OPEN: In Europe in the Middle Ages, people had a strong belief in the power of prayer. They also believed that the purer and simpler the life you led, the more God would listen to you. And since Monks were supposed to live purer and simpler lives than anyone else their prayers were seen as a hotline to God. So, rich people and warriors began to pay the monks to do all the praying they were too busy to do for themselves.
Now, the Middle Ages were times of great conflict. Lots of wars, lots of soldiers killed on the fields of battle. And at the time, the Catholic church was conflicted about the command “Thou shalt not kill.” They felt that that commandment also applied to killing in war as well (it didn’t). So, after the Battle of Hastings (for example) the Catholic church demanded that each soldier do 120 days of penance for every person they killed.
William the Conqueror (in his lifetime) was responsible for the death of about 10,000 people. That meant he was required to do 1,200,000 days of penance (meaning he’d have to pray for about 3300 years to cleanse his soul). His penance would have lasted to the year 4366 – meaning he wouldn’t have been finished yet. So he figured if the work was split up amongst a couple hundred monks he could have his soul cleansed in less the 18 years. So he founded a string of Abbeys - where monks could pray specifically for his soul. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqYYPUOJQls)
Now, not only was that practice not Biblical… it was just plain silly! God doesn’t work like that. But, people have had odd opinions about prayer for centuries. And that’s what happens when you don’t pay attention to Scripture… you create all kinds of weird theologies.
That’s why the prayers we find in Scripture – like the one Abraham prayed here – are so important. God was showcasing Abraham’s prayer (like He did other prayers in the Bible) so we could see HOW prayer works. And - as we see Abraham praying here - prayer is a very simple thing to do. Consider how Abraham prayed...
1st – Abraham was talking TO God. Now you might say… “Well, duh. Of course he talked to God.” That's what you'd think... but people don’t always do that. In some churches, folks put on a show when they pray. They don't so much pray to God as they pray for show.
ILLUS: For example, in Older churches, they’ll do a KJV kind of prayer “Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts; shut not thy merciful ears to our prayer; but spare us, Lord most holy. Thou seest the needs of our hearts and thou hast heardest the pleas of our minds. Speakest now thy servant ….” How many times have you talked to your neighbors or friends that way? Of course you haven’t! Nobody talks like that in normal conversation. This kind of prayer is often the high-toned prayer for someone who is impressed with how well they can express themselves in archaic English. Now, granted not every one who prays this way do it for show… but many do.
I've been to some trendy churches where I’ve heard other kinds of prayers that go something like this– “Lord, we JUST pray that you would JUST like, JUST really JUST totally JUST intercede in our lives and help us to JUST live like JUST the kind of lives we JUST know would please you.” It’s like they “just” have to have the word “just” every 5 words or so. That sort of thing drives me nuts. Again, not everyone who prays like this putting on a show to impress others with how spiritual they are… but many do.
But one of the types of prayer that is most frustrating (and I’ve heard Preachers, Elders and Deacons do it) is when a person gets up in front and prays (not to God, but) to the audience. You can tell they’re INSTRUCTING the church goers through their prayers. They’ll stand up at the communion table and instruct people on things like why the Communion is so important, or why they should give more money in the Offering.
But that’s not how prayer works. Prayer is talking to God like you’d talk to a friend. And that’s what Abraham was doing here. James 2:23 says that Abraham “was called a friend of God.” In this text we see Abraham was talking to God like he’d talk to a friend.
ILLUS: One man told of (when he was only 4 years old) he watched his father pray. "It was Sunday morning, and 50 people gathered in a circle at the Lord's Supper. The elements, covered simply with a white cloth, were on a table in the middle. The arrangement was intentional: it spoke of Christ as the center of our thoughts. “Dad stood to pray. I was laying on the floor, looking up at him. Even now, the memory is clear. I thought to myself, ‘He actually thinks he is talking to Someone. And whoever it is means more to him than anyone else.’” (Larry Crabb, Interest, Jan 1994, p. 7) That’s what prayer is all about!
SO, first, Abraham prayed TO God. And 2ndly, Abraham prayed HUMBLY before God. Yes! God was Abraham’s friend… but He was also God! He’s majestic and all powerful. You don’t approach God as if He owes you a favor, because (just a hint) He doesn’t owe you any favors. God is God and, frankly, the closer you get to God, the less important you’re going to feel.
ILLUS: I read about a family that spent the night at a National Park in Colorado. The sky was filled with stars that were so close that it felt like you could just reach out and touch them. After the family had gotten ready for bed, their youngest boy came into the parents’ tent, and he was dragging his sleeping bag with him. What is the matter?" they asked. "Is it getting too cold?" "No," he answered. "I just never knew I was so small." (Reader’s Digest 9/81 p. 126)
When you REALLY find yourself in God’s presence that’s kind of how you feel. When you REALLY sense God in all His glory you feel… small. And that’s why Abraham admitted how SMALL he felt. “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27
So 1st Abraham talked TO God. And 2nd, he talked HUMBLY before God. And 3rd, he prayed REPEATEDLY and BOLDLY.
Notice how Abraham just keeps coming and back time and time again to God. “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it?” (Genesis 18:24) And God says, I will spare the city if there are only 50 righteous people. Then Abraham asks “Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. (45 righteous) Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” (Genesis 18:28). Again God says He would spare the city if He could find that many. Again Abraham spoke and said, "Suppose forty are found there.” (Genesis 18:29) And God said if there were 40 He wouldn’t destroy Sodom. Abraham speaks again, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” (Genesis 18:30) Yes, I’ll spare the city if there’s only 30. And again Abraham asks “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” (Genesis 18:31). Yes, if there are only 20 I’ll withhold my wrath. And lastly, Abraham says “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” (Genesis 18:32). God grants that… and walks away.
Abraham keeps coming back to God again and again and again. 6 times!!! It’s like he’s is haggling with God. Did this upset God upset? Of course not. In fact, God records this of prayer Abraham’s because He wants us to see Abraham’s boldness.
In Luke 11:5-8 (NIV) Jesus tells His disciples a parable: "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.’ “Then the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s BOLDNESS he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Now, WHY did the man get up and give bread to his friend? Because of his friend’s BOLDNESS.
Did you realize that the Bible says we can have that same boldness in approaching God? “Therefore, brethren, having BOLDNESS to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full ASSURANCE of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:19-22 NKJV
We have BOLDNESS to enter into the very presence of God with full ASSURANCE (because of Jesus’ blood), so that we – like Abraham –can BOLDLY ask GOD anything we desire. That’s why, in Luke 18, we’re told “Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up.” Luke 18:1
Why should we always pray and not give up? Because we have the privilege to boldly enter into the presence of God and ask HIM what we wish.
Now, all that being said… there is an interesting twist to this story. Do you remember what did Abraham asked God to do? Most people would say that Abraham asked God to spare Lot and his family… but that’s not true. Not once in his prayer does Abraham ask for Lot to be rescued.
So, what is Abraham asking for? He asked God to SPARE THE CITY!!!
Spare Sodom? Seriously? Sodom is described as being one of the wickedest cities that ever existed. Genesis 13:13 tells us “… the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.” And throughout Scripture Sodom was used as the classic example of evil. As Jude 1:7 tells us - “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.” NKJV
So, this wicked city, this pit of depravity, this evil abyss of immorality – THIS is the city that Abraham prays for God to spare? That doesn’t make any sense…
UNLESS… unless that’s what God wanted us to see here. I could be wrong, but I’m thinking this is the first recorded prayer found in Scripture, and (as with all Scripture - read Romans 15:4) God took pains to make sure we’d be able to read it. Abraham’s prayer was a prayer focused on the lost. And, while God listens to all kinds of prayers… but this is the kind of prayer that I believe most impresses Him and so it’s the first prayer God introduces us to.
Thus, the best kind of prayer is the one where we pass by the bars in town and pray for those who frequent them. It’s the kind of prayer where we pray for the person we know who is addicted to drugs, or the person who is caught up in sexual immorality of one kind or another. You see, God wanted us to see Abraham PRAY for Sodom to be SAVED.
But now… why would God want Abraham to pray like that? Well, to help us understand the answer to this question we need to ask another question: How many people in Sodom deserved to be saved? Obviously, there weren’t 10! But were there 4 that deserved to be saved? (Lot/wife/daughters)?
Well… kinda, sorta. II Peter tells us that Lot was righteous (2 Peter 2:7) He “rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked.” But Lot’s righteousness was tainted. If you recall Lot had offered his daughters to crowd to sleep with (to protect his visitors). I’m pretty sure that decision wouldn’t win Lot the “Father of the Year” award. He’d been so long in Sodom, his judgment was warped on a few things.
Then there was Lot’s wife. Commanded by the angels not to look back at the city, she disobeyed, turned around, and looked back at the city. She regretted having to leave the city she’d invested her life in and because of that, she never left. She turned into a statue of salt.
And then there’s Lot’s daughters. They feared that they never have children because there were no men for husbands… so they got Lot drunk and slept with him so they’d have the children they coveted (their sons became the fathers of the nations of Moab and Ammon).
This family hardly sounds like people who deserved to be saved. Thus, there weren’t ANY people in Sodom who deserved to escape - not even Lot and his family. They all fell short of perfection.
Hmmmm. Do you realize there’s a lot of people who believe that they’re going to be saved (at the judgment) because they’ve lived good lives? They help little old ladies across the street, contribute to charities and may even go regularly to church. They feel their good deeds earn enough brownie points to purchase them a spot in heaven. But these folks are delusional. They live in a land of UNreality. They actually think they MIGHT have done enough good things to impress God. That’s not happening.
But Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus and says this: “you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience — among whom WE ALL ONCE LIVED in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were BY NATURE CHILDREN OF WRATH, like the rest of mankind.” Ephesians 2:1-3
You know what that’s saying? It’s saying that every single one of us (both you and I) was dead in our sins. Not one of us deserved to be saved. We ALL once lived in the passions of our flesh and were by nature children of wrath… just like everybody else!!!
BUT. “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” Ephesians 2:4-5
You see, we didn’t deserve to be saved… but God saved us anyway.
Now think about this. Historians tell us that its believed that the population of Sodom was around a quarter of a million people. But only 4 were saved. Every single person in Sodom was a sinner. No one who lived there deserved to be saved (including the 4 who were saved). So, if that’s true… why did God save LOT and his family? Answer: because they belonged to Abraham. That’s the only reason they got out alive.
And the Bible teaches us that not one of us deserves to be saved. Not one of us is good enough to be good enough to spend eternity in glory. So, if that’s true… why would God bother to save us? Answer: because we belong to Jesus. That’s the ONLY REASON we’ll get to go to heaven.
Romans 5:8 “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And that’s why Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes unto the Father, except through me.” John 14:6
INVITATION
