#4 "Rules For The Redeemed"
“THE PRAYER RULE!”
TEXT:
Matt. 7:7-11; 6:5-8; Luke 18:1-7
INTRO: Sometimes
prayer is ignored or misused ... like the little boy who was told by his mother
to say prayers before bedtime. The
little boy didn't want to pray, but his mother encouraged him to prayer and to
ask God for something he really wanted.
So, he prayed very loudly, "Lord
bless mommy and daddy, and (shouting)
GOD, GIVE ME A NEW BICYCLE!!!"
His mother protested, "God's not
deaf son, you don't have to shout!"
The son responded, "I know, Mom,
but Grandma is in the next room and she's hard of hearing!" The boy’s idea of prayer needed some
serious teaching!
Prayer is one of the most important
disciplines that we can develop as a Christian. Jesus had much to say about this subject,
an area in which He was much disciplined.
PROP.SENT: The Bible teaches us
that prayer is to be an important part of our walk with God and that spiritual
health is depended on it.
I. PERSONAL MATT.
7:7-11
A. Requests
Matt.
7:7-8
1. There can be little doubt that
Jesus' teaching on prayer here clearly shows the personal nature of
it.
a. The text begins with an invitation
to come in prayer, "asking, seeking, and
knocking."
b. This must be connected however to
c. It is not an invitation to
simply ask for anything!
d. The
idea is that we come and ask, seek, and knock for the right things!
2. It is important also that we
recognize the character of God when we come in prayer ... and not just think of
Him as "Santa Claus"... too often we ignore the great opportunities in prayer
and settle for trivial requests.
ILLUS: The
brother of a Seminary student one day visited him on campus. Traveling on campus he found himself
lost. Along came an elderly
gentleman he stopped and asked directions from him. Later as he described to his brother
this older man he discovered that this was one of the most brilliant theologians
of this century. The brother
couldn't believe it! He had the
opportunity to ask any question, and he asked only how to find a simple
building! He missed a great
opportunity to receive because he failed to recognize who he was speaking with
... how like this we are with God sometimes! – Source Unknown
3. The implied confidence of receiving
therefore is in accord with proper asking!
a. This is where we sometimes fail in
our prayer life; we need to evaluate both what we ask for and why we ask for
it.
b. It is also quite possible that
God's "failure" to answer may be THE answer!
c. Certainly the force of these early
verses shows the personal nature of prayer!
B. Reasonable Matt.
7:9-11
1. When we pray what can we expect
from God? This is a good
question!
a. Too often we have a strange concept
of prayer … we think that only if we beg or cry hard enough will we get God's
attention!
b. Or, we may think that if we can
present our case well enough, with enough logic and convincing arguments that
perhaps God will respond!
c. Or, we try and persuade God by
buying Him off ... promising all kinds of things and making vows as gimmicks to
get our way.
2. Yet, God doesn't respond at
attempts of manipulation, no matter what type we use. God answers our prayers simply based on
relationship!
a. We are sons and daughters of God,
as such He is our Father who loves us and will always seek our
good!
b. However, what is good for us is not
always what we ask for!
c. Many times when God answers our
prayers we may fail to see it as an answer!
d. The point of these verses (9-11) is the APPROPRIATENESS OF GOD'S ANSWERS ...
which can be very different sometimes from what we asked for, but is always
better for us.
ILLUS: "I asked
for strength that I might achieve; He made me weak that I might obey, I asked
for health that I might do great things; He gave me grace that I might do better
things. I asked for riches that I
might be happy; He gave me poverty that I might be wise. I asked for power that I might have the
praise of men; He gave me weakness that I might feel a need of God. I asked for all things that I might enjoy
life; He gave me life that I might enjoy all things. I received nothing I had asked for; He
gave me all that I had hoped for!" – Source Unknown
3. The phrase translated, "how much more
will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask" in Luke’s
passage (11:13) is translated "how much more
will your heavenly Father give the "HOLY SPIRIT" to those who
ask." This means that
the GOOD THINGS spoken of here are not necessarily material things as much as
they are meant to be spiritual things!
a. This removes the "Santa Claus"
dynamic to this passage; where we sometimes see this verse as an invitation to
ask for lots of material wants.
b. The point is that God will NEVER
WITHHOLD ANYTHING REASONABLE FROM US!
4. God is very personal ... this is why
prayer is so wonderful; it allows us a very personal relationship with Almighty
God!
II. PRIVATE MATT.
6:5-8
A. Rewarding Matt.
6:5-6
1. Christians have traditionally put
great emphasis on public prayer, we have even fought battles over it, attempting
to keep it in our public schools etc.
2. Much of our history reveals the
importance we have placed on public prayer at special gatherings, even our
Senate opens each session by prayer.
3. Yet, Jesus put little emphasis on
public prayer, most of the passages in the Bible stresses the importance of
private prayer!
a. Those that fight to keep prayer in
our public schools had better have consistent prayer lives first in their homes
and private lives!
b. It is the private prayer life that
reveals the true nature of spirituality!
4. It is not that public prayer is
unimportant, but it is only as important as our private prayer life really
is!
a. The Pharisees particularly loved to
make a scene with their public prayer life ... they attempted to appear very
spiritual and very loud ... also to look very worn out by the intensity of their
prayers to God!
b. Jesus says for them they already
have earned their reward, the “praise of men.”
c. However, if it is the praise of God
you seek, then this comes from a private relationship with God, the “private prayer
closet!”
ILLUS: Our prayer
life should be like an iceberg ... 10% above the surface is seen, while 90% of
it is below the surface. This was
discovered by a unique way. It was
noticed many years ago by the early ships that sailed near the arctic that these
"SMALL" junks of ice floating in the water seemed to defy the rules of nature
... they floated many times against the strong winds that blew! Sailors couldn't figure out how these
"ice cubes" could do that when even large ships were blown along in the
wind. Finally it was realized that
the only way this was possible was if a huge mass of ice was below the surface
and so was more influenced by water currents than wind currents. This truth works on prayer too ... if all
we have is a public prayer life, we may not be able to withstand the winds of
this world and we will find ourselves blown along by the "winds" of the world
... but if below the surface there is a significant prayer life we can resist
the winds. – Source Unknown
5. This was Jesus' point about these
Pharisees, they had majored on public prayer when they should have been majoring
on “Private Prayer 101!”
B. Rambling Matt.
6:7-8
1. Jesus' point here is not teaching against repetitive prayers, but
against ritualistic ramblings.
Empty
repetitions!
a. This is the meaning of "VAIN
REPETITIONS" (KJV) or as here, "BABBLING." (NIV)
b. The intent of the repetition is
simply to be heard by men, or to make you feel spiritual without really being
spiritual!
c. There is nothing wrong with
repeating prayers as will be seen by the next text we look at in Luke 18:1-7 where the woman persists in the same
prayer over and over.
2. We are encouraged to take advantage
of the personal relationship we have with God in a personal prayer
life.
ILLUS: In Saudi
Arabia, according to Arab custom and officially reinforced in 1952 by a decree
of King Abdul Aziz, every subject has the right of access to his ruler, whether
the rule is a tribal sheik, a governor, or the Monarch himself ... subjects can
come with any cause and be assured an audience. Crown Prince Fahd recently explained the
purpose of this, "Anyone, anyone can come
here. That gives them confidence in
their government ... they know they may look to us for help." And so it is with prayer for the
Christian, we have a guaranteed audience with God, there is no need for rambling
prayers, we can really share with Him! – Source Unknown
3. God desires fellowship with us ...
this includes communication!
4. The example Jesus gives for praying
is commonly called the “Lord's Prayer” but the point is to show how
much content is included when we pray instead of the ramblings of the pagans
which was done as mere ritual.
5. Praying is not a RITUAL for
believers, it is a RELATIONSHIP!
III. PERSISTENT
LK. 18:1-7
A. Resolute Lk.
18:1-5
1. Here Jesus encourages persistent
prayer! The story (parable) is
about a woman who will not quit praying for justice.
a. It is important to recognize that
her request was genuine and correct.
It wasn't a matter of just persisting for anything, but for the right
thing.
b. Her persistence finally pays off
... she is rewarded with the justice she sought.
2. Why does God sometimes require this
persistence in prayer before answering a good request?
a. Perhaps the judge in this case
needed to know that the woman's cause was genuine and not frivolous, perhaps he
wanted her to know the difference!
b. The waiting period would cause her
to realize what is truly significant in life ... and not take for granted
justice in the future.
c. Certainly the process she went
through would make her sensitive to helping someone else who might in the future
face the same dilemma.
d. This process too encourages us to
be fighters and not quitters; perhaps this is what Jesus meant by the last
comment on this passage where He asks, "However, when
the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the
earth?"
e. Jesus might have been asking ... "Will people be
persistent followers?"
3. Prayer makes us resolute ... it
gives us drive and sticking power!
KEEP SEEKING AND DON'T QUIT UNTIL GOD HAS ANSWERED ...
a. Rather than discouraging repeating
prayers, Jesus actually encourages persistence in prayer, especially when we are
praying for the right things!
b. How long does it take to be
persistent? Until the answer
comes!
B. Responsive! Lk.
18:6-7
1. Jesus secondly makes the point that
God IS responsive to us when we persist in prayer! Sometimes it is true that "we have not,
because we ask not."
a. Sometimes we pray as though we
really don't believe our prayers will be answered!
b. Prayer is a very powerful dynamic
that should be nurtured in us; we are the biggest losers when we fail to
pray.
ILLUS: A Scottish
preacher prayed one Sunday morning in their worship service for rain. Later that afternoon as he was preparing
to go back to the church and take his daughter with him, she stopped at the
front closet and grabbed an umbrella, and then she said to her dad, "Here is the
umbrella, Papa." Since it was sunny
outside the dad looked confused and said to his daughter, "What do we need it
for?" She said, "You prayed for
rain this morning, don't you expect God to send it?" his daughter reminded
him. A little embarrassed, he grabbed the
umbrella and took it along, was he ever glad he listened to that little
child-like faith of his daughter's.
After church they were able to walk home under a drenching
rainstorm! How faithful God is in
responding to such faith! We should
have it more often like this child! – Source Unknown
2. We need to realize that God has
ordained Himself that prayer should be the vehicle through which He often works
in our life ... that miracles are framed in prayer.
3. How many times have we suffered
because we have failed to pray?
ILLUS: Shortly
after Dallas Seminary was founded in 1924, it came to the point of
bankruptcy. All the creditors were
going to foreclose at noon on a particular day. That morning, the founders of the school
met in the president's office to pray that God would provide a miracle. In that prayer meeting was the great
Harry Ironside. When it was
his turn to pray, he prayed in his characteristically refreshing manner: "Lord,
we know that the cattle on a thousand hills are thine ... please sell some of
them and send us the money." While
they were continuing to pray, a tall Texan came into the Business office and
said to the secretary, "I just sold two carloads of cattle in Fort Worth. I've been trying to make a business deal
go through and it won't work, and I feel that God is compelling me to give this
money to the Seminary. I don't know
if you need it or not, but here's the check." The secretary took the check and knowing
something of the financial seriousness of the hour went to the door of the
prayer meeting and timidly tapped.
When she finally got a response, Dr Lewis Chafer took the check out of
her hand, and it was for the exact amount of the debt! When he looked at the signature, he
recognized the name of the cattle rancher. Turning to Dr. Ironside, he said, "Harry,
God sold the cattle." – Source Unknown
4. Years ago when our church needed
$5,000 for landscaping, God did a similar type miracle through a couple in
California who called and offered us the money, they did not know we needed it
at the time. God had 2 weeks
earlier already prompted their hearts to do this, before we had even prayed or
knew the need ourselves!
5. Another time – the church I
pastored in Vermont had just completed a new Teen Center, a dream of our Youth
Pastor and the Teens of our church, but we had run $50,000 short on the budget
to cover the building program needs; a lady from town called my office who did
not attend our church and said she was so pleased that our local church was
doing something to minister to the teens of the community by building the Teen
Center that she wanted to give our church a special financial gift, and she sent
over a gift of $50,000! We had
prayed about the shortfall, and God had answered the
need!
a. God answers prayers, but they need
to be prayed!
b. God is a responsive God and He
never gives less than the best!
(1. Will He give a stone when we ask
for bread? NO!
(2. Will He ignore a need or miss a
deadline? NO!
6. In fact, if God hasn't answered
yet, it is because He is doing something we might not yet fully realize ... He
doesn't with-hold without purpose!
a. No earthly father would do this to
the children he loved, how much less unkind our heavenly Father is. He would never do
evil!
b. God will not ignore our true needs,
or ignore us … He will always do good!
CONCLUSION:
An important rule for the Redeemed is the prayer rule! Prayer is what makes our union with God
deeply personal on a day by day basis.
Your relationship with God can only be as warm as your prayer life. Friends and family can always call free
... 1-800-GOD-HEARS, the lines are always
open!