Prayer: The Intimacy and Identity of the Church with Christ
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Introduction: The importance of this letter and its companion from Paul cannot be over overstated. We do not know for certain that the Apostle was ever able to visit them personally. He intended for it to be read by the churches and individuals. These believers were dealing with several issues relating to the second coming and Paul seeks to encourage and build them up. Let’s read our text:
And we exhort you, brothers: warn those who are irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. Rejoice always! Pray constantly.
Someone said, “Prayer is the best way to meet God.” That is certainly true in salvation for a sinner must pray a prayer of confession, repentance and faith in Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior. But what about after we become followers of Christ? What does the Bible say to us about the subject? What we find in this passage is one of the shortest statements about prayer found anywhere in God’s Word.
Paul admonishes the community of Thessalonian believers in several areas of community conduct: love and respect your leaders, encourage and correct those among you that are being irresponsible, comfort the discouraged, help the weak, and be patient with everyone. Most of all, do not repay evil for evil, but instead see to it that you pursue good for one another and for all.
What identifies this body of believers as belonging to Christ is their community life. The community is only as strong as their commitment to community living, as Jesus modeled and as the apostles are now modeling, teaching, and encouraging.
Paul instructs the community to always be rejoicing, always be praying, and always to give thanks in everything “for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (v.16-18). In doing so, the body will not stifle the Spirit of Christ. Don’t despise prophecy, but test it, to see what is good, and reject what is bad, what is false, thus you will stay away from every kind of evil (v.19-22). These are the practices of a healthy community following Christ. Christian community is not based on what I feel and experience, but in what we hold in common. We hold Christ. We are bound together by our common faith in Christ, and our committment to that faith in Christ allows us to experience community. Those of great committment to faith in Christ, will experience community in Christ, and be held together in Christ. Just as Israel experienced the blessings of God in their committment to God, as a community, the Church will experience the blessings of Christ, as we commit in our relationship to Him as a community; being held together by that very commitment to faith in Christ.
What is one of those sinues that binds us to Christ, in community?
Prayer. We will look at the other sinues and ligaments over the next weeks, but today I would like us to look at prayer. How important is prayer to be in the community life of a church?
Prayer is the secret to intimacy with God. Sadly, many Christians never know this kind of relationship. Many never pray unless they are in a crisis. Others pray when they want something. Others have never developed the discipline of prayer. Prayer is life changing but it is also challenging.
I. The Exhortation to Prayer
a. The Scriptural Imperative
The first good reason for doing anything is that God has commanded it. And God has commanded us to pray. Throughout the Bible there are Scriptures with the imperative command to pray. Mt 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.
He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged: “There was a judge in a certain town who didn’t fear God or respect man.
And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
“For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ”
Then the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Will not God grant justice to His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He delay to help them?
I tell you that He will swiftly grant them justice. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find that faith on earth?” He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and looked down on everyone else:
b. The Scope of Intercession
A Christ follower is to pray literally about everything.
Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
We are commanded to pray not only at all times, but for all men.
First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone,
c. The Saints Inclusion
Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints. Pray also for me, that the message may be given to me when I open my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.
Prayer, then, is a duty expressly commanded for every Christian, all the time, and about everybody and everything. Not to pray, would be the sin of disobedience to the plain and often repeated command of God! Samuel said to the people of Israel in 1 Samuel 12:23,
“As for me, I vow that I will not sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way.
if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Pray at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert in this with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.
Christians ought to pray because it is encouraged and our duty before God and the community of believers.
II. The Explanation of Prayer
It is interesting that the disciples never did ask Jesus to teach them to preach but they did ask Him to teach them to pray. I believe that they heard the Lord in prayer to the Father many times and that they were impressed with the intimacy of the Lord’s prayers. Luke 11:1
He was praying in a certain place, and when He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. I assure you: They’ve got their reward! But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
When you pray, don’t babble like the idolaters, since they imagine they’ll be heard for their many words. Don’t be like them, because your Father knows the things you need before you ask Him.
“Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.]
What can we learn about prayer based on the Lord’s teaching?
a. The Essence of Prayer
Billy Graham quote: “Prayer is simply talking to God—and the most important thing I can say about this is that God wants you to talk to Him! He loves us and He has promised to hear us when we pray.
How can you learn to pray? First, understand why prayer is possible.
Prayer is possible because Jesus Christ has removed the barrier between us and God—a barrier caused by our sins. You see, sin separates us from God, and because of that we have no right to come before Him. But by His death on the cross, Christ paid the penalty for our sins and removed the barrier. God then gives us the privilege of coming into His presence when we commit our lives to Christ. The Bible says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Have you asked Christ to come into your life today? Understand that God welcomes you into His presence and promises to hear you when He is part of your life—and He cannot lie. The Bible says,
Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
Trust His promises and learn to bring every concern to Him in prayer.
b. The Elements of Prayer
The elements of prayer can be summed in four words: First, is adoration; second is petition; next is repentance and finally there is thanksgiving or I have used the acronym ACTS to teach about prayer. It stands for adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication. These are the elements of prayer and we should learn them and intentionally use them when we pray.
c. The Enduement in Prayer
When we pray, we do not pray alone. We have a helper in our prayers…and He helps us in our prayers…even when we do not know how to frame the words.
John Bunyan said, “The best prayers often have more groans than words.”
Romans 8:26 , 27
In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings.
And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit’s mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
III. The Execution of Prayer
Now we come to the last point in our little verse. What does it mean to pray “without ceasing?” It does not mean that we enter into a monastic life in a convent or that we lay aside every other aspect of life. It means that we develop our prayer life to the degree that it becomes the natural outflow of our spiritual life. It becomes the first resort instead of the last resort. What is required to develop the prayer consciousness?
E. M. Bounds said, "Prayer is not learned in a classroom but in the closet."
a. The Discipline of Prayer
E. M. Bounds - Perhaps little praying is worse than no praying. Little praying is a kind of make-believe, a salve for the conscience, a farce, and a delusion.
Intimacy in a relationship takes time. This is certainly true where prayer is concerned. We must be committed to “asking, seeking and knocking,’ not just occasionally but consistently, persistently. Intimacy in prayer takes perseverance. Listen again to the story Jesus tells His disciples…
And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ “For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or respect man, yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn’t wear me out by her persistent coming.’ ”
The point here is that to achieve intimacy in prayer we must discipline ourselves to spend time in prayer. All believers can pray but not many pray with importunity - a pressing request!
b. The Design of Prayer
God has designed prayer for us, for our benefit, not His. He already knows everything there is to know about us, and as a matter of Scripture, He knows what we are going to ask Him for before we ask it. Prayer is designed so that we can communicate with Him, to get closer to Him, to develop intimacy with Him. Our relationship with Him needs constant attention.
Soren Kierkegaard Quotes
“The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.” Prayer changes us, not God, who cannot change. When we come into His presence in prayer we are on “holy ground” and like Isiah of old we are transformed by our nearness to Him.
c. The Distinctive’s of Prayer
Finally, a healthy well developed prayer life will deliver us from the kind of superficial, shallow version of Christianity that is so prevalent in the church today. Have you ever heard the term “a mile wide and an inch deep”? Is our faith a mile wide and an inch deep? Or an inch wide and a mile deep? What about our prayer life? An “Inch deep” community does not develop the depth of intimacy that is needed in an ever-challenging cultural environment. There are two measurables where prayer is concerned. There is quantity (time) and quality (intimacy). How is your relationship with God? What would characterize your prayer life? Are you praying without ceasing?
Conclusion
Prayer is the duty and priviledge of the believer and follower of Christ. It is one of the identifying characteristics of a real church community of Christ. It is one of the things that distinguishes the inch deep from the mile deep Christ community. Prayer is the church community listening to Christ, carrying out His will, and confirming His Word. It is asking, waiting, and receiving from Christ. Prayer is to be in communion with God, empowered by God, and to be emboldened by God.
Billy Graham quote: “First, remember that we have the privilege of coming to God only because Jesus Christ died for our sins. Have you given your life to Him? If not, let your first prayer be one of confession and faith, asking Him to come into your life as your Lord and Savior.
Second, realize that sometimes God is actually answering our prayers when we don’t realize it—and the reason is because His answer may be “No” or “Wait.” Yes, we think we know what’s best for us—but God sees the whole picture, and sometimes He lovingly refuses to give us what we request, because He knows it isn’t according to His perfect plan.”
William Carey quote: "Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness."
Edwin Keith - Prayer is exhaling the spirit of man and inhaling the Spirit of God.
ILL - Three ministers were talking about prayer in general and the appropriate and effective positions for prayer. As they were talking, a telephone repairman was working on the phone system in the background.
One minister shared that he felt the key was in the hands. He always held his hands together and pointed them upward as a form of symbolic worship. The second suggested that real prayer was conducted on your knees. The third suggested that they both had it wrong--the only position worth its salt was to pray while stretched out flat on your face.
By this time the phone man couldn’t stay out of the conversation any longer. He interjected, "I found that the most powerful prayer I ever made was while I was dangling upside down by my heels from a power pole, suspended forty feet above the ground."
(From a sermon by Bobby Scobey, "Essentials #4-When You Pray-Part 2" 2/25/2009)