This morning we approach a rather important subject matter. That subject is how to know God’s very heart. What is it that God is focused on? Who or what does his heart beat for? Our priorities include things like being accepted, fulfilling the expectations of others at work, fitting in, making a living, saving for retirement, providing for our families, or looking after our physical health. These things consume us on any given day. But God’s priority is the salvation of all men and women. His heart beats for the spiritual health and vitality of all people.
Knowing God's heart.
A key verse is found in 1 Timothy 2:1 (NIV) which reads, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone..." Notice the scope of Paul's concern. We should be praying for "everyone."
In my e-mail program I have this feature called a whitelist and a blacklist. The whitelist are those people who I am concerned about and want to hear from. The blacklist are those people I want to block from my view. Who is on your prayer whitelist? Who is on your prayer blacklist? Who are the exceptions? People you do not care about? This verse reminds us that God’s concern is for totality of humanity. He cares about all races, religions, and creeds.
Notice that God's concern even extends to those who may exploit power or who may even oppress people. Kings and people in authority were not the friends of the Christians in the first century. They were seen as evil, often persecuting the Christians. Yet Paul reminds the Ephesians in 1 Timothy 2:1-4 (NIV) that God is concerned about even these rulers! "I urge, then, first of all, that prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone--for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."
Why would we want our hearts to be set on anything less than the very desire of God? Prayer reorients our hearts. It centers our will on doing the will of God. It makes God's heart become our heart.
1 Timothy 2:5-7 (NIV) explains why the salvation of all men and women matters and why we should pray. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a teacher of the true faith to the Gentiles."
Christ gave himself freely as ransom for all men and women. This causes us to ask whether or not we arewilling give ourselves to him. Are we willing to be appointed, to face rejection if necessary, to give generously of our hard earned lives, to turn our families upside down, to lay down our very lives, or to pray fervently?
Embracing divine partnership.
So what is it that God is seeking from us? He is asking that we embrace a partnership with him in the one thing that matters for eternity. He wants us to participate in the salvation of all men and women! I think one of worst assumptions we can make in evangelism is that "I" can do it. You may remember Gideon's assumption that we discussed in last week's sermon. In Judges 6:15 (NIV) Gideon asked God, "how can I save Israel?" But it wasn't about what Gideon could do in his own power. It was about what God wanted to do through Gideon's weakness and gross inadequacies.
Remember in Matthew 28:20 (NIV) Jesus gave us this promise, "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." In Mark 16:20 (NIV) we read how, "...the Lord worked with them..." as they went out to proclaim the good news of Christ to the ends of the earth. We don't do evangelism alone in the power of our own flesh or in our own wisdom.God shows up and does the heavy lifting.
One passage that I really find to be encouraging is Philippians 1:3-6 (NIV). "I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
Another encouragement is found in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 (NIV). "I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded accoding to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building."
These passages remind us that evangelism requires faith in God and faith in the divine partnership. From the perspective of evangelism, having faith in God means two things. First it means knowing our limitations. We must know what we cannot accomplish in our flesh and blood. Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) says, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." We cannot win a heavenly war with human means. We just don't have that capability by ourselves.
But second, having faith in the divine partnership means knowing God’s capabilities. In Luke 18:26-27 (NIV) the disciples ponder whether or notfrom a human perspective it was possible for anyone to even be saved. Consider Christ's response. "Those who heard this asked, 'Who then can be saved?' Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.' "
Do you have a clear picture of where you stop and where God begins? Do you have a picture of your limitations but of God's capabilities? Are we willing to trust God? J Vernon McGee, the well known Bible teacher, told a story from his college days that illustrates this idea of partnership well. He says, "When I was a student in college, I was very zealous to be a witness for God, but I was rather timid about it, and, very frankly, I wanted to be sure I had the leading of the Holy Spirit. I didn't have any money for bus or train fare, so I did a lot of hitchhiking."
"One time when I was out on the highway, a man in a brand new Model A Ford drove by and stopped fifty yards past me. Then he motioned for me to come on and get in. He said he always looked over a hitchhiker before he picked one up. He introduced himself and told me he was a salesman for drug companies. He was going all the way to Memphis and he would be glad to take me all the way, but he did need to stop at several drug stores on the way to get his orders from them."
"As we rode along, we talked of everything under the sun. Under my breath I was praying, 'Lord, I'd like to witness to this man, but you will have to open the door for me. I'm not going to broach the subject because if I do, he'll think he has some religious nut in the car with him. If I open the door, he will probably open the car door and tell me to get out.'So we rode along some more and just talked and talked."
"We got about sixty miles from Memphis and we had run out of conversation. There was a lull, and I was still praying, 'Lord, we're getting near Memphis and there still hasn't been a door open for me. I'm not going to open it because I'm afraid he'll throw me out. You open the door for me if you want me to witness.' "
"We rode on for about ten more minutes and then out of a clear sky he said, 'You know, my wife and I went to church yesterday.' He looked at me and laughed, and I laughed. Then he said, 'I don't go very often. But that preacher said the funniest thing. He said Jesus was coming to this earth again. What do you think about that?' "
"Well, friend, I told him. Then I told him all about the first coming of the Lord Jesus. Finally I said, 'The second coming of Christ means nothing to you now. You've got to come to Christ and accept what he did for you the first time he came if you are to have an interest in his second coming.' "
"This man was wide open. He drove me to the dormitory where I stayed at the college. He parked there and said, 'I want to see you again.' So I just blurted out, 'Wouldn't you like to accept Christ as your Savior?' He said, 'I sure would.' I told him he could do that right there in the car. So we bowed our heads in prayer. I prayed and then asked him to pray, and he accepted Christ."
"Now I'll be honest with you. I would never have opened my mouth if the Lord hadn't prompted him to open up the conversation. We need to be led by the Spirit."
Praying more powerfully.
Now you may be asking, how can I begin praying more powerfully? Consider some of these verses that speak to the hindrances to our effectiveness in prayer.
Psalm 66:18-20 (NIV) says, "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and heard my voice in prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!"Sometimes we are not so focused on the heartbeat of God for the lost, but rather we are focused on our sins. This limits our effectiveness in prayer.
James 4:3 (NIV) says, "When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures." Sometimes our prayers are more about us than about the lost person we seek God to touch.
James 1:6-8 (NIV) says, "But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does." Sometimes we don't believe God is going to fulfill his part of the partnership.
James 4:6 (NIV) gives another example. "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." Sometimes evangelism is more about us being right, winning an argument, or controlling a person. God wants no part in that type of evangelism.Thus, he opposes such pride.
Matthew 5:23-24 (NIV) tells us, "Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift." Here is irony in its purest form. The irony is that we would be concerned about a person being reconciled to God and forgiven by Christ, while refusing to be reconciled or refusing to forgive that same person. Again, we need to have a heart for those people God seeks to save, even if those people are our enemies.
Moving beyond prayer.
We should probably touch on one final topic. Is prayer enough? Does God only want us to pray? In Philemon the apostle Paul encourages the believers to do much more than pray. Consider his prayer in these verses.
Philemon 4-6 (NIV) says, "I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints. I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ."
I came across some quotes that were extremely challenging to me this past week. Ray Comfort says, "It is easier to talk to God about men, than talk to men about God." Isn't that the truth? Yet God wants us to move beyond prayer and be active in sharing our faith with others.
C.T. Studds said, "We Christians too often substitute prayer for playing the game. Prayer is good, but when used as a substitute for obedience, it is nothing but a blatant hypocrisy, a despicable pharisaism. To your knees man! And to your Bible! Decide at once! Don't hedge! Time flies! Cease your insults to God, quit consulting flesh and blood. Stop your lame, lying, and cowardly excuses. Enlist!"
A.W. Pink said, "It is true that many are praying for world-wide revival, but it would be more timely and more scriptural for prayer to be made to the Lord of the Harvest that he would raise up and thrust forth laborers who would fearlessly and faithfully preach those truths which are calculated to bring about revival."
Pray for one.
In the coming weeks, we are going to talk about loving those God loves, inviting them into our fellowship, and providing a redemptive relationship. We are going to talk about actively telling others about Jesus Christ. This morning, however, we begin with prayer. I encourage you to identify one person who is in your life who needs to know Jesus Christ.Pray for this one person throughout this week. In Bible school our classes are going to study verses that inspire us to pray for those who do not know Christ. In our Life Groups we are going to spend time actually praying for our one person.