(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit www.danachau.com for a free online course.)
How many people have appliances or software at home you don’t use, because you don’t know how they work? I know some people with VCRs, and they don’t know how to program their VCR to record a certain channel at a later time. Others have software programs on their computer that they never use or even open. I know some men who don’t know how to use the stove and oven in their home, even if their life depended on it. Thank God for fast food restaurants and take out menus.
Not knowing how something works can be a hindrance to using it. Maybe a thick instruction manual overwhelms some. Or the fear of doing damage and creating more work discourage others. The benefits don’t seem to outweigh the efforts.
I’ve come to discover that some people are hindered from praying for the same reasons. They don’t pray because they really don’t know how prayer work. Or maybe they do not see the benefits outweighing the efforts.
Over the last two months, we’ve studied the Bible to discover what prayer is, why we pray, for whom we pray, for what we pray and how to pray. In this final message on prayer, we will look at how prayer works. Our text is Acts 12:1-19.
Now before we look at this text to answer the question of how prayer works, I want to explore two other reasons why people don’t pray.
First, people don’t pray because prayer doesn’t always result in the fulfillment of our expectation. This past week, many prayed for the release and safety of the South Korean hostage. Sadly, the captors executed Kim Sun-il.
We read in verse 2 of this morning’s passage, “[King Herod] had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.” There is every reason to believe that the church earnestly prayed for James, but in God’s plan, James was not rescued but was executed.
We need to also remember that God allowed His own Son, Jesus Christ, to be executed. By Christ’s sacrifice, the sins of mankind are paid for. God revealed this in the Bible so that we can respond by receiving Christ as our payment. God knows what He’s doing. The difficulty is that God doesn’t always reveal what He’s doing. And when our expectation is not met, we can become disappointed, which can discourage us from praying.
Second, people don’t pray because they may not see God-size needs in their lives or the lives of those they know. Some people don’t see God-size needs in their lives because they don’t attempt God-size goals in life. Seeking comfort and ease is their goal in life. Others don’t see God-size needs in their lives because they are overconfident. They think they can do life alone. And many don’t see God-size needs in other people’s lives, because they are too self-centered to reach out to other people.
In Acts 12:3 and 4, the Church saw a God-size need. They knew that if God didn’t intervene, Peter would end up like James, executed. So the Church prayed. Seeing the God-size need led them to pray.
Finally, there are people who do not pray because they do not know how prayer works. We will look at how prayer works. We will not leave here with a diagram or an operation manual of how prayer works. Instead, we will try to answer two questions about this morning’s narrative to get a better understanding of how prayer works.
The first question is: “Would Peter have been rescued without the prayer of believers?
Many Christians have such a high view of God’s control or a low view of mankind’s responsibility that they pray half-heartedly. They believe God’s plan is set in concrete and prayer is just going through the motion of religion. That’s unfortunate.
When we gather for prayer on Wednesday nights, I sometimes wonder what motivates the same people to come. Is it the food we serve afterward? Is it the fellowship? Is it the comfort of routine? Is it the pressure to be spiritual?
Or do they believe that God answers prayer? Do they believe that their prayers can make a difference? Do they understand that private prayer has its place and corporate prayer also? Why do Clifford and Susan drive an hour and a half to pray with others in this church on Wednesdays?
The Bible makes clear that personal prayer times are important. But we also see the examples for corporate prayer from the beginning of the Christian Church in the books of Acts, chapter 1, and then throughout the writings of the New Testament. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, the Colossians, the Thessalonians, he wrote about not how he had prayed for them, but how “we,” Paul and other believers, had prayed for them.
Would Peter have been rescued without the prayer of believers? Maybe, but God’s Word, the Bible, certainly suggest a cause and effect here in verses 5 and 12. The rescue event was sandwiched between these two records of the church praying together for Peter.
The second question is: Why didn’t God Himself rescue Peter? Why did He send an angel?
I’ve watched one or two episodes of Touched by an Angel, but I’ve always been uncomfortable with the emphasis on angels and not on Jesus Christ. Many Evangelical Christians don’t know much about angels, other than what is shown on television or exposed in popular culture. We are more aware of demons than we are of angels.
Catholics, on the other hand, are more aware of angels. Many believe in guardian angels. Some go as far as praying to angels. But what does the Bible teach about angels? And why does God send angels in response to prayer rather than answer the prayer Himself?
The Bible notes more than 300 times the activities of angelic beings from Genesis to Revelation. We read in Genesis that after Adam and Eve disobeyed God, God set an angel to guard the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. And in Revelation, we read of battles between God’s angel and Satan.
In between Genesis and Revelation, we find three important truths about angelic beings. First, the Bible tells us that angels are spirit beings that sometimes manifest in material form. Some theologians believe that angels manifest themselves only when necessary, so that people do not end up worshipping them instead of God. Second, demons are angels who rebelled against God and followed Satan. Third, angels are created by God to minister to believers. Hebrews 1:14 reads, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?”
When I first began as the pastor of this church, I participated in everything. I brought refreshment, did clean-up, set-up and was present at almost every meeting. I wanted to let people know I was part of the team and that nothing was beneath me. But soon, I got so tired and busy from doing everything that I wasn’t doing well what you hired me to do and what I was trained to do.
Fred Smith said, “If you are called to lead, you serve your people by leading.” A doctor doesn’t serve correctly doing a secretary’s job. A secretary doesn’t serve correctly doing a janitor’s job. We serve others best when we do what we are called to do.
God is a servant God, but He doesn’t serve us by doing what He created angels to do. He serves us best by being God, the Creator, Sustainer, Director, Lawgiver, Redeemer, Counselor and Judge. And God answers our prayers at times, not by rolling up His sleeves and intervening, but by sending His angels to roll up their sleeves. That’s what we read in Acts 12:7-10, the rescue of Peter by an angel.
Yet, there was never the question of whether God saved Peter. We read in verse 11, “Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.’” And we read in verse 17, “Peter motioned with his hand for them to be quiet and described how the Lord had brought him out of prison….”
In the summer of 1992, I debated about taking a position with Choate Rosemary boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut. Two pastors encouraged me to see this as a missionary trip. The expected students came from 30 different countries.
As a teacher, I arrived one week before the expected diverse student body. There were not many Asians in Wallingford at that time. One afternoon, I was crossing the street, when a man from inside a car yelled out racist remarks. I foolishly stared them down.
The driver of the car stopped, and three of the guys opened their doors and came out toward me. I foolishly stood my ground. Before they took five steps, a van behind them began to honk non-stop. Then the driver of the car called the three guys back into the car and drove away.
Only after I returned to the dormitory did I realize how much danger I was in. I was so tense, I walked all the way back to the dorm with my fist clenched. God prompted me to pray for my enemies, and I thanked God for the driver of that van.
When this incident came to mind this week, I wondered if that driver of the van was an angel sent by God. I also wondered if my church in San Francisco was praying for me. One thing was for certain. God intervened.
Everyday, people struggle with harmful addictions, with financial reverses, marital and family problems, unexpected losses, spiritual emptiness, and physical illness or danger, just to name a few. If you were one of these people, wouldn’t you want Christians to pray for you? Wouldn’t you welcome the help of an angel? God doesn’t depend on the prayers of believers or the power of angels to get the job done, but He has designed angels and us to partner with Him in answer to prayer.
Now you have a better understanding of how prayer works. Pray to God. Pray together.
(If you feel this sermon is helpful, you are welcome to visit www.danachau.com for a free online course.)
