9 Pentecost 07 C Proper 12

Our Old Testament lesson today from Genesis contains one of the most remarkable examples of intercessory prayer found in the Bible. Intercessory prayer means praying for the needs of someone else as opposed to petition which is praying for ones own needs.

In the story we see that Abraham is very concerned for his nephew Lot and Lot’s family. But he is also concerned for many of the people in Sodom and Gomorrah. He knew many of them because he saved them several years earlier from an attack by the northeastern kings.

Though he was well aware of the sexual depravity, the unnatural practices and the homosexuality, he was concerned for them and hoped against hope that they might still turn to God. Abraham prayed first that the city might be spared if there were fifty righteous people found in it, then forty-five, the forty, then thirty, then twenty, and finally only ten. Each time God agreed to his request, so that if only ten righteous people could have been found in Sodom, God would not have destroyed the city.

We know now that there were not ten righteous in the city. We know that the men of the city sought to have homosexual relations with the angelic visitors that came to search for these 10 righteous. We know that depravity had affected the whole area.

Some scholars have tried to maintain that the sin of Sodom was inhospitality - they had broken the hospitality codes of the day. While there may be some inhospitality involved, that was not the sin for which they were condemned.

The writer Jude in the New Testament says this of the actions of Sodom: “In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.” These are pretty strong words of condemnation against an area who some say just committed a hospitality sin.

While we know that the prayers of Abraham related to Sodom and Gomorrah were not answered the way Abraham had wanted, they were answered related to the way he prayed.

Several important principles related to prayer become evident from a study of the amazing dialogue between the Lord and Abraham. God does not want to bring judgment on any city or on any person. In 2 Peter 3:9 we read that God is patient not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God does respond to the prayer of those who intercede, if there is any basis at all within the framework of his holiness and justice to enable Him to do so.

Just as justice would not be served if a judge did not follow the law when meting out the required punishment for a guilty defendant, so too, God would not be just if He did not live up to the standards that He has set that all who are unrighteous or who have sinned against His holiness must be judged and punished in the manner his Word has determined.

God wants us to pray for those who do not know Jesus, or who are following a different Jesus and a different gospel than the one in the Bible. We are to pray that they turn from their unwillingness to follow Jesus and his commandments. Pray that they would accept his free gift of salvation and choose to follow in his ways.

Another principle of prayer that we notice from this story is the remarkable influence which even a tiny minority may have for good. Only ten godly people in this corrupt city of Sodom would have been enough to spare it the awful destruction which it later experienced. Sometimes when we try to stand up for biblical authority, or biblical morality, or speak out against unbiblical behaviors, we seem to be in a minority. And yet, every great spiritual and social revival started with just a few people. While one branch of the Armed Forces advertises: “The Few, the Proud, the Marines,” we might advertise ourselves as “The Few, the Humble, the Pray-ers.”

This reminds each of us that no matter how small or insignificant our ministry might seem, or how small the number of people we may be able to reach for the Lord, we matter to God, and we can make a great impact; even if it is only praying.

A third principle of prayer is seen in the way Abraham prayed. His prayer was highly reverent. He talked in normal way, using normal language. He spoke in an intimate and personal way with the Lord. His prayer was not presumptuous; he didn’t presume that God had to answer his prayer just as he asked it. But his prayer was persistent and definite. I believe this is the first example of intercessory prayer recorded in the Bible. Perhaps it is included in such detail in order to serve as a prototype of all such prayers. In our Gospel lesson today we see another prototype of prayer – the Lord’s Prayer. Actually this is the Lord teaching his disciples how to pray and was not originally intended to be a prayer to be said. It was instead a formula for prayer which included the idea of praying for ones own needs. Abraham’s prayer was intercession. The Lord’s Prayer is more of a prayer of petition, of asking for ones own needs.

Abraham’s prayer was persistent, just like the prayer of the man who goes to his friend’s house seeking bread in Luke’s gospel story today (Luke 11:1-13). Abraham kept asking. All the while he was asking he continually recognized, and indeed appealed to, the righteous character and loving kindness of God as the basis for making the request. “Hallowed” or holy is your name, we say in the Lord’s Prayer. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just? Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked?” Abraham prayed.

To be heard and answered, our prayers must be in conformity with the revealed will and character of God. The apostle John, in his first epistle, writes in chapter 5, verse 14, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we have asked of him.”

For example, we would not pray for God to bless all of the religions of the world because many of them deny the God who made the heavens and the earth, they deny salvation by faith, and they deny ones need of salvation, all clear teachings of Jesus and the gospel. We should pray in the humility of Abraham, that all might come to know Jesus as the way of salvation, the truth of God, and the only path to eternal life. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, we say.

We heard earlier in Luke’s gospel, Jesus says, “Ask, seek, and knock.” The form of the Greek words used there is in the present continuous sense. In other words, it really is saying, “Keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking.” Persistence in prayer very often pays off.

Sometimes our prayers are not answered in the way we want. I remember hearing a pastor named Crawford Lorents tell of a time when he was a little boy in a very religious family. His mother was a godly woman but very strict and had high expectations of young Crawford. He respected her….NO, he was terrified of her. She was not above using a belt or paddle to try to teach him a lesson. On one occasion Crawford was teasing his little sister, who was crying. All of a sudden he heard a voice behind him say, “Stop it.” He thought it was his older sister and said, “I don’t have to do what you say!” Whereupon he turned around and saw that it was his mother. He went, “OH, JESUS, HELP ME!” His mother said, “He will help you, and I will be his instrument!”

While our prayers may not always be answered in the way we want as evidenced in the story of Abraham, our prayers are answered, and quite often through others. Obviously prayers not asked according to the will or nature of God will receive a “no” answer. There are prayers which appear to be answered “no” which in reality are prayers answered “wait a while.”

St. Augustine’s mother prayed for some eighteen years for the salvation of her son. It seemed as though God had said no as Augustine continued to live a wild and immoral life. But one day the light broke through and transformed Augustine into one of the greatest theologians the Church has ever known.

Little William was saying his prayers one night; his mother tiptoed up and heard him say, “And please make Tommy stop throwing things at me. You may remember, I’ve mentioned this before. He’s still doing it.”

Keep on asking. Keep on seeking, Keep on knocking, and God will lead you not only to the answer, but also to the best way to pray for something. I remember one time in my church in California, I was praying that a certain husband would treat his wife better and not be abusive to her. He was a rugged individualist who was a no-nonsense intellectual type. I kept praying and nothing seemed to be happening until I felt like the Lord said to me, “Pray for his salvation, for him to come to know me and my love. Then he will treat his wife better.” I began to pray for this. A few months later our church held a “Life in the Spirit” seminar. I was shocked when this man walked in the first night to participate. After the first evening I saw him back the Rector, who was about 5’9” against the wall. As he scowled down at him from his 6’5” frame he said, “I am going to have nothing to do with this Holy Spirit business.”

By the end of the fifth session, however, this man was so dramatically changed that his wife was tempted to ask the Rector, “What have you done with my husband?” From that night on he became one of the most loving men in the church and treated his wife like a queen.

What needs do you have in your life? Keep on asking.

What would you like God to do on behalf of someone in your family? Keep on seeking.

What would you like God to do for someone outside of your family? Keep on knocking.

If you are having trouble praying, may I suggest that you re-read the last part of our gospel lesson today. Jesus said, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

If you want more power in your prayer life, try asking the Heavenly Father to fill you with His Holy Spirit. The Spirit can make your prayers come alive. As St. Paul once wrote, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Eph 6:18 NIV.