a topic that I am planning to go in to great detail on for a month or two in the next year or so. So, this morning is not going to hit on every aspect and nuance to the prayer life of a Christian. I want to stay focused on what prayer looked like in the context of the early church and we’ll be focusing mostly on what we find throughout the rest of the book of Acts. How can we become a church that is devoted to prayer, a church that can be called a house of prayer.
When we began our look at the early church several weeks ago, we looked at what was called The Day of Pentecost. That day when the Spirit came in power and filled the apostles. This was the birth of the church. What were the apostles doing at the time? They were praying. Luke tells us that they were all together and that they were worshipping and seeking the Lord.
Acts 1:14 says They all joined together constantly in prayer,
The church was born out of a prayer meeting. It grew through the preaching, it grew through the miracles, it grew through the meeting of needs, but all of those things flowed from the prayer life of the church. Displays of God’s power were an everyday occurrence because His church was praying. This is our lifeline to God, our avenue of communication with the Head of the Church, the One that leads and guides and equips us for ministry. Prayer is what moves the Hand of God to act on our behalf and to see this ministry become a Kingdom advancing ministry.
As we look at the early church and prayer, I want to answer a few questions this morning.
First,
I. When did they Pray?
A. Scheduled Times
The early church was a praying church and this was evident because they had regularly scheduled times when they would gather together to pray. These were times when everyone was invited to come to a certain place and to pray together. The place didn’t matter, they met in many different places, it was the prayer that was important.
AC 3:1 One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer--at three in the afternoon.
AC 16:13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer.
When Peter was miraculously delivered from prison in Acts 12, we’ll talk more about that in a minute, how did he know where to go? He knew where and when the Body would be together praying.
AC 12:12 When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.
He knew where to go because prayer was the pattern of the early church, it was a scheduled priority of their everyday existence. Prayer was a corporate act for the early church, the disciples taught and modeled the practice of praying together. There is tremendous power that comes from believers uniting and agreeing together in prayer.
MT 18:19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
God created us for relationship. God created us to need others and when we use that relationship as a platform to unite together and seek Him, He promises that those prayers will be answered. Imagine what God could do here if we gathered together to pray. We have a regularly scheduled prayer meeting, it is the least attended program that we have. We are going to be changing some things up and challenging each of you to join us in prayer together for this ministry, for God’s Kingdom, and for the salvation of the lost across the world. One change that is coming is that at the end of the month, the last Sunday night of March and each month following, we are going to begin having a Call to Prayer. As your pastor, I am Calling this Body together in obedience to Christ. I am asking each of you to make it a priority to be there to pray together. Don’t use the fact that you don’t want to pray out loud or you don’t know what to say be an excuse, devote yourself to prayer. Meeting once a month with the express purpose of praying together will not make us a house of prayer, but it is one step towards that. Prayer must also happen in our small groups, it must happen in our Morning services, it must happen in our children’s ministry and in our Discipleship classes, we have to have regular times when the Body can meet with the expectation that prayer will take place.
The early church didn’t fit prayer into their schedule, they fit their schedule around prayer.
B. Spontaneous
The early church also prayed as the moment called for it. They were spontaneous in their prayers. When Peter and John were going to the temple to pray, they stopped and through the power of Christ, they healed a man who was crippled. News of this went out like shock waves through the Jewish Community. A crowd gathered, the Gospel was preached, and God added another couple of thousand men to the church that day. The authorities, the same guys who had crucified Christ, didn’t like that. They arrested Peter and John, and threatened all sorts of bodily harm if they didn’t stop preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus. This was a real threat. Those early Christians could have been imprisoned or beaten or even killed for not complying. Upon their release, they went back to where the church was gathered and they shared what had happened and the threats that were made. What do you think the church did? Many churched today would go into panic mode and try to reason out all of the scenarios. If we do this or stop this then maybe they’ll do this or that.
Acts 4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.
The early church didn’t waste any time, they prayed. Spontaneous corporate prayer to meet the need at hand and to supplement the scheduled times together. When did the early church pray? All the time. They prayed with out ceasing, as Paul implores God’s people to do in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. It didn’t mean that they sat in a room 25/7 with their heads bowed and eyes closed, but that their hearts and minds were always connected to God and the line of communication was never shut down.
The second question I want to answer is:
II. How did they Pray?
Listen as I read Acts 4:23-30
They prayed:
A. Expectantly
Re-read 29-30. When they prayed, they did so with the knowledge that what they were asking was that God’s will would be done. They knew that God desired for them to be bold, they knew that God desired to stretch out His hand and show His power. They knew because God’s Word in the Flesh, Jesus Christ, had taught them those things. Because they knew that they were praying according to the will of God, they prayed expecting God to move and to act. And when they prayed, they followed it up with action, they went back out and they preached and God gave them that which they had asked for.
B. With Authority
They prayed with the authority that was given to them through the name of Jesus. Jesus had taught the disciples in John chapter 16 that a day would come when He would be taken from them in body but that they would enjoy tremendous authority through His name when they approached the Father.
In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.
The early church prayed in the name of Jesus and with the authority that that name afforded them in the spiritual realms. They recognized that it wasn’t humans that they were up against, it wasn’t simply the government, as Paul puts it in Ephesians: 6:12
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
As we grow and as we face the trials and the opposition that Satan will bring against us as a result of that, we have to claim the authority that God gives us in the name of Christ and through prayer. C. Peter Wagner, an authority on church growth, has this to say, “The more deeply I dig beneath the surface of the church growth principles, the more thoroughly convinced I become that the real battle is a spiritual battle and that our principal weapon is prayer.”
If we want to see God move, if we want to see strongholds broken and Satan defeated, if we want to see people come to Christ, if we want to see God use our teaching and our preaching then we have got to pray with the authority that comes in Jesus name alone.
C. With Humility
They prayed knowing that they could not do it on their own. They asked and they trusted that God would answer, but they acknowledged that they were dependent upon Him for deliverance. Look at the result when they prayed in this way.
AC 4:31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
The Spirit came, the prayer was answered, and God’s will was done. This was accomplished because of the believers were expectant, they took God at His word, they were authoritative, they claimed the power of Christ over the enemy, and they were humble, they knew where their strength came from.
Finally, I want to look at this last question:
III. Why did they Pray?
You will not find another book in all of Scripture that contains such a variety of stories about the way God’s people prayed. 34 times throughout this book, you see the word prayer, in some form, as a reference to an action taken by the church or an individual. They prayed for:
A. The Filling of the Spirit – Acts 2:1, 8:14-15
B. Healing – Acts 3:1-10, 14:8-10, 28:8
The crippled man outside the temple that Peter and John commanded to walk, an important dignitary’s father, a crippled man that God uses Paul to heal, and others, the stories are amazing, what God’s power accomplished through prayer. Not only did they receive healing, but through prayer God brought about:
C. Resurrection of the Dead - Acts 9:40, 20:7-12
Through God answering the prayers of His people, a believer named Tabitha is raised from the dead, a young man in Troas is raised from the dead by Paul. It’s a great story. You think you have it bad. Paul has been preaching all day to a group of believers.
Acts 20:9 Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Death by preaching. God uses Paul to restore the man’s life and then I love this part: Paul goes back up, grabs a bite to eat, and goes right back to preaching until morning. The stereotypical preacher! God used prayer to break the rules of death.
D. Wisdom – Acts 10
While Peter is in prayer, God gives him wisdom to know how to deal with a tough situation.
E. Choosing and Installing Leaders Acts 6:6, 14:23
When deacons and elders were appointed, it was always after prayer and then there was more prayer as they were installed to their new duties. When they apostles chose a replacement for Judas, they did it after a time of prayer together.
F. Commissioning Workers Acts 13:2-3
When Paul and Barnabas were set aside for God’s work, to become the first missionaries, it was with prayer and the laying on of the elders’ hands.
G. Forgiveness Acts 8:22
H. Praise – Acts 4:24
I. Salvation Acts 16:25-34
Amidst the stories of the many who come to faith at once are beautiful stories of individuals who find a relationship with Jesus through this early church. A man named Cornelius, a jailer and his family, Lydia from Thyatira, God answers the prayers of the people and many are saved and welcomed into the church.
J. Deliverance (times of trouble) Acts 12:5, 16:25-26
This was a tough time for the believers. They were not popular with the leaders and they were actively pursued and punished for their bold preaching. Paul, Peter, Barnabas, and Silas were all imprisoned at various times. In each case, the response was the same, prayer by those imprisoned and prayer by the church Body. And God delivered. Peter was set to begin his trial, he was sleeping between two soldiers, chained with two chains, and guarded by four squads of four soldiers each! But listen:
AC 12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him.
Peter was awakened by an angel, the chains fell off, and he followed that angel right out the front gates of the prison. Paul and Silas were chained in prison and as they prayed and sang together, an earthquake shook the prison, the chains fell away and the gates were opened. I could go on and on through this book and give you more stories of the power of the God we serve that He uses in response to the prayers of His people. God moves when His People pray! That has not changed.
What did they pray for? Anything and Everything and God’s power was shown to the world through this group of people that made up the early church.
The early church was devoted to prayer and that verse is followed up with this one:
Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
I long for God to move in this place. I long to see His Hand heal and to see those who are lost experience the life changing reality of a relationship with Him. I long for us to be filled with awe as we witness the supernatural blessing of God here in this place. There is no shortcut, there is no other way to unlock the power of the Living God in this place than through the prayers of His people. There was only one thing that moved Christ to the kind of passion we see displayed as He clears out the temple courts and that was that His House would be used as it was intended to be used, that it would be a place for all to come and communicate openly and freely with God through prayer. We are called to be devoted to prayer. Does that describe you? We are called to be a house of prayer. Does that describe us? We have to make room for prayer, both at scheduled times and in spontaneous times of need or rejoicing. We’ve got to learn to pray with expectancy, authority, and humility. And we’ve got to learn to pray in any and every situation and recognize the Hand of God when He moves. It’s time to trust God to do what He promises to do when we humble ourselves and pray.
