Sermon Tone Analysis

Pray Without Ceasing

 

September 20, 2009

1 Thessalonians 5:12-18

 

Again, we’ll begin with some words of wisdom from Henry Blackaby.

He says that* Prayer Discovers God's Agenda, *and quotes Mark 1:35* */Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, He got up, went out, and made His way to a deserted place.

And He was praying there./

It was common knowledge among the disciples that they would find Jesus praying during the early morning hours.

When they needed Him, they knew to go to the place of prayer.

When Judas betrayed Jesus, he led his cohorts to Jesus' place of prayer.

Every time the Lord Jesus faced an important decision, He prayed.

When He was being tempted to do things by the world's methods instead of the Father's, He prayed (Matt.

4).

When it was time to choose His disciples, He prayed the entire night (Luke 6:12).

If the Son of God required a night of prayer in order to determine the Father's mind, how long might it take us in prayer to clearly determine our Father's will?

Because Jesus was so often surrounded by crowds, He knew He must find a quiet place so He could clearly hear His Father's voice.

Jesus had many people seeking to influence the direction of His life.

His disciples wanted Him to go where the crowds were (Mark 1:37).

The crowds wanted to crown Him king (John 6:15).

Satan tempted Him to make compromises in order to draw a following (Matt.

4:3, 6, 9).

Jesus knew that His mission was not to attract a crowd, but to remain obedient to His Father.

It was prayer that set the agenda for Jesus' ministry (Luke 6:12).

Prayer preceded the miracles (John 11:42–43); prayer brought Him encouragement at critical moments (Luke 9:28–31); prayer enabled Him to go to the cross (Luke 22:41–42); and prayer kept Him there despite excruciating pain (Luke 23:46).

Follow the Savior's example, and let your time alone with God, in prayer, set the agenda for your life.

Last week we looked at God’s perspective on work.

This week, we’ll look at God’s perspective on prayer.

God is always interested in getting us to know His mind.

Scripture says we are to have the mind of Christ.

Listen to 1 Corinthians 2:15-16* */The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one.

"For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

/Yes, God’s thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways, but at the same time, we’re told we can have the mind of Christ.

No one can know what the Lord is thinking (Rim 11:34) but through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can discern God’s plans, thoughts, and action – have the mind of Christ.

Are you spending enough time with Christ to have His very mind?

An intimate relationship with anyone requires time, doesn’t it?

The same is required with our Lord.

Philippians 2:5 in the New Living Translation says, /“You must have the same attitude hat Christ Jesus had.” /By reading the Word of God and praying, we learn Christ’s attitude was to serve not be served (Mk 10:45) Reading!

Praying!

You will never have the mind of Christ – think His thoughts – unless you read the Word and pray.

Our passage this morning focuses on these commands – be joyful, never stop praying, and be thankful in all circumstances.

These are the attitudes of the heart which reflect the mind of Christ.

Please turn now to 1 Thessalonians chapter 5 and we’ll read today’s Scripture starting at verse 12./

But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, 13 and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

Live in peace with one another.

14 We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

15 See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.

16 Rejoice always; 17 pray without ceasing; 18 in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus./

God’s will for us jumps off the pages – honor your leaders, respect them, love them.

Live peacefully.

Encourage people.

Be patient with them; do good to everyone; be thankful; be joyful, pray always.

It is these last three – be joyful, pray always, be thankful – that I’m focusing on this morning.

Now I want you to turn to Psalm 1 as we’re going to compare it to our key passage for this morning.

/How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!

But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night."/

(Psalm 1:1-2)

Psalm 1 speaks about the blessedness that comes from meditating on the Word of the Lord day and night.

It makes you like a tree planted by streams of water: 1) fruitful in ministry to others; 2) durable, as your leaf remains green in the midst of dry blasts and seasons of drought; and 3) prosperous, in that all the work of faith will have enduring significance even to eternity.

Nothing you do in dependence on God will be done in vain, even if it looks like a failure here.

We can’t spend all our time on our knees or reading our Bibles, so how can we meditate on God’s Word day and night?

Well, meditating on the Word of God day and night probably requires memorizing portions of Scripture so that they are in our brain to ponder throughout the day or night without taking the Bible in hand or even turning on the light.

The key to this kind of meditation is delight.

The deepest mark of this happy person in Psalm 1 is that he delights in the Word of God.

I delight in lots of things.

The things I delight in must never take priority over God.

Delight in the Lord, Psalm 37:4 says.

/Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart/.

Bible reading and Bible memory and meditation are not a burden to the man who delights in God, but a pleasure.

This is what we want.

What a sadness when Bible reading is just a drudgery.

Something is wrong.

What shall we do?

We struggle with Bible reading and memory and meditation because we don't find pleasure in it.

It feels like a burden and a mere duty that does not attract us.

We have other things we want to get to more.

Breakfast or work or newspaper or computer or TV.

Our hearts incline to other things and do not incline to the Word.

And so it is not our delight.

Did the psalmists ever struggle with this?

Yes they did.

Take heart.

We all struggle with this.

There are seasons in the best saints' lives when spiritual hunger becomes weak.

How shall this be changed?

The answer I want to give this morning is prayer.

Delight in the Word of God is created and sustained through prayer.

So the outline I want to follow today is to address three things: That we should pray, How we should pray, and What we should pray in order to delight in the Word of God.

Be sure you see the order of the thought - the order of your life:

1.

Our aim is to be fruitful people of love whose lives are nourishing for others; we want to be durable in that and not wither when the heat comes; and we want to be eternally significant or prosperous.

That's our goal, because when we are fruitful like that in the midst of the drought of hardship, God will get the glory.

2. But the key to that kind of fruitfulness, we have seen in Psalm 1, is meditation on the Word of God day and night.

We must be a Word-saturated people.

3.

And the key to continual meditation is memorizing portions of the Scriptures so that we can keep them ever before us and savor them all the time.

4.

And the key to memorizing and meditation is delighting in the Word of God.

Such continual meditation will not be sustained by mere duty.

And if it is, the effect will probably be legalism or pride, not humble fruitfulness for others.

The soul that never gets beyond spiritual discipline to spiritual delight will probably become a harsh and condemning soul.

The sweetness and tenderness and humility that come from the Word of God grow out of the delight and wonder of grace, that we have been granted to know God.

Remember the one foot rule: get the Word of God from your head to your heart.

Now I’m turning to another step: the key to delight is prayer.

Or, more accurately, the key to delight is God's omnipotent, transforming grace laid hold of by prayer.

So let me try to awaken your desires to pray by showing you that we should pray for delight and how we should pray and what we should pray.