Prayer That Sparks Mission

Please stand as you are able as we read God’s word:

Acts 1:6–8 “So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Continuing our Pray Like A Moravian series, this remarkable community in religious refugees in central Europe in the early 1700s. These were refugees fleeing persecution, and they found a sympathetic landlord named Count Zinzendorf. We saw last week that the community experienced dramatic division over secondary doctrines, but upon repenting experienced a dramatic outpouring of the Spirit called the “Moravian Pentecost”.

Everyone wondered “what would happen next?” The next would be something that would transform, not only the community, but the mission of the church. Two weeks after the Moravian Pentecost, 24 men and 24 women entered into a solemn vow to cover every hour of the day and night in continuous prayer. They agreed on a starting date, but no one thought to set an end date. The community at Herrnhut would go on to pray continuously for 100 years.

The fire at Herrnhut had been lit. Yet, Zinzendorf would never be satisfied with simply achieving revival within the border of his own estate. If you remember, Count Zinzendorf’s religious society which he founded - the Order of the Mustard Seed - committed to three things: to be true to Christ, to be kind to all, and to send the gospel to the world. It was this third commitment that the villagers in Herrnhut dedicated themselves to. In 1728, following a congregational meeting where the subject of missionary work in Turkey, Ethiopia, and Greenland had been discussed, villagers banded together in a mission prayer group, committing that they would be ready to go when the call came. They wouldn’t have to wait for long.

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17 years pastoring this summer! Three common concerns: How to hear God, spiritual gifts, and what is God’s will for my life. What is my purpose? Is God calling me to something. Seems natural for many that, having been saved by Jesus, we now want to do something for him.

When I was considering moving into this role, I wanted a miraculous sign - burning bush, angel appearing - something. I wanted conclusive evidence that God was really calling me to leave a good paying job to step into this new life. I never got it. Nothing dramatic. I wish someone would have told me what I am going to tell you this morning, bc I don’t think finding our purpose and calling is all that mysterious. If you have a Bible, turn to the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 1:1–3 “The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capital, one of my brothers, Hanani, came with certain men from Judah; and I asked them about the Jews that survived, those who had escaped the captivity, and about Jerusalem. They replied, “The survivors there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”

Roughly 70 years before this, Jerusalem had fallen to Babylon. The leading people of the land were taken into exile. And the Temple and walls of the city were destroyed. Babylon very quickly fell to the Medes, who themselves fell to the Persians.

70 years have passed. Nehemiah is a descendant of the exiles. As we will see, he had actually risen to a place of prominence in the kingdom - he was the King’s cupbearer. The point is that his life was pretty good.

And then this report comes. The city lies in ruins, the walls are broken down, and the Jews who remain are in great trouble. Nehemiah would be the one God would send to rebuild the walls of the city. But here is where he begins to get a sense of his calling.

The first lesson from Nehemiah is that Calling begins with a crisis we can’t ignore. By crisis, I don’t necessarily mean an emergency like a natural disaster. A crisis is anything that upsets the equilibrium, that causes some kind of internal discord. How do we know when God is prompting us to do something? Often it comes in the form of a burden we can't ignore. We see a wrong that must be righted, a need that must be met. And then we have a choice: we either ignore it or we pray into it. Nehemiah couldn’t ignore it.

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Nehemiah 1:4–7 “When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments; let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Both I and my family have sinned. We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses.”

This crisis in Jerusalem prompts Nehemiah to pray. But this isn’t a detached “God bless all the hungry children” kind of prayer. Nehemiah enters into the plight of the people there. He doesn’t sympathize with the situation - feeling sorry for them - he begins to empathize with them - putting himself in their place.

One way he does this is by acknowledging how and why this situation exists. They were in the state they were in bc of national sin. And notice, Nehemiah is most likely a descendent of exiles - he didn’t necessarily commit any of these sins. But he recognizes that he is part of this community. He admits his own culpability in their sin and the crisis it created.

In discerning our calling, it often begins with a crisis. The second lesson for finding our calling is that the Crisis prompts us to pray and discern. We discern why the burden, need, issue exists. Maybe we have to spend time acknowledging our own responsibility in it. Sometimes we need to come face to face with how our own greed and desire for cheap products creates exploitation of others in other parts of the world.

Bottom line: When faced with a crisis/burden the first thing we always do is seek God in prayer. All activity for God first waits on God. We ask," Is this a good idea or a God idea?"

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Nehemiah 1:8–10 “Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.”

Nehemiah didn’t stop with just praying over the situation in Jerusalem. He began to remind God of his promises concerning his people. That if they would repent, he would bring them back and restore their fortunes.

The third lesson from Nehemiah is that We pray promise application, not problem removal. Remind God of his promises. I imagine that with any burden God has placed on your heart you can find all kinds of corresponding promises in God’s word. One burden I’ve been carrying for a while is that young people and families would be gathered back to the church. And God has been reminding me of his promises: that he does not desire that any perish but all come to the knowledge of salvation. That he is the one who leaves the 99 to go in search of the lost sheep. That he is the rebuilder of walls, and that when we ask in faith it will be given to us.

Prayer that God loves and responds to is bold- even demanding. Not bossy but zealous for God's glory and renown. This leads to a finally lesson from Nehemiah.

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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 in revering your name. Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man!” At the time, I was cupbearer to the king.”

Having encountered a crisis and prayed for days, empathizing with the situation and reminding God of his promises, now Nehemiah acts. The last lesson from Nehemiah about finding your calling is that We are provoked to take action. Remember, Nehemiah had a privileged position. He was comfortable. But this crisis would not allow him to rest. He had to do something about it.

If you keep reading, he appears again before the king. The king notices he’s sad and asks why. Here is Nehemiah’s opportunity, and so saying a quick prayer, he tells the king what’s troubling him. The king responds beyond his wildest imagination, not only allowing Nehemiah to personally go to oversee the reconstruction of the walls, but also gives him a royal decree to pull from the royal coffers anything need to pay for the rebuilding. Nehemiah prayed over the crisis and God gave him the next step.

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Following their “Pentecost” moment, the villagers in Herrnhut gave themselves to prayer - especially over those who had not yet heard the gospel. Many began to get a sense of calling to go as a missionary. One place they went was to the New World - America.

Aboard a ship bound for the new world was a group of 26 Germans. The ship had been hit by its third Atlantic storm in a week, and things were looking bleak. A very detailed young man chronicled these events in his diary. He had made it his custom to join this group of Germans during their Sunday evening worship, and he had been increasingly impressed by this group during the three month voyage. He noted their humility, their lack of complaint over the conditions, and above all, in the face of a life-threatening storm, their absolute calm. In his own words:

In the midst of the psalm with which their service began, the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks, as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterward, ‘Were you not afraid? He answered, ‘I thank God, no.’ I asked, ‘But were not your women and children afraid?’ He replied, mildly, ‘No; our women and children are not afraid to die.’

The ship was called the Simmonds. On board were 100 settlers bound for a recently founded colony in Georgia. The Germans were the second party of Moravians sent from Herrnhut. And the young man who recorded the events that night was John Wesley who himself was on his way to do mission work in America. This moment created a crisis in Wesley’s life, for he knew deep down that he lacked the assurance of God’s love and salvation that the Moravians had.

Wesley stayed in Georgia a little under two years. He arrived with dreams of preaching the gospel to the native Americans; he left broken and disillusioned and haunted by his encounter with the Moravians. He wrote in his diary, “I went to America to convert the Indians; but oh! who shall convert me?”

This began a process of several months meeting with a Moravian minister who spoke to him about the assurance of salvation. About trusting in Christ alone for salvation. Wesley began to seek this assurance with everything he had. One evening he attended a meeting in London. Someone read from Luther’s introduction to the book of Romans. In Wesley’s own words:

About a quarter to nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.

Following this touch of God’s grace, Wesley’s heart would begin to set all of Britain on fire. Wesley would later say, “I set myself on fire and people come to watch me burn.” Wesley had found his calling. This fire of revival would eventually encompass England and cross the ocean to America. We know it today as the First Great Awakening.

And it was all because some Moravians in Germany decided to pray for those who hadn’t heard the gospel. A prayer that sparked on of the greatest revivals in history

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I think finding our calling or purpose is not such a great mystery. From Nehemiah we saw that:

It begins with a burden we can’t ignore.

It prompts us to pray and discern.

It calls us to remind God of his promises.

It provokes us to action.

I began by reading from Acts. The disciples faced a crisis. But it wasn’t something bad. It was amazing. The Lord had risen from the dead. It was a crisis, though, that demanded a response. The world needed to know, and in just a few days they would be filled with power - the original Pentecost outpouring - so they could witness to the resurrection.

Inherent is Jesus commission is the assumption that those who hear and respond to the good news would in turn tell others . To the very ends of the earth.

We so often ask if God has a plan or purpose for our life. Well, here it is. If you know Jesus, your calling is to make him known. How you do that will vary. But that we all do it is essential. The church is always only one generation away from dying out.

What might God do in us today if we devoted ourselves to praying for mission - for missions around the world, but also for our own personal calling?

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How do we respond to this message?

Maybe you are like Wesley. You know about Jesus, but you don’t know Jesus. You know he took your place on the cross, taking the death consequence of your sin. That he rose on the third day having conquered death. But you’ve never begun a personal relationship with him. Or you don’t have assurance that you are really his child. This is your crissi that demands a response. Ask Jesus to forgive your sins and commit to follow him.

If your looking for your calling, where is God placing a burden on your heart? Maybe to a person? Maybe to a need that you see ? Maybe it’s to come alongside an existing ministry and be a part of that? Or maybe God is calling you to pioneer something new.

When we pray like a Moravian it will be prayer that sparks mission.

Invite a response during communion...

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Communion

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.” As we come to communion it’s important to remember that Jesus has saved us for a purpose, but the first purpose is fellowship with him. Eating together in the ancient world implied friendship and commitment, and at this table we share again a meal with Jesus - a meal where we receive him into our self.

On the night that he was betrayed...

Come Holy Spirit and overshadow these elements. Let them be for us your body and blood so that we can participate in your redemptive work for us. May we find mercy, healing and salvation through the finished work of the cross. Amen.