In his "Diary and Remembrances" the Rev. Nathaniel Randolph Snowden recorded a conversation he had with a Quaker named Potts. Snowden recalled:
"I was riding with Mr. Potts in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania near to the Valley Forge.. Mr. Potts was a Senator in our State & a Whig. I told him I was agreeably surprised to find him a friend to his country as the Quakers were mostly Tories. He said, that was so and admitted he was a rank Tory once, but something very extraordinary converted me to the Good Faith!" "What was that," Rev. Snowden inquired. ’Do you see that woods, & that plain? It was about a quarter of a mile off from the place we were riding, as it happened.’ ’There,’ said he, ’laid the army of Washington. It was a most distressing time of the war, and all were for giving up the Ship but that great and good man. In that woods I heard a plaintive sound as, of a man at prayer. I tied my horse to a sapling & went quietly into the woods & to my astonishment I saw the great George Washington on his knees alone, with his sword on one side and his cocked hat on the other. He was at Prayer to the God of the Armies, beseeching Him to intervene with His Divine aid, for the cause of the country, of humanity & of the world.
’Such a prayer I never heard from the lips of man. I left him alone praying.
’I went home & told my wife. I saw a sight and heard today what I never saw or heard before, and just related to her what I had seen & heard & observed. We thought it was the sign of God, that America could prevail.’ "He then to me put out his right hand & said ’I turned right about and became a Whig.’"
Why do you and I find that story appealing? Because it’s a stary about a leader who took seriously his responsibility to pray.
I think that Christians understand instinctively that there is a connection between prayer and leadership and I’d like to explore that connection with you this morning as we look at how the first believers understood it.
The first thing that I think is unmistakable in their approach is that they recognized the...
Priority of Prayer & Preaching for Leaders
vv. 2-4 So the Twelve gathered all the disciples together and said, "It would not be right for us to neglect the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. 3Brothers, choose seven men from among you who are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility over to them 4and will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the word."
In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey shares an appropriate story: Suppose you were to come upon someone working feverishly to saw down a tree in the woods. "What are you doing?" you ask. "Can’t you see?" comes the impatient reply. "I’m sawing down this tree." "You look exhausted!" you exclaim. "How long have you been at it?" "Over 5 hours," he replies, "and I’m beat! This is hard work." "Well, why don’t you take a break for a few minutes and sharpen the saw?" you inquire. "I’m sure it would go a lot faster!" "I don’t have time to sharpen the saw," the man says emphatically. "I’m too busy sawing."
We have too often fallen prey to this dull blade. We are busy, in constant motion. Our calendars are full. But the blade is dull. ("Prayer Changes Everything By Don R. Spradling")
Prayer sharpens the blade of ministry. Our Lord knew this; yet with all the demands on Him, He went aside to pray. Time and again throughout His ministry even as the needy throngs crowded around begging for His touch, Jesus broke away to pray. He modeled this priority to His closest followers and we see that they heeded His example in our text today.
Nevertheless in many churches today (particularly in small churches) people expect and pastors comply with a completely opposite paradigm. People want their leaders to do all the visiting, all the comforting, all the caring. The problem is, when we buy into that model, the ministry of the church can reach only as far as the pastor’s arms. The Biblical model is a different one. Ephesians 4:11 says that pastors have been given to the Church to equip or prepare God’s people to do the work of the ministry. It’s just like the Apostles said here--Our priority is to the teaching of the Word and Prayer, Help us find other leaders to lead in works of service, to care for the immediate needs of the people so that we can do the ministry God has called us to.
All of us are probably familiar with what is called the tyranny of the urgent. In each of our lives in whatever roles of leadership we have, whether as teachers or leaders of some kind in the chapel, or as leaders at work or leaders in the home or at school, we are hard pressed on every side with things that need to be done, or even just things we want to do--the urgent. Each of needs to stop and refocus on the important, we need to prioritize a life of prayer and model it to those who are watching us.
C.S. Lewis always had such a way of putting things, he described this battle to prioritize a life of prayer like this: "The moment you wake up each morning, all your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning consists in shoving it all back; in listening to that other voice, taking that other point of view, letting that other, larger, stronger, quieter life come flowing in."
As leaders, as Christians we need to learn to make prayer a priority. The second thing I notice as these first Christians deal with Prayer and leadership is the...
Importance of Praying for Leaders
vv. 5-6 This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch, a convert to Judaism. 6They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
What has happened here is that a second tier of leadership has been established, with the specific charge to deal with the day to day needs of the people. As this leadership is chosen, the Apostles publicly commision them and pray for them. The first and most obvious application here is that senior leaders have a responsibility to hold up subordinate leaders in prayer--to get that you don’t need a Bible commentary, I don’t think it’s a big step from there to say that it also applies to all of us in leadership roles needing to pray for those we lead. If you teach a Sunday school class the students should be on your prayer list. If you are a battalion commander, your company commanders and your staff should be on your prayer list, and so on.
And I want to go one step further here and say that I think something else is being modeled here. As the Apostles pubicly pray for these new leaders I think that they are modeling to the people that these new leaders will lead that they should hold them up in prayer also. Even if our text today doesn’t spell that out, there is no shortage of scriptures that do:
Hebrews 13:17-18 Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you. Pray for us.
Praying for those who lead us--Spiritual leaders, political leaders, military leaders, leaders at school or in the home--this just makes sense. Who wants to be led by somebody not living under God’s blessing?
The little book "The Prayer Of Jabez" has made some big waves and there are lots of folks--probably lots of you praying this simple prayer:
"Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain."
And I’m not opposed to that, prayed in the right spirit and with understanding I think it can be beneficial to your prayer life, but is there anything wrong with praying that same prayer over those in authority over you? Don’t you want God to bless them and keep them from pain? Trust me on this--it’s much better to be led by those living under a blessing, than those living under a curse.
William Law said "There is nothing that makes us love a man so much as prayer for him.
I think it’s important that we pray for those under our authority and also for those whose authority we are under. And there’s one final thing I see emphasized in this passage as it relates to prayer and leaadership. The...
Progress Because of Prayer
v. 7So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith.
Notice that the first word of that verse is "so." That means that this new burst of growth was directly related to the priority that had been given to prayer.
Dr. John Wilbur Chapman, who earned his doctorate in this very city, often told of his experience when, as a young man, he went to become pastor of Bethany Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. After his first sermon, an old gentleman said to him, "You’re not a very strong preacher, but you preach the Gospel and I’m going to help you all I can." Dr. Chapman thought, "Here’s a crank." But the man continued: "I’m going to pray for you that you may have the Holy Spirit’s power upon you. Some others have covenanted to join with me in prayer for you." Dr. Chapman said, "I didn’t feel so bad when I learned he was going to pray for me." The 3 became 10, the 10 became 20, and 20 became 50, the 50 became 200 and finally that prayer meeting numbered 1000 who met before every service to pray that the Holy Spirit would come upon their pastor. He recalled, "I always went into my pulpit feeling that I would have the anointing in answer to the prayers of those who had faithfully prayed for me. It was a joy to preach! The result was that we received 1,100 into our church by conversion in three years. It was the fruit of the Holy spirit in answer to prayer!"
I ran across a great quote by a man named Sidlow Baxter: "...Men may spurn our appeals, reject our message, oppose our arguments, despise our persons -- but they are helpless against our prayers."
That’s really the same understanding that turned the Quaker Potts into a patriot: No force could stand against a people whose leaders knew how to pray, and I would add whose people know how to pray for their leaders
