Sunday Sermon: "More by Its Prayerfulness than Its Performance"
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Text: Luke 11:1-4
Series: “The Church Your New Pastor Deserves”
What was it that Shakespeare said? “All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances. And one man in his time plays many parts.” (As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII). Shakespeare’s point of course is that life as we know it is one big stage show, and each of us goes through it playing the roles that have been assigned to us.
Perhaps it’s the season of life that I’m now in that has caused me to think more carefully about Shakespeare’s metaphor. As I transition from this role as Senior Minister of Mountain Brook Baptist Church to whatever the next one will be, how will I negotiate it? Or better yet, how will I perform it, not so much in a way that brings me accolades or applause but instead in a way that makes much of Jesus? And I invite you to join me in answering that question for yourself. For each of us, regardless of our age or life stage, is evolving as well. Our role is changing, whether we realize it or not. And how will we manage it? What will we do to move into our next stage with excitement and anticipation?
Does it surprise you that such questions were on Jesus’ mind as he made his way toward Jerusalem and the cross? It had become apparent to Jesus that the time had come for him to make his exit from this world and his entrance into the next. The time had come for him to go to the cross. And as was often the case with Jesus, he prepared himself for this climactic role in God’s plan of salvation through prayer.
As Luke describes the setting, Jesus is praying, and his disciples are watching. No doubt the devotion Jesus has shown them strikes a chord in their hearts and they yearn to know the same devotion in their own lives. And so, one of the disciples approaches Jesus with a request on behalf of the entire group: “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples,” speaking of John the Baptist. It was a common practice in Judaism for rabbis to provide their followers with short, simple prayers they could in turn offer up to God. And Jesus gives them what many students of the New Testament have called “the Model Prayer.” “When you pray,” Jesus tells them, not if you pray. “When you pray, say (these words).
What you’ll notice immediately about Jesus’ Model Prayer that it differs a bit from what we know as the Lord’s Prayer from Matthew’s Gospel. Luke’s version of the prayer is shorter and simpler than Matthew’s, which has caused some to question as to which is the earliest. I find that the wrong question. The fact that these versions differ only means that each Gospel writer passed on the prayer in a way that suited their respective audiences. And at the end of the day, our takeaway from both versions is that it matters not so much how we pray but that we pray. For through prayer, we align our desires with God’s desires and show God that we are willing and ready to be transformed in whatever ways may be necessary for God’s will to be done in us and through us.
Chester Nimitz was an admiral in the United States Navy who served as Chief of Naval Operations during the Second World War. Any student of history will know that Nimitz was a leader who took prayer seriously. The source of many famous quotes, Nimitz is the person to whom is attributed the poem on the value of unanswered prayer. That prayer goes as follows:
I asked God for strength that I might achieve; I was made weak
That I might learn humbly to obey.
I asked God for health that I might do greater things; I was given infirmity
That I might do better things.
I asked God for riches that I might be happy; I was given poverty –
That I might be wise.
I asked God for power; that I might have the praise of men; I was given weakness –
That I might feel the need of God.
I asked for all things that I might enjoy life; I was given life –
That I might enjoy all things.
I got nothing that I asked for –
But everything I hoped for.
Almost despite myself
My unspoken prayers were answered.
I am, among all men, most richly blessed.
The value of unanswered prayer is that when we come before God in prayer, the value of our prayer is not so much God giving us what we want as it is God giving us what we need – the joy of hallowing His name and advancing His kingdom, the satisfaction of receiving bread for each day, the forgiveness of our sins and the grace to forgive those who sin against us, and the mercy of being led down paths far removed from temptation. When you stop and consider what is at stake when we pray, the real marvel is that we do not pray more!
There is no question but that Luke, the Gospel writer, understood this truth and included this teaching so that the church for which he was responsible would always be aware of how prayer connects us to the greatest source of spiritual power. And embrace it they most certainly did. For example, think of that story Luke records in his second volume, the book of Acts, the fourth chapter. Peter and John have just been released by the religious authorities in Jerusalem and they have returned to where the rest of the believers have gathered, and a great service of celebration ensues. Luke tells us that as Peter and John explain to the church the miracle of their release, the believers raise their voices together in prayer to God, the place where they were meeting was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking the word of God boldly.
Notice the order. They pray and are filled with the Holy Spirit. Then they exit and go out into their world to turn it upside down by speaking the word of God boldly. They pray and they perform. They seek God and God guides them. They become transformed people and they go out into the world to transform people.
Wouldn’t you love to be a part of a church like that, a church that doesn’t lean on its own resources, as abundant as those resources may be, but who leans upon the power that comes to us through prayer and only then leverages those resources to have the greatest impact for Christ in their community and ultimately their world?
Then, lets make sure we never step out on the stage God has given us without first having gone to Him in prayer. Let’s follow the example of Jesus, who didn’t pray only on special occasions but did so continually and committedly. Let’s not get bogged down on the details of how to pray and let’s instead focus our energies and attention on praying as the Holy Spirit moves us to pray. After all, learning how to be prayerful is a very different thing from learning a rote prayer, even a prayer as significant as the Lord’s Prayer.
Yes, as the people of God, we at Mountain Brook Baptist Church have been given quite the stage, and each of us has been called to play our part. But if we truly want to move this church forward in the days to come, we will only be able to do so as fast as we can on our knees in prayer. Only then will our performance receive the applause of heaven because our prayers have been answered in ways that overcome the world’s darkness so that everything and everyone are bathed in the light and the life of Jesus.