The God-man Prays Before He Acts

Luke 6:12-16

ICC’s Wednesday In the Word ( DATE \@ "M/d/yy" 2/8/23)

Introduction

Prayers

Scripture memory

Romans 8:18- For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Catch- Why is prayer essential before big decisions?

If prayer is essential, why do find ourselves too busy for it often?

In his great book on Prayer, Alister Begg writes

"A self-assured person is not going to pray prayers of petition; there’s no need to pray if you think you have got it all covered. A self-righteous person is not going to Pray prayers of confession; there’s no need to pray if you think you’re good enough to earn God’s blessing.

We don’t think we need prayer

But if there is anyone who didn’t need anything, it was the God-man, Jesus Christ… God in human flesh

But what do we find Jesus doing over and over again, except praying

Review on the context

What is the purpose of Luke? To remind

So the apostles are the foundation of the church, right?

Ephesians 2:19–21- So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Where did these guys come from and how was their ministry connected to Jesus?

Luke shows us we can be assured they followed Jesus.

Luke has shown how Jesus went toe to toe with Pharisees regarding the SabbathNow, he figures out his specific chosen ones

Jesus’ prayer before ordaining shows the necessity of prayer

1) Jesus model show our prerequisite for prayer (12)

Explanation

Is “in these days” is saying this happened next?

Notice that Luke is often not chronological like Mark, saying the next thing hapepend.

Where does Jesus go?

These are the Arbels cliffs, Magdala, and Sea of Galilee

The highest mountain near the Sea of Galilee is Mount Arbel. Since Luke doesn’t name any of the locations in this narrative, this may be considered a possible location for Jesus’s night of prayer

What does Jesus then do there?

Jesus prayed all night until morning

Medical writers used it to depict carrying out all-night vigils caring for the sick

Often, people are looking for a single formula in prayer, but the bible seems to have as many prayers are there are life situations

We see people pray in preparation like Jesus did here and Nehemiah did

Nehemiah 1:11- O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Then during the incident as Nehemiah sent off a quick prayer

Nehemiah 2:4- Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.

And after ministry his ministry to the Philippians we read Paul saying

Philippians 1:9- And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment,

There are long prayers as Solomon dedicated the temple in 1kings 8

And there are short prayer

E. M. Bounds says: "Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance . . ." (Power Through Prayer, p. 37).

John Piper writes, “And though we might think that the Son of God would be above the need to pray, he sets the example for us, as a perfect human being, by rising early in the morning to pray (Mark 1:35) and seeking times alone to pray (Matt. 14:23) and sometimes spending the whole night in prayer (Luke 6:12) and, in the end, preparing for his suffering by prayer (Luke 22:41-42)”

Prayer is key for Luke and Acts showing the expansion of the church followed the prayerful example of Jesus

Jesus prays before he asks disciples who he is (9:18), and when he is transfigured (9:28)

They Pray in the upper room before the spirit comes Acts 1:12-14

And the Peter and John lead other sin prayer for boldness after suffering

Acts 14:23 we read, “And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Who is around Jesus? no one!

Son of God had a need to get away from the multitudes just to be with his Father, surely we too need this

Doesn’t mean you always have to pray by yourself, as Jesus prays publicly sometimes

Luke 10:21- In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

What kind of prayers can be shared privately that will not be given on a Sunday night?

Illustration

Prayer is essential

Why do bakers get up so early in the morning?

To get the bread is One of the most vital ingredients in yeasted breads is time. It takes a lot of time for the dough to rise, to proof, to be shaped, to bake in the oven.

I read it is impossible to get the bread going in less than 4 hours!

Like the baker, Jesus is up at the crack of dawn , kneading his own heart with prayer and God’s Word to prepare to serve His people

Application

Why does Jesus show prayer is so important?

The reason is that prayer corresponds with two great n purposes of God that Jesus came to accomplish: God's glory and our joy. Jesus said, "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (John 14:13

we get the help and He gets the glory

How does God get glory when something good happens after we pray?

We are to be persistent in prayer over a long period of time, if necessary

The point is not to finally break God's resistance but to discover, by patient prayer, God's wisdom as to the way and time the prayer should be answered. He is not disinclined to help his children and glorify his name.

How does praying prepare us differently?

If Jesus spent so much time in prayer, what does that say about our needs?

How do you keep from praying the exact same thing every day?

Try writing out your prayers in a journal so that your mind does not wander.

Leave a space to put an answer

Praying out loud or praying through a psalm are also helpful strategies to get you started.

Praying the Lord’s prayer before you start

But what is Jesus praying for?

Jesus’ motivation shows us the power of prayer (13-16)

Explanation

Their sender (13)

It is now day after praying all night

Jesus calls his many disciples

Remember, disciple doesn’t just mean student, but follower.

in the first century a student did not simply study a subject; he followed a teacher. There is an element of personal attachment in ‘disciple’ that is lacking in ‘student’.

He’s already called some disciples in chapter 5- Simon, james and JohnLevi

And the disciples have been harassed by the pharisees for what Jesus is doing.

Out of all the people, he chooses 12 he names Apostles

These guys are important

We already read they were the foundation of the church

Paul claimed the signs gifts went along with this foundational role saying:

2 Corinthians 12:12- The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works.

Apostles of Christ or apostles of the church

So often we hear 12 apostles and 12 disciples that we often get this confused

I’ve heard some people say their girls asked why Jesus didn’t have any girl disciples

Is that true? No, there were lots of women who followed Jesus, like Mary and Martha

But did Jesus have any female apostles? No

These groups are not identical

The word Apostle derives from the verb ‘to send’ and means ‘someone sent’, ‘a messenger’. Luke uses it six times (with twenty-eight more in Acts)

Even Jesus was called an apostle

Hebrews 3:1- Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,

So the question is sent by who?

Who sent Jesus? God

Who sent these 12? Jesus

Then there are people who are sent by the church

Acts 14:4- But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles (referring to Barnabas).

2 Corinthians 8:23- As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers [apostles] of the churches, the glory of Christ.

You might have some people looking at Romans 16 and saying there were women apostles because

Romans 16:7- Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and my fellow prisoners. They are well known [among] the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

But Junia could be a man’s name

It could be translated to the apostles

And even if she’s an apostle, it is sent by the church, not a pastor leader like Jesus sent

Think of it more like a missionary we sent

When the church replaced Judas, Peter described the qualifications of an apostle (Acts 1:12–26).

It is the apostles who will set the direction of the church after Jesus rises

why was it important to pray for selecting our leaders?

The importance of prayer is clearly seen in his adding to the parallel account that Jesus went to a mountainside “to pray” and his intensifying this by stating that Jesus “spent the night praying to God.”

but prayer by Jesus before his selection of the church leaders was being portrayed consciously as the normative pattern for the later selection of church leaders. This is evident from Acts 1:24; 6:6; 13:2–3; 14:23. Luke was seeking to teach his Christian readers that prayer should be made before church decisions concerning leadership.

Jesus chose these twelve from a larger group of disciples. That this decision was made after a night of prayer heightens the Twelve’s authoritative position in the church. In Acts 1 the first action of the early church was to make sure this leadership was maintained.

Look carefully at the order: Who is mentioned first? Who is paired with whom? Who is last? By choosing where to locate people, events, ideas, and so on, a writer can call attention to something

Their leaders (14a)

these lists also start with the same person… who?

Peter

What are some things you know about Peter?

Unlike Matt 16:16–19 no reason is given for the name “Peter.” Whereas Luke used “Simon” (God has heard) up to this point, he henceforth would use “Peter” (Stone)

This statue is located in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome. He is typically depicted with short, curly hair and a square beard

He often is the leader of the group in many ways, speaking first

He is a main character of Acts, along with Paul

Peter is depicted with keys in his hand, which is a reference to

Matthew 16:19- I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

And then turn to

But what is interesting is that when Peter is released from prision, he points to the importance of James, the brother of jesus, saying

Acts 12:17- But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.

Acts 15:13–14- After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.

Acts 15:19- Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,

It the culture of the time, the leader speaks last, not first showing if anyone is the leader of the Jerusalem church, it is James, not Peter

Andrew, his brother

As in Matt 10:2, Andrew is placed next to his brother, Simon. From Mark 1:16 we learn that he was a fisherman like his brother.

He’s actually not that importamt for most of the time as it it peter and the other three closest to Jesus

Luke 9:28–29- Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white.

Andrew is depicted with long hair and a long beard, which symbolizes his original association with the “wild” John the Baptist. Andrew was supposed to have been crucified on a saltire (that is, a cross in the shape of an X), which is depicted here.

James

were also Galilean fishermen (Luke 5:10–11). James, sometimes called “the Great” to distinguish him from the James of Mark 15:40, was martyred in the early forties by Herod Agrippa (Acts 12:1–2).

James the Great is often depicted with a long beard, as here. He is shown with a pilgrim’s staff, on the basis of later legends which made Compostela (the legendary place of his burial) a pilgrimage site. In his left hand, James holds a gospel scroll, representing his work as a preacher. This statue is located in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

John

John is depicted with an eagle, which is the symbol of both John and his Gospel (taken from Rev 4:7). Depictions of John as the “beloved disciple,” as here, typically show him as a beardless youth, while depictions of “John the theologian” show him with a long white beard and a receding hairline. This statue appears to depict John seeing a vision and writing the book of Revelation. I

John 18:15- John knows the servant girl personally… and the High priest, and the High Priest knew John

Jesus works through a bunch of nobodies… they were fisherman?

Kent disagrees, since John knew the most powerful man in Isreal

Not just an ordinary fisherman

Fisherman were not losers

Fishing was very lucrative

Go to Gallille to be a good Capitalist, not a good religious person

Since John knew the High Priest and some of the Sanhedrin, so he writes about the festivals because he knew very much about what went on

18:16- Peter’s ticket into the courtyard

*John 18:18- The Denials of Peter

Why was John not pointed out? Because he knew the high priest

The regulars (14b-16a)

Philip

According to John 1:44, Philip came from Bethsaida, the same city as Peter and Andrew.

Bartholomew

There is no other reference to Bartholomew in the NT other than his appearance in the four lists of the disciples. Some have speculated that Bartholomew was another name for the Nathanael of John 1:45–51; 21:2, but there is no real evidence for this.

Matthew

Thomas

James the son of Alphaeus,

Simon who was called the Zealot

In Mark 3:18 and Matt 10:4 Simon is referred to as Simon the Cananaean. “Cananaean” is simply a transliteration of the Aramaic word for “Zealot,” for which Luke gave the Greek translation. The “Zealot” movement, which led to the Jewish revolt from a.d. 67–70, probably did not exist as a distinct political entity in Jesus’ day. Simon was a “Zealot” in the sense that he was a follower of the revolutionary movement(s) that later developed into a unified nationalistic party of Zealots.

Judas the son of James

Today the name is, of course, associated with betrayal and sin. At that time, however, the term Judas was simply a Greek form of ‘Judah’ and in the minds of their parents would have conjured up images of ‘Judas Maccabaeus’, the heroic military leader who ruled from 166 BC to 160 BC.

In Mark 3:18 and Matt 10:3 this name does not appear, but instead we find the name “Thaddaeus.” It is not impossible that these are two names for the same person.

These shared names are qualified to distinguish them. Had there been only one Judas, why qualify his name with Iscariot here, in Mark 3:19, and in Matt 10:4? There would be no need to do so. If, however, as the Lukan account states, there were two disciples named Judas, then such a qualification would have been needed. Matthew and Mark may have preferred the other name “Thaddaeus” to Judas because of the connotations associated with the name Judas. (What Christians today name their son “Judas”?)

Their betrayer (16b)

They were not all successful, since Judas Iscariot was in their midst. He pictures someone who participates in the community, but is not a genuine member. Such people sometimes even reach prominence in the church

Illustration

Application

Conclusion

Therefore

Cohesion-

We know we must (Resolution)

Closing prayer

We know we must (Resolution)