For the last two weeks we’ve been talking about prayer. The first week we discussed Daniel and how he showed us through his story that prayer matters. We discovered that prayer matters because it helps us to rely on God’s mercy. Because it helps us to confess sin and ask for mercy and prayer helps us to see God for who He is. God. And prayer matters because we honor God when we pray. Then last week we talked about Jonah and his story helped us to define what prayer is all about. Prayer is about asking for God to do the supernatural. A healthy prayer helps us to stop living with our sinful nature and selfish desires and through praise and adoration tap into the eternal. We experience the supernatural presence of God through prayer. We can conclude as Jonah, “our salvation comes from the Lord alone.” There isn’t anything more supernatural than God forgiving us our sins. Prayer helps us share this message with the world around us, even in parts of the world where it’s illegal or dangerous for us to do so. And today we’re going to take a look at Jesus and let Him share with us how we pray is important.
The most important factor to a life with Jesus is the state of our heart. The prophet Isaiah said, “the Lord says, “These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And their worship of me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.” Isaiah 29:13. We should be very careful not to allow our worship and our prayer life to become a routine of man-made rules. Sometimes it’s healthy for us to evaluate how we worship and pray not only as individuals but as a church, too. Jesus quoted Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8. It’s important for us to make sure that our hearts are in tune with God as we worship and as we pray. A few weeks ago we discussed Ezekiel.
We spent three Sundays talking about how God demands exclusive worship, purity and holiness. We discovered that God expects us to use the free gift of our salvation. We use this gift with worship because we love Him and we do so by serving others. We are pure through confession and repentance and we remain so through prayer. And we are holy through obedience to truth because our special purpose is to share the gift with others. When we live a life of worship, purity and holiness we bring glory to God. We point our life to him and we make God the center of everything we do. Everyone around us knows who Jesus is because everything about our life is about him. When our church becomes united around these concepts the message of Jesus will explode in our community just like it does in every community where God reveals His glory. We are His church. When God’s people show up to do God stuff God’s way God shows up in power. There isn’t one verse in all the Bible that says God is interested in your happiness. But God is very interested in your holiness. It is the expectation of God that His children will focus their life on holiness rather than on happiness. And guess what! Joy is the result. How we pray is important and according to Jesus our heart, our attitude towards His mission and the things that are important to Him is key to how we pray.
Simply Philippians 2:5 says, “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had” and 1 Peter 4:1 says, “So then, since Christ suffered physical pain, you must arm yourselves with thesame attitude he had, and be ready to suffer, too. For if you have suffered physically for Christ, you have finished with sin.”
In the garden of Gethsemane a few short hours before Jesus was betrayed by Judas He was seeking some time to pray. Jesus knew what he was getting ready to endure. He had already made it known to his students at dinner that he was soon to be betrayed by one of them, although at the time they didn’t have a clue what he was talking about. The dinner that night had been the annual Passover meal. According to the IVP commentary it was customary to discuss God's redemptive acts for a few hours after the meal before singing the Hallel. The song of praise and thanksgiving quoting Psalms 113-118.
First it’s important to note that the one thing Jesus felt he needed to do before his torturous experience began was to pray. This is why he went to the garden. And he brought his favorite students with him; Peter, James and John. I want you to think about the things these guys experienced with Jesus. They saw more and did more with him than any of his other students. Three experiences are recorded in the Gospels although it’s entirely possible they had more experiences alone with Jesus than these three. They went on a campout in the mountains and witnessed Jesus meet with Moses and Elijah and watched his body glow like the sun, they spent a night at Peter’s house and Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and then it seemed like the whole country brought their sick over for Jesus to heal, and then here in the garden. Peter had mentioned just a few moments earlier that he was ready to follow Jesus to his death. He had been on the frontlines of the miraculous, the supernatural, the walking on water, raising the dead, fearless power of Jesus. Peter, James and John knew the person of Jesus maybe even better or more intimately than his own mom. Jesus came to the garden to pray. He wanted his friends to watch his back. “He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Matthew 26:38
Jesus goes a little further to pray and he’s gone for maybe an hour then he returns to find his friends sleeping. They had a pretty big meal, but, even still, to fall asleep when Jesus says to “keep watch” is pretty strange to me. They should’ve been discussing God’s redemptive nature. That was the custom of the Passover meal. But, apparently they are not aware of the gravity of the events that Jesus is all too aware of. So Jesus tells them not only to keep watch, he says, “Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” Matthew 26:41. But even after this admonition from Jesus after he leaves to go pray, they fall asleep again. Even Peter who just a couple of hours before this told Jesus he was ready to die for him, now he can’t even stay awake for Jesus. His body was weak. I hope after all we’ve talked about prayer you see the importance of Jesus’ words regarding it. Jesus says, “pray.” Why? Jesus says, “So that you will not fall into temptation.” We’re asking for the supernatural. The body will always fall into temptation. It’s a supernatural thing to resist temptation. Prayer is our connection to the holy, the pure, and the supernatural redemptive work of God. This is why the attitude of the heart that wants to seek the holiness and the purity of God is necessary when we pray.
“If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.” James 1:5-8
Then Jesus after finding his disciples asleep again, obviously ignoring his plea for them to pray and stay awake, He just leaves them there. And a third time Jesus goes to pray. Before heading to the garden Jesus had a memorable last feast with his students. The gospel of John 13-17 records some of the conversation that took place between Jesus and his disciples this final night they had together before his crucifixion. Jesus ends the evening with a prayer as recorded in John 17. Remember his students are hearing every word he says.
I want you to notice how often Jesus asks God to keep his students happy or how often he asks God to make his students holy. When I’m done reading this short phrase I’ll ask you how many times you heard happy, and how many times you heard holy.
I want to read just a portion of the prayer from verse 13-19
Jesus prays “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.”
So what did you discover? Did Jesus pray for happiness? Did you notice that Jesus asks God to make his students holy? We are made holy by God. This is a supernatural work of God to make the followers of Jesus holy. Remember when we talked about what it means to be holy a few weeks ago that I told you the story of my family choosing a Christmas tree? We picked it out from all the other trees and we brought it home with the specific purpose of decorating it and making it our Christmas tree. When you choose to live a life with Jesus, God makes you holy by separating you from the world, not removing you from it, but he keeps you safe from the evil one.
Listen to these words from Paul in Ephesians 6:12 “For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.”
This is scary stuff. At least to me it is. Does anyone get in a car to drive somewhere and then place a blindfold on before they back out of the driveway? Who would do that? We have to be vigilant when we drive. According to www.distraction.gov
• In 2010, 3092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver.
• 18% of injury crashes in 2010 were reported as distraction-affected crashes.
• In the month of June 2011, more than 196 billion text messages were sent or received in the US, up nearly 50% from June 2009.(CTIA)
• 11% of all drivers under the age of 20 involved in fatal crashes were reported as distracted at the time of the crash. This age group has the largest proportion of drivers who were distracted.
• 40% of all American teens say they have been in a car when the driver used a cell phone in a way that put people in danger.(Pew)
• Drivers who use hand-held devices are 4 times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to injure themselves. (Monash University)
• Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted. (VTTI)
• Sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent-at 55 mph-of driving the length of an entire football field, blind. (VTTI)
We understand we need to be vigilant when we get behind the wheel of a car, but, what about being vigilant for our spiritual health? According to Paul our significant fight, our real battle isn’t against human beings. Your fight isn’t with your spouse, your children or your boss. Your battle is something you can’t see. Paul calls it the ‘unseen world’. How in the world can we be vigilant against something we can’t see? The short answer is you can’t. You need supernatural help. Is this sounding familiar? Prayer is about getting supernatural help. Paul tells us what to do. “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike. I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God’s ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for him, as I should.” Ephesians 6:18-20
How we pray is important, notice that Paul said, “pray in the Spirit.” This is about praying with the right heart and attitude. We might understand it better to say, “pray in tune with the Spirit.” Romans 8:26 says, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” Prayer is a supernatural thing. We make it out to be just another thing we have to do before meals, or before our church meetings, or something that we do during our worship time. But prayer isn’t an activity. It’s not just another thing you have to do. The best thing you might do for your prayer life is to stop praying before meals and really think about making prayer something else other than a routine.
It’s not possible to pray in the Spirit unless your heart and attitude is one with the Spirit of God. Jesus prayed, “I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.” John 17:20-21
Jesus prayed we would be one with Him and His Father. Are you familiar with the Three Musketeers slogan? “All for one and one for all?” Jesus basically said this same thing over two thousand years ago.
How we pray is important. Seeking holiness and purity is vital to a powerful prayer life. As we close our series on prayer and our time here this morning I want to read one of my favorite stories about prayer. I’m reading in Acts 12:5-16.
“But while Peter was in prison, the church prayed very earnestly for him. The night before Peter was to be placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate. Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter. The angel struck him on the side to awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his wrists. Then the angel told him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your coat and follow me,” the angel ordered. So Peter left the cell, following the angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t realize it was actually happening. They passed the first and second guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started walking down the street, and then the angel suddenly left him. Peter finally came to his senses. “It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent his angel and saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to do to me!” When he realized this, he went to the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered for prayer. He knocked at the door in the gate, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to open it. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the door, she ran back inside and told everyone, “Peter is standing at the door!” “You’re out of your mind!” they said. When she insisted, they decided, “It must be his angel.” Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking. When they finally opened the door and saw him, they were amazed. He motioned for them to quiet down and told them how the Lord had led him out of prison.”
Peter was doing God’s Work and still had God’s Work to do. I like what the Puritan preacher Thomas Watson says, “The angel fetched Peter out of prison, but it was prayer fetched the angel.”
Prayer matters because it helps us to rely on God’s mercy. Because it helps us to confess sin and ask for mercy and prayer helps us to see God for who He is. God. And prayer matters because we honor God when we pray. Prayer is about asking God to do the supernatural. And it’s vital that we are searching the heart and mission of Jesus in everything we do because how we pray, the heart and the attitude of our prayers is important to God. Let’s conclude with Jesus in the Garden. Why is he praying? Because he needs supernatural help from God to endure what he is about to face. “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” Matthew 26:39
Even in the face of what he was about to suffer Jesus honored God by seeking God’s purpose first. I hope that in some way our study on prayer the last few weeks has helped you to define prayer and what it’s about. I pray God blesses his purpose in us here in Weymouth as individual followers of Jesus. I pray we will fail in our pursuit of happiness and that as our focus transforms from the selfish to the holy we will become more and more in tune with His Spirit, with His mission to reach and serve the world around us for His Son.
