Bow In Worship

I’ve told this story a time or two in different situations. But, I couldn’t think of or find a better one that fit more perfectly to open this text.

When I was pastoring another church before this one, I had a few people get upset at how I was pastoring. Imagine that....There was a group in the church that was pretty buttoned-downed and traditional. Now, there is nothing wrong with tradition. I like a decent amount of what is considered traditional in a Baptist church. The problem is when our preference over tradition is in conflict to clear Biblical teaching.

In this case it had to do some things going on in worship that I wasn’t correcting. One Sunda, yy morning a pretty prominent senior adult lady came to me and made it clear that there were a group of people that were pretty upset with the way I was running things. I asked, “What’s wrong?” They said, “You’ll be preaching and people will just burst out and say, “Amen and Hallelujah” and you won’t even stop them.” I tried to respond, but she continued, “Not only that, during some of our musical worship, people have started raising their hands right in the middle of the song. It is just drawing attention to themselves.” I tried to chime in at this point, but she cut me off and continued, “And the last few Baptisms you have officiated, you allowed people to clap their hands in celebration after the people came up out of the water. We don’t think any of this is appropriate in our worship.”

After she was done, I stopped and I thought just for a few seconds. (I know that surprises some of you.) What the Lord gave me to say next was some of the wisest words I’ve ever uttered. I said, “Well I understand your concerns and what you don’t like. That’s very fair. We all have likes and dislikes. But, what you have told me is about what you like in worship or what you think is appropriate in worship. Have you ever thought about what God likes in worship? That’s really important because worship is not first and foremost for us. It is for God. And, the Bible makes it very clear that God enjoys all those different actions as acts of worship. And, I can’t tell them they can’t do what the Bible already says that they can.”

She was pretty quick. She said, “Preacher, we don’t have to worship just like the Bible says!” And I responded, “Then how do you know what you are doing is worship?” This text from is teaching on what God desires in public, corporate worship. He first teaches us about public prayer in worship. And, then he speaks to acceptable behaviors of men and women in worship. This morning we are going to talk about the role of prayer in public worship.

When Paul speaks to what belongs in worship, he starts by giving an urgent plea for prayer.

1 Timothy 2:1 ESV

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

Paul says that prayer is of primary importance in worship. He’s not saying that it is primary in terms of time. We don’t have to spend all of our time praying in worship. But he is saying that it is primary in terms of importance. In other words, if we are going to cut something, the very last thing that we should cut in worship is prayer.

2,200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon: Arranged Topically or Textually and Indexed by Subject, Scripture, and People Prayer

947If any of you should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say it is in that one word—prayer.

What he says here really convicted me of how we pray in our worship services. Why is prayer so crucial in worship? It is crucial because...

I. Intentional prayer expresses daily dependence. (v.1)

A. What should our prayers look like?

In the NT, there are 6 different Greek nouns used for prayer. Four of them occur in this verse: “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.” Together they express how much we need God for daily needs.

1. Supplications

First, he tells us to offer up “supplications.” These are requests based on a desire or a need that we have. All real prayer involves a deep desire.

+Think about it. When you haven’t prayed in a while or you are dry spiritually, what gets you back to calling out to God? It’s often when a real need arises. When a loved one gets sick or their is a family emergency. When we find ourselves in a situation where we know that the wisdom or the resources that we have are just not enough. Need drives us to God. Need keeps us close to God. While it should not be the end of prayer, need reminds us that we need God and he is always waiting with a listening ear.

2. Public Prayer

Second, he mentions the word most often simply translated prayer. It often speaks about prayer in general, but in this context he is talking about the importance of public prayer amongst believers.

I’m mindful of Spurgeon who said, “A Christians who prays long in private knows well to pray short in public.”

Second, he mentions the word most often simply translated prayer. It often speaks about prayer in general, but in this context he is talking about the importance of public prayer amongst believers. I’m not one to think that public prayers should be long and impressive. I’m thoughtful of what Jesus said about not praying like the Pharisees.

I’m not one to think that public prayers should be long and impressive. I’m thoughtful of what Jesus said about not praying like the Pharisees.

Matthew 6:5–6 ESV

5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

-No wait, isn’t that Jesus telling us not to pray in public? Not exactly, what he is saying is we should not have a prayer life that is only public. One of the main purposes of corporate prayer is to honor God by displaying publically that prayer is a value among God’s people.

The great prayer warrior and writer, E.M. Bounds, applied this issue to the public proclamation. He he was talking about Holy Spirit anointing or unction on the preacher. He said, “If the preacher doesn’t bring unction from the prayer closet, he’ll never have it in the pulpit.” So, we must be a people who pray publically that we are a people that commune with God privately.

3. Intercessions

Third, he says to pray with intercessions. Of course this means that we speak to God on behalf of someone else. We pray for someone’s salvation, healing, job, marriage, etc. But this word also tells us something about what kind of relationship that we must have with God to pray for someone. But the word translated, “intercession” in the language of the NT speaks of a free and familiar conversation with God that is so comfortable that you can bring up others.

+So, to pray well for others, we must cultivate a closeness with God that prays often.

Finally, he says to pray with “thanksgiving.” This is something that the Bible tells us often to do. Why is expressing thankfulness such an important part of prayer? Is God so sensitive that if we don’t acknowledge what he’s done that he gets upset and cranky? No. We need to do this because we need growing faith. Two great things that cause faith to grow: 1)Reading God’s Word and 2)Praying with Thanksgiving.

1)Reading God’s Word because we read the promises of God and how God has been true to his promises for people in the past. That gives us great hope that he will be faithful to them in our lives today.

2) Praying with Thanksgiving because it causes us to keep fresh on our minds all of the ways has kept his promises to us in the past. And, if he is faithful to meet our needs in the past, it encourages us that he will meet our need in the future.

And so, any effective, faithful, God-glorifying church must be a praying church.

2,200 Quotations from the Writings of Charles H. Spurgeon: Arranged Topically or Textually and Indexed by Subject, Scripture, and People Prayer Meeting

1050Prayer is the breath of faith. Prayer meetings are the lungs of the church

So, no matter what context you are in, you are always there in some sense to pray.

B. For whom should we be praying?

He says very clearly, “all people”

I. Intentional prayer expresses authentic faith. (v.1)

1 Timothy 2:1 ESV

1 First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,

We are to be praying for “all people.” (v.1) Our values should exempt no one and no group from diligent prayer. My question is, “Why would he have to say that?” The only reason he would say that is if they were feeling a temptation not to pray for someone who is in need. I think we rarely pray for people that we don’t like. Or, people that have wronged us. People we are holding grudges against.

In his context, he is pressing the issue that Christianity is not Judaism. Salvation is reserved for just Jews, but Gentiles as well. So, prayer should not be reserved for just Jews.

I think that brings up the issue that we have Christian brothers and sisters that are not just American. But, brothers and sisters around the world that are facing intense persecution.

According to AmericanMagizine.org, The top 10 countries where Christians face the most persecution are:

North Korea (94 points) — Christians and Christian missionaries are routinely imprisoned in labor camps.

Afghanistan (93 points) — The government of this Muslim country does not recognize any of its citizens as Christian.

Somalia (91 points) — The Catholic bishop of Mogadishu has described it as “not possible” to be a Christian in Somalia.Sudan (87 points) — The Muslim government has slated Christian churches for demolition.

Pakistan (86 points) — Christians and other non-Muslims sit on death row, facing charges of blasphemy.

Eritrea (86 points) — Only four religions are officially recognized (Sunni Islam and the Eritrean Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Evangelical Lutheran churches). Those belonging to other faiths are persecuted and those of recognized faiths are routinely harassed by the government.

Libya (86 points) — The government is reportedly training militants to attack Coptic Christians.

Iraq (86 points) — Iraqi Christians are just now beginning to return to their homelands after ISIS caused them to flee.

Yemen (85 points) — The ongoing political and humanitarian crisis has further squeezed Christians and other religious minorities, who already faced severe restrictions on practicing their faiths.

Iran (85 points) — Religious minorities, including Christians, face “systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of religious freedom,” according to the U.S. State Department.

And, in particular he mentions that we should be praying for kings and all who are in high positions.

1 Timothy 1:2 ESV

2 To Timothy, my true child in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 Timothy 2:2 ESV

2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.

1 Tim.

And, in particular he mentions that we should be praying for kings and all who are in high positions.

We will get to last part in our next message on this. But, we must realize that our governmental leaders play a big part in our our lives proceed. Think about the impact that Roe V. Wade had on society from 1977 until now. There is a case before the Supreme Court right now oncerning restrictions that the state of Louisiana place on abortion doctors. We need to pray for our Justices. We need to pray for our President. We need to pray for leaders making decisions about this coronovirus.

We just had elections here. We have some run offs coming up. We need to pray that God’s will be done in chosing them.

And, by the way, we don’t get to just pray for the one’s that we like. We don’t get just pray for the one’s that line up with our political party. Regardless of what you thought about Obama, it was right to pray for him. Regardless of what you think about Trump, it is right to pray for him.

We tend to be really adept at criticizing leaders on social media. Here’s a challenge, for every critical thing you see about any leader on social media, match it with a prayer that God would use them to somehow bring about his will.

Christians have the power to shape the world because we have the power of prayer. And, prayer can change anyone. Even, politicians.

Let’s take a moment and pray for them.

II. Effective prayer produces desirable lives. (v.2)

III. Ongoing prayer initiates global evangelism. (v.3-7)