RESURRECTION PEOPLE: A People of Prayer Major Lindsay Rowe

INTRODUCTION

We've been visiting with those first witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus Christ to determine what kind of people they became in light of the reality of the resurrection they had witnessed. We've observed that they were people of power, people of principle, people of passion, people of purpose, and people of purity. This morning we will observe that they were also very much a people of prayer. I have learned a great deal about prayer this week as I've observed those first resurrection people at prayer. As I've listened to their prayers and pondered God's response four popular misconceptions about prayer dissolved before my eyes. We want to cling to the notion that prayer is always a struggle; that it mainly involves asking, that it will not make any difference, and that our faith will crumble if God does not answer our prayers in the way we want him to. I'm not sure where these basic misconceptions about prayer find their roots but it certainly isn't in the prayer life of those first resurrection people. Take, for example, that first misconception that:

PRAYER ALWAYS INVOLVES A STRUGGLE

Acts 1:14 tells us "They (the disciples) all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers." The word translated "constantly in prayer" in the NIV and "with one accord in prayer" in the KJV is the wonderful Greek word proskartereo. It occurs 10 times in the N.T. with 6 of those occurrences in the book of Acts. "It reflects the persistent and submissive perseverance and tenaciousness of a self-disclosed group collectively orienting themselves toward specific goals" (Exegetical Dictionary of the N.T.). Paul uses the same word in Ephesians 6:18 to call for persistent and enduring prayer. Conspicuous by its absence however is any reference to a struggle in prayer both in this Greek word and in the practice of the disciples. They are called to be persistent and tenacious but never to struggle. The same word is translated "devoted" in Acts 2:42 when it says "they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching and to the fellowship, to breaking of bread and to prayer." Perhaps the most striking example of a prayer that is devoid of struggle, even when you would most expect there to be one, is Acts 7:59. Stephen is praying while the stones are falling on him and crushing his body. Let's eavesdrop on his conversation with God. "While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he fell on his knees and cried out, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' When he had said this, he fell asleep." Any sign of a struggle there? I wonder how the story of our stoning would read, we who are somewhat conditioned to think that prayer has to be a struggle? In Acts 16 Paul and Silas are in prison gloating? Struggling with God in prayer. "How could you let this happen to us, Lord?" Not in my bible. They prayed and sang praises at midnight and the gates were opened for them. Acts 10 introduces us to a gentile named Cornelius. His prayer life rises before God as a memorial (vs.4). There is no sign of a struggle even as God appears to him in a vision and speaks to him. What would be your reaction if God spoke directly to you? At the same time that Cornelius prays and receives a vision without struggle Peter is on his rooftop having a vision and there is a struggle. God is dealing with Peter's prejudices, and a more detailed study will reveal that Peter had quite a struggle with his prejudice against the gospel being preached to the gentiles. When there is any indication of a struggle in prayer, it has its roots in us, not in God. It is not a struggle in which we try to wrestle the blessing from an unwilling or hesitant God, but one in which we struggle to hang on to that which God wants us to let go of. It is a fight for us to remain in control or in charge, to have things the way we want them to be rather than the way God wants them, or it is a struggle with our feelings. For example, we tend to spend a lot of time trying to get passed our moods when we pray. "I'm not in the mood to pray right now," we say. Well what kind of mood is that and how do we get rid of it? Oswald Chambers reminds us that "there are certain things in life we need not pray about---moods, for instance. We will never get rid of moodiness by praying, but by kicking it out of our lives." God longs to bless us, we don't have to beg him to, we just need to claim the blessings his Word promises us by meeting with him in prayer, no matter what mood we're in. When you don't feel like praying, then you most need to pray.

PRAYER MAINLY INVOLVES ASKING

As I read the stories about those first resurrection people and their prayers I was amazed at how little asking was going on. After Peter and John were released from prison in Acts 4:24-31 you have a magnificent prayer of praise to God. In Acts 6:6 the first elders are chosen and you have a prayer of ordination offered to God on their behalf. In Acts 13:3 Paul and Barnabas are sent off on a missionary journey and there is fasting and prayer then hands are laid on them and they are sent off. So much of the praying in the book of Acts is characterized by praise, thanks, and celebration of God's goodness. You see very little of individuals storming the presence of God with personal requests. Prayers were couched in community and people prayed for what was best for the whole congregation not just their own little world of wants and wishes. There is a special blessing that comes when we engage in that kind of community praying. We experienced that yesterday morning as we gathered in the boardroom for our regular Saturday morning prayer meeting. We were overwhelmed with a sense of God's goodness to us as a congregation and our need of him and his presence as a corps family. It seemed as if were effective in placing our individual needs in perspective against the backdrop of the corps family and that's what true prayer is all about. The Jewish rabbis used to pray, "Lord, hear not the prayer of the traveler." Of course nor, she's just passing through, he only wants fine weather, we may need rain for the crops. We must learn to pray for what is best for the whole family of God and the community at large and not just for ourselves what the impact on others.

PRAYER WILL NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE

There is very little evidence that these first resurrection people were haunted by such a misconception about prayer. I mentioned that prayer of thanks and praise after Peter and John had been released from prison in Acts 4. Listen to verse 31, After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of God boldly." After they had prayed. You know, that's the real test of prayer, isn't it? Not how eloquently you prayed nor how long you prayed or in what position you prayed, but what happened after you prayed. Those first resurrection people were not plagued by "oh well, it won't make any difference anyway." They prayed in faith and they left the outcome to God. In Acts 8:14 they prayed that the Samaritans would receive the Holy Spirit, God poured out his Spirit on them. In Acts 9:40 Peter prays and a little girl shakes off the slumber of death and returns to life. In Acts 10 Peter prays and God takes on his prejudice and Peter begins to change his attitudes. In James 5 we are told that "the prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective" and that such prayers should be prayed for the sick. In a few weeks were going to do that. God has been laying on my heart the need for a healing service. Will you pray that God will make that a day of wonders? To approach prayer with the misconception that it will not make any difference is to sign up for defeat before you even begin. There is no evidence of such an attitude among those first resurrection people. We must approach prayer with the conviction that God can and will do mighty things and we want to line up our will with the will of God so that we can become both and instrument and a participant in what he is going to do.

MY FAITH WILL CRUMBLE IF GOD DOES NOT ANSWER MY PRAYER IN THE WAY I WANT HIM TO.

As Jesus stared into the cup of the Father's will in Gethsemane do you think he wanted to drink it down? He was truly and properly God but he was also truly and properly man. The human and divine side of him must have been repulsed as he saw what that cup contained. The divine and human side of him knew the plan designed before the foundation of the world. But every fiber of his being felt the physical, emotional, and the spiritual pain of Calvary, every fiber of his being must have wished there were some other way. Yet, what was his response? "Not my will, but thine." You've heard about Paul's thorn in the flesh, haven't you? What was it? We don't know for sure. Some say it was Malaria, others argue that it was his frail health, his poor eyesight. Whatever it was he prayed several times that it be removed, who wouldn't? In 2 Cor. 12:7 he says, "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surprisingly great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, 'my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."' It is obvious what Paul wanted, did he get what he wanted? What was his reaction to the difference between his request and God's reply? "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That's why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Does that sound like you when God chooses to answer your prayer in a much different way than you had prayed for? In Acts 1:23 the disciples meet to select a successor to Judas who had hanged himself after betraying Jesus. They prayed and thought they had received the mind of God on the matter. Listen to that prayer, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two men you have chosen to take over the apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs." You bet he knows everyone's heart, and he knows the heart of those who then proceeded to cast lots to determine who would be the successor. If you have God's ear, why do you need lots? Lots were a provision of the law and an immature act. It was Chrysostom, the early church father, who first pointed out that this event takes place before Pentecost, before the coming of the Holy Spirit to indwell his leadership and to give them internal direction I such matters. What you see, for one of the last times, is the old Peter acting rashly and getting ahead of the Spirit. This is Pentecost Sunday and we celebrate the giving of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. That gift forever changed the way the Apostles prayed for they now had the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, dwelling within to direct them to his will. You see, I'm convinced that the real replacement for Judas was chosen on the Road to Damascus when Jesus himself met with a man named Saul of Tarsus and called him to become the Apostle Paul. There is an excuse for Peter and the others as they chose Matthias. Now make no mistake, Matthias was probably a good man but the fact that you never hear of him again in the N.T. indicates that he was not the man God had in mind to become that 12th apostle. We have the Spirit of God dwelling within, reminding us of how our prayers often violate his Word and therefore his will, yet we so often get ahead of the Spirit or keep asking for what is contrary to his will. Relax friends, God knows our hearts, he knows our wants and wishes, but he also knows our needs. He will not sacrifice the future on the altar of the immediate and he will not give us what we ask for when it is not what is in our best interest in the long-run. What made the prayers of those first resurrection people so different from ours? What did they understand that seems to have eluded us? I may be understating their understanding of prayer, but I think what made them so different was the memory of their Master at prayer, the memory of what he had taught them about prayer and what he had demonstrated to them about prayer.

APPLICATION

One very salient principle that we have forgotten about prayer to our detriment, and a principle the neglect of which has contributed substantially to our misconceptions about prayer is the fact that prayer is first and foremost a relationship with God. The prayer that Jesus taught his disciples begins with "Our Father," and that's a radical, relational term that is sometimes translated "Daddy" or "Papa." It's not a license for sentimental familiarity but it is a recognition of the possibility of a profound, personal relationship with almighty God. If the relationship is not intact then you will succumb to the misconceptions of prayer. You will struggle in prayer, you will resort to merely asking in prayer, you will doubt that prayer can make a difference, and you will conclude that if God does not answer your prayer exactly as you request then your faith will crumble. You see all these misconceptions are the product of a lack of faith and a lack of faith is the result of not being in an intimate relationship with our heavenly father. How can we be close to a God such as ours and not have a strong faith? How can we doubt such a God as ours, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us his Spirit to dwell within us? How? By not nurturing and developing our relationship with him? Having problems with your prayer life? Finding it a struggle? Only meeting with God when you need to ask him for something? Gotten to the point where you've given up on prayer because, after all, it won't make a difference anyway? Upset with God because he didn't answer the way you thought he would, or should have? It's time to ask yourself, "What kind of relationship do I have with God?" We too are resurrection people. We have the power of the resurrection within us because we have the resurrected Christ within by his Holy Spirit. So how does your prayer life compare with that of those first resurrection people? The same resource is available to you, have you used it lately?

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