Untitled Sermon (23)

Scripture Introduction:

Let’s imagine for a moment that we are prisoners in a foreign land. It’s pretty miserable, but we’ve made due, kind of risen up the ranks in the prison system. But still we’ve been praying every day for freedom.

Now one morning a friendly guard hands us a message…we know that it’s absolutely true…not just a myth. We believe the message with every bit of our being. Next Thursday you’ll be released.

We believe that to be an absolutely true statement. It IS going to happen. Now let me ask you a question…what does your prayer life look like from the day you received that letter until Thursday?

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Something kind of similar happened to the prophet Daniel. Listen in to his response:

Daniel 9:1–23 ESV

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, by descent a Mede, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books the number of years that, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly. “O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.” While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice. He made me understand, speaking with me and saying, “O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved. Therefore consider the word and understand the vision.

Sermon Introduction:

The year is 538 BC. Daniel is probably about 80 at this time…and it’s right at the end of the Babylonian empire and the beginning of the Persian Empire.

But the people are still captive in Babylon. What happens next they are wondering.

Well Daniel is reading through the prophet Jeremiah and started doing some math. He’s probably reading something like Jeremiah 25:11

Jeremiah 25:11 ESV

This whole land shall become a ruin and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Or Jeremiah 29:10

Jeremiah 29:10 ESV

“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

Now Daniel understands how numbers are used, they’re usually not literal or exact. 70 years is kind of like a time of completion…but he’s also looking at current events, this change of power, doing a bit of calendar work and realizing that they are at around 70 years.

That’s him getting the rescue is coming letter...And so what does he do…he prays. He cries out to God.

I think it’s an important point for us to make because sometimes when we think about the sovereignty of God and we think about prayer—the two don’t seem to match up. I think it’s because we tend to say things about prayer like, “it moves the hand of God.”

We can view prayer like it rouses God, or it makes him do something he doesn’t want to do. And I get that, there are passages in Scripture—I think often poetic—which can kind of lead us down that path.

But if that’s entirely our view of prayer, then when we get something like this message from Jeremiah we’ll be frozen. We’ll say things like, “well what’s the point of praying? If God is sovereign why bother?”

I think this is one of the reasons why we struggle with things like prayerlessness. I think about times in my life when I’m not really engaging in prayer and these are the culprits I’ve found:

Just not knowing how. Not knowing what words to say. Getting bored.

A subtle self-dependence. Being confident that I can accomplish things apart from the Lord.

A relational fracture and a faulty view of God. Is God really good? Do we have the same definition of good? Do I trust him? Is he even there? Is he listening? Does prayer even matter?

I know our desires conflict. I know that God isn’t going to approve of what I’m asking for and so it’s a type of rebellion.

Theology wrongly applied. God is sovereign. It doesn’t matter. What ever will be will be.

There is a story that Jesus tells in Luke 11 that I think can trip us up some. Because it makes it seem like God is cold and heartless and begrudging and just reluctantly answers prayer.

It’s midnight. Everybody is asleep. Probably a one room house. Everybody is sleeping in the same bed. Kids are asleep. Somebody comes over and you don’t have any bread. You’re caught off guard you’re going to be a bad host. So what do you do…?

In this parable you go to your neighbor…at midnight…and wake him up. Now if this is a picture of God what are you expecting. The friend in the parable is a representation of God. So what you expect to read is.... “Sure. I love you. Of course, you can have bread.” But that’s not what we read.

Dude, my kids are in bed. If I open the door it’s going to wake up my family. You’re going to wake up my kids. I can’t give you anything. He doesn’t call him friend or anything. He seems put out.

So does God get sick of our praying? Is that Jesus’ point? Is he trying to show us that God is really busy and if you ask him at the wrong time he is going to slam the door in your face? No, not at all. Jesus is teaching a different point here. He is teaching a point about persistence. The word is impudence. It’s a word that is rarely used…in fact this is the only time in the NT. In secular literature it refers to being shameless. In the context it seems to be talking about persistence.

This is where I get the phrase “a shameless persistance...” This is the guy who has the bread, he’s the only one who can fill this need, I’m going to keep on asking and asking and asking until I get it. Ask, seek, knock.

Do you see what’s happening there? What is knocking on the door going to do? It’s going to wake up his kids. It’s shameless. Jesus is teaching us to be that shameless friend who won’t give up.

We stumble over that verse a bit because we’re thinking of it relationally. We’d give up and say, “ah, this guy isn’t much of a friend. He’s a cold-hearted person. He’s not my friend. I’m going to go away…I’ll have to lose two friends tonight. He’s disappointing me, his disappointing my guest. He’s not the good friend that I thought he was.”

No, that’s not what Jesus is showing us. This parable isn’t to highlight the friend…and I’ll show you that in just a second. This parable is to highlight the shameless persistence of the guy who just keeps knocking and says, “dude, I know you’ve got bread and I’m going to bust down the door until I get it.”

Jesus is saying. Pray that way. Everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.

And this is exactly what we see with Jeremiah. He’s shameless and persistent in his prayer. We get the idea from the rest of Daniel that this isn’t the first time that he’s prayed. No, he’s been praying probably like this for years.

But it does seem like his prayer becomes heightened at this moment, when he realizes that rescue might be just around the corner.

We can learn a few things about prayer here in Daniel 9.

First, note how Daniel used Jeremiah. One, I love how this highlights how the word of God was viewed. Even early on. He’s treating it as truth, as a promise coming from the mouth of God.

And it also helps us to see that the best prayers are grounded in Scripture and the story of the Bible. It’s praying God’s promises back to Him.

Think about what this does with our prayer life. There are many things in our lives that are a mystery until they happen. Am I going to marry, Who am I going to marry, where am I going to college, what job will I get…and we have all of the shoulda questions in there too.... “Should I take this job? Should I move here? Should I make this business deal? Should I switch to fiber optic internet? Should I get a Snickers or a Reese’s? What specific ministry should I be engaged in? Should I join this church or that church?

I can’t really pray Scripture on these, can I? God you’ve promised me that I’ll be an astrophysicist in 2 Chronicles 19:4…okay, I don’t even know what that verse is…but you get my point. There isn’t a passage that says, “this will be your job…”

But there ARE promises of God. There are passages about character. There are things that we do know to pray. Lord, help me be humble. Lord, give wisdom in this situation. Lord, help me to honor you as we pursue this thing or that thing. Lord, your word says that, “you’ll give wisdom to those who ask, we need your wisdom now.”

And so Daniel is praying according to God’s promises. Scripture is motivating his prayer, it’s giving the outline and the shape to his prayer—not current events. He’s governed by the Word of God. That helps us in our prayer life.

But as Daniel sets about to pray we see a few other things take shape. We see how he invokes God—he connects his story with God’s story. And it’s drenched with confession that is connected to God’s character.

Look at verse 4....he’s meditating on who God is…and then he looks at himself and his people…we have sinned...

Note the specifics.

Note how it’s related to God.

Guys, I want to tell you about a project I’ve wanted to work on for so long. But it’s a way that I sometimes will do my quite time. It’s preaching the gospel to yourself.

God-Man-Christ-Response.

You take something like the character of God…so as Daniel does here… “God is faithful and keeps covenant”…then you move to humanity…We don’t keep covenant, we are unfaithful.

But we get to do something that Daniel didn’t…we get to take it to Jesus. We see how he was faithful…and His record is our record. Now how do I respond to this today? Lord, I confess my unfaithfulness, I confess that I don’t keep covenant. But I’m thankful for your grace. I’m grateful for the work of Christ on my behalf.

This really helps our prayer life. Who is God—who am I in comparison....

But note also here in Daniel how he telling God’s story and his own story. He’s connecting the two. I think that’s helpful as well. It’s helpful to place ourselves in the overall story of the Bible.

What is God doing in the world? God’s purpose is to root out all sin and unbelief and replace that with passionate worshippers from every tribe under the sun. I’m in that story.

God is in the business of creating a people who will enjoy His grace and extend His glory. I’m in that story. Every event that is happening in my life is part of that…and that was also true of Daniel. And so that’s part of what he’s doing here.

Look at verse 15. “You’ve brought your people out of the land of Egypt…you are a redeeming God…but we’ve transgressed…we’re in exile…you said this was going to happen…but you are a God of steadfast love.”

And then after he has gotten himself full on the character of God, he’s reminding himself about the story of God, he now asks God. See the “Now, therefore, O God...”

I think that’s a word we ought to be using in our prayer...”therefore” if I’m not using that then it might be an indicator to me that I haven’t grounded my requests in God’s character and God’s story…it’s not a magical word…it’s really just kind of another way of saying, “In Jesus’ name....”

You don’t recite that b/c it’s the phrase that moves God…no, we say “in Jesus name” because it means that we are praying in His authority that he gave to us…it comes from John 14 in part. Jesus told us to ask “in his name”. That means according to His character. It’s a way of saying, “I’m in Christ—I have access because of Him—and so therefore...”

Again as Daniel asks these things it is grounded in God’s character, it’s not about us. It’s not “Oh Lord, I’ve done this or that thing and so now b/c I’ve done this and asked this way, or I’ve been a good boy...” No it is grounded in the immovable work of Jesus Christ. (v18…not because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy).

And he prays “for your names sake.” Again, that’s just a way of connecting to the promise of God.

Let me show you this just super practically....

We have a need here in our church for a spark within our Sunday school, connect groups…yes, for adult classes, etc. But really for our children’s ministry.

Let me tell you why I said what I did last week about if we don’t have children’s ministry workers then we will need to stop doing sunday school altogether. It’s because of a couple things it communicates—let me ask you a question. Let’s say that you wanted to serve a young family with young kids—and you have them come over to your house for a meal. They bring their kids.

But there isn’t a seat at the table for them. And there isn’t a kids table either. In fact there is absolutely no accommodation for their children....you do have what you call a play closet—it’s a musty old room, with a stick and an old Tonka trunk from 1953....you tell them that you can throw the kid some goldfish crackers and they can entertain themselves in there while you guys get fed.

Think they’ll come back?

Think they’ll feel loved and valued and cared for?

Think they’ll see the hands and feet of Jesus?

Nope. If you really want to be a hospitable people and really want to model Jesus’ love for people and his not only accommodation for children but loving invitation to them…then you’ll labor to make sure the kids feel at home too.

And if we aren’t reflecting the heart of Christ, then what are we even doing?

So how do we pray about this thing?

Well, we follow Daniel here. We think about the character of God.

Lord, we know that you said let the little children come to me.

Lord, we know that you have a particular heart for the weak and vulnerable.

Lord, we know that you are a father to the Fatherless.

Lord, we know that you desire for each generation to praise your name.

Lord, we know that your word is powerful and changes things.

Lord, we know that you call us to be hospitable.

Lord, we know that we are to make disciples of all the nations.

Lord, we know that you’ve planted us here in Neosho and that you call us to reach our community with the good news of Jesus.

Lord, we know that you are sovereign and powerful and can take a heart of stone and make it a heart of flesh.

Lord, we know that the means you use is the proclamation of your Word—your gospel....

We can go on and on here....

But we confess,

1. Lord that we sometimes don’t have your heart.

2. We can become inward and think only about our own meal

3. We don’t always reflect the heart of Jesus.

4. And sometimes Lord we just feel inadequate—so we also confess our propensity to trust in our own resources instead of yours.

5. We know this is a need. And wherever our heart doesn’t reflect the heart of Christ—mold it and shape it—we confess these things...

Again…we can go on and on...

And we can also connect this to God’s story…we’ve done that some earlier as well...

We know that your word says “the harvest is plentitful but the workers are few”

We know Jesus that you equipped the church with gifts of service. We know you’ve given us all spiritual gifts and what is needed to be hospitable in this area…

So Lord, we pray...

Raise up workers. Raise up workers who are not begrudging but who beat with the heart of Jesus. Give us confidence in your Word. Give us wisdom. Help us each to know how to use our spiritual gifts that you’ve given us to reflect the heart of Jesus in this area. Amen.

Do you see how I did that?

You could use this grid for any of the requests that you have. Ground it in the character of God, confess how we don’t match up, be honest about need, about brokenness, about sin, any of that, and then take it to Christ the balm for our soul…connect it to the story of God…and then pray your guts out…ask God for whatever is on your heart. Shameless persistence.

Here is what happened with Daniel....

Gabriel comes taps him on the shoulder…gives him a vision that we’ll see next week but says to him, “you are greatly loved.”

What if we just drank that in for a moment....friends, that is what prayer is. That’s the foundation. You are deeply loved.

Even what we were praying about children’s ministry. We are deeply loved. We don’t engage in that to try to gain his love and acceptance…we do it b/c we are accepted. Deeply loved.

Through Jesus Christ on our behalf.