Practically Praying: Praying with others
Sermon preached at Barclay Church, Edinburgh by Rev D. Graham Leitch
16 March 2003

Relationships are at the very core of Christianity. Sometimes we think Christianity’s supremely to do with doctrine - with Truth. Although this is true, because at its centre stands Jesus Christ “the truth,” that truth is PERSONAL. Christianity is first and foremost about persons and relationships, not doctrine and dogma!

TRUTH IS FOR LIVING!
Of course this does not mean that doctrine - what we believe, truth - is unimportant. But doctrine is simply a way of expressing the revelation of God in the Bible and the experience of Christians through the ages.

Christian doctrine isn’t meant to be written in books of academic theology or to sit on the shelves of some Faculty of Divinity - it’s meant to be written in the every day life of Christians and to be visible in their homes and families, at their work and wherever they go!!

In the Bible truth is not simply for “believing.” It’s for experiencing! It’s for living! It’s “for real!”

THE PRIORITY OF RELATIONSHIPS
And, in the Bible, truth’s about our relationships with God and with eachother. Relationships are at the very core of Christianity. If we’re Christians, our relationship with God through Jesus Christ is at the heart of our identity as persons. God has made us FOR HIMSELF. This is a very exciting thing!

And it’s why establishing, maintaining and developing a relationship with God matters so much. It’s what we’re made for! That’s who so many people are restless and dissatisfied today:

“Thou hast made us for thyself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in Thee.”

But from the beginning, the Bible pictures “life as it’s meant to be” as “life-in-community.” Not just God and me but God and me and everyone! This is true in respect of creation. God not only made Adam but created Eve, “for” He said, “it's is not good for the man to be alone.” It is true also in respect of God’ redemption - when God chose Israel, it was “a people”he called, not simply individuals. The life of the Christian is not a life in isolation but a life shared with others.

“We were not made for self-sufficient aloneness”
Jim Packer

Look at the Gospels. Jesus called the disciples individually and personally, but His call was to share not just their possessions but themselves, with one another and with Him, in community. Look at the Book of Acts. For the earliest Christians the shared dimension of discipleship was one of its greatest joys:

“All who believed were together and had all things in common”

Christianity invites men and women out of isolation, independence and loneliness to “life in community.” Christianity invites ALL KINDS of men and women out of isolation, independence and loneliness to “life in community.” - rich and poor, black and white, shy and ebullient, sharp as a needle and thick as two planks, old and young, fashion conscious and fashion blind - everyone. Because we ALL belong together:

“ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus .” (Gal.3:28)

THE HORIZONTAL AND THE VERTICAL BELONG TOGETHER
Christianity isn’t merely about our relationship with God - its about our shared or common life “in Christ” - life together, “life in community” - what the Bible calls “fellowship” Like the cross of Jesus, it has a horizontal as well as a vertical dimension.

So far, in this series, the focus has been on establishing, maintaining and developing, as individual Christians, our relationship with God.
But because the Christian life IS “life in community,” we’re going to consider praying with others this morning.

PRAYER IS A FAMILY THING!
The Bible compares becoming a Christian to being born into a family. Just as we have each been born once into an earthly family, so the person who is a Christian has been born a second-time into another family. The Church is the household or “family” of God. And every Christian, having received what Paul in Romans 8 calls “the spirit of sonship”is a son or daughter - a child of God, part of His Family.

Christianity isn’t a solo performance it’s a team game. We belong together! We are sisters and brothers together in the same divine family!

Now, just as in a family there are times when there are “one to one” conversations going on between children and and parents, our daily “one to one” conversation with God is important.

But in a family there’s surely something wrong if the children only talk to their parents when they’re alone with them! Just as families and parts of families socialise and speak together in a variety of contexts, so, in the Christian family, prayer (talking to God) isn’t just something we do in private and personally, but something we do together.

MATTHEW 6:5-14 - THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT
That Jesus places an importance on both - on praying as individuals and praying together - is hidden in most translations of Jesus’ instructions about prayer in the Sermon on the Mount!!

In the well known passage is the Sermon on the Mount we read earlier, Jesus first gives instructions about PRIVATE prayer (6:5-6) - the verbs he uses, the “you”s are singular. But then, a couple of verses later, in v.9 “this is how you should pray” and in the Lord’s Prayer itself, the form is plural.
Not “MY father” but “OUR Father...”
Not “Give ME today” but “Give US today...”
Not “Forgive ME” but “Forgive US...”
Not “Lead ME not...” but “Lead US not...”
Not “Deliver ME from the evil one” but “Deliver US from the evil one....”

This isn’t a prayer for people living in isolation but a prayer for people living in community. That’s why it’s so right for the Lord’s Prayer to be used in acts of worship - when Christians are gathered together. Because payer isn't just for any-body or even every-body but above all (first and foremost) for Christ’s body - His gift to every church family and to the whole Church of God!

GETHSEMANE
When one of the greatest crises in Jesus’ entire ministry took place, in the garden of Gethsemane, when Jesus was struggling to come to terms with and submit himself to the will of God for His life - His approaching cross - Jesus was devastated to find his disciples sleeping when they should have been praying for him together: “Wake up and pray!” He told them.

Jesus not only knew the value of their united prayer, Jesus not only coveted it, He NEEDED it!! Are we less needy than He?

In the church praying together for one another is one of the most valuable things we can do for eachother. To come together to pray for one another is a threefold blessing. There is the blessing to the one prayed for; there is the blessing to those who pray; and there is the extra blessing promised to united prayer -

“I promise that when any two of you on earth agree about something you are praying for, my Father in heaven will do it for you. Whenever two or three of you come together in my name, I am there with you..” (Matthew 18:19 CEV)


MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER
And at the end of his ministry Jesus made a dramatic protest against the presence of physical commerce in the temple precincts. The Jews were putting buying and selling before the things of the Spirit.“It is written” He thundered “My house shall be called a house of PRAYER.”

Jesus not only wanted to see an end to exploitation within the temple, but the replacement of commerce in the things of the world with commerce in the things of the Spirit - the racketeers who were selling for vast profit and exchanging money for gain may have been getting rich materially but by neglecting prayer they were living in spiritual poverty.

THE PRAYER MEETING
When it comes to PRAYING WITH OTHERS the tradition of the “prayer meeting”,which has been strong in Baptist and Brethren circles and within evangelical circles more widely has been at once a great strength and a great weakness in church life.

A prayer meeting is an “all church” or congregational meeting at which people pray openly, one and then another taking it in turns to lead the rest in prayer.

There are few subjects on which the great Victorian preacher CH Spurgeon waxed so eloquent as the virtues of the prayer meeting:
“That is the top and the bottom of the success of all true success - the prayer-meeting.”

“There can be no real blessing, depend upon it, where the prayer-meeting is put into a secondary position..”

“Prayer is the breath of faith. Prayer Meetings are the lungs of the Church.”

And in yet another sermon he condemns those who regard the prayers meeting as “a farce...a waste of time, a pious amusement.”

At its best, the tradition of the prayer meeting has fostered a spirit of prayer, forged a spirit of unity and become the spiritual power-house of the church’s life. At its best, it has been one of the church’s greatest strengths.

But when the form in which people pray together - the traditional prayer meeting - has become a test of orthodoxy or “soundness”; when the preservation of that form at all costs is the agenda, it becomes a weakness.

It is not the form - the way we pray together - that matters, but the fact that we should do so!! Because this is unfamiliar territory to so many, and because in some quarters the prayer meeting has come to be regarded as the habitat of the peculiarly intense or “holier than thou” believer, the idea of “the prayer meeting” which is designed to encourage people to pray with others, can sometimes be the very thing that puts them off!!

FITTING IN PRAYING WITH OTHERS
So how CAN we fit praying with others into life? We can make a real effort to INCLUDE GOD when we’re with our Christian friends. On our memorable visit to Thailand it was an encouragement and challenge to see how naturally the Thai believers in Sivilai resorted to prayer. During a birthday party for Mike (and Richard McRea who was with us) in the home of one of Sivilai Church’s members, one of those present felt unwell.

The others gathered round and prayed for him together there and then. There was nothing artificial or pious or superspiritual about it - it was the natural, practical, OBVIOUS thing for children (the sons and daughters of God) to turn to their Father and ask for help at such a time!!

It is we who are ODD, unnatural, not they!!

Jane has spoken about family prayer. This another area where we need to let prayer out of it’s religious “box” - to become part of our home and family life again.
Perhaps at our work we can identify one or two others who are Christians - it doesn't matter what church they’re from or denomination they belong to - and meet regularly - weekly - two or three times a week or even daily - to pray with them.

Praying with others - listening to them praying - hearing them pray and joining in their prayers is is the best way of learning - by doing!

Or again, you can seek others - find a prayer partner of form a prayer triplet with others in the church. During my college years I met each week with two friends in a quiet corner of the College Chapel - we noted the thing we prayed about and recorded God’s answers to our prayers - these were precious and profitable times to us.

Don’t be afraid to suggest to another Christian (or to a couple of Christian friends) that you might benefit by taking just 20-30 minutes (keeping a little notebook) and praying together for one another and others.

At a church level, lip-service is sometimes paid to prayer where there seems to be little real prayer! The more praying together become a natural and normal practice of church life - the more God is included in the conversation! - the healthier church life will be.

Not just at the Prayer Breakfast or in the Prayer group and at Housegroups but when the Session Teams meet, when the Elders gather - or praying one-to one - all are signs of spiritual life and health.

REASONS FOR NOT PRAYING WITH OTHERS
Most of the reasons folk give for not committing themselves to the most important work in the Church need to be challenged.

1. IT’S NOT FOR ME!
I was speaking last week to an Elder in another congregation. He was talking about his visit to someone in his district. Once when he was visiting her - she had been talking about illness in the family and he offered to pray with her. She politely declined: “No thank you,” she told him - “for me prayer’s a private matter.”

But as long as we keep prayer a private matter we deprive ourselves of the benefits and and encouragements that can come from praying with others.

The simple fact is that most of those who say“It isn’t my cup of tea!” have never poured a cup or tasted it!! When I was a child I always insisted that I didn’t like turkey! Every year our family saved up through the years so that we could go out to the Grosvenor Hotel for a Christmas meal. I “hated” turkey so much I made myself ill to avoid having to join the rest of the family. And when I did go they the staff served my a platter of sausages instead.

I spent my childhood saying “I don’t like turkey! I hate it!” But then when I tried it, I loved it. Many people who “don’t like” praying together have never tried it!

2. FEAR
Another factor is fear! People are scared of giving the impression that they’re either setting themselves up to be spiritual “somebody”s, better than others or appear “holier than thou” -

But surely we mustn’t let what our friends think (or what e think they’ll think!) put us off doing what will both bless us enormously and benefit those we pray for.

Sometimes, when it comes to joining a prayer group, folk worry about coming along for the first time because they don’t know hat happens and worry someone’s going to ask them to do something like pray out loud. Actually some of the most faithful members of our Prayer Groups over the years seldom or NEVER pray out loud. And they don’t spoil the Prayer Group By their presence and silent prayers they ADD to it. Some may eventually learn to pray and be glad of the opportunity.. Other may NEVER pray out loud - but no matter -even their very presence becomes a wordless prayer!!

In the book of Acts we discover in Acts 1 that it was when the apostles and followers of Jesus joined to pray that God’s Holy Spirit came down. In Acts 2, that it was when the disciples “devoted themselves to prayer” together that the Lord added to their number daily. In Acts 4 that, as they joined in prayer the very foundations (of the room they were meeting in) shook,. And in Acts 12 that it was while the followers of Jesus and friends of Peter were all praying together that he was miraculously released from prison!!

The value of praying with others, which is taught in the Bible, may be learned by experience and simply proved - by trying it!


AMEN

Previous sermon

Back to index

Next sermon