Prayer for the Ministering Servants of God

Introduction: The Call to Prayer for Ministering Servants

0:04 morning that we would not be considering the next section in the life and ministry of the prophet Elisha, but that our attention would be directed to some teaching in the word of God concerning the subject of prayer for the ministering servants of God. And as most of you know by now, early this Wednesday morning I shall be leaving for two and a half weeks of ministry in England and in Ireland, the details of which are printed on the mimeographed prayer letter that is available to you. Now I have no doubt, whatever, that many of you, and I say that very carefully, that many of you will pray for me while I am away, that you will pray both frequently and fervently. However, my concern tonight is to do two things things, to stir you up to an even greater frequency and fervency of prayer on my behalf, and secondly, to give you some specific biblical directives in your frequent and fervent prayers to God for me. In other words, it is my concern that you not only be found engaged in the

1:25 activity of prayer, but that you be engaged in that activity in a manner that is suitable to the work and the demands of the gospel. And so tonight, in the thirty-one minutes allotted to me, I want to direct your attention to three prayers recorded in the New Testament, prayers that have a specific reference to the proclamation of the New Testament. They are requests for prayer, I should say, not three prayers, but three requests for prayer, all from the pen of the Apostle Paul, all of them having to do with his work in the proclamation of the gospel. Now, it should be understood at the outset that in the light of the fact that the one who wrote these requests was an apostle with the peculiar authority and respect for the gospel, he was not an apostle. He was an apostle of the gospel. He was an apostle of the gospel. He was an apostle of the gospel. He was an apostle of the gospel.

Context of Prayer: Rooted in Shared Spiritual Realities (Romans 15:30-32)

2:25 He was an apostle of the gospel. He was an apostle of the gospel. He was an apostle of the gospel. He was an apostle of the gospel. We must never make a one-to-one equivalent between the substance of these requests and any pleas for prayer that we ordinary office-bearers in the church of Christ may make. However, to the extent that there is a parallel between the proclamation of the gospel engaged in by an apostle and the proclamation of the there is indeed a very close parallel of concern and perspective. Now, with that brief introduction before us, please turn to the first of these prayers, by which I trust under God to stir you up to pray and to give direction to your prayers. In Romans chapter 15 and verse 30, the Apostle, using the same kind of language used in Romans 12, I beseech you by the mercies of God, it is an earnest plea based on the previous revelation of God's mercies. Now I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together.

3:49 With me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judea, and my ministration, which I have for Jerusalem, may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come unto you in joy through the will of God, and together with you find rest. Now I am not going to attempt anything that even begins to approximate a careful, detailed, contextual exegesis of these prayers. Time would not permit that. My preparation would preclude that.

4:29 But I do want to underscore some of the very leading and obvious lines of thought that are found in these prayers. Now notice in the first place the context of the prayer solicited in the language of Romans 15, 30 through 32. He says, I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit. Now the commentators differ with respect to the precise significance of these words.

5:06 The preposition used, translated by, can be understood with some degree of latitude, and I will not weary you with all the various possibilities, but suffice it to say, that his plea for these people to pray for him is a plea that is uttered in the context of the great realities embodied in the salvation of Christ, provided objectively in his work, and applied subjectively by the ministry of the Spirit. So he says, I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers. In other words, the context in which he solicits their prayers is not a context of psychological manipulation or of mere sentimental attachment between the people at Rome and the Apostle Paul, but it is a context that is framed by the great reality of the Lord Jesus Christ. I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers. In other words, the context in which he solicits their prayers is not a context of psychological manipulation or of mere sentimental attachment between the people at Rome and the Apostle Paul, but it is a context that is framed by the great reality of the gospel which they share in common.

6:22 It is by their common Lord Jesus Christ and by their common experience of the love of the Spirit that he pleads with them to pray. And it is a wonderful thing to stand before you tonight and to plead with you to pray for me, not on the basis of sentimental or even personal attachment to me, and certainly not in the context of sentimentality, psychological manipulation, giving you some kind of carnal motives by which to pray, but to make an appeal to you on the basis of those great spiritual realities which we share in common, which are epitomized in the person and work of the Lord Jesus and are commonly experienced by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. And so the context of the prayer solicited, the context of the prayer solicited, by the Apostle is precisely the same context in which I solicit your prayers tonight. Now notice in the second place the nature of the prayer solicited.

Nature of Prayer: Striving Together in Agony (Romans 15:30-32)

7:31 He says, I beseech you that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. Now he uses here a compound verb. That verb, to strive, is the one often you've been used to, and reminded in this place, literally means to agonize, and then it has a prefix which means together. So literally translated it means to agonize together with someone.

8:03 And so the nature of the prayer which the Apostle is soliciting is not the now I lay me down to sleep, God bless pastor and use him kind of prayers. He is soliciting the kind of prayer that can only be described by this vigorous Greek word to agonize. And he says, I beseech you to agonize together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf. The New English Bible translates this part of the text, be my allies in the fight.

8:45 And I like that. Be my allies in the fight. He writes, He recognized that in going forth to preach, he was engaging in a very peculiar way with the powers of darkness. In a very peculiar way, those who proclaim the word of God and carry out the message in the official capacity of the messengers of Christ are the front line troops in the great army of God.

9:16 And the Apostle pleads with these people to join him, not in any kind, not in any kind of prayer, but prayer which as to its nature is true spiritual agony. But he says, it is an agony that I share with you and you with me. Now that's an amazing thing. Hundreds of miles separated the Apostle from these people, and yet he says, when you engage God on my behalf with intense and earnest prayer, we are striving together.

9:55 In the language of that well-known hymn, it is a wonderful thing to meet at the throne of grace and there to mingle our ardent desires and prayers before our common Lord. It's a wonderful thing when I leave this place to know that I leave as one whose relationship to you is neither suspended nor severed. By the 3,000 miles that will lie between us over the next two and a half weeks. God by his spirit has made me a member of this congregation just as he's made you a member of this congregation.

10:37 Now I happen to have a peculiar function as an office bearer. I happen to have a rather prominent function as an office bearer. But I am essentially and primarily a member of this particular body of Christ. And as such, you see, the distance neither suspends nor severs that relationship.

11:00 It merely changes some of the expressions of that relationship. And so I would, the apostle, would plead with you, my brethren, I would beseech you to become allies with me in the fight. The fight in which I shall be engaged there in structure, in the youth conference next weekend, and then at Leicester in the minister's conference, and then back in Belfast in the evangelistic meetings. That conflict with the powers of darkness and with ignorance and the host of hell, that conflict is your conflict.

11:41 And together we must bear the responsibility for that warfare.

Specific Objects of Prayer: Deliverance, Acceptance, and Safe Return (Romans 15:30-32)

11:49 The nature then of the prayer solicited is prayer, prayer that is characterized by this element of agony, that is, intensity in the recognition of the great issues that are before us. And then, thirdly, notice in this request for prayer the specific objects of the prayer solicited. They are to pray in a context of conscious communion with Christ and His work and in the Spirit. They are to pray with prayer that is a joint spiritual warfare with the Apostle.

12:27 But what are the specific things for which they are to pray? Well, he specifies here certain things which, if I were to go into some detail, would necessitate opening up the historical setting where the Apostle was at this point in his missionary journeys, what lay before him, the relationship of the Roman Church to all of that, and that would be, I hope, both interesting and edifying, but in the interest of time I must pass over that and simply give a brief word of explanation and show the relevance of this for us. Notice, he says, that I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judea, and my ministration which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, that I may come unto you in joy through the will of God, and together with you find rest. So he requests that they pray specifically for three things. That he may be delivered from disobedient men, that he may have an acceptable ministry of service to the saints at Jerusalem, and this did not involve so much preaching as it did carrying a benevolence offering from other churches, and that he may have a safe arrival in Rome. Now think for a moment concerning the matters involved in those requests.

13:53 When he says, strive in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that are disobedient in Judea, he was referring, of course, to these fanatical, unbelieving Jews who dogged his steps wherever he went. And remember, the Spirit had been testifying that if he goes to Jerusalem, there is nothing but bonds and imprisonment and opposition awaiting him. Now he says, strive to God on my behalf that I may be delivered from these disobedient men. What does that reveal?

14:30 Well, it reveals Paul's confidence that the living God had power to restrain the acts and the dispositions of unregenerate men. If he had no such confidence, such a prayer is nonsense. If God does not intrude in the realm of the attitudes and actions of unregenerate men, a prayer request of this nature is sheer nonsense. But it is because Almighty God does have the heart of kings and the heart of fanatical, unbelieving Jews in Judea in his hand, so that he can say, thus far, no further, the apostle is bold to say, I beseech you, brethren, that you strive together in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from these, these disobedient men. And then it also reveals when he says, pray that my ministry will be acceptable to the saints, that God effectually works in the hearts of his own, disposing them to receive his servants who come on a God-given errand. Paul was going to Jerusalem on a God-given errand. He says, pray that the same God who can restrain unreasonable and disobedient men will be the God who will, will constrain believing men to receive me on my God-given mission.

16:00 And then, of course, the third thing, when he says that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, he's revealing his confidence that God controls the winds and the tides. Remember, he didn't hop on a 747 or a 707 or the Metroliner. He had to get on a ship. He was at the mercy of the elements, of the courts, quote, forces of nature, and all of these factors.

16:27 And he says, pray, because my God controls the winds, their direction, their ferocity, their presence, their absence. And so he is confessing his confidence that in all the details of providence, God sits at the helm, as it were, ordering all things for his own glory and for the accomplishment of his own purposes. Well, I'm sure many of you have already seen, in the application of those principles to the forthcoming ministry. What is it that you ought to specifically pray for as I embark upon these very awesome responsibilities?

Application of Specific Prayer Requests to Martin's Ministry

17:07 Well, I should be ministering in a context where there are disobedient and unreasonable men. Not only in general as a manifestation of the unregenerate heart, but some of you know enough, of the situation in Belfast, to know that if it becomes known across the city, as Mr. Alford, Pastor Alford, and his people have tried to make known, that there is to be a concentration of Protestants. Most of them will probably be Protestants, as they would think of it, gathered night after night in a public place.

17:46 Surely, I'm not so stupid as to think they're not unreasonable men who would think, hmm, this is a good place for us to get a little attention. Stir up a little trouble. Attract a little attention to our cause, even as the IRA did when someone said they were a spent cause. Explosions went off in 32 places across Ireland just a couple of days ago.

18:09 Now, I'm not naive nor ignorant of those things, but it's a wonderful thing to go into confidence that we have a God who can restrain and control the dispositions, the plottings, and the plans of the most wicked of men. And so, I beseech you, brethren, to strive together with me in your prayers to God that I may be delivered from disobedient men. Why? Well, I hope I can say with Paul, it's not because I count my life dear to myself.

18:41 It's not because I feel I'm indispensable to the work of God. Frankly, the idea of going home,

18:49 to the home from which there's no return, in many ways is very attractive. But we are not to sit back and stow away and historically give ourselves up to the designs of wicked men who would seek to cut our ministry short. And so, the apostle, fully confident that God was sovereign and fully prepared to meet his God, nonetheless pleads with the brethren to pray for him that he will be delivered from such unreasonable men. And so, I entreat you to make that one of your specific focuses of prayer.

19:23 And then, of course, as he asks them to pray that his ministry will be delivered, that the administration which he has for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, I would urge you to pray that God would give me the hearts of his people in these places. These dear young people who will be coming together for the conference next weekend, at this very time, though we'll have a six-hour time difference, but at this very day when I will be privileged to share that conference with Pastor Blaze and with Mr. Ian Murray, that the Lord will give us the hearts of these young men and women. And as I go on to Leicester, preachers are a funny lot, as you're finding out more and more, I'm sure.

20:07 And all kinds of thoughts go through their minds when they come to a preacher's conference. And they can be awfully catty and sit around and compare preachers and criticize and all of the rest. And then when you have the added liability of being an American and added to that general liability the additional liability of being rather swashbuckling, outgoing, a bit loud American, why, it's almost going up to the plate with two strikes against you and the bat over your shoulder and the third fastball coming down the pipe. Well, I say that again.

20:47 I'm based on the experience of many visits. I believe this is about the eighth or ninth time that I've been privileged to minister at the Leicester Ministers' Conference. But each time, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say, I say. Each time, one of my earnest prayers is, Lord, give me the hearts of these men that my ministry may be acceptable.

21:05 Not in the sense of being a man-pleaser. You see, Paul was not a man-pleaser. Yet he says, Pray that my ministration may be acceptable to the saints, that God will give them a spirit of goodwill towards me, that they may receive me in the mission for which I am come. And I long to be a means of encouragement and challenge, and help to my brethren in the ministry. I don't feel I'm worthy to address them. I don't go because of some felt worthiness. I go because there is some indication that God would have me to go, an indication expressed by the trustees of the banner of truth who have asked me to come every other year and address those men, and many of those men who write saying that they greatly anticipate this ministry.

21:55 And then as I go on to Ireland, a situation in which I have not ministered for a number of years, I feel so utterly strange, illustrative material. You've got to draw it out of the raw stuff of the culture unless you use universal illustrations and that sense that you're there without many of your tools and funny little mannerisms and little phrases that can easily turn the minds of people away from the thing towards which you are driving. All of those things can throw up barriers. So that your ministry is not acceptable to the saints. Well, will you pray with me, brethren, that God would grant that the ministry would be acceptable, and then, of course, that God who controls all things would be pleased, and here I use the very language of the text, that I may come to you, that is, return to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you find rest. Now, we can't go into what that rest was. It wasn't as though the apostles said, boy, I want to get to Rome there and have a six-week vacation.

23:00 No, it was another kind of rest. But he does pray and asks them to pray that he may be returned to them. And so this is a legitimate prayer. Lord, if it please you, bring our pastor back safely to us, but bring him back in joy through the will of God.

23:16 Now, suppose the Lord should break through with power over there in those meetings in Belfast, and it appeared that it was the will of God that I should stay on for a while. I don't like that thought.

23:29 I don't like being away from home longer than a day. That's too long. But I've had to face that honestly on my face before God. People are crying that the Lord would pour out of His Spirit.

23:41 Well, what that may mean. I'm the Lord's property. Not my own, not my wife's, not the church's.

23:49 So can we really from the heart say, Lord, in joy, in the will of God, bring our pastor back to us? Well, that, I hope, will give you some specific fuel. For prayer. Perhaps you may find it helpful to actually take that prayer and then use it as a framework as you pray for me.

Second Request for Prayer: Boldness in Utterance (Ephesians 6:18-20)

24:07 Now, very quickly, two other passages. I'll barely have time to just read them and make a couple of comments. This was the most strategic passage, and so I've spent the most time on it. Over to Ephesians chapter 6, if you will, please.

24:24 Ephesians chapter 6. You remember the setting? The people of God are likened unto soldiers in a battle. The people who are responsible to arm themselves with the armor provided by God in the great conflict against principalities and powers.

24:44 And after describing the armor, he then says in verse 18, With all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons, Ephesians 6, in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints, in this great spiritual conflict with principalities and powers, he lays before them the general duty of persevering prayer. But then he moves from the general duty to a specific branch of that duty as it applied to himself. And, verse 19, On my behalf, that is, praying with all prayer and supplication on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly as I ought to speak. Now, I'm fully aware that there are problems again of translation. What is the precise significance of the word logos in this particular context? Is it that utterance may be given to me or a platform for utterance?

26:00 Many issues that I cannot go into at this time. And suffice it to say that the context of this plea for prayer is the reality of spiritual warfare. That's the context. And the major thrust of this prayer is an exhortation to pray that God would grant to his servants boldness in the utterance of the God-given message.

26:27 You see, the apostle recognized, that speaking the mystery of the gospel with boldness was his duty. Notice the latter part of the verse that, in it, I may speak boldly as I ought. That is, as I am under solemn obligation to speak it. The apostle had his conscience bound with a sense of duty.

26:54 And that duty was not merely to articulate the mystery of the gospel, but to. articulate it with all boldness, that is, with unfettered freedom. And it is to that end that he says, plead with God on my behalf. Now that's an amazing thing, because it indicates that though this man was greatly privileged, he had direct revelations, though he was greatly advanced in grace, though he was greatly experienced in the work of the ministry, he was dependent upon the prayer of humble saints, that in that work of the ministry he might be given utterance commensurate with his God-given duty. In other words, he did not assume that his privileges, his advanced state in grace, nor his experience would automatically result in his being able to fulfill his duty to speak as he ought to speak. And surely then the application is clear. Those of us who make no claim to apostleship, who've had no privileges

28:12 such as the apostle had in terms of direct revelation, who feel ourselves utter pygmies in his presence as far as stature is concerned, whose range of experience is so much more limited than was his, surely if that man said, oh dear saints, in the work of spiritual warfare, in the conflict, pray for me that utterance may be given, how much more do I need to make that plea to you as the people of God? Pray that utterance may be given. And again, time will not permit my going in to all of the many factors that are involved in that matter of utterance so that we speak boldly, with unfettered freedom, with all pouring forth. That word is difficult to translate, but there are so many factors involved in that. And as I emphasize again and again to the men in the academy, one of the great mysteries and elusive things with preaching is that preaching is either born or stillborn in the act of preaching. A man must prepare, both directly and indirectly. A man must have a grasp upon his subject, but there are so many factors that enter

29:33 into the actual speaking situation that if God is not there presently and powerfully active by the Spirit, no boldness of utterance will be given. And so I plead with you as you pray for me, pray this prayer, that utterance may be given to me, that God will loose my tongue and do everything necessary to grant that loosened, tongue. To what end? Not to impress people, but that I may fulfill my duty of preaching in a manner somewhat commensurate with what I understand that duty to be. That I may speak as I ought to speak.

30:14 And I have bound my conscience by a standard of preaching, which I believe is biblical. That the preaching ought to be permeated with the sense of earnestness and urgency. That it ought to be clear and simple. That it ought to have grip upon the mind and upon the conscience, upon the affections. There is a theory of preaching, a theology of preaching in the Scriptures. And I have been forced to wrestle with that in trying to teach some of these things to the men. And in turn, it has simply intensified my own sensitivity to how lofty and how awesome a task is this task of preaching. So I lay before you the Ephesians 6 passage. And then, very quickly, in the two minutes remaining, 2 Thessalonians 3, 1 and 2.

Third Request for Prayer: The Word to Run and Be Glorified (2 Thessalonians 3:1-2)

31:09 Finally, brethren, pray for us, 2 Thessalonians 3, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, even as it is also with you, that we may be delivered from unreasonable and evil men. For all men, or for all, have not faith. Well, here you see the point of emphasis is twofold. That the word may run and be glorified, and that the servant of the Lord may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men.

31:46 Well, since we've already dealt in part with the latter from the Romans 16 passage, we'll pass over it. But now this fascinating little phrase, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified. It's the standard word for run in the New Testament. Used in 1 Corinthians 9, where he speaks of a runner who's seeking to win the prize.

32:07 Hebrews 12, 1. Running with patience the race that is set before us. Now he says, pray that the word of the Lord may run. What a beautiful picture.

32:19 That it may not stagger, run out of wind, and just sit on the sidelines. That it may run. That it may have free course. That it may take, as it were, legs.

32:31 Speedy legs. And that it may go forth into every area with alacrity and with vigor. And he says that that word may be glorified. That is, that it may be praised and honored and received for what it is.

32:47 Well, this is again the thing I ask you to pray for me as I go forth. It is of supreme importance that that word that I seek to bring to these various groups of people. That that word may run. For it is that word which is the instrument of salvation.

Conclusion: Efficacy, Specificity, and Exhortation in Prayer

33:05 It is that word that is the instrument of encouragement and edification. And so above all else, we must plead that that word may run and be glorified. In conclusion, let me state it should be obvious from this brief consideration of these three requests for prayer. That the Apostle believed that the prayers of the Lord, the prayers of the humblest unknown saints, would be efficacious in securing the blessing of God upon his life and upon his labors.

33:39 And it is because I believe that, that I plead with you to pray. Paul obviously believed that those prayers should be specifically focused on the great concerns connected with the Gospel. And so he delineates those concerns. And I have sought to do that for you tonight.

33:59 That your prayers will not be vague, general, buckshot prayers. But they will be rightful prayers, zeroed in upon a specific object. And that they be prayers marked by this spiritual intensity. And then thirdly and finally, Paul obviously believed that appropriate exhortations to engage the prayers of God's people were instrumental in moving them to pray.

34:28 And so he is not at all reluctant to say, brethren, pray for us. Finally, brethren, pray for us. And therefore I come to you tonight as the Lord's servant and your pastor and plead with you to pray for me in terms of these great concerns. And that in the will of God I may come back to you with joy to report what God has done in causing His Word to run and to be glorified.

34:58 Let us pray. Our Father, we are grateful that we have the Scriptures as a lamp to our feet and the light to our pathway. That even in such very practical issues as the one which has engaged our minds for the past half hour, we need not be left at the mercy of our own whims and fancies. We need not be battered by psychological manipulation, by the pressure of human personality, but that as those whose consciences are captive to the Word of God, we may have our consciences honed by the Scriptures. Seal then to our hearts the matters we have considered together, and may it please you to hear the many prayers that will ascend from this people for these ministries in the days ahead. May the kingdom of error and of darkness, O God, may that kingdom receive staggering blows through the Word of Truth. O God, hear our prayer, and be pleased to answer us.

36:17 For the honor of your dear Son we pray. Amen.