2021.03.28 This Ain't No Coke Machine

This Ain’t No Coke Machine

What do they need to know? Prayer is not aimed at what I want…it’s aimed at healing

Why do they need to know it? Because the church is ill

What do they need to do? Regularly confess and fervently pray for each other

Why do they need to do it? The church is ill and needs a stronger prayer undergirding

How can I help them remember? Connect relationships and start class meetings

Me

Have you ever had a computer virus? I’ve been fighting with two of them for over a week! One on my computer here was pretty easy to eliminate, but I’m still discovering settings it changed and drivers I need to reinstall to remove the effects of this little bugger. The other one was on my laptop. It was a lot easier to kill, but a lot harder to find. I knew it was there somewhere, but I couldn’t find it. Once I found it, I had to remove it manually. I have 3 antivirus programs to try and catch these things before they find their way in, but these two both got through. Occasionally, I get a notice that something is attempting to install on my computer that’s a virus, and I can tell it to delete the attempt. Seldom, one gets through and wastes a huge amount of my time and energy while I try to fix the damage it’s done. If you use computers, you know they are wonderful tools, but we really need something more effective to keep away the computing nasties.

Today’s subject proposed we discuss “how to pray effectively”

I’m not sure if this sermon will address the specific question posed, but I feel sure it will address the idea the person was aiming at.

We

Don’t we want everything we do to be more effective?

Wouldn’t you like to be more effective at your work? More work done with less effort? How about at school? I spend half the time and get twice the homework done? They’re working on more effective cars that literally drive themselves. If we ever get to the point where everyone is driving smart cars, we’ll be able to safely travel at unbelievable speeds…all controlled by a computer somewhere. Of course, I’m still waiting for the Star Trek beaming devices to be invented and perfected. How much more effective would your vacation be if you didn’t have to spend the time and energy driving or flying to your destination?

You see, we have a concept of what “effective” means, and it taints this question.

When I looked on google for an idea of where to start, I found a myriad of suggested ways to “pray effectively”. Of course, they were all based on a passage or two of Scripture, but they came back to the same basic principle: How do I get what I want out of God?

There are some bold statements made in Scripture: “Ask and it will be given to you” • “seek and you shall find” • “You have not because you ask not”

In recent weeks, we talked about the idea that doing the right thing will give you what you want out of the universe, or doing the wrong thing will bring about what you don’t want. I’m not talking about consequences for choices…I’m talking about superstitions like “Don’t talk about death, or you’ll die”. Do you remember the roots of that superstitious belief? ANCIENT PAGANISM (pull the right string and you get what you want out of the universe…KARMA) This is what I call a Coke Machine Faith: I put my money in and made my choice, now the machine gives me what I want.

God will certainly give us what we want…if what we want fits in His will. Phrases like “ask and it will be given to you” are usually preceded with phrases like “Seek first the Kingdom of God…”

I think the heart of the question “How to pray effectively” is aimed at getting what we want, but God’s purpose is not to be a sugar daddy, and the purpose of prayer is not to give us what we want…unless we want HIM!

Jesus teaches us how to pray. We use His pattern every week when we pray the Lord’s Prayer.

God

Matthew 6:6–13 NASB

6 “But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 7 “And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. 8 “So do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. 9 “Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 ‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 11 ‘Give us this day our daily bread. 12 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

Why would we continue to use this pattern of prayer this long after it was first taught? Maybe there’s something to this prayer. Maybe it’s a fairly complete prayer:

Praise of God’s holy name • Request for God’s Kingdom to be established and his will to be done here on earth • Request for provision for our needs (not wants) • Begging for forgiveness and a promise to forgive others • And concluding with a request for guidance away from temptation and deliverance from the evil one.

That’s a pretty complete prayer. I don’t see a Mercedes in the driveway…or even a driveway in there. I don’t see any luxury in there. I see praise, I see gratitude, I see request or supplication, but they all center on our relationship with God…because that’s really what He wants to give you!

So where do we get the idea of an “effective prayer”?

James 5:16 NASB

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

James 5:16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

I wrestled with the Greek in this passage and couldn’t come to grips with a part of it. I ended up emailing one of my Asbury professors to ask about how one of the words is used.

We’ll get to that word in a minute, but notice the order of things: Confess (to whom?) • NOWHERE IN SCRIPTURE ARE WE TOLD TO CONFESS TO GOD! We have many instances of the saints of old doing just that, but not typically quietly alone in their room…usually it takes the form of a Psalm that was written to be sung publicly, or a public confession in front of the King’s court. The Greek word we translate “confess” carries the connotation of a public proclamation. James tells us to confess our sins TO EACH OTHER…why? • So that we can pray for each other to bring HEALING!

Healing here is much broader than just physical. The Greek word here means a complete healing…it involves physical, but emphasizes deliverance from “…conditions that lie beyond physical maladies”.

As much as I need a holistic anti-virus software that is more effective against computer viruses, how much more do I need a holistic method of effective prayers to bring healing to my life?

You

The prayer Jesus sets out in Matthew doesn’t deal with any of our desires or wants. It deals with our needs, and our relationship with Him.

James’s prayer adds another component…he teaches us that an effective prayer from someone else will bring healing to me.

I don’t want to chase this rabbit trail too long, but I think we misunderstand what is meant by an EFFECTIVE prayer. The Greek word there is energeo…ENERGY! It means to be at work…an active prayer…an unending prayer…King James says “fervent prayer”, and I think that’s closer to right than effective because ‘effective’ has a more convenient meaning…one we would prefer. We would prefer that our prayers produce the effect we desire, so we tend to think of effective prayer as being one that brings the karma we want it to bring.

James teaches us that an effective prayer is a prayer aimed at someone else’s good. Effective means we are fervently seeking God on behalf of someone else’s healing. It’s hard to do that without knowing the needs, so the process begins with CONFESSION to one another.

We

Are any of you sick? Not in a physical sense, but are any of you spiritually sick? Let’s call the elders together and have a little confession and prayer party!

How do we pray effectively? First, we pray! Prayer isn’t an event…it’s a lifestyle. Fervent prayer is not a one-time shot up to the heavenlies every morning. While there is nothing wrong with that, it is not sufficient to bring about the healing of our loved ones.

Are you sick? Do you need to be healed? I’d like to offer two opportunities to respond:

[EDIT OUT!!!] In a few minutes, we’ll be celebrating Holy Communion. If you REALLY want to be healed…confess to someone and ask them to fervently pray for you!

I have confessed before that my top struggle is lust. I have a circle of brothers who know my struggles thoroughly. I remember a time I was having a particularly hard time, and I went to one of those brothers. He proclaimed forgiveness over me, he anointed me and he fervently prayed for my healing. I wasn’t released from this thorn in my flesh, but I gained the upper hand on my struggle. If you don’t have someone to regularly confess to, you are sick. You don’t have anyone who fervently [EFFECTIVELY] prays for you, you are lacking a major component of the Christian life and you are less healthy than you should be.

So, I’m going to prepare the elements, and while I do that, I would like to invite you to find someone here today that you can trust to confess your sins to. I would encourage you to get to one dark recess of your soul in your confession. Then, we will commit to fervently pray for each other that we will be healed of our illness of sin.

If you aren’t comfortable with that, I’d like you to stick around for a few minutes after worship. I won’t be de-greeting today. Instead, I’ll be waiting in the sanctuary to talk about setting up regular small groups to fervently confess and pray for one another. This will start with a book, but it’s NOT a study…this is carrying one another’s burdens and praying for deliverance from the sin that so easily entangles us! This is the lifeblood of the Christian, and it can sustain you and propel you to victorious battle against your besetting sin. I’ll give more details about the groups I’m proposing after worship.

Holy Spirit guide us in our response, and hear the fervent prayers of your righteous saints today!