Word of Salvation – Vol. 29 No. 18 – May 1984
Biblical Evangelism
Sermon by Rev. H. W. Pennings, v.d.m. on Luke 11:5-10
Scripture Readings: Genesis 18:16-33; Luke 18: 1 8
Suggested Hymns: BoW.9; 804; 503; 808
Psalter Hymnal 434; 426; 450
Brothers and sisters in Christ,
In this first of a few sermons on evangelism we speak about prayer. I preach the Word of God about prayer. You may think that as a topic for preaching that is not too difficult. It’s not hard to pray. Yet, most Christians at least occasionally find praying difficult. So it’s best, first of all, to try to answer the question, “What IS prayer?”
To the same point is the question, “Why do we pray?” The Heidelberg Catechism, as it summarises the teaching of Scripture, tells us that “prayer is the most important part of the thankfulness God requires from us.” In one of the hymns of our Psalter Hymnal we sing that prayer is “the Christian’s VITAL BREATH”, = that is, the breath of life. It goes on to say that prayer is the soul’s “sincere desire” – “the repenting sinner’s voice.” Yet, these very helpful statements of fact don’t explain what prayer really is.
Simply put, prayer is communicating with God. Even a sigh can be a prayer. Not every sigh. Not every word. Yet, a thought can be a prayer. Prayer is communicating with God because you know that He is the sovereign LORD of the whole universe. You’ll have heard that expression lots of times. After all, it’s a very Reformed statement. The apostle Paul in his address to the people of Athens described God as the LORD of heaven and earth who made the world and everything in it; who gives life and breath to all people and to everything else.
Prayer is not talking to another person. It is talking to God; or, communicating with One who knows and who understands and can do whatever is His goodwill.
Throughout the history of the Church there has been much misunderstanding about the sovereignty of God. As Reformed people we say that God is sovereign in everything. Also in evangelism. Everything that happens is completely under God’s control. People who deny the sovereignty of God as we understand it often have plans about evangelism with which we cannot agree.
Yet, all Christians pray. And when we pray, when we communicate with God, we immediately acknowledge God’s complete sovereignty. All Christians do. In prayer we ASK for things. We GIVE THANKS for things. Why? It is because we all know, as Christians, that it is God who HAS GIVEN, and who CAN GIVE. When we pray we are not trying to force something on God. We can’t. Rather, we confess our total dependence on Him. We communicate with the One on whom everything depends; everything!
We confess that in the matter of salvation too God is sovereign. Many will argue the point. They’ll talk about God and man co-operating. But what happens when you pray? Have you ever heard someone say in prayer, “LORD, I thank you that I have been able to save myself”? It’s s most unlikely. We are more likely to thank the LORD that He has called us to faith, and we praise Him for having chosen us.
If God is sovereign in salvation, He is also sovereign in evangelism. It is totally the work of God that some hear the message of salvation and that others respond to it in faith. We should never believe that God brings a person so far, and so far only, towards a true faith, and that he or she has to save himself/herself. That’s why, as we pray for the salvation of others we pray that…
(1) God will use us
(2) will give us the right words
(3) will give those with whom we communicate a spirit of understanding and an accepting heart.
We know that if God were not to hear our plea, everything would be hopeless.
The practical outworking of the fact that God is sovereign in evangelism is, in a rather unique way, portrayed in our text for this sermon. We want people to turn to the LORD. We want it desperately.
So we communicate our feelings and desires to God. That’s prayer. We are anxious for a neighbour or friend, or even a child, brother/sister or parent, to turn to God in Christ in true faith. We express that anxiety in prayer. We say, “LORD, you do it!” Then we do what we can. Then we say what we can say.
Jesus has taught us how to pray. He had to. This matter of prayer is a part of Jesus’ revelation of the way of salvation. The perfect example of true prayer which He has given us we know as the LORD’s Prayer. “LORD, teach us to pray, just as John (the Baptist) taught his disciples”, they asked him. But Jesus went further. Not only did He teach them what words were appropriate to be used when addressing God, He also left instructions about the need for constant prayer.
It is the example of a family which was disturbed, late one night, with the unexpected arrival of guests. Were it to happen to us, as Jesus relates it in his story, we would probably have every right to be angry or disappointed. They could at least have let us know by phone that they were on the way. The example Jesus used was, however, perfectly consistent with the practices of the time. What He related could happen to any family at any time. It was long before the time of telephone and modern transport. A person would be foolish to travel, especially in the desert regions of Israel, in the heat of the day. You’ll recall that Mary and Joseph, in the story of the first Christmas Day, arrived in Bethlehem quite unannounced. It was quite common in Israel for friends to arrive, unexpectedly and unannounced, late in the evening.
On this occasion the visitors caught their prospective host without food in the house. Maybe it was towards the end of the week, a Thursday evening, when the baking wouldn’t be done until the next day in preparation for the Sabbath. Isn’t that the way things are in your home too? Hospitality was taken very seriously in eastern countries. No matter what time visitors arrived they expected to be fed handsomely; not just a quick snack with a cup of coffee.
So it was a rather embarrassing situation. This man of Jesus’ parable receives visitors, but the cake-tin is as bare as the cupboard of Mother Hubbard! Our boys and girls will understand that.
That’s why, as late as the hour was, he rushed over to friends a few houses up the street. But, no lights. They are all in bed, just as he had been. Well, too bad! What are friends for anyway? So he thumped loudly on the door. Eventually a rather sleepy voice asks, “Yes, who is it?” “John, wake up. It’s me. I’ve got some visitors. Can I borrow some milk and bread please, and have you any of those nice little cakes your wife makes?” “You must be joking! It’s past midnight. I don’t want to wake-up the whole family. I’ll see what I can get you in the morning.”
What a predicament! But he has to be hospitable. Otherwise his good name, and the good name of his whole family, won’t be as good anymore. People will say, “He didn’t welcome his visitors! What a poor friend he is!”! So he knocks a bit more and a bit louder. “Go away! My whole family is waking up.” More and louder knocking. He keeps it up until that friend knows, “Either I get out of bed and give him what he wants, or the door will come off its hinges.”
“I tell you,” Jesus told his disciples who had asked him to teach them how to pray, “I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man’s PERSISTENCE he will get up and give him as much as he needs.” Then Jesus said further, “…Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For every- one who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.”
By the inspiration of God’s Holy Spirit this parable is also for the Church of today. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus gives us a clear indication of the sort of things we may communicate to our LORD. In the parable which follows. Jesus teaches us about the METHOD or prayer we should use. We learn much the same kind of lesson from the two readings of Holy Scripture we had earlier; from that other parable Jesus told about the widow who persisted until the unjust judge gave her justice; and from the story of how Abraham kept on pleading with God about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. There is just one main message in each of these parables. We may certainly not conclude that God will remain inactive until we almost force Him to do something. These details of the parable are only like the wrapping around the main article. The central truth alone is valid, and that central truth is plain. WE MUST PRAY CONSTANTLY! God demands constant prayer. The song in our Psalter Hymnal is correct in calling prayer our “vital breath”. The LORD wants to hear from us. His desire is to grant us every request that we make. When we ask HE GIVES. When we knock HE OPENS. When we seek God will bless our seeking with finding. He is a God of so much grace that we will never be able to understand it fully.
We call God “the sovereign LORD.’ So He is. He will never give us what is bad for us. In 1John 3:21-22 we have this glorious promise about prayer and God’s answer to prayer: “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him ANYTHING WE ASK, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.” Certainly one of these “commands” is to pray constantly! Sometimes Reformed people have, shying away from this great promise, said that we should also look at the next chapter. For there, in 5:14, it clearly states, “This is the assurance we have in approaching God; that if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, He hears us.” So, we have no assurance that God will grant our requests, because we just don’t know what His will is. But then we must also read the next verse. “And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” No, even the doctrine of election from eternity should not make us hesitate. We may be sure that we are asking for something that is ACCORDING TO GOD’S WILL, when praying for the complete salvation of sinners; even the most terrible sinners in the eyes of men.
We must pray for people. And not just once, as if to satisfy God that we are doing the right thing. We can almost say from the teaching of Jesus and from the rest of Scripture that when we only ask for something ONCE, we show that we don’t really want or mean it! We must learn to pray not only with the WORDS that Jesus taught us to use, also in the MANNER of prayer which He has given. We must keep on knocking, keep on seeking, keep on asking. Even to the extent that, yes, some might say, “Hey, are you trying to force God to act?” Yes, that’s what we must do. He is a God who gives His salvation freely to those who ask, seek and knock, and to others about whom we do the same. It is God alone who saves. He gives free, sovereign grace. But it’s our responsibility to pray for it without ceasing.
Never be frightened, brothers and sisters, that God will tire of you. Never be frightened that the godly cause for which you pray may be outside of the will of God. Prayer is not an end in itself. It’s only the beginning of our responsibility. But at that beginning we MUST begin. Why? Because Scripture also says that the prayers of the righteous are powerful and effective; James 5:16.
Think for a moment about all the people whom the Lord has “given into your hands”, or, has entrusted to you, that you may bear witness to the grace of God in Christ to them. Think about all the people you know, and about whom you dearly, dearly wish that they, too, would bow before the throne of God’s abundant grace. Your true desire is that he or she (your neighbour, your friend, your child, your parent) your true desire is that they experience peace through having peace with God. Are you pleading with God for them? Or, is it possible that long, long ago already, you have stopped praying for them? If so, let these sins of the past be forgotten because you are now asking for forgiveness. Start asking the LORD again. Start knocking on the doors of heaven so long and so loudly that these “doors” almost cave in. Tell the LORD of the concern which is in your heart for them. For who has given you that concern but the LORD Himself! Does that solve the mystery perhaps about the sovereignty of God, and the answers to prayer. Who gave you this concern for the salvation of others but the LORD who has, sovereignly, put everything that is good in your heart in the first place? Pray for particular people. Pray for particular weaknesses they have. Pray for the areas which Satan so controls that they want to hold on to them, or cannot escape from them. Your true concern for people will show in various ways. But it must show first of all in your constant, ceaseless prayers.
When, in the course of a worship service, the minister leads the congregation in prayer, he can’t always pray publicly as we have been commanded to pray. It is not possible for the minister to mention all those people whom the LORD has laid on your heart that you pray for them. And there are some matters which the minister cannot mention in public prayer. But you know them. Will you start praying for them earnestly?
Especially in your personal prayer-times you can pour out your heart to God. You can also mention personal weaknesses, matters which are preventing you from witnessing to others about the glory of God.
Hold on to these rich promises which the LORD gives to praying people. His promise is that we will find as we seek, obtain as we have asked. That promise is unconditional.
Remember constantly the people you love and for whom you have a burden of concern. Never give up on them, or on God. Never, never stop asking the LORD for their salvation. This is the beginning of all evangelism.
Amen.