I believe our Scripture text this morning is one such story. I believe our Bible passage today is a story the early church savored so deeply they repeated it constantly; they loved it so much they included all the tiniest details making good stories fun, memorable and meaningful. This wonderful passage is one of those great stories told so many times to so many people we forget and tell it over again to some folks who’ve already heard it. And yet this story is so very precious and tender, people don’t seem to mind hearing it again. This is one of those stories!
As we continue our conversation about prayer this morning, I want to think for a few minutes about what the prayer life of the church is supposed to look like. What does good prayer look like when we pray together? Open your Bibles to Acts 12 and listen to the story:
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church. He killed James the brother of John with the sword [Jesus prophesied it would be this way for James and John – remember?], and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread. And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him [sixteen soldiers; Peter escaped prison before and last time Peter got out, he really made everyone look like idiots! Not on my watch!], intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people. So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers [sleeping on the night of his execution??], bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him [Peter was really asleep – he didn’t even notice the angel showing up! I guess Peter isn’t easily frightened any more – no more running from servant girls for some reason!], saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.” And he did so. And he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.” And he went out and followed him. He did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. When they had passed the first and the second guard, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel left him.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I am sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.” When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose other name was Mark, where many were gathered together and were praying. And when he knocked at the door of the gateway, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer. Recognizing Peter’s voice, in her joy she did not open the gate but ran in and reported that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” [Don’t be surprised if people think you’re crazy when you declare answers to prayer!] But she kept insisting that it was so [you go girl! Keep pushing!], and they kept saying, “It is his angel!” [They were completely willing to believe Peter dead, but rescue was too much to hope for.] But Peter continued knocking, and when they opened, they saw him and were amazed. But motioning to them with his hand to be silent, he described to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “Tell these things to James and to the brothers.” Then he departed and went to another place.
Now when day came, there was no little disturbance among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. And after Herod searched for him and did not find him, he examined the sentries and ordered that they should be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea [a popular vacation destination] and spent time there. [Why does Luke include this detail? This thing is just too humiliating! Enough with all this spooky Jewish vs. Christians nonsense – I’m going on vacation! Does effective prayer sends the devil and his bad guys on sabbatical for a while?]
I see six things going on in this church prayer story worth pondering…
The Desperation of Prayer. First of all, I see desperation in this story. This group of fledging early believers just saw one friend murdered and now another of their heroes lies chained between two enemy soldiers! This is a very desperate church of prayer warriors. They must have been wondering among themselves: God didn’t rescue our dear friend James, so why would he now rescue our friend Peter? This situation is hopeless. It is humanly impossible for Peter to get away this time – especially after God made such idiots of his captors last time. They put sixteen guards on Peter this time and two of them are chained to his wrists, for goodness sake! And let’s face facts here, according to Deuteronomy 13, where those who worship false gods are put to the sword; the people around here think killing us is a virtuous act of godliness. This situation is impossible. This situation is beyond any of our ability to change. This situation is desperate.
How many of our best, most effective times of prayer together, as the Body of Christ, happen only when we get really desperate? Why is it that we often only get to see the power of prayer in the Body of Christ when we get desperate? I believe it simply because desperation drives us to sincerity, transparency and humility before God in a way few other times do. And our loving Father loves to respond to prayers driven by that sort of dependence and desire.
So how about we get desperate? Given the laundry list of impossible challenges we face in the world every day, how can we not be more desperate? Let’s get real here – do any of us honestly think our nation is going to turn toward God unless God does something drastic? Do any of us think genuine humility and repentance is going to happen without God’s intervention? Do any of us think the economic, political, social, military, justice and staggering spiritual challenges we’re facing in the world today are just going to go away unless God helps us?
Desperation drives the prayer life of the church. Desperate situations are prayer situations. This isn’t just hyperbole for a worship chorus – this is truth we embrace or die.
The Earnesty of Prayer. These people were desperate! Their situation was hopeless and depressing. And that drove them to earnestness. I know this situation looks hopeless, I know what the doctors are all saying about this cancer, I know what all the smart people are saying right now about what is possible and isn’t possible, but let’s just pray anyway! Let’s pray earnestly believing in a God for whom all things are possible – a God for whom there is no such thing as desperation.
Verse five says “earnest prayer” was made for Peter. Given the precise timing of Peter’s arrest and incarceration through the Unleavened Bread feast days, most scholars say these early church Christians were probably praying for hours, perhaps even days – maybe even as much as a week. And did you notice they were probably still praying in the middle of the night even as Peter showed up at the door in answer to their prayers? There is earnestness here.
When was the last time we prayed with earnesty? When was the last time we got on our knees before God and resolved to pray until we got an answer? When was the last time we were praying so hard, praying so earnestly, that we found ourselves surprised by the answer?
The Surprises of Prayer. That’s the third part of this story I love so much – the wonderful surprise of this church prayer meeting. These people obviously didn’t have some scripted idea of how or when God was going to answer their prayer – they didn’t even know if God was even going to say “yes” to their freedom and mercy prayers for Peter. As a matter of fact, most scholars say the reason they assumed the funny, excited servant girl Rhoda saw Peter’s angel at the door was probably because they thought their friend Peter might already be dead. It was thought by some, at the time, that a person’s angel would appear shortly after that person had been killed.
These people didn’t know how Almighty God was going to answer their prayer. Some folks have said their total surprise at seeing Peter displayed their obvious lack of faith in God – it is suggested these folks didn’t actually believe God would rescue Peter and so when He did, they wouldn’t initially believe it. But I don’t believe that’s the case at all. I believe our genuine prayers of faith leave open the very genuine possibility our God might completely surprise us. Our God loves to surprise us – He loves to do for us “beyond all we can ask or imagine.”
When was the last time God surprised you? Are we giving Him the opportunity to surprise us? Have you ever been so deeply engrossed in prayer that it took you a moment to realize God had already answered your prayer? Or do we sometimes get so utterly fixated on the answer we long to see in prayer that we refuse to accept the answer God actually gives?
There was surprise in this prayer conversation with God.
The Laughter of Prayer. And I also believe there was laughter here! Laughter is part of all this. Isn’t it obvious that our writer Dr. Luke was probably chuckling to himself as he retold this story? On the night he was probably about to be executed, the Apostle Peter is so comically sound asleep (chained between two guards!) he doesn’t even notice when the room fills up with an angel’s glowing form. He has to be poked awake. He has to be told to get dressed and put on his shoes. He has to be told to get his cloak on and follow the angel past the guards, through the iron gates and out of the prison. And then, when it finally dawns on him, when he finally realizes what is actually happening, he goes to the home of his friends and, instead of letting him in and hiding him from the authorities, some goofy servant girl leaves him locked outside the gate! And so here’s Peter, the guy everyone is inside the house praying for, trying for all the world to capture the attention of his friends and avoid the attention of his enemies, standing outside the house, pounding on the door while his friends are inside praying for his rescue and arguing about the sanity of the servant girl. Warren Wiersbe joked that Almighty God may well have walked Peter out of a prison cell, but it was going to take more than God to get Peter into a prayer meeting!
In a strange and wonderfully mysterious way I don’t completely understand, I believe laughter is never very far from our prayer conversations with God. As we spend time on our knees communing with a creative God who loves us “beyond all we can ask or imagine,” I believe there is a laughter and a joy that almost inevitably becomes part of the conversation. Almighty God replaces our desperation with a surprising joy that often borders on the comical. As we earnestly come before Him, as God responds to us, our mourning is turned to dancing.
But there’s another kind of laughter we would do well to anticipate also. There is a laughter that isn’t usually very funny. Don’t be surprised if people initially call you crazy and laugh at you when you come to them with dramatic news of answered prayer. When we find ourselves in Rhoda-like positions, sharing the good news of God’s answers to prayer with others, don’t be surprised or dismayed if people laugh at you initially. Don’t take it personally; it sometimes just takes people a minute or two to notice the amazing answer to prayer you’re talking about. Don’t worry – if God has truly answered prayer, all the laughing cynics won’t be laughing at you for long. Soon they will laugh with you – that’s just the way these things work.
The Publicity of Prayer. And that brings us to the next important piece of this congregational prayer story – the publicity of it. Instead of getting angry or frustrated with the silly servant girl who left him standing outside the gate, the Bible says “Peter continued knocking.” Peter kept on knocking until the door was opened and he was able to share the story God had so dramatically given him to share. And what does Peter tell the congregation once he gets them calmed down enough to listen to him? Peter simply described for them exactly what God did; giving them specific instructions to make sure James and all the brothers got the good news. He publicized the story. He kept on knocking until he got the chance to tell the great story of God’s glory.
On a very basic and simple level, isn’t this a beautiful metaphor of what it means to follow Jesus? It is one of our most important tasks in life to simply keep on knocking on the doors around us until we have the chance to tell people the wonderful, surprising, almost comically joyous stories of what God has done for us. Let your little light shine! Nobody puts their light under a bushel basket, right? Let your little light shine! Always be prepared to give an account for the hope you have within you. We can do this! We can call do this! When the church prays together, the church multiplies all the funny, joy stories. The surprises and God sightings of one person become the laughing, wonderful surprises of us all. Prayer is public.
The Impact of Prayer. When a congregation of Christ followers prays desperately, when we pray earnestly, when we allow God to surprise us and bring us laughter and shout our stories to the world, our prayers make a difference. Our prayers have impact. Our prayers cause a commotion.
I love Luke’s very understated description of the aftermath of this biblical prayer meeting. I love the way the New Living Translation phrases things: “At dawn there was a great commotion among the soldiers about what had happened to Peter.” I’ll bet there was! When the people of Almighty God get desperate, when we earnestly bring our cares and concerns to Him, our prayers raise a ruckus! We cause a commotion – our pesky guards get in trouble and our worst enemies, confused and frustrated, and start looking for vacation spots elsewhere!
Don’t you just love the idea of Elim Church prayerfully gathering together so desperately and earnestly to pray that the devil gets frustrated, throws up his hands and says, “Oh forget this, I’m going to Florida! I’m gonna go looking for some lower-hanging fruit!” Don’t you just love that? Can we resolve to pray so desperately our enemy starts looking for a lake place??
The prayers of the church matter! We can have a powerful, joyous, laughing, chain breaking, gates opening impact on the world around us! As the old story goes, when the church gathers together to pray for rain in drought season, we all better get used to the idea of showing up at the prayer meeting with a good umbrella in our hands!
The prayers of the church are supposed to cause a commotion! I love what the old Puritan preacher Thomas Watson once said, “While it is true that the angel of God fetched Peter out of that prison, it was prayer that fetched the angel of God!” We get all our guards in big trouble when we go to God in prayer. In one way or another, we send our enemy away to the seashore when go to God in prayer. God will drop the chains from our wrists, the sadness and sleepiness from our eyes and, in one way or another, blast wide open the iron gates of our prisons when the people of God desperately and earnestly go to Him in prayer.
May we get desperate! May we earnestly come together in prayer that we too might cause the joyous commotion God intends for us to cause in our corner of the world!
Amen.
