Unity Through Intercessory Prayer

Good afternoon, everyone! Good to be here in Indianapolis once again. I see all of you. It feels like coming home. Debbie and I are very glad to be back here. We're very glad that our visa came through to get us across the border. We didn't want to be in Indiana illegally. Illegal aliens, to these days, a lot of talk about those people, and so we're glad that it came through.

So it's good to see all of you and to be here with you. ABC Choir, this is our first time to come out with them on their trips. I think their first trip out was last week. It was their first one out. So this is the first time we've heard their full presentation of everything. And very nice, very nicely done.

And we have a good group of ABC students this year. It's always interesting to watch and see the group that comes together every year from all around the country. And this year we have several internationals from Australia. We had one for the first semester from Chile. She went back home. And so we've had quite a mixed group of people here this year. And it's a very good group, I would say an exceptional group, at ABC this year.

So don't get the big hit. But they're a good group. All of us are very familiar with the Psalm 133 that talks about how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. We sing that. We have that as a very beautiful part of our hymnal and a hymn that has been put to music for us.

How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Now we also know, as we sing that hymn on occasion or read that Psalm, just how elusive the idea and the concept of unity actually is. Among, unfortunately, brethren. Don't we? That we have had to always, the history of the church from the very first century, is the struggle and the desire to hold the unity of faith, the unity of the truth.

But nonetheless, that is the teaching and the ideal. And it is an extremely important part and feature and actual truth of the body of Christ that we all understand, pray for, and work toward. What I would like to do today is not tell you how to achieve unity, because I haven't figured that out yet. But I do want to talk about what I come to perceive and understand, I feel, is an important key to a unity that we can have that we perhaps have not thought about. And in the long run, may do more than we think to help accomplish the unity that Scripture does talk about as a feature, which is a feature of the body of Jesus Christ.

And that key that I'd like to talk about here for a few minutes this afternoon is a key of prayer and what we would call an intercessory prayer or prayer for one another. Prayer for each other. Intercessory prayer. For our brethren, for our families, for even those that may be set against us, brethren, family, or other individuals, and to be able to pray for all in that category. That, I think, is a very critical key to coming to an understanding about unity and perhaps in the long run can do more, at least for our part, than anything that we have.

I was recently visiting a congregation in another state, one that I've had the chance in recent last two or three years to make several trips to visit in this congregation. There's a member in this congregation that always comes up to me. I know my name, he knows me, and I always know what he's going to ask me and what he wants to talk about when he comes up to me. It's, how are we all going to get back together?

How are we going to, you know, what are you going to do about this? And I just say, you know what? I didn't create it, and I don't have a solution. But let's all pray together and work toward that. I just saw him recently, and that was the first thing that he started to get into. So, let's think about something here today in that regard that perhaps we haven't focused on in our own lives. Over in John chapter 15. John chapter 15. Jesus said this, "'Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends.' Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends." Now, Christ was about to lay down his life for his friends and for all of mankind.

But let's apply what he is talking about here in terms of prayer for one another. To lay down our life in prayer. You know, that's harder, perhaps, than to lay down our life in one final sacrifice. Not that that would not be a great sacrifice of itself, and what certainly, just looking at it from our level, what that could mean. But if we would commit ourselves to lay down our life for one another in prayer, think what that might accomplish. Think what that would do.

Think what that might do for you and for I. Just on a personal level, if that's what we would do, if we could commit ourselves to laying down and laboring in our own lives for one another in prayer. I appreciate Mr. Barnhorst informing me about a new app. That's just what I need on my phone, is a new app. But that one might be very beneficial, more so than some of the other apps that I've got on my phone, or on your phone, and I hadn't heard of that one.

But if it works, whatever works, as he was referring to some of the names that he had asked for prayers about, I was pulling out my little post-it notepad and writing down a few names to remind myself of that, but then he got to the app. And so if that works, if we're app people, then that's great too. But you know, whether we write it down in our notepad or put it into our app, we still have to go home and pray and into our private place and take the issue of the individual, someone who is sick, recovering, whatever the need is, we still need to be prayed for that.

But whatever helps us to remember and to keep track of all of those, those are the things that can really, truly help us get to that point where we do lay down our lives for one another. Here in John 17, we see that Jesus went on further as he talked about his concern and care for his disciples then and now.

When in this final prayer before he was arrested, he addressed this matter of his, of those that he cared for. In verse 9, John 17, he said, I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. In this point in his prayer, he was referring specifically about the disciples.

I pray for them, those whom you have given to me. He said, All mine are yours in verse 10, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. This is an intercessory prayer that Jesus made on the night before his arrest and death for his disciples.

And he wanted that brought before the Father at that particular point in time.

Now, I am no longer in the world in verse 11, he says, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father. And I pray for you, Holy Father, keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are. So it was a prayer, not only that they would be kept or protected, but that they would be kept together as Christ and the Father were. So he prayed for the unity of his disciples then. And as we read on the book of Acts for the ministry and for the church in its early stages, there was a high degree of unity there. Verse 12, he said, while I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. And he did that.

Those whom you have given me, I have kept. And none of them is lost except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. And there he was speaking of Judas Iscariot.

But he said, now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. And you could break down this prayer and see the elements that he specifically prays for, a unity, a protection from Satan, from Satan's world, and from the influences of this world as a major part of that prayer. He said in verse 16, They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them by your truth, your word is truth. So he asked that they be set aside and kept in truth. Truth is a unifying feature as well of the church, the body of Christ. There has to be truth in terms of worshipping God, truth in doctrine, truth in teaching and practice, in order to worship God truly in truth and in spirit. Verse 18, he said, As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world, but for their sake I sanctify myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth. And so in this part of the prayer, he emphasized a desire that they be kept together as one, just as he and the Father was one. Now, Christ continues to do this even after his death and resurrection. We see that this was on his mind in his final hours on this earth in the flesh for his people, his disciples, then and now, because it continues on. In 1 John 2, we read this in verse 1, My little children, these things I write to you so that you may not sin.

And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous.

That advocacy that Christ makes for his people continues on, just as what he did in the prayer in John 17 on that night, he continues to be an Advocate with the Father for us when we sin. He makes intercession for us, which is what he does. If we turn back to Hebrews 7, Hebrews 7, we can see this again as part of the role that Jesus has as High Priest at the throne of God, at the right hand of the Father, and advocating for his people even today.

In Hebrews 7, verse 24, it says here to break into this thought, But he, speaking of Christ, because he continues forever, and has an unchangeable priesthood, therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. That is his role as he lives, and is at the right hand of the Father to this day. Down to verse 27. Well, let's read verse 26 then. For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens, who does not need daily as those High Priests to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for others, for this he did once, for all, when he offered up himself. And so again, the idea that Christ offered his totality, all of his life, his whole being, he laid it down, and he continues to do that. And he continues as an advocate or an intercessor for his people to help maintain that unity that is a hallmark feature of the spiritual body of Christ. Now, while we're still here in Hebrews, let's look over in chapter 13. Hebrews 13.

Paul makes this comment about brotherly love. He says in verse 1, Hebrews chapter 13, let brotherly love continue. It mustn't be unending. It should never cease. That love, that concern, a feelial love for one another that draws people together. He says in verse 2, do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing, some have unwittingly entertained angels. Always a fascinating verse to consider, whether or not you or I at any time ever unwittingly entertained an angel. We may have knowingly entertained some that are less than angels in our lifetime, but to consider whether or not we've had an encounter with an angelic being is a fascinating thought. And I've heard a lot of stories, and some of those stories I have to walk away thinking, yeah, I think that was an angel in that record, in that story. And that verse still comes true in terms of just individuals that sometimes just appear and help the people of God. But this is what he says here. Now, in verse 3, he makes this other comment, Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. What he's saying in verse 3 seems to indicate that he's saying, remember mistreated members that are in the body. He calls them prisoners, whether indeed they are actually imprisoned, incarcerated for whatever reason, which in the Roman world of Paul's time could have been, or it could also be applying to just an emotional or mental imprisonment because of fear or whatever it might be, and that may be the lesser part of the meaning here. If we can apply what he says into a practical application for us today, as we do pray for one another, whether they're literally imprisoned or imprisoned emotionally, those that are as if he says, as if chained with them. Now, even if you're praying for someone in prison, you're not chained with them, literally, but you feel their pain, to use that trite phrase, but you do understand that they are going through times. And at any time any of us have ever, anyone who's ever visited somebody in prison, you recognize the entire environment that that has. And for a person who's trying to, where we've had members imprisoned or people who want to come out of their current state of their life, and we in the ministry and others have visited with them, we know that that is a very, very hostile environment to try to be faithful. And so, in a sense, as we visit with them, and as we pray for them, as we might write with them, and encourage we are chaining ourselves with them. But apply it to what I'm talking about here, of where, as we pray for one another, and we practice a life of intercessory prayer as a member, we chain ourselves to those that we would be praying for in a figurative manner, in that we don't forget. And if it takes an app or a written note, or we're diligent to go back through our notebooks that we have with us on the Sabbath, or we keep those records, and some people do. There's, there are countless prayer requests that come out from the church, on Facebook, and other means that people have access to, and always a lot of people to pray for. We have lists that we try to keep updated. We even have certain elders and members that are assigned to keep our prayer lists updated. And, you know, I, through a few years ago, I had a request come in from a minister in another state asking about one of our members who had been put on the prayer list that had gone out, and he was asking me about so-and-so. Then I thought, wow, he really does labor in prayer for, for people that he doesn't know and would never probably meet.

And I was touched by that. As you have been, when you may have received a card or notice from someone that you don't know, but they're, you know, an announcement was made about you or your situation, and they are the type who, in a sense, kind of chained themselves spiritually to prayer for others that they don't know and may never know, that they know that they are part of the body.

And so, can we chain ourselves to one another in intercessory prayer, forging a spiritual chain that puts our mind on others, thereby freeing you and I from focus, undue focus on ourselves, something we never do. But when we are going to be praying fervently for someone else, that can help us get our mind off of what it might be about our own life. It can free us from our self-pity. It can be, it can free us from being absorbed in what it is about our life that is important to us, but sometimes chronic, in that we just have to, we may not be able to do anything about it beyond where we are, and praying for someone else helps us realize that that we can and we should do that. And we chain ourselves to prayer, realizing that in some cases, in some situations, that's all we can do. And certainly it's what we should do. But it may be all that we can do after maybe going to our brother has not produced change, after seeking reconciliation, has not brought about reconciliation, then it may be all that we can do is pray and take that situation, that individual, to God and labor as if chained in prayer to that case and that situation. When we come to that point, then we are moving a little bit further along on the, this line of faith, I think that helps us to understand why intercessory prayer can be something that helps to maintain and to accomplish the unity of the spiritual body beyond what we can do or may even be a part of. Let's notice another case back in the Gospel of Luke. And to add another line of thought to this, Luke chapter 5.

Luke chapter 5. And let's begin here in an account of healing. But let's look at the lesson that, another lesson beyond the actual miracle of the healing that takes place, but at what is another part of the story, beginning in Luke chapter 5 and verse 17. Now, it happened on a certain day as he was teaching that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law setting by who'd come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Then, behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed whom they sought to bring in and lay before him. There were a lot of people there before Jesus at this time as people sought healing. They were being healed by the power of God.

Luke's account focuses on a group of men who brought one paralyzed individual seeking to lay him before Jesus. And in verse 19 it says, when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd they went up on the rooftop, on the housetop, and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus. Now, imagine the effort that that takes to take a lift, a paralyzed man, and the weight of that man, up on a second-story roof, and then take the tiles apart and then lower him down. It took a few minutes to do that, and it took a bit of physical labor, number one. It certainly took determination that they were going to bring their friend before God in the flesh for healing. They would not accept any other answer. They would not say, all the line's too long, we'll come back next Tuesday. Or, I'm sure that you'll understand Thomas, whatever the paralyzed man's name was, but we've got a stalker match we've got to get back to.

If they played soccer, then. We can't wait. No, they stayed with it, and they put him down before Jesus. Now, when this happened in verse 20, when he saw their faith, the faith of the men who did this, he said, man, your sins are forgiven you. Christ saw their faith, and he accomplished the healing. Think about this. Certainly, the miracle of healing has its body of instruction, too.

But, it's the men who were strong and healthy, who could walk and carry and lift him, who had to do the work here. What can that teach us about praying for one another? They would not rest until they laid their friend to be literally before Jesus. Should we rest at any point from taking our friends, our brothers and sisters in prayer, someone else's situation, their dire need, should we rest in any less way than what these people did with the paralyzed individual in taking each other before God and asking for help, for healing, for understanding, for compassion, for grace, to deal with the pain, for wisdom, whatever it might be, that we would intercede before God for emulating Jesus Christ, looking at this and seeing that Christ was moved by the faith of the people who were whole. What would Christ do? What would God do for our persistence in doing intercessory prayer for one another today? Would not God be moved by that faith? I think He would be. Let's look at Luke 7. And another case. Luke 7.

The beginning in verse 7. This is the case of a centurion who had a servant that was sick, and he came to Christ asking that he be healed. And Christ said, I'll come, and He said, well, you're not even worthy to... I'm not worthy that you should enter my roof. And in verse 7, the centurion said, therefore, I did not even think myself worthy to come to you. So this is the case of a centurion who's making intercession for his servant before Jesus asking for his healing, but he doesn't want Jesus to come. He just says, I'm not worthy that you would come rather I would be here, but say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I'm a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me, and I say to one, go, and he goes, and to another, come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him. And he turned around and said to the crowd that followed, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. So Jesus was moved by the faith of this centurion who came on behalf of his servant. Again, Christ was moved by that intercession on the part of this individual. I think the same Jesus today as the mediator, the right hand of the Father marvels and loves us and any of his disciples who intervene to him for others in intercessory prayer. Would he not marvel at ours? It's not something to just dismiss and to take lightly.

I think that that still works with God in his heart and his mind today.

When we do something of that nature, when we go to such lengths and we stay at it, when we are willing to put ourselves out for one another just in prayer and make a labor of it and make an effort of it, knowing how faith works, knowing by these and other examples how God looks at the intercession of others and that that is one of his roles, what can that not produce for the church, within the church, in your life and in my life, as we do that in deep heartfelt prayer for one another?

I think that it can help to remove fear. What is it that we might be afraid of? What part of life is it that we're concerned about? Aging, health, jobs, other people, other situations, things we may or may not have control about?

We fight envy, all of us, in varying degrees as we have our relationships with each other and other people that we deal with. And time to time we might even have to resist bitterness that can come in to our lives. When something happens that may be unjust, it doesn't go the way we think that it should for us or for someone else. Fear and envy and bitterness, frustration from life and all that it brings are matters that I think that we can begin to grapple with in a sense and begin to put away from us. That's what I'm getting to. If we put our minds on others and the needs of others at times, sometimes I've prayed for courage to deal with fear and I've prayed to deal with envy or bitterness or anger and to be kept from that or frustration. And I find that in time, probably the most effective antidote to any of this has been for me is to finally get my mind onto someone else or something else where I can make a difference or, again, in prayer to God for other people. And then the other things are forgotten or kind of just dissipate. Intercessory prayer is a very important part of our prayer life to learn to develop for not only each other but for this world as well. True love, Christ said, is this that a man would lay down his life for another person. A true love for this world begins by praying, Thy kingdom come. True love for our family, for our spiritual family, for people who are lonely or distressed or sick or emotionally distressed. True love begins on our knees. It begins on our knees for one another in this way. In 1 John chapter 4 and verse 18, it says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.

Perfect love, true love, true love or however we want to put it, there will be no fear found there. There is no fear there. And a perfect love will enable it to be cast out because fear involves torment, but he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. True love for one another, spirit within the body, those that may not be a part of the body and yet we know and need prayers as well and should pray for. It begins on our knees and it will help to deal with the other matters that we have in our life. You know, everything about us in the church and our families in the world, everything about us that humanly comes down to relationships. It's all about relationships. And when everything's clicking and smooth between people, between a husband and wife, between parents and children, brethren in the church, between neighbors on a street block anywhere or co-workers in an office or in a business, when everything's clicking, everything works. But how much time is spent when it doesn't work? Trying to start it all out. Dealing with reconciliation issues, meetings, and write-ups, and counselings, and time spent. It's all about relationships. Every time I hear the word relationship today, I think about the critical essence that we were involved with a few years ago in the church when we hired a group that does these things to come in and study the United Church of God and they came back. And for a fair sum of money, they told us that the United Church of God was all about meaningful relationships. Meaningful relationships.

I smiled because I was involved in that very heavily at the time. And it's true.

That's what it is. All of life comes down to relationships. Some are good, some are not so good. But we are created in the image of God.

In the image of God created He them, Genesis tells us. And we know that the image of God involves not just a physical form and shape, but it really gets to a spiritual creation.

That is really what is being done with us. And that is the potential for every human being ultimately to be created in the spiritual image of God. And that's what life is all about. That's why you were born. That's the meaning of life. That's the purpose of life. However you want to phrase it. That's what it's all about. We are to have a relationship with God and we are to develop relationships with each other. And to develop sound, healthy, vibrant, peaceful relationships wherever we turn. To seek peace, to pursue it earnestly at times. And that's what it all comes down to. And if God is working in us, and I believe that He is, and if the great question that Paul asked in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 13, is Christ divided? Which was a rhetorical question. He was saying, no, Christ is not divided. If that's true, I believe that it is true, then Christ is not divided. Think that one through for a minute and its implications. We are created in the image of God to develop a relationship with Him that is one of unity. We are to develop that even in our physical relationships that we have as well. And if God is working with us, if He is creating us in His image, then we will grow in love one toward another. And we will develop that ephemeral quality of unity that Psalm 133.1 talks about. Or we find mentioned in the second chapter of Acts where they were all with one accord after the day of Pentecost in the church. And we will not be divided if we are a part of that spiritual body of Christ. I've come to be convinced in the deepest part of my heart and being that Christ is not divided. And so, when I have to answer for those questions that sometimes come up, like I mentioned to the member about the one member who always asks that every time he sees me, I don't worry about it because I see that in the Scripture Christ is not divided. And I work toward that. I work toward that in my own life. And I know that God is going to give us every opportunity to come together and to work ourselves out and to work out relationships that are like that. And I've come to see that this matter of intercessory prayer for one another is just that wave by which that can happen. You know, I chuckle at all this now.

Debbie and I lived in this town for 22-plus years in Indianapolis and the congregations.

We had many good times and many good years here. But, you know, working in the church is always just an interesting situation with people and relationships. And sometimes the relationships are good. Sometimes they get a bit free. You know, what would happen over the years is if people didn't like the way things were being run in Indianapolis, they'd go to Lafayette.

And then if people didn't like what was going in Lafayette, they'd come to Indianapolis.

And they'd show up and I'd say, well, what happened? Tell me all about it.

And then after a while, people would go back to Lafayette. And people in Lafayette would come back to Indianapolis. Now, you're wondering where this was going. And now you're all together in one room. I laugh at that. I chuckle at that now. God is going to bring about unity in spite of ourselves. And we're all going to learn to get along. You know what the greatest irony of it all is? The two pastors from that period of time, both live in Cincinnati, both go to work every day in the same building, and their offices are only 15 feet away from one another. It's proof that God has a sense of humor. He does. In time, God is going to work out everything. We have to stay out on the firing line. We have to do what we are told to do, because the body of Christ is not divided. The true body of Christ is not divided. And I've come to realize that we in the United Church of God will either learn to love one another or will disappear and become a footnote in the story of the Church of God. And I don't think we will disappear, and I don't think we will become a footnote. But I'm always cognizant of Christ's statement that I think he put there just for us at certain times to remember when he said that he can raise up stones.

I just don't want to be a stone, or have a stony heart or a stony head.

How do we avoid that? Well, that's what I'm saying today.

Let's pray for one another. Let's learn the effective power of intercessory prayer. Back in Colossians chapter 1, one of the earliest readings that I ever had of the Epistles of Paul, I was struck by what he says here in Colossians 1 and verse 3. And he repeats this throughout a number of his other epistles, his letters, and it offers up a very important lesson for us today. Colossians chapter 1 and verse 3. He writes, We give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

Praying always for you. Now, he said this to other churches, too, that he had started and founded, and he was their pastor. I always think that Paul had just a super long prayer list, and his prayers would take a long time to get through. But he said, I pray always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints. Because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which has come to you as it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit, as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

As you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf who also declared to us your love in the Spirit. For this reason, we also, since the day we heard it, again, he said, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. What he's describing in verse 9 is a level of deep conversion and spiritual, righteous mindset here that comes from people working together, producing good works, growing in wisdom and spiritual understanding. And Paul was praying that that would happen for this group of people that he had been instrumental in working with at one time in his life. We also should pray for that end for each other. Pray for one another's healings. Pray for the grace to be able to accept a death, a tragedy, an unfortunate turnout in this situation. Pray for wisdom and greater spiritual understanding for the church, your church, another church that might be having a difficult time. And pray for one another in that way. I think you all have probably heard that Mr. Rod Meredith, the leader of the Living Church of God, is at the point of death, near death. And I think we should, I know that the request has gone out, certainly be praying for him and his family, but also for that church, that they make their transition peacefully. I pray for that. I hope you do as well, because God has people there. And that needs to go well for them as they go through what they will go through as they have their leader die. We should pray, be praying for one another in those ways. And this is what Paul is getting to. He said, strengthen with all might, verse 11, according to his glorious power for all patience and long suffering with joy. And so, this was how Paul conducted his ministry. This is how you and I can conduct a ministry of service, a ministry of prayer, chained to one another in prayer for one another in all the various needs that we know and that we have, and making an effort to do that, rather than to take other steps that, through word, action, or otherwise, rips and tears apart, either at our own spiritual strength and health, or perhaps even a segment of the body of the church by creating unrest and upset and animosity and even division. To take it to God, lay it there, leave it there, work through it, let God handle matters, and pray for the growth and the understanding. That intercessory prayer that we all can do can be a major step toward, I think, accomplishing any measure, at least for our part, but toward what Jesus or what the psalm says. David prayed there in Psalm 133 for the blessing of brethren to be dwelling together in unity.

So I hope that you will take that to heart and to make your prayers for one another a place, where, if this is the only place that it might be accomplished in a spiritual sense, in your prayers, in your petitions before God, if that's the only place that unity is accomplished at this point in time until God shows otherwise, then let that be so. But let your prayers be those that help to develop and forge bonds and chains of unity and love within the body of Jesus Christ through intercessory prayer.