Christian Unity:
Exhibited in a Devotion to Prayer
John 17:20-21 ~ Terry Phillips
July 22, 2018
Christian Unity:
Turn with me again, to John chapter 17. We've been considering a number of the statements that our Lord Jesus makes in His prayer to the Father in the presence of His disciples. It’s recorded for us in the 17th chapter of John's Gospel.
When you really stop and think about it, the record of our Lord's prayer is not very lengthy at all, is it? In fact, it's really, quite, quite brief. But in these few words, Jesus speaks of realities that have some of the most life-changing implications possible. Jesus is, as we noted from the very outset, He is anticipating in this portion of God's word, He’s anticipating the glory of the cross. We know, as we've said before, we acknowledge and recognize, that from another perspective, that the other-- that the synoptic Gospels, give us, Jesus was obviously very much anticipating the anguish and the agony of the cross as well. But I'm so thankful for this glimpse into the Savior's heart and mind. As He comes to the cross, He's anticipating the glory.
The statements that we are focusing on at the present, as we been working our way through this this passage in God's word, they are the statements that deal with a unique and a close relationship between Christ and those who are followers of Christ. The subject before us is unity, Christian unity, the unity of the spirit in the body of Christ. I want to remind you as we begin again this morning, I want to just read verses 20 and 21 this morning.
“I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word…”
He’s just and praying that we will be sanctified in the truth, and then He says in verse 21,
“…that they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.”
One of the many wonders of the cross is our Lord's sanctifying mercy. Setting apart, those who will belong to Him. In bringing many sons to glory, our heavenly Father is not ashamed of us. In fact, He delights in us. In anticipating the glory of the cross, our Savior is rejoicing. Look at these, the verses that we just read, He's rejoicing in the oneness of his followers that’s going to give credible evidence of his saving mission, credible evidence to an unbelieving world around us. “…that the world may believe that Thou did send Me.” Aren’t you thankful that God is not ashamed of His redemptive work? God doesn't hide what He's doing, He's proud of what He's doing, if we could say it that way. God delights in what He's accomplished. He delights in displaying the genuineness of His saving work on the cross, and He does so in a number of ways.
One of the greatest confirming evidences of the Lord's redemptive triumph is what Jesus is speaking of in this passage; the setting apart of His people, the setting apart of His people in the truth, the setting apart of His people in unity then-- as one. A oneness that can only be derived from God Himself. This is at the very heart of the Lord's prayer on our behalf to the Father.
If you notice, as we're working our way through this prayer, these verses here, as you begin in verse 13 when Jesus says, “But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” And He begins to pray for this very thing, this matter of setting us apart. This is of great importance to the Lord as He anticipates what He's about to accomplish, through so great a suffering, so great a sacrifice. As we've already seen, and we saw this a couple of weeks ago, this is not simply an ‘idealistic goal’ on the part of our Lord, it is a Divine expectation for God's people.
We also began last time to carefully take note of the pattern upon which this oneness is based. I remind you again of the words we just read, “that they may all be one, EVEN AS Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be Us.” (emphasis added). This unity that Jesus is praying for, is anticipating, it’s patterned after the purest, the highest unity possible, unity within the Triune Godhead. The oneness within the Trinity is pure perfection. It's a unity of essence. It encompasses the very essence of who God is in the internally existing Trinity. This is a vital oneness, intrinsic and a primary element of the Divine existence. And so, it must be a spiritual unity, as we saw last time. That means this unity cannot be realized apart from the life-giving work of the Spirit of God. It is, indeed, as Paul speaks of it, refers to it in Ephesians 4, “the unity of Spirit.” It’s a work of God. For us to be united to the extent that Jesus is speaking of here, first of all we have to be united to Christ. We looked at last time, just briefly.
When we've been spiritually united with Christ, we, at that point in time, become one not only with Christ, but with all who are in Christ. This is the truth that we have set before us here. When we have been united with Christ, we become united, we become one with all who are in Christ. That's what Jesus is saying here, Isn’t He? If I am-- when I am one with Christ, I am one with you. Each of us are one with one another in Christ together. It's a spiritual reality, no matter how effectively our adversary may disparage it, and as I contemplate on this passage more and more, I cannot imagine anything giving more delight to the devil, than to discredit this precious oneness among the children of God. The devil is always at work in this area. He knows what's at stake. Jesus very clearly stated what would be at stake in this matter of our being of one mind, of our being of one heart and soul, of our being united and knit together even as we see the oneness of the Father and the Son demonstrated. To the extent that our expectations of this unity fall short of our Lord's prayer for us, the glory of Christ will be diminished in our midst. We need to recognize that. To the extent that our expectations of this unity fall short of what our Lord's prayer for us is--to that extent, the glory of Christ is going to be diminished in our midst. It’s that important; it’s that significant. Surely our hearts desire is to see more and more of our Savior's glory, isn't it? Surely, I would trust, that our desire would be that His glory would not be diminished in our midst at all. And obviously this is one of the things that our adversary delights in doing. And We need to be on the alert for it. So, as I said last time, it is crucial for us to examine this matter very carefully. This is no small thing that Jesus is talking about, and in experience, the experience of living in this life, I think all of us would acknowledge, that this is not an easy thing. This can be a difficult thing. We can see time after time how the devil has won victories in this area. We can see many times even in our lives, we look back on our experience, and we see discouragement when it comes to this issue--this matter of unity. We need to be careful about this. This is something we need to take more seriously, it seems to me, than we usually do. So, if this unity is patterned after the oneness of the Father and Son, we are wanting to look very carefully at what that oneness looks like.
So, we began last time, by looking at several things. There were a couple things that we looked at. First of all: The unity between the Father and Son in regards to Divine revelation; a high regard for Divine revelation. Jesus speaks of the Scriptures with the highest regard time and time again in his public ministry, making statements like, “the Scriptures cannot be broken,” that, “He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” How many times does He say, “as the Scripture says”. He quotes from God's word with authority. The Lord’s regard for Divine revelation is displayed time and again throughout His public ministry, and it seems to me, as we especially within the context of this 17th chapter, the immediate context of the Lord's emphasis on this matter of Divine revelation. If there's anything upon which our divinely ordained unity can be built upon, at the most fundamental level, it ought to be on the unshakable foundation of the highest regard for Divine revelation. Our common consensus together ought to be simply this, “Thy word is truth”, Thy word is truth”. We may have a hard time agreeing on mundane things of this life, but this is one thing, that we, at the very essence of, the very core of our being, we agree upon. We share this common bond of extremely high regard for Divine revelation. Everything else is on a different plane. When Jesus says, “Heaven and earth may pass away, but My words shall not pass away”, that gets our attention-- that stirs our hearts. We delight in, we love the word of God and we delight in the fact that we’re set apart in that truth. It sets us apart from the world that is awash in deception. So, we see this, in the unity of the Father and the Son; a high regard for Divine revelation.
A Second thing that we looked at last time, is an intense focus on the Father's will. An intense desire to see the Father's will being done. I’m not going to take the time to go over and review every point of this that we talked about last time, but just as reminder of the significance of this, in the life of the Lord Jesus. Jesus spoke of this often that He did not come to do his own will, that He didn't have a separate will from the Father, that He wasn't possibly going off in another direction-- He was always doing the Father's will. Everything He did-- He said all He did was always doing that which is pleasing in the Father's sight, that this was so important to the Father. This is something that ought to draw us together as God's people, shouldn't it? --- this yearning, this desire deep within our hearts to see the will of God being accomplished. To know the will of God, to demonstrate the perfection of the will of God, the purity of the will of God, God's goodness in His purpose and His purpose been fulfilled.
I remind you one passage that we did look at last time, in this regard, in the seventh chapter of John's Gospel the 17th verse, when Jesus made the statement, “If any man is willing to do His will, He shall know of the teaching whether it is of God, or whether I speak for Myself”. For you and I to discern the authoritative truth of the word of God, one prerequisite is that we’re willing to do his will. I'm convinced that this is one of the reasons we have so much discrepancy and so much difficulty in interpreting God's word in a united way, in the unity of the Spirit. Because so often, I don't think we often even realize it enough ourselves, we are not really willing to do his will. We want to know, we want to gain the upper hand in terms of having a right interpretation of God's word, but down deep in our hearts are we really willing, do we really yearn to do his will. Jesus was, we could say it this way, He was all about doing the Father's will. That's what stimulated Him. That's what invigorated Him. “My food is to do the will of Him, sent Me and to accomplish his work”. This ought to, and it will indeed, it seems to me, draw us together very closely in this matter of unity, -- an intense focus on the Father's will.
A third thing that we want to look at them this morning is this, and that is, a devotion to prayer. Again, this is not something we need to look very hard to find in the life of the Lord Jesus. This aspect of the Lord's oneness with the Father is on display constantly throughout his earthly ministry. It’s another very prominent characteristic of the way in which Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him. This closeness this pure unity. It’s an amazing thing, is it not, God in flesh needing to constantly spend time in prayer with God. And yet this is we find what we find in the Lord's earthly ministry, He spent a lot of his time in prayer. I know we can say that, and I and I recognize we’re all at least generally aware of it. I just want to go through and give you a few scriptural examples of this because I think this is important. Jesus is saying here that our oneness is patterned after his oneness with the Father, and His oneness with the Father is exhibited not only in a high regard for divine revelation or an intense focus on the Lord's will, but in a devotion to prayer. Several passages I want to bring your attention. Matthew chapter 14 verse 23, “After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening, He was there all alone”. Mark's gospel--Mark's gospel chapter 1 and verse 35 , “In the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place and was praying there”. Mark chapter 6--Mark chapter 6 and verse 46, “and when it was evening”… I'm sorry…verse 46, “and after bidding them farewell. He departed to the mountain to pray”. Luke chapter 5-- chapter 5 in the 16th verse we read this, “But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray”. Chapter 6, verse 12, “And It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray and He spent the whole night in prayer to God”. Luke chapter 9; Luke chapter 9 verse 18, “And it came about that while He was praying alone that His disciples were with Him, and he questioned them, saying, ‘Who do the multitudes say that I am?’” This question that the Lord asked His disciples, is in the midst of His praying. Verse 28 and 29 of that same ninth chapter of Luke’s gospel, on the Mount of King of Transfiguration, verse 28 says, “And some eight days after these sayings, it came about that. He took along Peter and John and James and went up to the mountain to pray”. We think of is as the Mount of Transfiguration, and that's what stands out in our mind, but He went up there to pray. Verse 29 says, “And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different and His clothing became white and gleaming”. It was while He was praying. I just remind you of these I could remind you of many other passages, a number of others, but, I think it's very clear that Jesus was devoted to communicating with the Father. This was something He did often. We’re told He would often slip away, He would go to the mountain. Sometimes He’d get up early before it was light. Sometimes he would go late and spend the whole night in prayer.
When we consider this, this whole matter of our being one together as God's people, even as the Father and the Son are one, our oneness is to be patterned off of Their oneness. The unity that we observe, that we can observe in Christ between Christ, the Son of God and the Father. And we see this very prominent feature of the relationship between the Son and the Father--a devotion to prayer. And when you think about this, it is something that the early church, obviously--they obviously took note of. It was a huge factor in the early church’s closeness, that is their devotion to spending time together in prayer. I just want to remind you of several passages. Acts chapter 1, after the Lord had ascended to the Father, and they went --they went. “Then they returned to Jerusalem” (in verse 12) “from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem.” Verse 13 says, “when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, and Simon the zealot, Pete Jude is the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers”. It wasn't just men, it was all of them together. They were continually devoting themselves to prayer. The second chapter of Luke after the Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and a great number of souls came to Christ, we’re told that prayer, had a prominent place in the life of this early church. Verse 42, actually I’ll begin with verse 41 for the context of Acts 2, “So then, those who had received His word were baptized and there were added that day about 3000 souls, and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”. You recall in the fourth chapter of Acts, you recall when Peter and John had been arrested, threatened to not speak any further in the name of Christ, and then they were released, they went to the church, they went to their brothers and sisters, and they reported all of the chief priests and elders had said to them. In verse 24 of Acts chapter 4 we read this, “And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord”. We have a record there of their prayer that end several verses later. The early church was a church--they were people who understood the significance of prayer and especially this matter of unity. It’s one of the ways they were drawn and bound together. I remind you of the sixth chapter when some of the first difficulty in terms of internal difficulty in the church arose, who had those widows who were not – who were being overlooked, who were not being taken care of. But the disciples were so devoted to this matter of prayer that they recognize this is not something they could do. There had to be others who would be appointed to help them in this ministry. So that they said of themselves, verse four, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word”. They understood that this had to be a priority.
There's no doubt that prayer is critical on a personal level, it is also critical on a corporate level. Both are extremely important. You and I need to be very careful that we do not neglect either one of them. There's a danger of our diminishing the critical need for prayer on a corporate level just for the simple reason that it requires more personal commitment and sacrifice, even if just for that reason alone. It's not as convenient as personal prayer, is it? I can pray personally anywhere, anytime. And that's a wonderful thing and ought to be doing so, but praying together is a little different, isn't it? I have to make an effort to gather together and to pray with others with my brothers and my sisters, and to see this oneness developed and draw us closer and closer together as we’re drawn closer and closer to Christ.
It seems to me so very obvious that our adversary very zealously opposes this. The devil does everything he can to keep us from spending time in prayer. Daily, individually, I think everyone of us can attest to that fact. Things just seem to come up at the wrong time, don't they, right when we had planned on praying, spending time in prayer. But I think that Satan is even more diligent when it comes to this matter of keeping us apart in prayer. There's some very critical and significant benefits of devoting ourselves to praying together. I want to mention some of those this morning, that we might really consider this carefully, and how important this is in this matter of unity.
First of all, I want to mention this, that prayer has the advantage--when we come together to pray-- it elevates the authority of God's word in our midst. It elevates the authority of God's word and our midst. I go back to the passage in the first chapter of Acts. Here we have a gathering of about 120 persons, we’re told, and they’ve devoted themselves, continually were told, to prayer. At this time, in verse the 15th verse, we read this, “Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons was there together and said, ‘Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled’”. It's in the context of their coming together and continually devoting themselves to prayer that the authority of God's word is elevated in their midst. Peter stands up and says, “The Scriptures had to be fulfilled”, and he goes on and quotes from God's word, from the Old Testament. I noticed this as well, in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the apostles. I mentioned this passage earlier, and I want to look at it a little bit more as we go down in the first 24th verse, “When they heard this, they lifted their voice to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them”, this is a quote from the word of God, and “who, by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David thy servant did say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ’”. As they come together to pray the authority of God's word is elevated in their midst. They recognize this together. They recognize the authority of God's word, that God's word must be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled and it had been fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and what had happened to Him. They go on and say, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus.” In other words, this happened, it had to happen, just as Your words were declared. The authority of God's word is elevated as we spend time in prayer together. This should be one of the things that happens, our regard for Scriptures is enhanced together.
One of the things it seems to me that we need to be careful to do when we pray, either individually or together, but especially maybe together and that is to recognize to incorporate the truth of God's word. To understand, to look for ways to elevate the authority of God's word as we pray, to look for examples of, and to together rejoice in, to together be able to confirm this fact, that God's word is authoritative. What God says matters. It’s the one thing that really matters and never changes.
Another thing about prayer as we come together, and that is; that it intensifies our focus on God's will--it intensifies our focus on God's will, and along with that it cultivates a submissiveness to God's will. If you spend much time in prayer with others I think you know this to be true. Many times, when we come together to pray, think one of the things that we recognize is this fact that we need to know what God's will is. It’s not a simple and easy thing necessarily and lots of times it seems very difficult to us. And coming together we acknowledge that in a special way. And we cultivate within ourselves, we indeed-- I trust, there is a growing intensity in our focus on God's will being done. When we come together and we pray, we’re looking for ways, we’re looking for those examples of how His will has been has been done and asking Him to show us in the present and in the future what His will is. And there's an opportunity for us, it seems to me there is a compulsion by the Spirit of God, when we come together, to acknowledge our need to submit to His will. I think it's a little more difficult to do when we’re on our own. Sometimes and when we’re praying individually, it's amazing how quickly we can just rattle off one request after another, as we pray individually. It's as though we lack that interaction with one another that keeps us grounded, if you will, in the fact there's something more important than just all the things that I would like to see God do, and we’re just rattling off requests. I'm not saying we shouldn't bring our requests before God--we should. But our requests need to be brought before God in the context of burning desire to see his will done-- a burning desire to see his will being done. You see this in the Lord's prayer. He is desirous that the will of the Father be accomplished. The passage that we just were looking at an Acts chapter 4, if you go on from where we left off, the believers, the church together is there praying, they’re lifting their voices together in prayer. They said, “For truly in the city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant, Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint both Herod, Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.” They acknowledged all these people were lined up against the Lord Jesus. And then they say this, “To do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.” Together, they are acknowledging and recognizing, God's will, has been done. These men were doing what seemed, to them, to be completely contrary to God's will. Contrary to all that would be right, or just, but in the end, they could look back and see this was God's will that was being accomplished and they’re praising God. And they go on and say, “And now Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond servants may speak Thy word with all confidence.” Their prayer intensifies their focus on the will of God be done, and their submissiveness to it. This is God's will. This, this suffering that came upon Jesus was part of God's predetermined plan, “And now Lord, take note of their threats and grant that Thy bond servants may speak Thy word with all confidence.” Their facing some of the very same threats. And some of them will lose their lives. Their prayer together, as they come together-- prayer intensifies their focus on the Lord's will and cultivates a submissiveness. When you come down to it, we have the ultimate example of that in the Lord Jesus Himself. We looked at that last time. I remind you of what is recorded for us regarding the Lord's prayer to the Father at a very similar period of time, when Jesus said in Mark 14:36,
“Abba, Father. All things are possible for Thee. Remove this cup from Me.”
Think of that, what Jesus is saying is prayer, “Remove this cup from me.” “Yet, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” Prayer elevates in our minds the purpose of God, the will of God, the perfection of His will, and it cultivates within us a submissiveness. God's will is what matters. I have these things that I really would like to see happen. I have all kinds of desires that I long for. Do you ever find that you really come to realize that is you’re praying? I want this, I want this, I want this, I'd like to see this, and--and maybe all of them, very good things, but, as I pray, I begin to realize what I really want to see is Your will being done. That's what I really want. As we pray together, we help each other, we remind each other. You think of how the early church often, we’re told, they fasted and prayed as they were seeking the Lord's leading, as a new group of missionaries was being sent out. They’re seeking the Lord's will and there determining together and holding one another accountable--- we want to know what God's will is and we’re going to submit ourselves to it. When we do that together were a lot more likely to do so. There's more of an accountability.
A third thing that I would say that is important in this matter of prayer in terms of uniting us, and that is; that it exposes and moves us to acknowledge our weaknesses, and to cultivate a total dependence upon the Lord. Or maybe another way to say it is, it cultivates with in our midst, as a body, a greater spiritual alertness. If you notice this, and it’s a fact, that the less God's people spend time together in prayer, the less alert they become spiritually-- the more careless they become, the more sort of, at-ease they become --comfortable with things as they are --thinking things are just fine, when, in fact, things are not fine. In fact, they may be anything but fine, spiritually speaking. What an important thing this is for us to bow together before the Lord and allow God to expose our weakness. Paul says there in Romans chapter 8, we don't even know how to pray as we ought. Nothing exposes that quite like when we come together and pray. We don't know how to pray as we should, that becomes obvious to all of us. We ask the Lord to help us to know how to pray. Prayer together is not a performance. It's a crying out to God together and it exposes this weakness. We don't know how to pray as we ought, but God has provided his Spirit who intercedes for us with groans that are that can’t even be uttered, too great for words. God is at work when we come together and our weakness is exposed in prayer. Maybe this is one of the reasons we don't like to come together to pray because our weakness gets exposed. It does. When we pray together, when we come together and pray, we recognize we don't know how to pray, none of us do-- even when it looks like maybe we do--we don't. And the fact that we are praying together is a reminder of this, that no one of us knows how to pray so well that we can just pray on our own cause we know how to do it right. It’s not the way it works. We come together to pray so that all of us together recognize our dependence our weakness, we are weak. Prayer together exposes this in a unique way. It opens the door, it provides an opportunity for us to see that. I'm reminded of, even in that passage in Mark's gospel we were just looking at in the 14th chapter, right after we’re told of what Jesus does to the Father when he submits his will to the Father’s. Then in verse 37, “He came and found them sleeping.” They were supposed to be praying with Him, right? What were they doing. They were sleeping. “He found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?’” Here's another evidence of the accountability of corporate prayer. Have you ever fallen asleep when you're praying by yourself? It happens, doesn't it, sometimes? Jesus, then says, “Keep watching and praying”. Wake up, He says to Peter, “that you may not come into temptation.” Jesus is warning Peter of what's about to come and Peter is not taking it seriously, and Jesus acknowledges that, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” When we come together we’re acknowledging that together, the spirit may be willing but the flesh is weak. We need each other to encourage each other as we pray, to keep our prayers focused like they ought to be to make sure that were acknowledging in our prayers together our dependence upon the Lord, our weakness-- to cultivate in our praying a spiritual alertness. It’s no accident that we’re told, quite simply, that Paul instructs the believers, the saints at Thessalonica, ‘pray without ceasing,” Do it all the time. Don't stop. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7,
“The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.”
If anyone lives in a time where they could see that the end of all things is that hand, it surely is us. That, in and of itself, ought to drive us to our knees together-- to beseech the Lord, to approach the Lord together as God's people.
A fourth thing that I want to mention concerning the importance of prayer, in uniting our hearts, and that is; that it stimulates our mutual and loving concern for one another. Have you ever noticed this, that as you spend time in prayer for other believers, your concern for them grows--your interest in their needs, their difficulties, begins to increase? There’s a passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, that I find interesting in this respect, the way that it's put-- is really, it seems fascinating to me. Paul says this in verse 14, “while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you,” “by prayer, on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.” Paul, asks several times in his epistles, those people he’s writing to, he says, Brethren, pray for us.” He acknowledges the need. He is indeed stimulating that loving concern. Think of the apostle Paul, time and time again in his epistles, but he says he’s continually bringing these believers before the Lord in prayer. “I make mention of you always in my prayer.” He does that often, doesn’t he? Surely this stimulates a mutual and loving concern for one another, when we pray. This is absolutely critical in the matter of unity. You know it's hard-- one of the things it seems to me-- that I, I am absolutely—I’ve experienced that time and again—it is very difficult, very difficult, to fall into the kinds of pettiness and divisiveness with someone when you are together praying for that person, and praying for others. I have found time and again that that draws us together in a very unique way. It really does.
A fifth thing that I would mention and that is, prayer is one of the primary means by which God accomplishes his will. We talked about how prayer directs our attention to God's will. Jesus is drawn to the preeminence of the Father's will, as He prays on the night of his betrayal. But prayer is one of the primary means by which He actually accomplishes His will on this earth. And therefore, it is a means of unified worship. We have the opportunity to pray together and to see God work and to know even before God works, that we have a part in the outworking of his purpose in this world. Isn’t that something? What a privilege that is. How that should unite our hearts in joy together, because when we come together we remind each other of these things-- or we should be. Philippians chapter 1, Paul speaks of this matter of how important this this whole matter of prayer is. He says in verse nine, “I pray that your love may abound still more and more,” His will, God's will, is being accomplished as He prays for these saints. His-- His desire is that what God's will is for God's people, would be accomplished even as we are praying for one another. Verse 19 he says, “For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ.” In that respect, are you reminded of that scene, in the 12th chapter of Acts, when Herod laid his hands-on James, and put him to death and then he arrested Peter and he was planning on doing the same thing to Peter. He was going to bring them out before the people, after the Passover in verse five says that, “Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Verse 12 says, “when he realized this, he went”—after he’d been released, “he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together, and were praying.” What a privilege these saints had in the outworking of God's purpose--Peter miraculously delivered. We can look at many examples of that as well.
One last thing that I want to mention this morning about prayer, the importance of prayer, and that is; that it cultivates a persevering and a grateful dependence upon the Lord. Perseverance is not an easy thing. We talk about it. Sometimes we don't really think about it that much. It’s not easy to persevere. We’re told to be devoted to prayer. While all of us would have to acknowledge, even if we’re a little bit honest, that that's not so easy to do-- to be devoted to prayer. Well I’ve got all these other things that keep getting in the way. There's always other things I need to do. And it is hard for me to pray. Or I don't know how to do that, or I don't have time to go and spend time with my brethren praying. Devotion to prayer means just that, it means you have to give it due diligence. Paul says later on in Romans chapter 15 verse 30,
“Now, I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. That's not easy or light praying, is it? That takes discipline. Striving together, it’s not easy.
Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18,
“with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance.”
Keep on keeping on in this. You're discouraged--it's not easy--it doesn't seem like anything is happening. This is the very lesson that the Lord Himself taught there in Luke chapter 18 when He taught His disciples to pray and not to lose heart-- to keep on praying-- to persevere in praying-- to strive to be earnest in praying-- to be grateful in praying. Paul speaks of this in a Colossians chapter 4 verse 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving”. Verse 12 he speaks of, “Epaphras, who is one of your number, of bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings.” Notice what he says, “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully asserted all the will of God.” Does that describe for you a person who just once in a while, sort of inserts the Colossians saints in his prayers? Look what Paul says, he is “laboring earnestly for you in his prayers.” Sometimes I am convinced that the reason God takes the time He does to answer prayer and in the way--in a way that we can see it and observe it, is to indeed teach us perseverance. We’re not very good at perseverance; none of us are. It’s not our strong point, not our strong suit. We like to do something and something happens because of what we've done and we want it to happen right away. If ever there was a society and culture that was used to getting what they wanted, fast, it’s this one. God says it doesn't work that way with Him. God’s not like the latest technological gadget that you can buy. God is God. He’s on the throne. And He answers with perfect wisdom and sovereign authority. And it's an actual joy, it’s a special privilege to wait on Him, to labor earnestly in prayer for His work. I have mentioned it recently and I have mentioned it again. I have, I have been just greatly encouraged and challenged by our brother Saeed in this matter. You know, over the years, it has, it just struck me, the whole thrust and concept of supporting missionaries as a body. Here's a local body, their sending, they’re having a part in sending someone to serve the Lord in a different part of the earth-- the world. The whole thrust is, we’re to be praying, we’re to be praying for them, right? That’s what we should be doing and we delight in that. And I know as a body, we seem to me, to be very faithful in doing that. But, when’s the last time you heard of a missionary who is devoted to praying for you, for the body. You know a remarkable thing, since Saeed was here last time, we’ve been on his heart, a great deal, and he’s been very concerned for us spiritually. And the man has devoted himself to praying. We've been trying to meet every Saturday morning, and pray, but were not praying nearly like he is, he is up at almost-- I think most Saturdays I get a text from him. He’s up like four in the morning praying and praying and praying. Maybe a question we could ask is, does he care more for us than we care about ourselves? Here's an example. I've never seen an example quite like that. It's a little bit different than what I'm used to, I have to admit. It seems like it always should be going the other direction. And I'm thankful for this. You know, in many respects this is more biblical, though, is it not? You see Paul--I think we probably have more record of Paul the missionary praying for the believers in these churches, then we have of the churches is praying for him. Maybe that's a good thing. One thing is for sure, we as God's people-- this is something we desperately need. If we are going to be of one heart and mind, we will need to spend time, a lot of time in prayer-- laboring earnestly, striving together, waiting on the Lord, holding each other accountable, even in the way we approach the Lord. We learn from one another when we pray, we do. That's not generally why we pray. It’s not a lesson, it’s not a teaching session, but we still learn and we’re encouraged by one another to keep on-- keep on keeping on. Don't give in and don't give up.
When you really stop and think about it, the record of our Lord's prayer is not very lengthy at all, is it? In fact, it's really, quite, quite brief. But in these few words, Jesus speaks of realities that have some of the most life-changing implications possible. Jesus is, as we noted from the very outset, He is anticipating in this portion of God's word, He’s anticipating the glory of the cross. We know, as we've said before, we acknowledge and recognize, that from another perspective, that the other-- that the synoptic Gospels, give us, Jesus was obviously very much anticipating the anguish and the agony of the cross as well. But I'm so thankful for this glimpse into the Savior's heart and mind. As He comes to the cross, He's anticipating the glory.
The statements that we are focusing on at the present, as we been working our way through this this passage in God's word, they are the statements that deal with a unique and a close relationship between Christ and those who are followers of Christ. The subject before us is unity, Christian unity, the unity of the spirit in the body of Christ. I want to remind you as we begin again this morning, I want to just read verses 20 and 21 this morning.
“I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word…”
He’s just and praying that we will be sanctified in the truth, and then He says in verse 21,
“…that they may all be one, even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.”
One of the many wonders of the cross is our Lord's sanctifying mercy. Setting apart, those who will belong to Him. In bringing many sons to glory, our heavenly Father is not ashamed of us. In fact, He delights in us. In anticipating the glory of the cross, our Savior is rejoicing. Look at these, the verses that we just read, He's rejoicing in the oneness of his followers that’s going to give credible evidence of his saving mission, credible evidence to an unbelieving world around us. “…that the world may believe that Thou did send Me.” Aren’t you thankful that God is not ashamed of His redemptive work? God doesn't hide what He's doing, He's proud of what He's doing, if we could say it that way. God delights in what He's accomplished. He delights in displaying the genuineness of His saving work on the cross, and He does so in a number of ways.
One of the greatest confirming evidences of the Lord's redemptive triumph is what Jesus is speaking of in this passage; the setting apart of His people, the setting apart of His people in the truth, the setting apart of His people in unity then-- as one. A oneness that can only be derived from God Himself. This is at the very heart of the Lord's prayer on our behalf to the Father.
If you notice, as we're working our way through this prayer, these verses here, as you begin in verse 13 when Jesus says, “But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.” And He begins to pray for this very thing, this matter of setting us apart. This is of great importance to the Lord as He anticipates what He's about to accomplish, through so great a suffering, so great a sacrifice. As we've already seen, and we saw this a couple of weeks ago, this is not simply an ‘idealistic goal’ on the part of our Lord, it is a Divine expectation for God's people.
We also began last time to carefully take note of the pattern upon which this oneness is based. I remind you again of the words we just read, “that they may all be one, EVEN AS Thou, Father, art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be Us.” (emphasis added). This unity that Jesus is praying for, is anticipating, it’s patterned after the purest, the highest unity possible, unity within the Triune Godhead. The oneness within the Trinity is pure perfection. It's a unity of essence. It encompasses the very essence of who God is in the internally existing Trinity. This is a vital oneness, intrinsic and a primary element of the Divine existence. And so, it must be a spiritual unity, as we saw last time. That means this unity cannot be realized apart from the life-giving work of the Spirit of God. It is, indeed, as Paul speaks of it, refers to it in Ephesians 4, “the unity of Spirit.” It’s a work of God. For us to be united to the extent that Jesus is speaking of here, first of all we have to be united to Christ. We looked at last time, just briefly.
When we've been spiritually united with Christ, we, at that point in time, become one not only with Christ, but with all who are in Christ. This is the truth that we have set before us here. When we have been united with Christ, we become united, we become one with all who are in Christ. That's what Jesus is saying here, Isn’t He? If I am-- when I am one with Christ, I am one with you. Each of us are one with one another in Christ together. It's a spiritual reality, no matter how effectively our adversary may disparage it, and as I contemplate on this passage more and more, I cannot imagine anything giving more delight to the devil, than to discredit this precious oneness among the children of God. The devil is always at work in this area. He knows what's at stake. Jesus very clearly stated what would be at stake in this matter of our being of one mind, of our being of one heart and soul, of our being united and knit together even as we see the oneness of the Father and the Son demonstrated. To the extent that our expectations of this unity fall short of our Lord's prayer for us, the glory of Christ will be diminished in our midst. We need to recognize that. To the extent that our expectations of this unity fall short of what our Lord's prayer for us is--to that extent, the glory of Christ is going to be diminished in our midst. It’s that important; it’s that significant. Surely our hearts desire is to see more and more of our Savior's glory, isn't it? Surely, I would trust, that our desire would be that His glory would not be diminished in our midst at all. And obviously this is one of the things that our adversary delights in doing. And We need to be on the alert for it. So, as I said last time, it is crucial for us to examine this matter very carefully. This is no small thing that Jesus is talking about, and in experience, the experience of living in this life, I think all of us would acknowledge, that this is not an easy thing. This can be a difficult thing. We can see time after time how the devil has won victories in this area. We can see many times even in our lives, we look back on our experience, and we see discouragement when it comes to this issue--this matter of unity. We need to be careful about this. This is something we need to take more seriously, it seems to me, than we usually do. So, if this unity is patterned after the oneness of the Father and Son, we are wanting to look very carefully at what that oneness looks like.
So, we began last time, by looking at several things. There were a couple things that we looked at. First of all: The unity between the Father and Son in regards to Divine revelation; a high regard for Divine revelation. Jesus speaks of the Scriptures with the highest regard time and time again in his public ministry, making statements like, “the Scriptures cannot be broken,” that, “He did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.” How many times does He say, “as the Scripture says”. He quotes from God's word with authority. The Lord’s regard for Divine revelation is displayed time and again throughout His public ministry, and it seems to me, as we especially within the context of this 17th chapter, the immediate context of the Lord's emphasis on this matter of Divine revelation. If there's anything upon which our divinely ordained unity can be built upon, at the most fundamental level, it ought to be on the unshakable foundation of the highest regard for Divine revelation. Our common consensus together ought to be simply this, “Thy word is truth”, Thy word is truth”. We may have a hard time agreeing on mundane things of this life, but this is one thing, that we, at the very essence of, the very core of our being, we agree upon. We share this common bond of extremely high regard for Divine revelation. Everything else is on a different plane. When Jesus says, “Heaven and earth may pass away, but My words shall not pass away”, that gets our attention-- that stirs our hearts. We delight in, we love the word of God and we delight in the fact that we’re set apart in that truth. It sets us apart from the world that is awash in deception. So, we see this, in the unity of the Father and the Son; a high regard for Divine revelation.
A Second thing that we looked at last time, is an intense focus on the Father's will. An intense desire to see the Father's will being done. I’m not going to take the time to go over and review every point of this that we talked about last time, but just as reminder of the significance of this, in the life of the Lord Jesus. Jesus spoke of this often that He did not come to do his own will, that He didn't have a separate will from the Father, that He wasn't possibly going off in another direction-- He was always doing the Father's will. Everything He did-- He said all He did was always doing that which is pleasing in the Father's sight, that this was so important to the Father. This is something that ought to draw us together as God's people, shouldn't it? --- this yearning, this desire deep within our hearts to see the will of God being accomplished. To know the will of God, to demonstrate the perfection of the will of God, the purity of the will of God, God's goodness in His purpose and His purpose been fulfilled.
I remind you one passage that we did look at last time, in this regard, in the seventh chapter of John's Gospel the 17th verse, when Jesus made the statement, “If any man is willing to do His will, He shall know of the teaching whether it is of God, or whether I speak for Myself”. For you and I to discern the authoritative truth of the word of God, one prerequisite is that we’re willing to do his will. I'm convinced that this is one of the reasons we have so much discrepancy and so much difficulty in interpreting God's word in a united way, in the unity of the Spirit. Because so often, I don't think we often even realize it enough ourselves, we are not really willing to do his will. We want to know, we want to gain the upper hand in terms of having a right interpretation of God's word, but down deep in our hearts are we really willing, do we really yearn to do his will. Jesus was, we could say it this way, He was all about doing the Father's will. That's what stimulated Him. That's what invigorated Him. “My food is to do the will of Him, sent Me and to accomplish his work”. This ought to, and it will indeed, it seems to me, draw us together very closely in this matter of unity, -- an intense focus on the Father's will.
A third thing that we want to look at them this morning is this, and that is, a devotion to prayer. Again, this is not something we need to look very hard to find in the life of the Lord Jesus. This aspect of the Lord's oneness with the Father is on display constantly throughout his earthly ministry. It’s another very prominent characteristic of the way in which Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Him. This closeness this pure unity. It’s an amazing thing, is it not, God in flesh needing to constantly spend time in prayer with God. And yet this is we find what we find in the Lord's earthly ministry, He spent a lot of his time in prayer. I know we can say that, and I and I recognize we’re all at least generally aware of it. I just want to go through and give you a few scriptural examples of this because I think this is important. Jesus is saying here that our oneness is patterned after his oneness with the Father, and His oneness with the Father is exhibited not only in a high regard for divine revelation or an intense focus on the Lord's will, but in a devotion to prayer. Several passages I want to bring your attention. Matthew chapter 14 verse 23, “After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up to the mountain by himself to pray. And when it was evening, He was there all alone”. Mark's gospel--Mark's gospel chapter 1 and verse 35 , “In the early morning, while it was still dark, He arose and went out and departed to a lonely place and was praying there”. Mark chapter 6--Mark chapter 6 and verse 46, “and when it was evening”… I'm sorry…verse 46, “and after bidding them farewell. He departed to the mountain to pray”. Luke chapter 5-- chapter 5 in the 16th verse we read this, “But He Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray”. Chapter 6, verse 12, “And It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray and He spent the whole night in prayer to God”. Luke chapter 9; Luke chapter 9 verse 18, “And it came about that while He was praying alone that His disciples were with Him, and he questioned them, saying, ‘Who do the multitudes say that I am?’” This question that the Lord asked His disciples, is in the midst of His praying. Verse 28 and 29 of that same ninth chapter of Luke’s gospel, on the Mount of King of Transfiguration, verse 28 says, “And some eight days after these sayings, it came about that. He took along Peter and John and James and went up to the mountain to pray”. We think of is as the Mount of Transfiguration, and that's what stands out in our mind, but He went up there to pray. Verse 29 says, “And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different and His clothing became white and gleaming”. It was while He was praying. I just remind you of these I could remind you of many other passages, a number of others, but, I think it's very clear that Jesus was devoted to communicating with the Father. This was something He did often. We’re told He would often slip away, He would go to the mountain. Sometimes He’d get up early before it was light. Sometimes he would go late and spend the whole night in prayer.
When we consider this, this whole matter of our being one together as God's people, even as the Father and the Son are one, our oneness is to be patterned off of Their oneness. The unity that we observe, that we can observe in Christ between Christ, the Son of God and the Father. And we see this very prominent feature of the relationship between the Son and the Father--a devotion to prayer. And when you think about this, it is something that the early church, obviously--they obviously took note of. It was a huge factor in the early church’s closeness, that is their devotion to spending time together in prayer. I just want to remind you of several passages. Acts chapter 1, after the Lord had ascended to the Father, and they went --they went. “Then they returned to Jerusalem” (in verse 12) “from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem.” Verse 13 says, “when they had entered, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James, and Simon the zealot, Pete Jude is the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and His brothers”. It wasn't just men, it was all of them together. They were continually devoting themselves to prayer. The second chapter of Luke after the Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost and a great number of souls came to Christ, we’re told that prayer, had a prominent place in the life of this early church. Verse 42, actually I’ll begin with verse 41 for the context of Acts 2, “So then, those who had received His word were baptized and there were added that day about 3000 souls, and they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer”. You recall in the fourth chapter of Acts, you recall when Peter and John had been arrested, threatened to not speak any further in the name of Christ, and then they were released, they went to the church, they went to their brothers and sisters, and they reported all of the chief priests and elders had said to them. In verse 24 of Acts chapter 4 we read this, “And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord”. We have a record there of their prayer that end several verses later. The early church was a church--they were people who understood the significance of prayer and especially this matter of unity. It’s one of the ways they were drawn and bound together. I remind you of the sixth chapter when some of the first difficulty in terms of internal difficulty in the church arose, who had those widows who were not – who were being overlooked, who were not being taken care of. But the disciples were so devoted to this matter of prayer that they recognize this is not something they could do. There had to be others who would be appointed to help them in this ministry. So that they said of themselves, verse four, “But we will devote ourselves to prayer and the ministry of the word”. They understood that this had to be a priority.
There's no doubt that prayer is critical on a personal level, it is also critical on a corporate level. Both are extremely important. You and I need to be very careful that we do not neglect either one of them. There's a danger of our diminishing the critical need for prayer on a corporate level just for the simple reason that it requires more personal commitment and sacrifice, even if just for that reason alone. It's not as convenient as personal prayer, is it? I can pray personally anywhere, anytime. And that's a wonderful thing and ought to be doing so, but praying together is a little different, isn't it? I have to make an effort to gather together and to pray with others with my brothers and my sisters, and to see this oneness developed and draw us closer and closer together as we’re drawn closer and closer to Christ.
It seems to me so very obvious that our adversary very zealously opposes this. The devil does everything he can to keep us from spending time in prayer. Daily, individually, I think everyone of us can attest to that fact. Things just seem to come up at the wrong time, don't they, right when we had planned on praying, spending time in prayer. But I think that Satan is even more diligent when it comes to this matter of keeping us apart in prayer. There's some very critical and significant benefits of devoting ourselves to praying together. I want to mention some of those this morning, that we might really consider this carefully, and how important this is in this matter of unity.
First of all, I want to mention this, that prayer has the advantage--when we come together to pray-- it elevates the authority of God's word in our midst. It elevates the authority of God's word and our midst. I go back to the passage in the first chapter of Acts. Here we have a gathering of about 120 persons, we’re told, and they’ve devoted themselves, continually were told, to prayer. At this time, in verse the 15th verse, we read this, “Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren, a gathering of about 120 persons was there together and said, ‘Brethren, the Scripture had to be fulfilled’”. It's in the context of their coming together and continually devoting themselves to prayer that the authority of God's word is elevated in their midst. Peter stands up and says, “The Scriptures had to be fulfilled”, and he goes on and quotes from God's word, from the Old Testament. I noticed this as well, in the fourth chapter of the Acts of the apostles. I mentioned this passage earlier, and I want to look at it a little bit more as we go down in the first 24th verse, “When they heard this, they lifted their voice to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them”, this is a quote from the word of God, and “who, by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David thy servant did say, ‘Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples devise futile things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ’”. As they come together to pray the authority of God's word is elevated in their midst. They recognize this together. They recognize the authority of God's word, that God's word must be fulfilled. It will be fulfilled and it had been fulfilled in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and what had happened to Him. They go on and say, “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant Jesus.” In other words, this happened, it had to happen, just as Your words were declared. The authority of God's word is elevated as we spend time in prayer together. This should be one of the things that happens, our regard for Scriptures is enhanced together.
One of the things it seems to me that we need to be careful to do when we pray, either individually or together, but especially maybe together and that is to recognize to incorporate the truth of God's word. To understand, to look for ways to elevate the authority of God's word as we pray, to look for examples of, and to together rejoice in, to together be able to confirm this fact, that God's word is authoritative. What God says matters. It’s the one thing that really matters and never changes.
Another thing about prayer as we come together, and that is; that it intensifies our focus on God's will--it intensifies our focus on God's will, and along with that it cultivates a submissiveness to God's will. If you spend much time in prayer with others I think you know this to be true. Many times, when we come together to pray, think one of the things that we recognize is this fact that we need to know what God's will is. It’s not a simple and easy thing necessarily and lots of times it seems very difficult to us. And coming together we acknowledge that in a special way. And we cultivate within ourselves, we indeed-- I trust, there is a growing intensity in our focus on God's will being done. When we come together and we pray, we’re looking for ways, we’re looking for those examples of how His will has been has been done and asking Him to show us in the present and in the future what His will is. And there's an opportunity for us, it seems to me there is a compulsion by the Spirit of God, when we come together, to acknowledge our need to submit to His will. I think it's a little more difficult to do when we’re on our own. Sometimes and when we’re praying individually, it's amazing how quickly we can just rattle off one request after another, as we pray individually. It's as though we lack that interaction with one another that keeps us grounded, if you will, in the fact there's something more important than just all the things that I would like to see God do, and we’re just rattling off requests. I'm not saying we shouldn't bring our requests before God--we should. But our requests need to be brought before God in the context of burning desire to see his will done-- a burning desire to see his will being done. You see this in the Lord's prayer. He is desirous that the will of the Father be accomplished. The passage that we just were looking at an Acts chapter 4, if you go on from where we left off, the believers, the church together is there praying, they’re lifting their voices together in prayer. They said, “For truly in the city there were gathered together against Thy holy servant, Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint both Herod, Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.” They acknowledged all these people were lined up against the Lord Jesus. And then they say this, “To do whatever Thy hand and Thy purpose predestined to occur.” Together, they are acknowledging and recognizing, God's will, has been done. These men were doing what seemed, to them, to be completely contrary to God's will. Contrary to all that would be right, or just, but in the end, they could look back and see this was God's will that was being accomplished and they’re praising God. And they go on and say, “And now Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Thy bond servants may speak Thy word with all confidence.” Their prayer intensifies their focus on the will of God be done, and their submissiveness to it. This is God's will. This, this suffering that came upon Jesus was part of God's predetermined plan, “And now Lord, take note of their threats and grant that Thy bond servants may speak Thy word with all confidence.” Their facing some of the very same threats. And some of them will lose their lives. Their prayer together, as they come together-- prayer intensifies their focus on the Lord's will and cultivates a submissiveness. When you come down to it, we have the ultimate example of that in the Lord Jesus Himself. We looked at that last time. I remind you of what is recorded for us regarding the Lord's prayer to the Father at a very similar period of time, when Jesus said in Mark 14:36,
“Abba, Father. All things are possible for Thee. Remove this cup from Me.”
Think of that, what Jesus is saying is prayer, “Remove this cup from me.” “Yet, not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” Prayer elevates in our minds the purpose of God, the will of God, the perfection of His will, and it cultivates within us a submissiveness. God's will is what matters. I have these things that I really would like to see happen. I have all kinds of desires that I long for. Do you ever find that you really come to realize that is you’re praying? I want this, I want this, I want this, I'd like to see this, and--and maybe all of them, very good things, but, as I pray, I begin to realize what I really want to see is Your will being done. That's what I really want. As we pray together, we help each other, we remind each other. You think of how the early church often, we’re told, they fasted and prayed as they were seeking the Lord's leading, as a new group of missionaries was being sent out. They’re seeking the Lord's will and there determining together and holding one another accountable--- we want to know what God's will is and we’re going to submit ourselves to it. When we do that together were a lot more likely to do so. There's more of an accountability.
A third thing that I would say that is important in this matter of prayer in terms of uniting us, and that is; that it exposes and moves us to acknowledge our weaknesses, and to cultivate a total dependence upon the Lord. Or maybe another way to say it is, it cultivates with in our midst, as a body, a greater spiritual alertness. If you notice this, and it’s a fact, that the less God's people spend time together in prayer, the less alert they become spiritually-- the more careless they become, the more sort of, at-ease they become --comfortable with things as they are --thinking things are just fine, when, in fact, things are not fine. In fact, they may be anything but fine, spiritually speaking. What an important thing this is for us to bow together before the Lord and allow God to expose our weakness. Paul says there in Romans chapter 8, we don't even know how to pray as we ought. Nothing exposes that quite like when we come together and pray. We don't know how to pray as we should, that becomes obvious to all of us. We ask the Lord to help us to know how to pray. Prayer together is not a performance. It's a crying out to God together and it exposes this weakness. We don't know how to pray as we ought, but God has provided his Spirit who intercedes for us with groans that are that can’t even be uttered, too great for words. God is at work when we come together and our weakness is exposed in prayer. Maybe this is one of the reasons we don't like to come together to pray because our weakness gets exposed. It does. When we pray together, when we come together and pray, we recognize we don't know how to pray, none of us do-- even when it looks like maybe we do--we don't. And the fact that we are praying together is a reminder of this, that no one of us knows how to pray so well that we can just pray on our own cause we know how to do it right. It’s not the way it works. We come together to pray so that all of us together recognize our dependence our weakness, we are weak. Prayer together exposes this in a unique way. It opens the door, it provides an opportunity for us to see that. I'm reminded of, even in that passage in Mark's gospel we were just looking at in the 14th chapter, right after we’re told of what Jesus does to the Father when he submits his will to the Father’s. Then in verse 37, “He came and found them sleeping.” They were supposed to be praying with Him, right? What were they doing. They were sleeping. “He found them sleeping, and He said to Peter, ‘Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?’” Here's another evidence of the accountability of corporate prayer. Have you ever fallen asleep when you're praying by yourself? It happens, doesn't it, sometimes? Jesus, then says, “Keep watching and praying”. Wake up, He says to Peter, “that you may not come into temptation.” Jesus is warning Peter of what's about to come and Peter is not taking it seriously, and Jesus acknowledges that, “the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” When we come together we’re acknowledging that together, the spirit may be willing but the flesh is weak. We need each other to encourage each other as we pray, to keep our prayers focused like they ought to be to make sure that were acknowledging in our prayers together our dependence upon the Lord, our weakness-- to cultivate in our praying a spiritual alertness. It’s no accident that we’re told, quite simply, that Paul instructs the believers, the saints at Thessalonica, ‘pray without ceasing,” Do it all the time. Don't stop. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 7,
“The end of all things is at hand. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.”
If anyone lives in a time where they could see that the end of all things is that hand, it surely is us. That, in and of itself, ought to drive us to our knees together-- to beseech the Lord, to approach the Lord together as God's people.
A fourth thing that I want to mention concerning the importance of prayer, in uniting our hearts, and that is; that it stimulates our mutual and loving concern for one another. Have you ever noticed this, that as you spend time in prayer for other believers, your concern for them grows--your interest in their needs, their difficulties, begins to increase? There’s a passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, 2 Corinthians chapter 9, that I find interesting in this respect, the way that it's put-- is really, it seems fascinating to me. Paul says this in verse 14, “while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you,” “by prayer, on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.” Paul, asks several times in his epistles, those people he’s writing to, he says, Brethren, pray for us.” He acknowledges the need. He is indeed stimulating that loving concern. Think of the apostle Paul, time and time again in his epistles, but he says he’s continually bringing these believers before the Lord in prayer. “I make mention of you always in my prayer.” He does that often, doesn’t he? Surely this stimulates a mutual and loving concern for one another, when we pray. This is absolutely critical in the matter of unity. You know it's hard-- one of the things it seems to me-- that I, I am absolutely—I’ve experienced that time and again—it is very difficult, very difficult, to fall into the kinds of pettiness and divisiveness with someone when you are together praying for that person, and praying for others. I have found time and again that that draws us together in a very unique way. It really does.
A fifth thing that I would mention and that is, prayer is one of the primary means by which God accomplishes his will. We talked about how prayer directs our attention to God's will. Jesus is drawn to the preeminence of the Father's will, as He prays on the night of his betrayal. But prayer is one of the primary means by which He actually accomplishes His will on this earth. And therefore, it is a means of unified worship. We have the opportunity to pray together and to see God work and to know even before God works, that we have a part in the outworking of his purpose in this world. Isn’t that something? What a privilege that is. How that should unite our hearts in joy together, because when we come together we remind each other of these things-- or we should be. Philippians chapter 1, Paul speaks of this matter of how important this this whole matter of prayer is. He says in verse nine, “I pray that your love may abound still more and more,” His will, God's will, is being accomplished as He prays for these saints. His-- His desire is that what God's will is for God's people, would be accomplished even as we are praying for one another. Verse 19 he says, “For I know that this shall turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the spirit of Jesus Christ.” In that respect, are you reminded of that scene, in the 12th chapter of Acts, when Herod laid his hands-on James, and put him to death and then he arrested Peter and he was planning on doing the same thing to Peter. He was going to bring them out before the people, after the Passover in verse five says that, “Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God.” Verse 12 says, “when he realized this, he went”—after he’d been released, “he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, who was also called Mark, where many were gathered together, and were praying.” What a privilege these saints had in the outworking of God's purpose--Peter miraculously delivered. We can look at many examples of that as well.
One last thing that I want to mention this morning about prayer, the importance of prayer, and that is; that it cultivates a persevering and a grateful dependence upon the Lord. Perseverance is not an easy thing. We talk about it. Sometimes we don't really think about it that much. It’s not easy to persevere. We’re told to be devoted to prayer. While all of us would have to acknowledge, even if we’re a little bit honest, that that's not so easy to do-- to be devoted to prayer. Well I’ve got all these other things that keep getting in the way. There's always other things I need to do. And it is hard for me to pray. Or I don't know how to do that, or I don't have time to go and spend time with my brethren praying. Devotion to prayer means just that, it means you have to give it due diligence. Paul says later on in Romans chapter 15 verse 30,
“Now, I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. That's not easy or light praying, is it? That takes discipline. Striving together, it’s not easy.
Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18,
“with all prayer and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view be on the alert with all perseverance.”
Keep on keeping on in this. You're discouraged--it's not easy--it doesn't seem like anything is happening. This is the very lesson that the Lord Himself taught there in Luke chapter 18 when He taught His disciples to pray and not to lose heart-- to keep on praying-- to persevere in praying-- to strive to be earnest in praying-- to be grateful in praying. Paul speaks of this in a Colossians chapter 4 verse 2, “Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving”. Verse 12 he speaks of, “Epaphras, who is one of your number, of bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings.” Notice what he says, “always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully asserted all the will of God.” Does that describe for you a person who just once in a while, sort of inserts the Colossians saints in his prayers? Look what Paul says, he is “laboring earnestly for you in his prayers.” Sometimes I am convinced that the reason God takes the time He does to answer prayer and in the way--in a way that we can see it and observe it, is to indeed teach us perseverance. We’re not very good at perseverance; none of us are. It’s not our strong point, not our strong suit. We like to do something and something happens because of what we've done and we want it to happen right away. If ever there was a society and culture that was used to getting what they wanted, fast, it’s this one. God says it doesn't work that way with Him. God’s not like the latest technological gadget that you can buy. God is God. He’s on the throne. And He answers with perfect wisdom and sovereign authority. And it's an actual joy, it’s a special privilege to wait on Him, to labor earnestly in prayer for His work. I have mentioned it recently and I have mentioned it again. I have, I have been just greatly encouraged and challenged by our brother Saeed in this matter. You know, over the years, it has, it just struck me, the whole thrust and concept of supporting missionaries as a body. Here's a local body, their sending, they’re having a part in sending someone to serve the Lord in a different part of the earth-- the world. The whole thrust is, we’re to be praying, we’re to be praying for them, right? That’s what we should be doing and we delight in that. And I know as a body, we seem to me, to be very faithful in doing that. But, when’s the last time you heard of a missionary who is devoted to praying for you, for the body. You know a remarkable thing, since Saeed was here last time, we’ve been on his heart, a great deal, and he’s been very concerned for us spiritually. And the man has devoted himself to praying. We've been trying to meet every Saturday morning, and pray, but were not praying nearly like he is, he is up at almost-- I think most Saturdays I get a text from him. He’s up like four in the morning praying and praying and praying. Maybe a question we could ask is, does he care more for us than we care about ourselves? Here's an example. I've never seen an example quite like that. It's a little bit different than what I'm used to, I have to admit. It seems like it always should be going the other direction. And I'm thankful for this. You know, in many respects this is more biblical, though, is it not? You see Paul--I think we probably have more record of Paul the missionary praying for the believers in these churches, then we have of the churches is praying for him. Maybe that's a good thing. One thing is for sure, we as God's people-- this is something we desperately need. If we are going to be of one heart and mind, we will need to spend time, a lot of time in prayer-- laboring earnestly, striving together, waiting on the Lord, holding each other accountable, even in the way we approach the Lord. We learn from one another when we pray, we do. That's not generally why we pray. It’s not a lesson, it’s not a teaching session, but we still learn and we’re encouraged by one another to keep on-- keep on keeping on. Don't give in and don't give up.
