My aim
this morning is, first, to so persuade you from God's Word and from church
history of the importance of corporate prayer that none of us will ever view
the prayer meetings of our church in the same way again.
Second,
my aim and my prayer is that each of us will determine to take one step forward in our participation and confidence in prayer, not just as an individual, but
with other believers, gathered together with the purpose of seeing God's glory
manifested here in Hellesdon and Norwich.
Why am I
talking about this today? Well, as you know our prayer ministry here at MW has
recently been and is still being revamped and revisited. This coincided with
our arrival here at MW but was none of my doing. I believe that our Tuesday
prayer meetings once a month had not been everything they could be … and I
think you will have noticed some changes to the format which Gavin and Irene
have led. So the reason for this 2 week
series on Corporate Prayer (CP) is plain and simply to encourage you to consider
attending our corporate prayer times here at MW.
Here are
2 reasons why CP is very, very important:
- Corporate prayer is on a par with preaching and teaching as a priority in a healthy church; and
- Praying together is a vital key to opening God's presence and work among His people in unique ways.
We believe
better than we behave regarding prayer, don’t we? It's good to have, but not
important enough to join; something we briefly tack on to a meeting before we
get down to the real business. There are a growing number of believers who view
prayer meetings as optional, secondary.
This
morning I am on a mission: I want to convince you that God has sovereignly
ordained the corporate praying of a church, so that His mighty work increases
exponentially and His purposes are accelerated when we pray together. Please understand
that this message is not given to minimize personal prayer. Instead, it is to
show that personal prayer alone will not result in the working of God to the
degree needed for spiritual transformation in our lives, our church, our
cities, and our nation.
"Pretty
bold statements, Cedric. You got anything to back that up?" I'm glad you
asked. I want to look at five points from Scripture and world history that
establish the desperate need for all who are believers to become a part of the
prayer gatherings of this body. This morning we will look at various Scriptures and some world history that establish something simple, profound, and stirring:
Praying Churches are
used of God to change the world.
I.
Praying together was a priority for the apostles
In Acts
6, the Church in Jerusalem faced one of its first dilemmas. Here's how it
happened:
In those days, as
the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint by the
Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews that their widows were being
overlooked in the daily distribution of food.
The word distribution is the word "diakonia," which is the root
word behind our words deacon and ministry. So the emphasis in this reading is on serving
people.
Then the Twelve
summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, "It would not be
right for us to give up preaching about God to wait on tables.
The word
translated wait on or serve tables is diakonein, from the same root family as
in v. 2, focusing on serving others. Back
to the passage:
Therefore, brothers,
select from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and
wisdom, whom we can appoint to this duty. Literally, v. 4 reads, But we to the prayer and the
"diakonia" of the word will steadfastly continue.
Now, as I
think I’ve said to you before, I am not a Greek scholar, but Greek is the
language that the New Testament was written in, and it is important to realise
that there are sometimes some nuances in Greek which don’t translate well into
English, and verse 4 is one of those times:
προσκαρτερήσομεν, “will continue steadfastly,”—τῇ
προσ., “the prayer”;
In the
Greek there is a ‘the’ before ‘prayer’ so it should read: we will give our attention to the prayer and the ministry of the
word. The majority of commentators and scholars agree that the the seems to imply not only private
prayer and intercession, but the public prayer of the Church (see: http://biblehub.com/commentaries/acts/6-4.htm).
Now I've
always thought that this meant that the apostles delegated ministry
responsibilities to others so that they would be freed up to spend time in
personal prayer and receive a fresh word from the Lord to preach to the people.
But that is not the point of this passage, as I've discovered as I've lived with it for the last week or so.
The
apostles are not referring to the need for personal, private prayer. Instead,
they are talking about the ministry of mobilizing the people of God to pray
together. They were marking out the two ministries they must especially do as
church leaders. Let me show you the clues that lead to this conclusion:
1) The
context of this passage revolves around ministries. Verse 1 points out a problem
with ministries. In v. 2, the apostles discuss what ministries they must do and
the ones they must not do. In v. 3-4, they instruct that seven men be
identified from among the congregation to take on this ministry. This section
of Scripture is focused on ministry to people, not on personal issues.
2) The
example of the apostles in Acts points to the priority praying together held
for them. Every
occurrence of prayer in Acts preceding Chapter 6 (1:14, 24; 2:42; 3:1; 4:23-31)
pictures the apostles leading others in prayer. Not one reference points to
their private prayer time; the focus is on God's people praying together.
So by
testimony and by example, it is plain that the apostles placed a high premium
on the people of God praying together. They considered guiding the corporate
prayer life of the church just as critical a priority as the preaching/teaching
of God's Word.
So,
praying together was a priority for the apostles.
II.
Praying together was modeled and practiced by Christ
The
apostles learned their leadership patterns from the Teacher, Jesus Christ. In
his book And
the Place Was Shaken: How to Lead a Powerful Prayer Meeting, John Franklin
says: “Ransack the Gospels for Jesus' teaching and practice of prayer, and you
will identify 37 verses, sometimes repeated in more than one Gospel. Of those
37 instances in which Jesus refers to prayer, 33 of them were addressed to a
plural rather than singular audience. In other words, Jesus' instruction
decisively leaned toward praying with others, not just praying in private.”
So take,
for example, Matt. 7:7: "Keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep searching, and
you will find. Keep knocking, and the door will be opened to you." We read "you" in
that verse and immediately think it's singular, referring to an individual. In
fact, in the Greek, it is a plural "you," meaning Jesus is urging a gathering of
believers to ask, seek, and knock.
In other
passages, Jesus deliberately emphasized the significance of praying together.
Listen to Matt. 18:19: Again, I assure you: If two of you on earth agree about any
matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by My Father in heaven. Jesus
could have said, "If anyone asks...;" instead, He deliberately chose
to emphasize a group gathered for prayer. This focus of Jesus' on more than one
praying indicates that there is a design of God's in such gatherings, through
which He uniquely and powerfully works.
So the
apostles made it a practice and a priority to teach about praying with fellow
believers and to practice it because they had heard and seen Jesus emphasize
the same thing.
III.
Praying together in the New Testament
The Book
of Acts records the mighty works of God for and through His church in its early
years, and clearly connects them to unified, corporate prayer.
The 120
were gathered in an upper room praying in one accord when Pentecost comes (Acts1:13; 2:1).
The
disciples prayed for wisdom in knowing who Judas' replacement should be (Acts
1:24).
When
Peter and John reported the Sanhedrin's threats, those gathered cried out to
God in one accord for boldness, and the place was shaken where they prayed
(Acts 4:24, 31).
The
church prayed over the seven men appointed to serve the widows (Acts 6:6).
After
James was martyred and Peter imprisoned by Herod, the church was fervently
praying, and God miraculously delivered Peter from his cell (Acts 12:1-11).
While the
prophets and teachers were praying and fasting, the Holy Spirit called Paul and
Barnabas to go on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-2).
Paul and
Silas were praying when God sent an earthquake that resulted in the conversion
of the jailer and their release (Acts 16:25).
Again,
let me say that I am not discouraging or playing down personal, private prayer.
Ananias was praying alone when God instructed him to go to Saul (Acts 9:10ff.).
Peter was alone on the rooftop when he had his famous vision leading him to
share the Gospel with a Gentile named Cornelius (Acts 10:9ff.). Nevertheless,
the majority of God's recorded workings came when His people prayed together.
IV.
Corporate prayer in history
There are so many examples of how corporate prayer has changed the course of history.
Remember
the miracle at Dunkirk and how, after a national day of prayer invoked by King
George VI, the impossible happened. Surrounded and trapped between the
Channel and German troops, the retreating Allies prepared to be slaughtered;
meanwhile, Hitler commanded his Panzer tank divisions to hold off so that the
Luftwaffe could have the honor of attacking the withdrawing Brits. But again,
intervening weather including violent rain and wind grounded the German air
force while wondrously leaving the Channel calm until the evacuation was
complete. The water, uncannily smooth, allowed even small motor boats to rescue
stranded soldiers. In Winston Churchill’s words, 335,000 British troops were
delivered “out of the jaws of death and shame.”
In 1988, six
years before democracy came to SA, in a packed St. George's Cathedral in Cape
Town, Arch Bishop Desmond Tutu prophesied to the apartheid government:
"You may be powerful, indeed, very powerful. But you are not God. You are
ordinary mortals! God—the God whom we worship—cannot be mocked. You have
already lost....We are inviting you to come and join the winning side." 2
years and many lives later, they decided to do so. When South Africa
successfully and peacefully dismantled apartheid and elected Nelson Mandela as
president, it was no accident that even the secular press used the word miracle
to describe this breathtaking event. For behind the scenes of each careful step
made by all parties, the church was on its knees or extending its arms to
assist in any way.
Prayer,
of course, played a huge part in the SA miracle. As Tennyson said, "More
things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of." We saw that
happen in South Africa. From April 1993, more than 1,000 groups of people became
involved in a round-the-clock "Chain of Prayer." And just before the
elections, nearly 30,000 people came together at the "Jesus Peace
Rally" to seek the Lord and his face for our land. Astonishingly, it was
in the VIP lounge of this rally where proposals were given to IFP leader Chief
Buthelezi and his African National Congress rival that eventually led to Inkatha's
entry to the elections. Many believe this "miracle" staved off
massive civil war.
And, as we stood in queues of 1000’s of people, miles long
on voting day … we knew God had heard the corporate cry of His people.
Corporate prayer moves our God. We see it in Scripture, we see it in history.
V.
Praying together and God's works today
(source: http://www.christianitytoday.com/images/64338.png)
In almost
every quarter of the globe, Christianity is advancing...except for four primary
areas: North America, Japan, Australia, and Western Europe. According to your
last census, to that list we can add Norwich. According to Christianity Today, guess what one
of the common denominators is everywhere Christianity marches forward?
Christians spend time in prayer together. Track what God is doing in Korea, in
China, in India, in Eastern Africa, and you will find behind the scenes prayer
meetings.
I know
what you're thinking. Our prayer meetings don't seem to convey that sort of
power. And you're right. Something is missing from our prayer meetings and that
something is perhaps … You.
One of my
favourite Christian scholars from the last century is the Welshman David Pawson. Chris
and I have had the pleasure of sitting under his ministry at a conference in
Israel in 2008, just a few weeks after the start of the financial crisis.
Regarding prayer, he says something quite simple yet quite profound: You learn
to pray by praying.
Our next
Tuesday corporate prayer meeting is in over 2 weeks’ time. To teach this and
next Sunday on corporate prayer and then to have a meeting nearly 10 days after
that would be very silly. I would hope that I’ve inspired you a little today;
and I suspect that if you give Him the chance, our LORD will inspire you a lot
more. So, for the next 17 days until our next Tuesday prayer meeting, I am
going to be leading corporate prayer in the chapel every morning at 7am and
12noon, Monday to Saturday, for half an hour. You’re all invited … you may need
to arrive late or leave early and that’s fine if you do it in silence; and we
will pray every day into a specific international, national or local situation;
we’ll have time for individual prayer needs; and you’ll join in aloud if you
wish, or silently; you may come often, which I hope for, but you may only come
once, you may not come at all.
We’ll do
this because;
I.
Praying together was a priority for the apostles
II.
Praying together was modelled and practiced by Christ
III.
Praying together occurs throughout the New Testament
IV.
Praying together has changed history
V.
Praying together works today
