The Altar God Ignored
Pursuit in Prayer • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 7 viewsNotes
Transcript
Review new season: Pursuit in Prayer
Last week: The Origin and the Center of prayer
I encourage you if you have not listened to last week’s message, after we are done here today, go listen to that message because everything we say from this point forward about prayer is through the prerequisite thought that Jesus is and has always been at the center of biblical prayer…
Gary Millar in his biblical theology of prayer says it this way,
Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer From the Beginning, Prayer and the Gospel Cannot Be Separated
From the beginning, prayer and the gospel cannot be separated
Prayer is established (perhaps even defined as) calling on God to come through on his promises.
To pray is to ask God to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It is to admit our weaknesses and appeal to his awesome strength.
According to Genesis, people start to pray because they see both God’s commitment to us and their own helplessness.
They pray because they know God is for them, because he has said so, and that they are weak because he has said so. In other words prayer starts with the gospel.
It always has and always will. Once we recognize this, it will ensure that we avoid the simple but far-reaching mistake of separating what God has joined—prayer and the gospel.
This is our challenge and our charge, that we follow the same commendation Paul made to the church at Colossi:
17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
WHATEVER we do both in word or deed. Whatever actions we take, whatever words we speak, whatever prayers we pray…
We do ALL in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks through Him to God the Father…
It should be no surprise that we are beginning with this idea about prayer, when we expect that everything from our careers to our casual conversations should ooze the message of the gospel…
Imagine a well-worn path through a field, with every step leaving an imprint.
Similarly, our actions leave impressions on the hearts of those around us, just like a consistent message of the gospel should.
When people see us live out our faith authentically, they can’t help but notice the transformation it brings.
It is expected, then, that if our lives are expected to be gospel shaped as we are transformed more and more into His image, so too our prayers begin in and develop from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Put the gospel first. And that means you must put the priorities of the gospel at the center of your prayer life.
D. A. Carson
Gospel shaped prayer is exemplified in Paul’s opening statements in his letter to the church at Philippi:
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you,
4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all,
5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.
6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.
What’s the good work? Look at verse 5, “your participation in the gospel…”
The good work that Paul is confident that Jesus will perfect in them is their participation in the Gospel…
The gospel was the center of focus, the central tenant of prayer for Paul.
Even his decision on what to pray and how to pray it concerning the churches he wrote to was shaped and determined by their relation to the gospel…
In the case of the church at Philippi, He thanks God in view of their participation in the gospel…
Even when he prays a few lines later for something more specific he says,
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,
10 so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;
11 having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Even their giftings, ministry, love, and sincerity are for the sake of the gospel… preparing them for the Day of Christ, through Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
Even when asking God to mature them and gift them with abounding love, knowledge, and discernment, it is for the sake of the Gospel!
This is what it looks like to have a Jesus centered, Gospel shaped life of prayer…
This is how prayer begins in Chapter 4 of Genesis and is carried through all the way into the final mentions of prayer in the Revelation of John in the final book of the New Testament…
Last week we began with the origin of prayer in Genesis 4, when Men began to call upon the name of the Lord…
This week I want to jump ahead to the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 14 where we encounter the most significant descriptor of prayer since it began in Gen. 4:
35 And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.
36 Then Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and take spoil among them until the morning light, and let us not leave a man of them.” And they said, “Do whatever seems good to you.” So the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”
37 Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You give them into the hand of Israel?” But He did not answer him on that day.
Repeat: But He did not answer him on that day…
Title: The Altar God Ignored…
Before this prayer from Saul, there are at least two dozen other prayers recorded in scripture and every single one of them received a response…
They were not all an affirmative response. God did not always say yes, but every recorded prayer before this point received a response…
Until the prayer of Saul…
Here’s another observation about the prayers previous to this one in scripture:
Every prayer between the cry in Genesis 4 and the lack of answer in 1 Sam 14 is directly connected to the covenant promises of God..
In other words, up to this point God always answers, and every recorded prayer up to this point is also connected to the promised seed…
So look at the contrast:
Up to this point when people would pray, they were praying that God would fulfill His promises…
They were covenant/gospel focused prayers, and they were always answered..
But this prayer, where Saul builds his first altar, is the first time when it is recorded that God did not answer…
This stands out not just because it’s silence—but because of why it’s silent.
Up to this point when an altar was built, it was built to honor God, worship God, give sacrifices to God…
The altar was a place of prayer and worship…
The altar was built for the remembrance of what God had done for His people…
But Saul’s altar is used for a different purpose…
Saul builds an altar and does not worship or memorialize.. He did not praise or call upon the name of the Lord for His promises…
Instead:
Saul inquires about battle tactics, not God’s heart.
He built his first altar not to worship, but to get an answer.
His oath (that follows) was rash, not rooted in Scripture or dependence on the LORD.
He seeks to maintain control, not yield to God’s direction.
There is no appeal to God’s covenant, no mention of God’s name as Deliverer, no cry for righteousness or mercy…
And it is this prayer that marks history as the first prayer God ever ignored…
In our journey through the scriptures on this study and practice of prayer, we must take into account the significance of answered prayers, but also this prayer in particular as the first unanswered prayer ever recorded…
What can we learn from this point of Saul’s prayer?
I find it significant that the first prayer ever ignored is also the first prayer from an altar built to advance Saul’s agenda rather than God’s.
How often do we come to the altar of prayer, leading with our own agenda, our own desires, our own needs or wants…
We spend our time in prayer asking God to do something or say something, to move in this way or that, effectively building our own altar of prayer based on our agenda rather than His…
Here’s the scary part about this short story about prayer: Verse 35 says TWICE that Saul built an altar, “to the Lord”…
35 And Saul built an altar to the Lord; it was the first altar that he built to the Lord.
Which means we can build something and put the name of the Lord on it…
It can look genuine… It can seem authentic, but have no true communion with God…
It can’t be His agenda AND ours… It’s either all His or not His at all..
That’s what makes Saul’s altar so sobering. He builds a religious-looking thing to serve his own cause.
He puts “To the LORD” on it—but it’s really to preserve his own throne, to win his own battle, to control his own outcome.
It’s prayer as a power move, not surrender.
It’s spirituality wrapped around self-preservation.
Saul built an altar, but didn’t worship… -
It’s like going to church, praying and serving, but never really surrendering…
Saul asked God for victory rather than asking God for His will…
We pray for outcomes more than for obedience.
He never repented or referenced covenant..
In the same way we rush into requests without aligning with God’s promises…
He used God’s name, but ignored God’s heart…
How often do you pray “In Jesus’ Name” but ignore Jesus’ priorities…
Praying in the Name of Jesus becomes a phrase we insert into our prayers for flare, rather that praying in a way that is framed by and rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ…
What if the reason we don’t hear God is because we’ve stopped praying in alignment with His story?
What if we don’t hear God because we pray our agenda rather than His desire?
What if we’ve filled our altars with petitions but left no room for the Presence?
The altar is not a place for pushing our plans, “claiming our authority,” or making ourselves the hero…
We aren’t the center of this story, Jesus IS..
We aren’t the hero of the narrative… Jesus IS..
Call Worship Team
What if we came instead to the altar of the gospel—where:
the covenant is central,
Jesus is sufficient,
the cry is not “Bless me” but “Have me.”
where His promises are paramount and His plans are priority…
where we call on His name for His purpose to be fulfilled in our lives…
Where our prayers shift from “What can you do for me” to “How can I align with YOU…
What if we come not to the altar of need, but to the altar of the gospel?
Where we stop trying to get God to say “yes” to our story… And start asking how to say “yes” to His.
I’m asking you to build your own place of prayer on these altars this morning…
not of your own agenda, not based on what you need, but based on seeking the God of heaven…
worshipping Him, calling on His name, asking Him to fulfill His promises…
Let’s pray gospel shaped prayers rooted in and empowered by the good news of Jesus Christ, crucified, buried, and resurrected…
Will you pray with me this morning?
