Ministry Without Prayer?
(Romans 15:30-32, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, November 27, 2005)
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
Romans 15:30-33 30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. 33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
(30) The Passionate Appeal for Prayer
There is something in these few verses that the Apostle Paul is earnestly requesting of His hearers. He actually uses the word “beg” in verse 30. He knows that he needs something very much, and that they have an integral part to play in his success in ministry. The thing that Paul needs so very much is the heartfelt prayer of his brothers and sisters in the faith.
Specifically Paul asks that the church would “strive together” with him in their prayer to God for him. In making this request, he can count on the fact that it seemed to be a practice of the early church to gather together even daily for earnest prayer. Paul was probably not asking them to begin an entirely new practice, as would be the case for most American churches in our day. To ask an American church to come together for daily prayer is to ask a group of people to radically change their lifestyles. But in Paul’s day, frequent gatherings of worship seem to be an existing resource that can be appealed to. What a blessed day that was. This will be one sure sign that the Holy Spirit is in our midst to bless our ministry, if the churches are already gathering together in daily communion with the Lord.
Communion with God is truly what we need. Paul writes here in verse 30 of something that can only happen “by our Lord Jesus Christ” and “by the love of the Spirit.” There is clearly something important being said here about the presence of God. I wonder if we are aware of how completely dependant we are upon the work of our sovereign God. If we knew this, would not the church be committed to gathering together in prayer?
Listen to these words of Jesus Christ from Matthew 18:19-20. “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” I recognize that the context of those words is the judicial gathering of the elders of the church for church discipline. But surely we do not believe that the only time that the Lord promises to be with us is when we are helping someone to see that he has sinned. Surely God will hear us when we pray together that His own name will be held in higher regard in our midst. Surely God will have an ear for His children when they earnestly beseech Him, “Thy kingdom come!”
(31-32) The Content of the Prayer Requested
In verses 31 and 32 Paul reveals the specifics of His request for prayer. He asks for three things.
1. He needs deliverance from the “unbelievers” in Judea who are not yet persuaded about the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is well aware of this group. He used to be a part of their number. He knows how devastating they can be as obstacles to the progress of the gospel. He knows that there are many against him, particularly because he is bringing the message of a Jewish Messiah to the Gentile world, and is having extraordinary success in this mission.
2. He asks that His service of bringing the funds of largely Gentile Christians to help care for the Jerusalem church in her hour of need will be acceptable to the receiving church. He believes this to be a fulfillment of prophesy and a tremendous opportunity for a powerful witness regarding God’s work of bringing holy fruit from the world of the Gentiles to aid His faithful remnant in the land of the Jews. Despite the fact that He believes that God has promised that such a thing will take place, he does not presume that the project can be safely undertaken without concerted prayer.
3. Finally he wants them to pray that he might come to them in Rome with joy and have a refreshing time with them as a Christian teacher bringing the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ. In all of these things he sees the reality and danger of opposition, the reality and danger of rejected ministry from even within the church, the reality and danger of obstacles to any future plans that he may have of ministry. Paul calls the church to be about the hard work of prayer.
(33) The Blessing of God’s Presence in Prayer
The passage closes with a benediction. This is actually the third one in this chapter. Each is different. Each one is appropriate to the specific context around it. In this case, I think it is important to see that there is a connection between the peace of God and prayer. This same idea is mentioned in Philippians 4:6-7, where the Apostle writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Again, we would do well to ask ourselves this question? Have we in the American church come to the conclusion that we do not need the great blessing of the peace of God? Is that why we have decided that we are too busy for prayer? In fact these four powerful verses lead us to inquire of our own souls very pointedly…
POINT: Why do we think that anything good will come from this ministry without prayer?
Illustration: The Korean Story, The Exeter Story
Before we proceed to the application for us today, I want to consider with you a post-biblical illustration of the Spirit of God moving His people to a life of concerted corporate prayer.
The names of Nagasaka, Underwood, Appenzellar, and Nevius may not mean much to most of us here this morning, but that is because we are not Korean Christians.
In 1883, a Japanese Christian named Nagasaka was the first foreign Protestant to arrive in Korea. He distributed bibles in Chinese and Japanese for the National Bible Society of Scotland. Two years later in 1885, Horace Underwood, a Presbyterian missionary, and Henry Appenzellar, a Methodist missionary, arrived in Korea. In 1890, five years later, Dr. John L. Nevius came to Korea to speak about his missionary approach, now known as the Nevius method. The method emphasized placing responsibility for the furtherance of the gospel in any country upon the new churches in that very land that was being evangelized. It therefore called for “self-support,” “self-propagation,” and “self-government” by the new churches. This Nevius method took hold in Korea in a way that it did not in China and Japan. It was a call for local Christians to carry on the work of church planting.
These were very modest beginnings for Christianity in Korea. But 1883-1890 was not the final chapter in the spiritual history of Korea. Something happened over the last four decades in Korea that is astounding. In the early 1960s there were about 1 million Christians in Korea. While only about 2% of the population in Asia is Christian today, there are now over 11 million Protestants in the land of Korea. The largest Christian churches in the world are in South Korea, and the nation is sending out large numbers of missionaries to the world.
How did this happen? In 1907, a movement of daily prayer gatherings began in Korea that has continued down to this day. Early morning daily corporate prayer has become the common practice of the church in Korea, and the Lord who commands us to pray hears and answers prayer.
Let us switch our focus now from Asia to America. On September 30, 1770 something extraordinary happened in Exeter, New Hampshire. Over 6000 people gathered without any significant prior notice, because George Whitefield adjusted his schedule that afternoon and agreed to preach in Exeter. Any responsible spiritual history of our town would have to tell that story. But it must be said that at present, as we look at the many years that have passed since 1770, it cannot be said that a responsible spiritual history of our town would have to include anything else in particular.
The question remains whether another chapter will need to be written. The answer to that question depends entirely on the work of the Holy Spirit through the church. Given that fact, it is hard to imagine why we should not be praying. Jesus, who told us to follow Him if we would be fishers of men, had an established habit of prayer. The Apostle Paul, the great missionary of the 1st century Christian church had a rigorous commitment to prayer, and in our text this morning begged the church to pray for his ministry. Why do we think that anything good will ever come from our lives, from our families, from this church, or from our ministry here without prayer?
Application: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters…
For this reason, brothers and sisters, I beg you to pray, I commit to prayer, and I promise as the Lord gives me strength to meet with you in prayer as God makes you willing for that spiritual service. Let me be specific this morning and conclude with these four prayer requests:
1. I want to see the church in Southeastern New Hampshire striving together daily in prayer. I beg you to pray for this.
2. I want to facilitate the planting of other churches in our region. I beg you to pray for this.
3. I want to see the church doing acts of service together for the glory of God. I beg you to pray for this.
4. I don’t want September 29, 1770 to be the last significant date in the spiritual history of Exeter. I want another chapter to be written in the spiritual history of this town. I appeal to you brothers and sisters to pray. And may the God of peace truly be with you. Amen.
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
Romans 15:30-33 30 I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, 31 that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, 32 so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. 33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.
(30) The Passionate Appeal for Prayer
There is something in these few verses that the Apostle Paul is earnestly requesting of His hearers. He actually uses the word “beg” in verse 30. He knows that he needs something very much, and that they have an integral part to play in his success in ministry. The thing that Paul needs so very much is the heartfelt prayer of his brothers and sisters in the faith.
Specifically Paul asks that the church would “strive together” with him in their prayer to God for him. In making this request, he can count on the fact that it seemed to be a practice of the early church to gather together even daily for earnest prayer. Paul was probably not asking them to begin an entirely new practice, as would be the case for most American churches in our day. To ask an American church to come together for daily prayer is to ask a group of people to radically change their lifestyles. But in Paul’s day, frequent gatherings of worship seem to be an existing resource that can be appealed to. What a blessed day that was. This will be one sure sign that the Holy Spirit is in our midst to bless our ministry, if the churches are already gathering together in daily communion with the Lord.
Communion with God is truly what we need. Paul writes here in verse 30 of something that can only happen “by our Lord Jesus Christ” and “by the love of the Spirit.” There is clearly something important being said here about the presence of God. I wonder if we are aware of how completely dependant we are upon the work of our sovereign God. If we knew this, would not the church be committed to gathering together in prayer?
Listen to these words of Jesus Christ from Matthew 18:19-20. “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” I recognize that the context of those words is the judicial gathering of the elders of the church for church discipline. But surely we do not believe that the only time that the Lord promises to be with us is when we are helping someone to see that he has sinned. Surely God will hear us when we pray together that His own name will be held in higher regard in our midst. Surely God will have an ear for His children when they earnestly beseech Him, “Thy kingdom come!”
(31-32) The Content of the Prayer Requested
In verses 31 and 32 Paul reveals the specifics of His request for prayer. He asks for three things.
1. He needs deliverance from the “unbelievers” in Judea who are not yet persuaded about the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul is well aware of this group. He used to be a part of their number. He knows how devastating they can be as obstacles to the progress of the gospel. He knows that there are many against him, particularly because he is bringing the message of a Jewish Messiah to the Gentile world, and is having extraordinary success in this mission.
2. He asks that His service of bringing the funds of largely Gentile Christians to help care for the Jerusalem church in her hour of need will be acceptable to the receiving church. He believes this to be a fulfillment of prophesy and a tremendous opportunity for a powerful witness regarding God’s work of bringing holy fruit from the world of the Gentiles to aid His faithful remnant in the land of the Jews. Despite the fact that He believes that God has promised that such a thing will take place, he does not presume that the project can be safely undertaken without concerted prayer.
3. Finally he wants them to pray that he might come to them in Rome with joy and have a refreshing time with them as a Christian teacher bringing the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ. In all of these things he sees the reality and danger of opposition, the reality and danger of rejected ministry from even within the church, the reality and danger of obstacles to any future plans that he may have of ministry. Paul calls the church to be about the hard work of prayer.
(33) The Blessing of God’s Presence in Prayer
The passage closes with a benediction. This is actually the third one in this chapter. Each is different. Each one is appropriate to the specific context around it. In this case, I think it is important to see that there is a connection between the peace of God and prayer. This same idea is mentioned in Philippians 4:6-7, where the Apostle writes, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Again, we would do well to ask ourselves this question? Have we in the American church come to the conclusion that we do not need the great blessing of the peace of God? Is that why we have decided that we are too busy for prayer? In fact these four powerful verses lead us to inquire of our own souls very pointedly…
POINT: Why do we think that anything good will come from this ministry without prayer?
Illustration: The Korean Story, The Exeter Story
Before we proceed to the application for us today, I want to consider with you a post-biblical illustration of the Spirit of God moving His people to a life of concerted corporate prayer.
The names of Nagasaka, Underwood, Appenzellar, and Nevius may not mean much to most of us here this morning, but that is because we are not Korean Christians.
In 1883, a Japanese Christian named Nagasaka was the first foreign Protestant to arrive in Korea. He distributed bibles in Chinese and Japanese for the National Bible Society of Scotland. Two years later in 1885, Horace Underwood, a Presbyterian missionary, and Henry Appenzellar, a Methodist missionary, arrived in Korea. In 1890, five years later, Dr. John L. Nevius came to Korea to speak about his missionary approach, now known as the Nevius method. The method emphasized placing responsibility for the furtherance of the gospel in any country upon the new churches in that very land that was being evangelized. It therefore called for “self-support,” “self-propagation,” and “self-government” by the new churches. This Nevius method took hold in Korea in a way that it did not in China and Japan. It was a call for local Christians to carry on the work of church planting.
These were very modest beginnings for Christianity in Korea. But 1883-1890 was not the final chapter in the spiritual history of Korea. Something happened over the last four decades in Korea that is astounding. In the early 1960s there were about 1 million Christians in Korea. While only about 2% of the population in Asia is Christian today, there are now over 11 million Protestants in the land of Korea. The largest Christian churches in the world are in South Korea, and the nation is sending out large numbers of missionaries to the world.
How did this happen? In 1907, a movement of daily prayer gatherings began in Korea that has continued down to this day. Early morning daily corporate prayer has become the common practice of the church in Korea, and the Lord who commands us to pray hears and answers prayer.
Let us switch our focus now from Asia to America. On September 30, 1770 something extraordinary happened in Exeter, New Hampshire. Over 6000 people gathered without any significant prior notice, because George Whitefield adjusted his schedule that afternoon and agreed to preach in Exeter. Any responsible spiritual history of our town would have to tell that story. But it must be said that at present, as we look at the many years that have passed since 1770, it cannot be said that a responsible spiritual history of our town would have to include anything else in particular.
The question remains whether another chapter will need to be written. The answer to that question depends entirely on the work of the Holy Spirit through the church. Given that fact, it is hard to imagine why we should not be praying. Jesus, who told us to follow Him if we would be fishers of men, had an established habit of prayer. The Apostle Paul, the great missionary of the 1st century Christian church had a rigorous commitment to prayer, and in our text this morning begged the church to pray for his ministry. Why do we think that anything good will ever come from our lives, from our families, from this church, or from our ministry here without prayer?
Application: I appeal to you, brothers and sisters…
For this reason, brothers and sisters, I beg you to pray, I commit to prayer, and I promise as the Lord gives me strength to meet with you in prayer as God makes you willing for that spiritual service. Let me be specific this morning and conclude with these four prayer requests:
1. I want to see the church in Southeastern New Hampshire striving together daily in prayer. I beg you to pray for this.
2. I want to facilitate the planting of other churches in our region. I beg you to pray for this.
3. I want to see the church doing acts of service together for the glory of God. I beg you to pray for this.
4. I don’t want September 29, 1770 to be the last significant date in the spiritual history of Exeter. I want another chapter to be written in the spiritual history of this town. I appeal to you brothers and sisters to pray. And may the God of peace truly be with you. Amen.
posted by Pastor Magee at 12:53 PM
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