Easter Christians are Devoted to Prayer

Acts 1:12-26 On the night that Jesus was betrayed, after he and the disciples left the upper room, they journeyed to the Garden of Gethsemane.  It was there that Jesus fell to his knees in prayer, asking for his Father’s help in the hours to come and inviting his disciples to pray with him.  But in his hour of need, prayer was the very thing the disciples could not do. 

How different is the picture of the disciples that we find in our text today.  Less than six weeks after they failed so miserably in the garden to be men of prayer, the Bible says that they were devoted to prayer.  What accounts for this dramatic change in their prayer life in just a few short weeks?  The resurrection! 

During his earthly ministry Jesus taught his disciples how to pray.  He promised that God would hear them when they prayed in his name.  But still they struggled to be men of prayer.  It was only after the resurrection that they become devoted to prayer.  Why?  It’s because…

1. After the resurrection they knew that Jesus was powerful beyond anything they had seen before!  They could be confident that he was more than capable of meeting their needs.  2. They knew that they had an advocate in heaven, a great high priest at the right hand of God who would intercede on their behalf.  3. And they knew that the One who kept his promise to go to the cross and die and rise again would keep all of his promises to help and care for his people. 

As we consider the prayer life of these early Christians may we come to know the same and like them become people devoted to prayer!  The Bible says that the disciples:

returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying…devoting themselves to prayer.

            The words of our text follow immediately upon the events we heard about Thursday evening, how forty days after his resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven to take his place at his Father’s right hand.  With the ascension of Jesus, the disciples knew that they had a powerful advocate in the highest heavenly places and this confidence made them devoted to prayer. 

So it is for us.  Our prayers are not offered up to some impersonal force of the universe, who rules with cold, uncaring calculation. 

Instead, our prayers are offered up to the throne of God’s grace where Jesus stands at the Father’s right hand.  The same Jesus who calmed the seas and healed the sick and cared for the outcast and fed the hungry, that is who hears our prayers—that man of compassion and mercy and power who cares for us and changes things for us and meets our needs!

The resurrection and ascension of Jesus is what changed the disciples into men of prayer:  they knew who it was that opened the way for them to come into the presence of God.  They knew who it was that was listening.  They knew who it was that would answer.  They could talk to him in prayer just like they always talked to him on earth.  And so can we!

There is no more sin barrier that keeps us away from God because Jesus has dealt with that once and for all at the cross.  The Bible says that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.  He is the propitiation for our sin, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.  How important this forgiveness is to our life of prayer!

When a child has gotten in trouble with mom and dad—when things aren’t right in the relationship—when there are hard feelings--it’s difficult for them to come and ask for some favor or even some need.  But when things are right in the parent/child relationship —when there is forgiveness and a restored relationship--then they are willing to ask for what they need.

So it is in our prayer life.  When we are living in sin, when there is something that is not right in our life with God and it cannot help but impact our prayer life.  We wonder to ourselves, “why would God listen to me when I am disobeying him?”

But look at who it was that was devoted to prayer:  disciples who had denied Jesus and abandoned him and his own brothers who had never believed in him.  They could be devoted to prayer because they knew that Jesus had forgiven them and made things right between them and God.  So it is for us.

When we repent of our sins and trust in Jesus we can be confident that every sin that stands between us and God has been removed, that we are God’s children, and that he stands ready to hear and answer us when we pray because he wants good things for us and will be faithful to his promises just as he has always been.  The Bible says that: 

Peter stood up and said, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David” and then Peter went on to tell the story of Judas, a story that had been prophesied in the Bible many hundreds of years before. 

It was a terrible story, a heartbreaking story, but it did not come as a surprise to the disciples because God had told them about it in his Word and as these events unfolded they knew that the voice of God in his Word was real—that he speaks to men.

Prayer is talking to God with our thoughts and words and the other half of that divine dialogue is God talking to us in his Word.  The early church was absolutely confident that God communicated in his Word (they saw it come to pass) and knew that God continued to speak to his people in his Word and this confidence made them people devoted to prayer.

Not only did they trust that God was listening and Jesus was interceding, they knew that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them as they opened the pages of Holy Scripture and heard it read and preached. 

Too often our prayer life is not what it should be because our connection to God’s Word is not what it should be.  We all know how frustrating it is when we talk and talk and the person we talk to never responds.  Sometimes it seems that way with prayer.  But the fault lies with us not with God.  We expect some answer written in the sky when God has promised to speak to us in his Word.  The early Christians knew that the Holy Spirit was speaking to them through the Scriptures and that encouraged them to keep on talking to God in prayer. 

So it is for us if we will only listen to God’s Word as it is preached and read in church and read it for ourselves at home and then be prepared listen to God and do what he says. 

The Bible says that when Peter finished speaking to the followers of Jesus he told them that one of them would have to take Judas’ apostolic office and become a witness to the resurrection of Jesus in their mission to make Jesus known throughout the world.

Peter and the disciples and Jesus’ brothers and mother were ready and willing to do exactly what Jesus said and the Spirit had commanded.  This attitude of obedience to God was critical to their life of prayer.  They could devote themselves to prayer because they were willing to accept God’s answers and do God’s will. 

Oftentimes our prayer life is not what it should be because—not because we do not think that God isn’t listening—not because he will not answer—but because we know that he is listening and he will answer and we know what that answer will be and so it is better to not say anything at all. 

We don’t pray about the bitterness in our hearts because we know God’s answer is to forgive.  We don’t pray about our finances because we know God wants us to put him first.  We don’t pray about what tempts us to sin because we have no intention of being done with it. 

Peter and the disciples knew that they had to fill Judas’ spot—they knew that they needed to get started on their mission to make Jesus known.  And what they needed from God—what they asked for- were the gifts they needed to do what God commanded. 

Imagine if we had that attitude, how it would change our life of prayer—to go from begging God to do some miracle-- to asking him for what we needed to do his will in every part of our lives—yielding ourselves to his wisdom and direction to accomplish it.  That’s what the disciples did.  They put forward two men who could fill Judas’ spot and bear witness to Jesus and then the Bible says that: 

They prayed and said, “You, Lord, who know the hearts of all, show which one of these two you have chosen to take the place in this ministry…and they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

            This was the first decision that the apostles faced after the ascension of the Lord.  The man chosen would be counted with the apostles and charged with their mission.  There were several possible choices but they commended it to God in prayer and trusted that God would answer—and he did!. 

We have to be careful to not make too much of the casting of lots.  This was an Old Testament practice never repeated again in the history of the apostolic church.  What does endure for our instruction is the confident prayer of the disciples:  that God knew their need and would listen to their prayer and meet that need and they in turn would accept his will.  That example informs and shapes our own life of prayer. 

The early church was devoted to prayer because they knew that Jesus, their Lord and Master heard them and had the power to answer for their good.  They were devoted to prayer because they trusted that there was no sin that kept them from coming to God in their need.  They were devoted to prayer because they knew that God would tell his story through them and they were willing to accept God’s answer to their prayer no matter what it was.

So it can be, and must be, for us.  There is nothing particularly heroic or extraordinary in the disciples’ life of prayer.  The most important decision of the day was commended to the Lord by just a few words.  The secret to their prayer life was a resurrected Christ who promised to hear and answer just as he promises the same to us.  May we too be Easter Christians who are devoted to prayer!  Amen.