When is the last time you prayed earnestly for something? What do you expect when you pray? What do you pray for most?
I think about the family of a small child who is dying in a cancer ward. They pray night and day and are joined in prayer by hundreds of others asking God to spare the life of their son. As the days pass the cancer progresses. Then, finally, it happens. The child dies.
What do you do when your most fervent prayer seems to go unheard?
Ted Turner said that he was raised in a strict Christian home. Turner really was a deeply religious boy, despite his father's emotional abuse. He intended at one point to become a missionary. Then, when he was a teenager, his younger sister Mary Jane contracted a form of lupus, and suffered terribly before dying a relatively short while later. All his prayers for her recovery — an hour a day, he said — were for naught.
"She used to run around in pain, begging God to let her die," he recalled. "My family broke apart. I thought, 'How could God let my sister suffer so much?'"
What do you do when your most fervent prayers seem to go unheard?
Acts 12 gives us the story of two men who are arrested and sentenced to die. The first one was executed. The second was rescued. Surely both were prayed for. Surely! But only one was spared… this time. Later, Peter will also be killed in service to the Lord, but not now, not this time.
Actually, a lot of people die in this chapter, don’t they. James dies, 16 soldiers die, and Herod Agrippa dies. Of course, we see the justice in Herod’s death. But for James and the soldiers, it’s harder to understand. I just started another graduate class called Historical Theology. We are studying the history of major Christian thinkers and writers from 100 AD to 1600 AD. This week’s readings have taken me through an early period of Christian persecution and its impact on Christian thought. Interestingly enough, there was a point when Christians were actually warned not to seek martyrdom. Life as a Christian was often far from pleasant. Many of our brothers and sisters in Christ of the early days honestly believed that “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Many of their prayers for one another were not for rescue from death, but that they might face death with courage and strength from Christ, and that their death might bring honor to Jesus Christ and encouragement to other Christians.
Listen to a couple of scriptures about the early attitude toward dying as a Christian.
Revelation 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night.
11 "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death.
As Paul is heading into Jerusalem near the end of Acts he says this: 20:22 "And now, behold, bound in spirit, I am on my way to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
23 except that the Holy Spirit solemnly testifies to me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions await me.
24 "But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, in order that I may finish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God.
We treasure living, don’t we? It is easy to think if dying as the worst possible thing to happen to anyone. But listen, that’s not the case. As bad as dying is, it isn’t the worst thing that could happen. There are worse things than dying.
The worst thing that can happen to you is for you to live this life and fail to follow Jesus Christ. The most terrible thing that could happen to you is to live and not know God nor obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s the ultimate failure, the supreme foolishness, the absolutely complete human tragedy. 10 our of 10 people die. Would to God that many were saved! But most are not.
Listen. I believe what happened to Peter in Acts 12 was in answer to the prayers of the saints, just like it says. God rescued Peter from certain death and foiled the plans of Herod and I’m sure bolstered the faith of that prayer group at Mary’s house. I don’t know about you, but this story encourages my faith as well. I love how this all unfolds!
Herod is taking no chances that Peter might Houdini his way out of this one. Herod wants the approval of the Jews and hopes this will gain him some popularity among them and make them easier to govern. He cares nothing about justice in this. His selfish concerns are only matched by the Jewish leadership’s endorsement of killing James, the second martyr for Jesus Christ recorded in Acts.
There is Peter, chained between two guards. It is the day before he is to be killed and he’s sleeping away. Why? Peter doesn’t look too worried about things, does he? How is he able to rest so soundly the night before his execution? Not that he is looking forward to dying, no! But Peter trusts in God. He can face tomorrow because Jesus lives. Peter has seen the worst they can do to you. He’s seen what they did to Jesus and then he has seen Jesus alive again. Maybe he’s remembering Jesus words in Matt. 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” I don’t know. But I know God’s word says the church was praying for him fervently.
And God did something highly unusual in answer to their prayers. I love the way Luke records the details here.
6 And on the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains; and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison.
7 And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared, and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and roused him, saying, "Get up quickly." And his chains fell off his hands.
8 And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said^ to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."
9 And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision.
10 And when they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street; and immediately the angel departed from him.
11 And when Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
Peter is free. Now what? Notice that as far as we know the angel didn’t give him any further instructions. Peter came to himself and figures out what has just happened. He’s pinching himself. Hey this is real! God got me out of this! Wow!
What does he do next? He heads to someone’s house that he knows. We don’t know what time it is, but we know it is night.
12 And when he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying.
13 And when he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant-girl named Rhoda came to answer.
14 And when she recognized Peter's voice, because of her joy she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate.
15 And they said to her, "You are out of your mind!" But she kept insisting that it was so. And they kept saying, "It is his angel."
16 But Peter continued knocking; and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.
17 But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had led him out of the prison. And he said, "Report these things to James and the brethren." And he departed and went to another place.
Isn’t that great! For Peter and the church here this is a great blessing and encouragement. But you know something, I would hate to have been on guard duty that night. For the guards, Peter’s escape meant their execution. Sixteen men.
At the end of the chapter Herod dies too. His death is a judgment against him for taking the glory God deserves.
Right after we read of Herod’s death, Luke records this verse: 24 But the word of the Lord continued to grow and to be multiplied.
Nothing is able to stop the word of the Lord. No one is big enough or bad enough to keep the faith from spreading and the kingdom from growing. This is the center of the message of Acts. God is working to bring the word of God into the whole world. The most important thing for anyone is this one thing: do we know and trust Jesus Christ? Have we decided to follow Him?
Everyone here today will face death unless Jesus returns. Dying young or living long is not what life is all about. Life, real life, is about one thing. Do you know and follow Jesus Christ? If you know and follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then you are ready to die. If you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ, now is the time and this is the place to become one. Being a Christian is not about getting what you want in prayer. Being a Christian is about trusting and obeying Jesus so that you have eternal life.
Jesus knows what it is like to pray fervently for something and not receive what he desperately wanted. He faced the cross and the wrath of God against all sin and begged the Father for another way. But Jesus trusted and accepted the Father’s will when his own will was otherwise. Jesus prayed, “Not my will, but yours be done.”
Prayer isn’t about getting our way so much as it is finding God’s way. Oh, and sometimes God surprises us.
