1. Title: How Can I Get Life Under Control?
2. Text: I Thessalonians 5:16-18
3. Audience : Central Christian Church, July12, 2015
4. Objectives:
-for the people to understand that prayer is central to dealing with life’s challenges, and to understand what it means to pray continually
-for the people to feel confident that prayer will help them handle life’s challenges, and to feel eager to implement ways to make prayer more of a constant in their life
-for the people to deliberately pray on more and more occasions, expecting it to be a way that God will empower them to better handle life
5. When I finish my sermon I want my audience to pray continually, making God and His presence a constant in their thinking every day
6. Type: expositopispringpracticobang
7. Dominant Thought: I
8. Outline:
Intro – Life throws us a lot of curves. Even when we plan things out pretty carefully…
A young man goes into a drug store and brings 3 boxes of chocolate up to the register. The pharmacist looks at them and says, “That’s different. You realize those are 3 different sizes, don’t you?”
The young man says, "I know. I’ve been seeing this girl for a while and she’s really beautiful. I want the chocolate because I think tonight’s "the" night. We’re gonna have dinner with her parents, and then we’re going out. If she lets me hold her hand I’m going to give her the small box if she lets me kiss her on the cheek I’m going to give her the medium box and if she lets me kiss her on the lips I’m going to give her the big box. The young man makes his purchase and leaves. Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he might say the prayer before the meal, and they agree. So he begins. And he prays and prays and prays – one of the most eloquent and thorough prayers the girl had ever heard. Finally, he says Amen. The girl leans over and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person." He leans over to her and says, "You never told me that your father is a pharmacist." You never know what life is going to throw at you!
How can I get life under control? You can’t! You can’t control nature. You can’t control the stock market. You can’t control gasoline prices. You can’t control what other people do. You can’t even control the hearts of the people who live in your home.
So answering this question begins with a resignation: resigning to the fact that no matter how well you invest, no matter how many of the right foods you eat and how many of the right exercises you do, no matter how much you study, no matter who you get to know, you can’t control life. The market can collapse; some other driver can cross over and hit you; someone you trusted will let you down; a tsunami will strike. You can’t control it.
The real question you’re asking is: How can I keep myself under control in a life that’s out of my control?
The answer can be found in some finishing verses in Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonian Christians. They were people who were doing a lot of things right, but they still didn’t control everything around them. They still needed to hear this, and I suspect that there are a lot of us here this morning who need to hear this too:
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
Rejoice, pray continually, give thanks.
#1 and #3 are pretty easy to figure out. But #2 there is often glossed over as “one of those commands that can be fulfilled only in the ideal, but not in real life.” So, the question I really want to narrow down to this morning is “What can we do to make prayer a constant in our lives…or can we?” ‘Cause once that’s in place, the idea of being joyful and giving thanks in all circumstances will happen a lot more readily. “The secret of true joy,” Wilbur Fields said, “is to avoid trying to be happy and just go on quietly doing our work and service.” Overflowing with thanks is another result of looking for the right things. What we need is to find how we can make v.17 happen.
We’re looking at one of the shortest verses in the Bible. In English, the shortest is:
John 11:35
Jesus wept. (16 letters, 3 words, in Greek)
In the original language, though, the shortest is actually
I Thessalonians 5:16
Be joyful always. (14 letters, 2 words, in Greek)
And right behind them is
I Thessalonians 5:17
Pray continually (22 letters, 2 words, in Greek)
Story – Jody Capehart of Dallas frequently uses 1 Thessalonians 5:17 to encourage the children she teaches to "pray without ceasing." One day, after a chapel service, a little boy told her, "Mrs. Capehart, I am sorry I sneezed during your prayer today." She assured him sneezing wasn’t a problem but she appreciated his apology. He said, "Well, I know you like us to pray without sneezing."
It’s just 2 words. One that means to pray, and one that means to “not leave.” Different Bible translations have worded it a little differently, but the meaning is the same:
RSV – pray constantly
NIV – pray continually
KJV, ESV, NAS – pray without ceasing
The Message – pray all the time
Amplified version – Be unceasing in prayer
NLT – keep on praying
CEV, NIRV – never stop praying
Rats! And I was hoping something in some translation would exempt me from having to figure this out!
Sorry, if that’s what you’re trying to do this morning with this text, you’re out of luck! What does it say? Pray continually. That’s what it says. And add to that some other places where there’s a similar command:
Romans 12:12
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Ephesians 6:18
And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
So what does it mean?
First, I want to set aside the notion that Paul is commanding something he never really expected them to do. He didn’t mean that people who follow Jesus are people who are constantly walking around, head bowed, engaged in reciting prayers, bumping into things, unable to converse with other people or to hold a job because all they ever do is pray. No, we have smart phones for that!
Paul said about himself:
1 Thessalonians 1:3
We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 1:9-10a
God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you in my prayers at all times…
Paul prayed “continually” and “constantly” and still he was a very busy man. He managed to be used by God to write over a dozen letters that make up almost half of the NT. At the same time, he took at least 3 extended missionary trips, established churches, trained leaders, and led as many people to Christ as he could reach. Still, in the middle of all that, he describes his prayer life as continual and constant.
So, praying continually doesn’t mean going off into the desert somewhere and just spending all our time praying. It has to be something else.
1. It starts with a longing for God
Making prayer a constant begins with a genuine desire to be with God.
30 years – that’s how long I’ve known my wife. 30 years, and I still like to be around her. I remember early on in our relationship, at college, we’d go out on a date and talk for a couple hours, and then, it was curfew time, and I’d drop her off at the dorm, and I’d go back up to my dorm, and there on the payphone that cost 25 cents I’d call that girl I had just spent hours with…to talk to her, again, and to say goodnight…again. Why? I had a longing in my heart for her. I was in love! 30 years later, I still like to be around her, and I’d pay more than a quarter to say goodnight to her!
I don’t see how anyone who isn’t serious about loving God and making Him first in your life can accomplish praying continually. If you don’t delight yourself in the Lord, how can you possibly remember or find much joy in speaking with Him constantly?
We can talk about ways to pray, what to pray, positions for prayer, how to pray in a small group, how to pray in a large group, how to pray when you don’t feel like it, how to fast and pray, prayer examples like Martin Luther, how to study the Bible – but it won’t do a stitch of good until you desire a genuine, personal relationship with God.
Quote - Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God - “…remember what I have recommended to you, which is to think often on God, by day, by night, in your business, and even in your diversions. He is always near you and with you; leave Him not alone. You would think it rude to leave a friend alone who came to visit you; why, then, must God be neglected? Do not, then, forget Him, but think on Him often, adore Him continually, live and die with Him; this is the glorious employment of a Christian. In a word, this is our profession; if we do not know it, we must learn it.”
Our relationship with God will demonstrate itself in a healthy prayer life. It starts with a longing for God.
2. It’s prompted by realizing our dependence on God
Jonah, what did you do while you were in the belly of the whale? PRAY! Go ahead, read Jonah 2. It’s Jonah’s prayer from inside the whale. Every other help was gone.
Strangely, that’s where we tend to turn when we can’t turn anywhere else.
Finish the quote:
“As long as there are tests, there will be [prayer in schools].”
“There are no atheists [in foxholes]”
Why not? Because any time we’re faced with situations in life that knock us to our knees, we turn to God. Wouldn’t it be great if we could just realize our dependence on God without having to face tragedies? If we could just look into the spiritual realm – if we could just see what forces of evil surround us and are constantly at work to make us fall – we’d be a lot quicker to realize how much we need God’s help on a regular basis. We’d be a lot more careful to be plugged into His power and protection.
Ill - In a seminary missions class, Herbert Jackson told how, as a new missionary, he was given a car that wouldn’t start without a push. It took some getting used to, but he figured out how to cope. He went to the school near his home, got permission to take some kids out of class, and had them push his car off. As he made his rounds, he’d either leave the engine running or park on a hill.
For 2 years, he used the same way of coping with the car that had to have a push start. Bad health forced the Jackson family to leave, and a new missionary came to take his place. Herbert began to proudly explain to the new guy his way of getting the car started. As he spoke, the new guy was looking under the hood.
Before the explanation was complete, the new missionary interrupted, "Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable." He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, turned the key, and immediately the engine turned over. For 2 years a needless hassle had become the routine. The power was there all the time. Only a loose connection kept Jackson from putting it to work. That’s where a lot of Christ-followers are living – they have a loose connection, and rather than address it, they make needless hassle the routine. Oh, what peace we often forfeit. Oh, what needless pain we bear all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!
We need to realize our dependence on God.
3. It’s fed when we understand the place it deserves
“This idea of praying constantly - I don’t have time for that.” Really? You eat, don’t you? “Yeah, but I have to do that to live!” You breathe, don’t you? “Yeah, but I have to do that to live.” That’s true. Try to stop either of those things and you’ll soon realize how something like breathing deserves a prominent place in your day!
What if you were to suddenly understand that just as surely as you have to eat and breathe to live, you have to be in continual pray not to die spiritually?
Quote - J. Dwight Eisenhower- “Personal prayer, it seems to me, is one of the simplest necessities of life, as basic to the individual as sunshine, food and water- and at times, of course, more so.”
Quote - Oswald Chambers - “[prayer is] the breath in our lungs and the blood from our hearts. Our blood flows and our breathing continues without ceasing.”
Quote - Abraham Joshua Heschel -“Prayer is not a stratagem for occasional use, a refuge to resort to now and then. It is rather like an established residence for the innermost self. All things have a home; the bird has a nest, the fox has a hole, the bee has a hive. A soul without prayer is a soul without a home. Weary, sobbing, the soul, after roaming through a world festered with aimlessness, falsehoods, and absurdities, seeks a moment in which to gather up its scattered life, in which to divest itself of enforced pretensions and camouflage, in which to simplify complexities, in which to call for help without being a coward. Such a home is prayer .”
Have we really come to understand the place that prayer deserves in our thinking? Only if we’re practicing it continually.
Quote - Luis Palau - “You can read all the manuals on prayer and listen to other people pray, but until you begin to pray yourself you will never understand prayer. It’s like riding a bicycle or swimming: You learn by doing.”
We won’t be a people who understand prayer and the place it deserves until we’ve learned it by doing it. I can preach on this subject over and over. We can talk about it, diagram it, study it, and analyze it till we’re blue in the face. But until we as a church family begin to practice it, we’ll never understand its place, we’ll never understand its power, we’ll never understand why it was important enough to focus on, we’ll never understand why it’s so prominent in Scripture, so prominent in the life of Christ, or so necessary for anything that the people of God have ever accomplished. Until we make it the norm – a constant in our thinking – prayer is simply going to be something we once kind of tried or that our preacher talked about sometimes, instead of being the factor that pronounced a turning point in the 159 yr-old history of CCC. Until we’re unwilling to let the burden of prayer fall on the shoulders of a few among us, it’s not going to happen. And until we learn the skill of making I Thes 5:17 come to bloom in our individual lives, it’s not going to happen.
Now, for those of you who are more motivated by a positive way of saying important things:
We will be a people who understand prayer and the place it deserves once we’ve learned it by doing it. I can preach on this subject over and over. We can talk about it, diagram it, study it, and analyze it till we’re blue in the face. But once we as a church family begin to practice it, we’ll understand its place, we’ll understand its power, we’ll understand why it was important enough to focus on, we’ll understand why it’s so prominent in Scripture, so prominent in the life of Christ, and so necessary for anything that the people of God have ever accomplished. Once we make it the norm – a constant in our thinking – prayer is going to be more than something we once kind of tried or that our preacher talked about sometimes. Instead, it will be the factor that pronounced a turning point in the 159 yr-old history of CCC. One we’re unwilling to let the burden of prayer fall on the shoulders of a few among us, it’s going to happen. And once we learn the skill of making I Thes 5:17 come to bloom in our individual lives, it’s going to happen.
We must understand the place that prayer deserves. If you struggle with that, I simply refer you once again to the life of Jesus. He seemed to think it was something that deserves attention.
4. It becomes a constant as we grow in our relationship with God
OK. How do we practice this?
What’s wrong with what people call “diets” is that they’re an event instead of a lifestyle. They’re a temporary approach instead of a way of living. The fact is, you have a “diet” no matter what you do. Your diet may consist of junk that’s killing you, or it may be well-balanced, or it may be somewhere in between. Whatever you eat, that’s your diet. Having a healthy diet all the time beats going on some temporary radical fix and then dropping it later.
“Praying continually” means a regular diet of prayer, not nonstop talking. It means a continual attitude of prayer – a constant dependence on God. It’s cultivating and practicing the presence of God, keeping your heart lifted to Him and keeping Him at the front of your mind, no matter what you’re doing. It’s a way of life. So that, when any situation in life hits us, we have an instant and intimate communication with God – just like we do around a best friend. The mic is always on.
Ill - One of the problems with wireless mics is that they may be on when you really don’t want them on. That’s why you always treat the sound guy with kindness! One Sunday in OH, I was sitting on the chair on the stage during the Lord’s Supper. I was to get up and preach after a drama that was coming up. A few of the people involved had wireless mics on, and one of them was in the restroom. So, there I sat, head bowed, in horror, as I heard the sound of water running, a soap dispenser, and then the “Zing!” and “Riiiip!” of a paper towel. Oh dear. Then, I learned later that the sound was coming only over the monitors – no one else had heard it! Just the same, it reminds me that having the mic on all the time means you will always be heard!
Praying continually means that when you’re tempted, you tell God about the temptation and ask Him to help you. When you see something good and beautiful, you thank God for it. When you see wrong things happening around you, you ask God to change it, and to use you to change it if He wants to. When you see someone who doesn’t know Jesus, you pray that God will help you bring that person to Himself. When you encounter a challenge, you turn to God to deliver you. When you see Him bless your friend, you thank Him for His goodness.
Ill – In an airliner the captain of the plane is responsible for the lives of everyone on board, even though he doesn’t stare at the instruments every second, he uses them and depends on them. The pilot has to relate to the co-pilot and to air traffic control according to operational procedures. They aren’t constantly talking, but their state of relationship and their means of communication is always open.
This is what prayer becomes as we grow up in our relationship with God.
Conclusion:
A greeting card in a Christian bookstore had this on the front:
Prayer is something that has always been a part of me. I prayed when I needed to hear my Father’s heart, when I was baptized by John, when I chose the twelve, when I did mighty works, when I broke bread, and when I blessed the children. I prayed when facing my darkest hour, and I prayed as I gave my life upon the cross. I prayed in public before others, and I prayed alone. I prayed in the daytime, and I prayed at night. When I prayed with my disciples just before I was arrested in the garden, you were included in that prayer. When I taught my disciples how to pray, it was for your understanding as well. I know that I am not physically present with you today as I was with my disciples so many years ago, but my heart of prayer has not changed.
(signed by Jesus)
Jesus laid out the perfect example for us. It wasn’t because He came to be an example. He came to die for us. But in the course of all He did, He left a perfect example, including a life that was continually in prayer.
You’ll never get life under control – but today, you can give Jesus control of your life. He’s the only One Who has everything under control anyway…
