Sermon Tone Analysis

*Prayer:  From Monologue to Dialogue*

*John 10:1-6*

 

 

A Different Kind of “Conversation”

Typically in past messages and teaching on prayer, I would begin by defining prayer as conversation with God.

That’s not a bad definition, but I am aware that prayer is not a typical conversation.

I suppose that it might feel like the kind of conversations wives sometimes have with their husbands … in which wives talk and then husbands don’t respond because they’re wrapped up in a TV show, surfing the Internet, or reading the paper.

So it is with prayer at least on the surface; it seems like we’re talking but were not completely sure if God is listening because he doesn’t seem to be saying much in response … or is the issue that we haven’t learned how to listen?

Better put then, prayer is a unique conversation of the mind and spirit, as the person who has experienced God’s love in Jesus is drawn to speak to God and to listen.

It’s what Christ-followers do.

Martin Luther said, “As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.

The New Testament urges us, *“/Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”/*

[Colossians 4:2 (NIV)]  

 

Clearly following Jesus involves prayer.

His life and ministry was immersed in prayer growing out of the depth of his relationship with his heavenly Father.

Seeing their Master pray, Jesus’ followers evidently sensed that they were missing something in their own prayer life.

So they asked him, "Lord, teach us to pray."

As good Jewish boys, they certainly would have been taught to pray.

No doubt, they knew many formal prayers by heart.

But perhaps that was the problem.

Perhaps their prayers lacked the intimacy, the spontaneity, and the emotional and spiritual depth of Jesus' prayers.

Perhaps the disciples were still only addressing a seemingly distant Creator in their prayers while Jesus was addressing his "Abba"--an Aramaic word which could be translated “Daddy.”

So the disciples wanted to experience the depth of relationship with God and the resulting quality of prayer that Jesus possessed.

\\ \\ Do we share in their desire?

Have our hearts been so captured by God’s love in Jesus Christ that we long to spend time with him and to know him better?

The desire to pray flows out of a love relationship with God in which we trust that Jesus is our Savior.

It flows out of our experience of his mercy and forgiveness, believing that his death on the cross paid the penalty for our sins and opened the way into God’s presence.

Having received such a gift, we then also ask, “Lord, teach us to pray.”

An unlikely source for prayer insight comes from Hollywood in the movie /Bruce Almighty/.

See how many prayer themes you can identify from this clip:

 

 

Prayer as Surrender 

Most powerfully, the movie illustrates prayer as surrender.

Bruce cries out to God, “I’m done … I don’t want to be God anymore … I surrender to your will …”  At its heart, prayer is surrender.

To pray is to abandon reliance on ourselves and give ourselves over to the power of God.

It is to believe even as we are full participants in the drama of our lives, that we cannot save ourselves from our own sin or the evil in this world … we need God; that we cannot love unconditionally and sacrificially for very long as self-centered people … we need God; that we cannot realize our greatest dreams by our own striving … we need God.

A favorite quote of mine comes from the novel /Life after God/ by Gen-X writer Douglas Coupland.

He spends much of his novel describing what it was like to grow up without much of a spiritual foundation.

But he ends it on this poignant note: “Now--here is my secret: I tell it to you with an openness of heart that I doubt I shall ever achieve again ... My secret is that I need God -- that I am sick and can no longer make it alone.

I need God to help me give, because I no longer seem capable of giving; to help me be kind, as I am no longer capable of kindness; to help me love, as I seem beyond being able to love.”

Our recognition of our need for God will lead us to surrender to God and this will be expressed in a life devoted to prayer.

I think of Nehemiah in the Old Testament who was serving as an official for the king of Persia.

Nehemiah received the news that although some of his fellow Jews had returned from exile to the city of Jerusalem, the city itself was still a disaster.

Its wall, a source of both protection and civic pride, had been leveled and although he lived hundreds of miles away, Nehemiah grieved the situation.

And he knew that God would have to be at work through him if Nehemiah was to change this situation.

So Nehemiah prayed*/:  “O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name.

Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."/*

[Nehemiah 1:8-11 (NIV)]

 

God gives true success!

You see there is always a temptation in church life to think that we can accomplish the mission on our own.

And it is possible to achieve some of the outward trappings of the “successful” American church through own efforts.

We can raise money, build buildings, and hire staff simply on the basis of our own resources.

But we cannot achieve true success and fulfill our mission on our own; for the mission of the church is to change lives and only God can do that from the inside out.

No matter how hard we might try, we can’t give anyone faith.

We can’t put love for God or for others in their hearts.

Life change is a God-thing, a Holy Spirit thing.

And to the extent that we recognize this, that we cannot do church well on our own, we will surrender to God and pray for his power to transform lives through Jesus Christ.

* *

* *

Prayer as Request

Secondly, out of our need, we bring to God our requests.

In the movie, Grace prays for Bruce and for herself … and then during his meeting with God, Bruce prays for Grace that she be happy … that she meet someone who will see her as Bruce now sees her through God’s eyes.

Prayer is request … as we bring our needs to God trusting that prayer makes a difference … that God hears and answers according to what is best for us.

We certainly pray for ourselves like Nehemiah did.

And out of our love for our neighbor, we will pray for others.

We call praying for others, intercessory prayer, as we come before God on their behalf.

Richard Foster writes, *“People today desperately need the help that we can give them.

Marriages are being shattered.

Children are being destroyed.

Individuals are living lives of quiet desperation, without purpose or future.

And we can make a difference … if we will learn to pray on their behalf.”

*

 

But here we run into own skepticism.

Does prayer really make a difference?

Even if there is a God, should I bother praying if God is going to do his thing anyway?

Does prayer matter at all?

Well, Jesus thought so.

In several rather extraordinary parables, he urged his followers to pray, to persist in praying, to ask and ask boldly.

Jesus taught in this way because he believed his heavenly Father answers prayer!

One such parable or story is found in Luke 11:  Jesus said:  */"Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

/*

*/ /*

*/"Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me.

The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed.

I can't get up and give you anything.'

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

/*

*/ /*

*/"So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”/*

[Luke 11:5-10 (NIV)]

 

I suspect that we all have been inconvenienced by a friend’s request.

But we left the house on a cold night because the friend was in need of a ride home and had the chutzpa to call and ask.

If that’s what earthly friends will do, how much more will our heavenly Friend answer our prayers.

So we persist in asking, trusting that God will graciously respond to our needs.

We want to avoid two extremes with regard to our requests.

On the one hand, we reject that idea that it’s not worth asking because God is going to do whatever he desires anyway.

The God of the Bible is not one who mechanically works out his plans disregarding human response.

He does not force himself on us.

Even as he richly blesses often without our asking, there are times when he waits for us to come to him as his children.

He wants us to desire him, to recognize our need for him, and to ask.

In the words of author David Jeremiah:  “… if we are consistent men and women who take God at his Word, we believe that prayer changes things, who will pray without ceasing, who will not lose heart at our praying, who day after day will pray no matter what seems to be happening around us, who keep trusting God, then there will come a time when God will say, “I can answer that believer’s prayer because that’s a person who can handle the answer.”

Yet at the same time, we want to avoid the extreme of seeing God as our Cosmic Waiter who we call on when only we need a beverage refill or want to see the dessert menu.

God isn’t waiting around to respond to our every whim … especially when saying “Yes” to a request would ultimately hurt us and~/or lead us away from him.

Thus the paradox of both praying boldly and saying, “Lord, your will be done.”

Prayer as Listening

In prayer, we will do our share of the talking; but part of maturing in prayer is that we are not only speaking but also listening.

Now in the movie, Bruce is given the rather unique opportunity to have a chat with the Almighty after a near death encounter.

Most of us would prefer not to get quite so close to eternity … at least not yet.