Learning How to Worship: An Application (Part 2 of 2)

In some churches, corporate worship can have a reputation of being boring.

But that shouldn't be the case. Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg considers the basis for Christian joy, the necessity of prayer, and why the devil works so hard to distract us from both. We're examining the Apostle Paul's instructions to the Thessalonian believers to be joyful, prayerful, and thankful. We used to sing it as a song in the late sixties, early seventies.

You may remember it. Speaking of the joy of the redeemed… Therefore, they remember the song, When therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy will be upon their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning will flee away. Therefore the redeemed of the LORD will return and come with singing unto Zion, and everlasting joy will be upon their heads. Because of the essential truths of the gospel. Praise my soul, the king of heaven, to his feet thy tribute bring, Ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven, who like thee his praise should sing. The hymn writer is speaking to his soul.

He's saying, Come on, soul! I know you're disappointed by this. I know the circumstances are not the way you intended. I know there is frustration here. I know there is heartache there. But listen, you've been ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. Don't you think you should be singing God's praise? Don't you think there should at least be the half of a smile on the corners of your mouth for goodness' sake? Now, do you understand what the Word of God is saying here, dear ones? This isn't superficiality.

This is not, you know, trying to conjure up stuff. Yes, there's pain. Yes, there's sadness. Some of you this morning are in deep sadness.

I know that. So it really would be a dreadful chronicle of despair. It would be the apex of insensitivity. If what I was suggesting from the Word of God was some kind of back-slapping, easygoing, pump-yourself-up dimension of superficial happiness.

It isn't that. Because through the tears and through the disappointment and through the heartache, you're trying to lay hold on this. God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Judge not the Lord by feeble strength, but trust him for his grace.

Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. And all that you can see this morning is apparently a frowning providence, and therefore it is going to be your theology which provides you with a basis of solid joy, not your perception of what is going on around you. Well, Paul—and I must move on—Paul, in Romans 14, addressing the believers who were arguing about some things that were of secondary importance, whether you could eat food that had been offered to idols or whether it was unclean or clean or whatever it was—you know, should we be doing this, should we be doing that? Important questions, but not, you know, the essence of the thing. Not the main thing. Not the plain thing.

Important, but not crucial. And he's in the midst of dealing with all of this and addressing the issue, some of you are weak and others of you are strong. And then in verse 17, it's almost as though he just sort of gets frustrated and bursts out with it. In the middle he says, Listen, the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking. And we could fill that in with all kinds of words, you know. The kingdom of God is not a matter of our little preoccupations, but it is a matter of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

The hymn writer says, Joyful, joyful, we adore thee, God of glory, God of love, hearts unfold like flowers before thee. I find that phrase very challenging as I pondered it this week. The Puritans used to ask one another in the context of keeping each other accountable a number of questions. They didn't just, in accountability groups, simply say, you know, like, How are you doing? Fine. And how are you doing? I'm doing fine. Well, that's good. We're both fine.

Let's pray and let's go. They used to ask these questions. Number one, since last we were together, have you faced temptation? And if you have faced temptation and been successful, tell me your pathway to victory.

If you have faced temptation and succumbed to it, tell me, have you asked for forgiveness and repented? Thirdly, since last we were together, has your heart been strangely warmed? Now, even the question is almost an anachronism, isn't it? Because I could just hear children going—I can hear them doing it over lunch—"Has your heart been strangely warmed?" You know, I know the way that things can be responded to.

But the point is simply this. Remember when you thought of your girlfriend, and you knew you were gonna see her, like, at eight o'clock? And it was just kinda like, inside of you it went, Yes.

Yes. Twenty-seven years ago today, I met this thirteen-year-old girl called Susan with blue eyes. And still, my heart is strangely warmed. Further back, I met Jesus.

And to Jesus every day I find my heart is closer drawn. He's the lily of the valley. He's the bright and morning star. He's the best. You're my all.

You're the best. You're my joy, my righteousness. And I love you, Lord. That's the song, you see.

That's the expression. Well, we'd better go on to prayer. Joyful always. Pray continually. Pray continually. Now, Paul could give this exhortation because he was a great prayer. Time and again in his letters, you hear him saying, you know, I prayed for you regularly, I remember you day and night in my prayers, I pray for you with tears, and so on.

And I want to tell you this morning that of all the things in my Christian life, the hardest thing to do is pray—both privately and publicly and consistently—to pray. I have little doubt that it is an expression, as I'm sure you would be able to identify with, it is an expression of spiritual warfare. Because the weapons of our warfare which bring down the strongholds of the evil one are prayer and the preaching of the Word of God. And the devil is unafraid of prayerless preaching, because he's not interested in people just talking. It doesn't matter to him.

It's like water off a duck's back. It makes no gain for the kingdom. People may be impressed by it, they may give accolades for it, they may even laugh at it or do whatever it is with it, but the devil doesn't care, because he's unafraid of prayerless preaching. And so it is that it is possible for us to believe that we can do more on our feet when we're talking than we can do on our knees when we're silent. And when we think of our church and of our worship and of our witness, when we think of Parkside Church, if we may think in particular terms for just a moment, it is imperative, loved ones, that we get serious about this phrase, Pray Continually. It's a humble church that lives in dependent prayer. It's a church that understands that we could never have put ourselves in this position that prays.

It's a church that is not self-sufficient that prays, that it knows that all that it has and all that it is and all of its gifting and all of its opportunity is gathered in. Prayer should not be thought of simply in terms of stating a few petitions in a pattern of words with our eyes closed in a certain posture. When you talk to people about prayer, so often they want to talk to you about posture. Well, I mean, are you supposed to close your eyes?

Can you pray? The children always want to know, Why do we have to close our eyes when we pray? And someone else says, Well, why don't we pray standing up? Well, we don't, or kneeling down, or falling on our faces, or… And there are a whole variety of postures in prayer in the Old Testament. But the issue isn't posture.

The issue's this. People come to me, and they say things like, Would you say a prayer for me? Do you ever say that to you? Would you say a prayer for me?

I know what they mean by that, but the answer is no. I may try and pray for you, but I won't say a prayer for you. How do you say a prayer? You can pray, but it's different from saying a prayer. And sometimes when we say a prayer, we may pray. And sometimes when we pray, we may not say a prayer. And half the time when we say a prayer, it's got nothing to do with prayer at all. Children's song in Scotland, I often say my prayers, but do I really pray?

And do the feelings of my heart go with the words I say? I might as well bow down and worship gods of stone, as offer to the living God a prayer of words alone. So when this speaks about praying continually, it's talking about attitude. It's talking about heart. It's talking about dependence. It's talking about communion. It's talking about fellowship. It's talking about the whole seedbed of the church of God—that the people of God are to be praying continually. It doesn't mean that they're stopping all the time at street corners and saying prayers like the Pharisees, but it does mean that our hearts are always prayerful. So that no matter where we go, no matter what we're doing, we are in communion with God.

Psalm 139. If I take the wings of the morning and fly to the outermost parts of the earth, you're there. If I make my bed in the depths, you're there. You know when I sit down? You know when I stand up? You know the words in my mouth before I even speak them.

All the time. In communion with God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer is fellowship with God.

Prayer is the realization of the presence of our Father. Those of you who still have your dads—don't you love to talk with your dad? Those of you who no longer have your dad? Tell me that there isn't hardly a week goes by that you wish that you could pick up the phone and call him.

It could be the strangest thing. You just saw something as you drove past, and you said, Man! I gotta call my dad and tell him that.

No big deal. I gotta call my dad and ask him that. Gotta call my father.

I just wanna hear his voice. Now, that's the whole point. That's what it means to become a Christian. Romans chapter 8. The Spirit of God indwells our lives and enables us to cry out to God, Abba, Father. For you didn't receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, he says in verse 15, but you received the spirit of sonship, and by him we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now, if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Now, let's kind of take that apart for just a moment. You wake up in the morning.

Well, Sunday morning or any other morning, you wake up, and immediately your life forms up in front of you like the Matterhorn down at the end of your bed. And things you have to do, and places you have to go, and projects you have to complete, and concerns that you have, and anxieties, and all these other things. Friendships that are fractured. Someone's not speaking to you at school. Your boss is a pain in the tonsils, and you know you've got to spend the whole day driving to Detroit with him. What are you gonna do? Well, I'll tell you what I'd do. I'd just lie in my bed and say, Hey, Dad. Father. Father, I need you today more than I needed you yesterday. I want you to know I love you. I want you to know I thank you for sending Jesus to die for me.

I want to thank you that you've even put the Spirit in my heart. Otherwise, I would wake up this morning without any thought for you. But I've woken up this morning, and I'm thinking of my Father.

Why? Because he is my Father. The Spirit of God testifies with my spirit that I am a child of God.

Do you know that? Or are you just in externalized religion? Form, structure, externals, saying prayers, singing songs.

Or are you in a dependent prayerful relationship with your heavenly Father? You see, these exhortations are only compelling—they are only possible—in response when we are one in the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer, says the hymnwriter again, is the sole, sincere desire uttered or unexpressed. Now, if the people of God are to pray continually, what are they going to pray about?

Because that's one of the things. What am I supposed to pray about if I'm supposed to pray continually? Well, he answers that in Philippians 4, in the Living Bible paraphrase of it. It comes out perfectly, you know, in Philippians 4, Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. Be anxious for nothing but in everything with prayer and supplication. Let your requests be made known unto God.

Kenneth Taylor in the Living Bible paraphrases it, Don't worry about anything. Instead, pray about everything. So, okay, now we've got everything to go at, so I can pray about everything. Well, what should I pray about in relationship to the people of God? Well, let's start with everything and break it out.

I mean, think about it. In the average church, how would you get prayed for? You have to crash your car, go in the hospital for surgery, or lose your job. Then they'll pray for you. Apart from that, you don't have much chance of getting prayed for. So if you want to get prayed for at Parkside, crash your car, lose your job, or go in for surgery. Otherwise, you're on your own, Charlie.

Thanks for coming. Shouldn't be that way. We should be genuinely praying for one another, consistently.

Take in the book. People say, Well, I can't pray for somebody I don't know. That's bogus.

Yes, you can. You might not be able to pray in the same way for someone that you do know, but you can still pray for somebody you don't know. You should start with the people you do know, and then we'll work out from there. Pray for the leaders of the church. Pray for the worship of the church. Pray when you walk into the church for the worship service. Pray for the guy when he's preaching.

I know many of you do. Some of you are preaching, praying, Lord, help him to stop. Help him to finish when he's done. So put a little thing together, get a loose-leaf book, and start your own prayer diary. Do it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or do it A through Z in the alphabet.

Do it month by month or week by week. Put something together, and then determine what you're going to do. Find a place, find a priority, and find a plan. Do you have a place where you pray every day? Do you have a place? There's a place where I can go. Do you have a place where you pray?

People said, You know what? Would your kids know where to find you at a certain time of the day, because you're always praying? See, you never have a prayer for church unless you have prayerful individuals.

That's why it starts individually and then expresses itself corporately. Pray for the church and the world. You say, Well, I don't know much about the church and the world.

Then find out. Before you know where you are, you've got about seven or eight countries in the world that are the focus of your prayers. And then, you see, as the church starts to pray for the issues of the kingdom of God throughout the world, it's saved from nationalism for a start, and it also then begins to understand that the fields are white for harvest, and so then we can start praying kingdom prayers, Lord Jesus, Lord of the harvest, send out laborers into the harvest. So we pray, and now, Lord, I'm looking along the roads here, and I'm looking for export models from Parkside Church.

We're looking for people that we can export for the needs of the world. We want to pray continually about this. We want to pray for the church throughout the world that it would adhere to the truth of God's Word. We want to pray for leadership. We want to pray for holiness in the church, for unity in the church, for its mission. We want to pray for widows, the fatherless, the oppressed, the prisoner, the hungry, the homeless, and the sick.

Look at Luke 18. And we're gonna wrap this up here. We can go on to thankfulness. We'll do that next time.

Just want you to notice the opening phrase. You can read the parable on your own. Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. As we've said many times before, we can do more than pray after we've prayed. But we can't do more than pray until we've prayed. And I say to you again, here is one of the great challenges for us as a church. But I do want to guarantee you one thing on the strength of God's Word—that our worship will be twice as meaningful, emerging from the hearts of a praying congregation. That the same messages will have a far greater impact, bolstered by the lives of a praying congregation. That the impact of evangelism in our communities will make great dents for the kingdom of God if we'll take seriously the call to really pray. Let us pray.

Say the Lord's Prayer together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Father, we want to learn how to pray. We want to learn how to rejoice. We want to learn how to live with uncomplaining, thankful hearts.

In our weakness you have made us strong, and in our poverty you have made us rich. And we ought to genuinely thank you. We long that our lives would open like flowers to you. That's something of the reality and fervor that marks our preoccupations with things that are transient might lay hold of our desires to praise your great and glorious name. We pray, Lord, that we may be alive, that we might be assisted, and that we might be active. We pray that we may not misunderstand your Word and assume somehow or another that by external frames and manipulative procedures we can lay hold upon these great and precious truths, but rather that our feet may go down deep into the soil of your great grace, and that we may draw water from the wells of salvation, and that our lips may declare your praise. We praise you this morning for the joy of family life, for the blessings of human friendship, for the encouragement of the days that have passed.

And we thank you, Lord, for your sustaining grace, without which none of us would have made it safely to this morning. O Lord, we pray that you will open our eyes and help us to see the world in need of this kind of joy, in the reality of what it means to know forgiveness of sin and the power of God within a life. And we pray that we may be known for joy.

Would it be that people wanted to come and park their cars in the car park to hear the shouts of joy and the reality of praise that emerge from the people of God in this building? Grant that our exuberance may be framed with decency and in order. Grant that our desire for decency and in order may not erode our genuine exuberance. Hear us, O God, as we pray for the days that await us in this week, that in our going it's out and coming in, in school, in work, at home, in all of our relationships, that we may live for you, Lord Jesus Christ. We want to give thanks to you with sincere hearts. In Jesus' name, amen.

You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. We've been learning how important prayer-dependent corporate worship is. We often receive phone calls here at Truth for Life from people asking, what should I be looking for in a local church? Some of these folks are new to their faith.

Others are relocating to an unfamiliar place. And if you're currently looking to find a Bible teaching church, Alistair has a blog with some helpful tips on what to look for. You'll find the blog on our website at truthforlife.org slash find. In addition, on our website, you'll find information about a book we're recommending titled Gather, Loving Your Church As You Celebrate Christ Together. This is a book that explains how being engaged at church feeds your spirit. It grows your relationship with other believers, helps you stay strong in your faith, and helps you be prepared for the week ahead. The book Gather is yours with a donation today at truthforlife.org slash donate. And by the way, if you're making vacation plans, you may want to consider joining Alistair on the Deeper Faith Cruise coming this November. It's a 12-day adventure that departs out of Lisbon, Portugal.

It includes stops in the Azores, the Canary Islands, Morocco, and Seville, Spain. Along the way, Alistair will be teaching God's Word. You can find out more at deeperfaithcruise.com. We hope you have a wonderful, blessed weekend as you worship with your local church. On Monday, we'll find out why genuine worship demands more than just showing up in your Sunday best. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.