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Introduction
A man and his young daughter were visiting with
his elderly mother, and at one point in the visit his mother said
her only problem was that some nights her heart would beat so loudly
and irregularly that she couldn’t sleep. That night as he tucked his
daughter in, she volunteered to pray. She said, “Dear Jesus, please
make Grandma’s heart stop so she can get some rest.”
As I’ve
shared with you recently, there is a powerful spiritual stirring
going on among us that we should grow in our ministry of prayer.
Many who have been praying specifically about this topic are in
agreement that prayer should be our focus as a church for the next
several weeks. In keeping with that confirmed leading I am recessing
my preaching series in the book of Philippians for an as yet
indeterminate length of time, while we obey this call.
I
begin this morning with a foundational teaching to help get us all
on the same page concerning the church’s calling to prayer and
ministry. Prayer and ministry are much the same; combined we call it
intercession. There are two common mistakes about
intercession: The first is that intercessory prayer is a gift only
for a few who have a divine ability to pray with unusual
effectiveness, and with a higher level of spiritual authority.
Every believer is called to pray, and to grow in their
effectiveness as pray-ers and in confidence, authority and faith in
their praying. That said, there certainly are many who distinguish
themselves as “prayer warriors” (notably, people like Dutch Sheets,
Peter Wagner, Cindy Jacobs, John Dawson, Chuck Pierce, and
historically prayer giants like Judson Cornwall, George Muller,
Hudson Taylor, Andrew Murray, Charles Finney, Martin Luther).
But I might suggest that while these and many others may have had a
special calling in their lives, it is obvious they also matured as
intercessors through the discipline of praying. Their journals tell
us so. Sometimes it’s just a little too easy to dismiss our own
obedience in the area of prayer by rationalizing, “I’m not that good
at prayer.” And it is even more tragic when a believer uses such
excuses to avoid efforts at maturing in the art of prayer, or, worse
yet, to not pray at all.
The second mistake is to miss the
broader biblical picture of intercession. You see intercession is a
much larger issue than simply intercessory prayer. Intercession is
prayer and ministry. When most church folks hear the word
intercession the first thing that leaps to mind is praying for the
sick in a boring prayer meeting. But intercession is who we are and
what we do with all of our lives, not just a few hours a month in
concentrated prayer.
Follow along with me as we look at the
broader definition of inter-cession, and the implications that
understanding has for our lives as disciples of Jesus. The
definition of intercession is the act of interceding; mediation,
pleading, or prayer in behalf of another or others. This is
uncharacteristically good definition, coming as it does from Merriam
Webster, where biblical and theological terms rarely get adequate
treatment.
Intercession is more than prayer; it is also
mediation, being a “go-between.” Of course, when we pray for someone
we are, in a sense a go-between, in that we are taking their needs
to God in their behalf. But mediation is more than just going to bat
for someone by praying for them in a particular need. It’s actually,
as we are about to see, a two-way ministry. While intercession is
going to God on behalf of someone; it also involves going to someone
on behalf of God.
In
Hebrews 7:25 we’re told that Jesus is
able to save completely those who come to God through him
because he
always lives to intercede for them. What does that mean? That Jesus
is perpetually on his knees saying prayers for us? No, though he
certainly did, for example in
John 17, intercede specifically for
us. No, it means that as the eternal high priest (after the order of
Melchizedek) the effect of his once-for-all sacrifice for us never
ends. Because He is the RISEN Savior, salvation accrues to us in
perpetuity. He’s not seated at the Father’s right hand continually
pleading in intercessory prayer; he is living forever, the guarantor
that our sins are forgiven and our hope is sure in heaven!
Open your Bibles to the book of
2nd Corinthians where we’ll consider
a couple of texts, the first at
chapter 3, verse 14-17. Here the
apostle Paul breaks in with a fresh new thought about the privileges
of being a servant of the gospel of Christ. This is, of course, what
every Christian is—privileged servants of the gospel—whether called
to pioneer the gospel throughout Rome in the 1st century, or to
faithfully witness in the 21st century to those in the St. Louis
metro-east area as the Lord gives us opportunity.
2 Corinthians 3:14-17 As we read through these four verses, see
if you can pick up this broader ministry of intercession/mediation.
…thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in
Christ What a great thought: Christ’s victory in Paul’s life and
through his life as he preaches the Word. …who always leads us in
triumphal procession in Christ, and through us spreads everywhere
the fragrance of the knowledge of him.
Not only Paul and his
apostolic team, but every person who surrenders in faith to Jesus,
becomes what Paul describes as AirWick Plug-ins, or Febreeze, in the
world, spreading the knowledge of God, which is best described in
terms of aroma, it is so sweet and satisfying. You know, there is a
lot in this world that frankly stinks, but when the Holy Spirit
breathes out the word of redemption and newness in Christ through
the witness of Christian people, it gets noticed. And at least two
things happen. One, it becomes a sweet aroma to God (His will is
being done), and it impacts the people we come in contact with. And
the Holy Spirit chooses the analogy of fragrance to describe that
impact.
Some in my family were raised just outside of Asheville,
NC, in a little town called Canton. Canton is nestled in the
foothills of the Smoky Mountains, and has really only one claim of
notoriety—it is the home of the Champion Paper Mill. Have you ever
been around a paper mill? I am pretty certain there is no worse odor
on earth. Most of the town’s employed people work at Champion, and
they say it smells like money.
But when you drive just a
little north of town, north, up into the Smokies, and the wind
pushes the mill’s odor south, you are met with the sweet smell of
pine trees. And it is a delicious difference from Canton. Paul says
we bring a distinctively Godly fragrance with us as Christians as we
live and work and interact in the world. In fact, look at his
description in the next
verse 15: For we are to God the aroma of
Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.
The plain fact of the matter is EVERYBODY, saved and unsaved, notice
the change when Christians, the children of light, are nearby.
To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the
fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many,
we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in
Christ we speak before God with sincerity, like men sent from God.
Those who are lost and have their hearts set against the work of God
in Christ think we smell like death. I once sat on the metro-link
train next to a man who really smelled bad. I remember that in the
course of the trip to St. Louis I began to really resent him. Not
long afterwards I realized I had stepped in dog doo. It was I who
smelled, and it struck me that that guy was thinking of me in
exactly the same terms as I had thought of him.
We’re not
perfect, we Christians, but honestly, for the most part we’re pretty
good neighbors and co-workers! Why would we stink to people? It’s
just that when someone who is full of life and light comes into
contact with someone who dead and dark, it reminds him of his own
spiritual death. That’s the effect God’s intercessors have on those
who are perishing.
Ted Turner is famously quoted as saying of
Jesus: I don't want anybody to die for me. I've had a few drinks and
a few girl friends. If that's going to put me in hell, then so be
it. Just as Jesus predicted, we are hated in the world precisely
because we are the aroma of Christ! So among those who are
terminally and decisively anti-Christ, we believers stink. But, to
others who are saved, and even those who are lost, but persuadable,
we are a refreshing perfume, God’s intercessors.
What a
perfect summary of how we believers live our lives as witnesses for
Jesus Christ—like men sent from God. That is what we are! No less
than Paul and Timothy and Titus in the first century! Once plucked
out of our sin and condemnation, washed in the blood of Christ and
renewed by the Holy Spirit, we are dropped right back in to society
to represent God and the gospel of Christ to others who are not yet
saved. We intercede for people before God, but we are primarily to
intercede for God before people! He’s makes us smell good precisely
to get the attention of others who need Him. We are intercessors.
Let’s go to our second text, over in
chapter 5. Again, we will
begin with
verse 14, and again the apostle is describing his own
motivations for ministry, which mirror our own.
Christ’s love
compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all and
therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should
no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was
raised again. The death of Jesus pays for men’s sins, and anyone who
will trust him for their salvation will live because He died. Others
who refuse the free gift of Christ’s salvation will go on in the
state of death into eternity.
2 Corinthians 5:14-20 Meanwhile, those who are saved, who’ve trusted Christ, no longer
live self-centered lives, but they live for Jesus, and His cause.
Verse 16: So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of
view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no
longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the
old has gone, the new has come! You have to know how tempting it
is to stop and preach on that great, preachable text! But we need to
move on to the next thought.
Verse 18: All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of
reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed
to us the ministry of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s
ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We who are saved are compelled by Christ’s love to reach others
who are not yet saved. Bill Hybels told the story of a newscaster
who interviewed a man at the mobile version of the Vietnam Wall in
Chicago. The soldier kept tracing a name on the wall, crying. He
looked into the face of the reporter and choked out these words:
This man right here gave his life for me. He gave his life for me.
The camera stayed on the big man as he sobbed. It was hard for him
to get his heart and mind around the sacrifice of his friend, even
years later. We have that problem, too. Someone, the greatest
Friend, gave his life for us, and love compels us to never grow dull
to his sacrifice that saved us.
Compelled by that love of Christ,
we intercede for a world full of lost people. A person who realizes
all that Jesus has done for him wants to do everything he can for
Jesus. And the Lord has made it plain to us – he wants us to be
intercessors. To live not for ourselves, but for Him and His purpose
to reach others with the message of salvation. A young man applied
for a job as an usher at a theater. The manager asked, “What would
you do in case a fire breaks out?” “Oh, don’t worry about me. I’d
get out okay.” What would you say to the question, What would you do
if Jesus came back tomorrow? Would it be, Don’t worry about me, I’m
saved, so I’d be okay? But you’re an usher—you’re responsible to
help others get out.
The text says we are new creatures AND
ministers, ambassadors. We are intercessors. We go to God in prayer
on behalf of others, and we go to others in ministry on behalf of
Christ.
Exhortation What is, then, an intercessor? The
Sovereign Lord spoke one day to Ezekiel the prophet, and said,
I
looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand
before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to
destroy it, but I found none. Church, one of the reasons Jesus died
on the cross was so that someone would be found to stand in the gap.
He reconciled us in order to give us the ministry of reconciliation,
the ministry of ambassador, the ministry of being the aroma of God
in a fallen world, the ministry of intercession. Standing in the gap
between God and man.
What are we doing when we are
intercessors for Christ? There are three fundamental behaviors of
intercessors in scripture. First, we intercede in
1. How we
live May I serve a reminder to us, the Body of Christ, of
this most basic part of our calling by drawing on three New
Testament metaphors?
Salt and Light (Matthew
5:13-16)
Influence
God’s Handiwork (Ephesians
2:10) Service, Good Work
Stars (Philippians
2:14-16) Blameless, Pure Behavior
2.
What we say Disciple-making (Matthew
28:18-20)
Opportunism (Ephesians
5:15-17; Colossians 4:5)
Reasoned
Defense of our Hope (1
Peter 3:15) 3. How we pray
Back
to intercession as prayer. I firmly believe the Lord is wanting us
to grow to a new level of maturity in prayer. It will be important
that we work diligently to restore prayer (not only intercession,
but also prayers of thanksgiving and request and praise as well) to
the place of prominence it deserves. Why? First, because He said so.
Secondly, it is our primary work, in order to learn new levels of
intimacy with the Lord, new levels of hearing from Him and new
levels of effective ministry.
Intercession is bigger than
prayer, but includes prayer. Examples: Clement of Alexandria, AD
96 - We ask you, Master, be our helper and defender. Rescue those of
our number in distress; raise up the fallen; assist the needy; heal
the sick; turn back those of your people who stray; feed the hungry;
release our captives; revive the weak; encourage those who lose
heart. Let all the nations realize that you are the only God, that
Jesus Christ is your Child, and that we are your people and the
sheep of your pasture.
Cyprian, AD 258 - We pray and we entreat
God, whom those persecutors do not cease to provoke and exasperate,
that they may soften their hearts, that they may return to health of
mind when this madness has been put aside, that their hearts, filled
with the darkness of sin, may recognize the light of repentance, and
that they may rather seek that the inter- cession and prayers of the
bishop be poured out for themselves than that they themselves shed
the blood of the bishop.
Lord, teach us to pray!
Like You
want us to
Personally and corporately
2 Cor. 5:20-21 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his
appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled
to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin [sin offering] for
us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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