The Power Tool of Growth
Review:
Today, I want to remind you of our theme verse for this series of messages.
This theme verse outlines what a spiritually mature Christian looks like.
Galatians 5:22-23
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.
The idea we are exploring in this series is that through the practice of certain spiritual disciplines, we can grow in maturity. We talked last week about how Scripture expects us to grow up spiritually. As we grow up spiritually, we begin to demonstrate these characteristics of the spirit. The key phrase we discovered last week was more and more.
More and more I find myself loving
More and more I find myself joyful
More and more In find myself peaceful
More and more I find myself choosing to be patient.
More and more I find myself filled with a kindness
More and more I find myself choosing to do that which is good
More and More I am faithful
More and more I am gentle
More and more I demonstrate self control.
We also learned that these spiritual characteristics don’t develop overnight, and they don’t happen naturally. In fact it is quite the opposite. It takes the application of spiritual disciplines. So what are these disciplines?
Over the next several weeks, we are going to explore these spiritual disciplines that can help us to grow spiritually. We are going to look at the tools in our toolbox.
Introduction:
The tool we talk about today kind of reminds me of a show I used to watch in the 90’s.
Do you remember the show starring Tim Allen? It was called, “Home Improvement?” Tim’s character in the the show hosted his own local cable program called “Tool Time.”
Each week he would introduce the tool of the week. If you have seen the show you now the more powerful the tool; the better! In fact, Tim would make that manly sound after he introduced a powerful new tool. Do you remember it? He would do three grunts… “RRR, RRRR, RRRR.”
He would then explain how to build with this tool or to use this tool. Finally, he would demonstrate it, generally wrong, and he would injure himself or almost destroy the set in the process.
As we start today, I want us to picture ourselves in an episode of Tool Time.
The tool (or discipline) we introduce today is probably the most powerful tool in our toolbox for spiritual growth. So when I tells you what it is would you respond with the Tim Allen grunt? The tool we look at today is …. Prayer. (RRR, RRR, RRRR)
Now I know many people don’t see prayer as a powerful growth tool. And if we do, we think it’s too powerful to play with and we leave it unused in the toolbox. Only a trained profession should use it!
So I can picture some of you saying, “unless you are saying preacher that YOUR prayers will help ME grow spiritually I think I’ll daydream today.” I want to say not so fast.
And before you say, “Wow, John was a real jerk from the pulpit today” I want you to know I have wrestled with prayer. I have wrested with some unhealthy attitudes toward it in my own spiritual walk.
At one time I wrestled with the attitude that prayer is the responsibility of other people. I believed the preacher had something akin to the bat phone in his office with a direct line to God. So I’ve wrested with the idea that prayer is for pastors, or the elders, or should only be used by those who are trained or spiritually mature.
I know there have been times when I have expected OTHERS to pray about an issue when I haven’t bothered to pray about it in earnest myself. I don’t know if I would have responded honestly if I gave a request to the preacher and he asked, “Have you earnestly prayed about this yourself?”
I’ve wrestled with the been there, done that attitude. I’ve tried prayer before in my own life and it didn’t seem to work. Now the preacher is asking me to try it again?
I’ve wrestled with embarrassment in prayer wondering if I would or could say the wrong thing; I’ve struggled with not even knowing where to start.
Maybe you have too. As we talk about prayer as a tool for spiritual growth I hope to exorcise these demons today.
So turn in you Bibles with me to our first text this morning.
Text One: Luke 18:9-14
These words are the words of Jesus.
Luke 18:9-14
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
Have you ever read the warnings in the front of your power tool manual? It says things like: Warning: Do not crack the battery. Do not expose battery to extreme heat. (My personal favorite) Do no immerse your power tool in water. It ends with “Improper usage on this tool can cause serious injury or death.”
As we read this text, do you see the warning in the manual?
Point One: There is a right way and a wrong way to pray? There is an effective way to pray and an ineffective way to pray.
One man went away justified in his prayer; the other did not.
There is something else I hope you caught as we read. It was the one who had all the “religious credentials” who was the one who failed in his prayer. A Pharisee was a teacher of the religious law in Jesus day. You may remember me referring to them in other messages as 1st Century pastors or Bible college professors. They would have studied prayer. A Pharisee would have KNOWN the right words to say in a prayer. And his prayers failed to get off the proverbial launching pad.
I read this passage and I learn that a Bible college degree or church leadership position doesn’t necessarily mean a prayer will be effective.
Point Two: You or I don’t need to have a PHD in prayer in order to use prayer as a growth tool.
Did you catch whose prayer was effective? The prayer that was heard Jesus says, “Was spoken by a Tax Collector.” Jesus doesn’t tell us his heritage in the parable, but he was probably not even Jewish. And even if he was, he would have been seen as the villain in the story. It would be akin to Jesus saying today, “A preacher and a crooked lawyer begin to pray and the crooked lawyer’s prayers are heard.” What’s the difference?
Hear this as we learn how to pray.
Observation:
It is clear as we read this text that God is not so much interested in the words that come from our mouth as he is the message that comes from our hearts.
It is possible to say all the right words and approach God in prayer with the wrong heart.
In our text, the religious leader, the Pharisee, approached God from the perspective of himself.
He approached God lauding His own accomplishments; his own goodness; his own righteousness. He went so far as the compare his own actions to the actions of others and say “See how good I am, Lord.” Aren’t you glad I’m on your team? And Jesus says, “He failed to leave justified before God.”
Point Three:
Prayer must start from a humble heart if it is to ever get off the launching pad. For those who have tried it and failed, I have a question: What was the condition of your heart like when you went to God in prayer?
Did you have an inflated view of your own goodness or your value to the Kingdom?
That’s a pitfall for those like me in paid ministry. Did you harbor animosity or anger towards someone else in your heart? Jesus warns us that these are things that will blow up our prayers before they ever get started whether we are practiced in “religion” or not!
Prayer must be handled correctly or it can cause harm (to ourselves or to others) rather than aid in our spiritual growth. Remember, one the aims of the discipline of prayer is that we grow spiritually.
We want to become more and more
Loving,
joyful
peaceful
patient (or forebearing) with others,
kind in our hearts
Demonstrate more and more goodness
More gentle
More faithful
More and more evidence of control of ourselves.
But if prayer is so dangerous and powerful, should we use it?
And if so, how?
Turn to our second text today.
Matthew 6:9-15
Matthew 6:9
9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, 10 your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us today our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
The beauty of this prayer is it’s simplicity. The reason that many people can recite it is that it is so easy to remember. But remember that Jesus wasn’t teaching us a canned prayer. These words were not meant to be recited verbatim every time we pray. Instead it is a model that helps us to pray.
So rather than remembering the words to recite in some magical formula, I want you to remember the characteristics aimed at keeping the heart humble given in this prayer.
I. In this model prayer Jesus begins with Adoration.
He recognizes “Who God is in character.” Our Father in heaven, hallowed or Holy you are. It is important that we see the comparison that Jesus is making. The comparison is not between ourselves and someone else. The comparison is between our character and God’s character. If we are going to pray and offer comparison, let’s not be like the Pharisee and measure ourselves against people; let’s measure ourselves against the character of God.
God you are always loving when sometimes I am not. God you are all knowing; any wisdom I have is foolishness compared to yours. Men, Adoration doesn’t have to always be “flowery” in nature. God you overwhelm your enemies with your power; who can stand against you. God you are creator; I am the created; I owe my existence and purpose to you.
I think we should choose a different part of the character of God each day in our prayers and begin with adoration. This keeps our heart centered on who God is and who we are.
When I am not sure where to start, I choose to read a Psalm during prayer time to prompt me. Adoration is the part of prayer that we often miss because we mistake thanksgiving as adoration. Thanksgiving is important, but it starts with the wrong perspective, what God has done for us.
I suggest it is important that we start with who God is more than with what God has done for us so we keep the right perspective as we pray. I think we do this so we don’t overvalue ourselves before God or think of God simply in terms of what he does for us.
II. The second part we see in Jesus model prayer is see is surrender
Jesus says in this model prayer ,Thy Kingdom Come, they will be done. The implications of asking for God’s Kingdom to come are big. We might miss this because we don’t think in terms of Kingdom. A Kingdom has a king; a sovereign ruler. As citizens, you or I would submit to that ruler whether you like him or not. It is a surrender statement we make when we talk about God’s Kingdom coming.
And it relates not just to eternity, but to his Kingdom now, the church. We are praying for the effectiveness of the church (which is us). Empower us to grow as your Kingdom comes.
If praying for God’s kingdom to come is big, praying for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven is even bigger. You do realize that the heavenly beings are totally surrendered to God’s care and control. When we pray for God’s will to be done, we wave the white flag of surrender.
Oswald Chambers once said, “Pray is the force of will.” This is the portion of our prayers where we trade our will for God’s will. When we pray, we surrender our will to his care and control.
We also surrender to him to provide our basic needs as we depend on him.
Give us our daily bread. Bread was a staple of the 1st century Jew. Without bread, you would probably starve. And we surrender to God our spiritual needs (Forgive us our sins, or our tresspassess as we forgive those who trespass against us)
III. This leads to Konfession
I know confession is spelled with a “C” For the sake of the acronym we are developing, I spelled it with a “K”. Confession is admitting our sinfulness to God. We become like the tax collector in the first parable. Lord have mercy on me a sinner. We admit our need for salvation from someone outside our selves. We see the need for Jesus and the cross. We see the need for his death to pray the price for our sin. We see the gospel message again and again as we pray. And we remind ourselves of his resurrection to give new life.
Confession is not simply saying, “I sin.” It needs to be deeper than that. It needs to be specific if it is going to lead to humility. It needs to note that sin brings pain to ourselves and to others.
Lord I have sinned by ______ I hurt his person by
I disobeyed you by ____
Do you see the acronym? (ASK)
Adoration, Surrender, Konfession It is when we begin with ASK in our prayers that we can them move to what we typically think of as prayer. Praises and Requests. We A.S.K. to ask. This model of prayer that Jesus shared with us opens our hearts up to humility. When we have opened our hearts in humility before God, he listens when we bring our requests. He rejoices when we offer praise because we are God centered.
Do you see the need for prayer to grow spiritually? Do you see how prayer done properly enables our own spiritual growth in a powerful way. Prayer changes our perspective from self reliance to a reliance on God. It helps us to see when we have failed to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, gentle, faithful, or self controlled. It gives us an opportunity ask for opportunities to practice the fruits of the spirit to help us to grow.
Prayer is a power tool of growth. RRR RRR RRRR
In our church, you can have the opportunity to put this powerful tool of growth into practice. You can start by coming pray with the Elders on Sunday morning. Our elders would be blessed by your presence as we pray.
I also want you to know we are starting a Wednesday night prayer group led by my dad
It will be from 7 to 8 PM starting this week. To that end, I want to provide him a chance to tell about the prayer ministry.
Provide Leader opportunity to share about prayer ministry.
We hope you will come willing and ready to grow. We hope you will see prayer as a powertool. We hope every time you hear the word prayer, you will think of the tool Time grunt and you too will respond RRR, RRR, RRR.
