St Albans-Grand Cayman & St Mary’s-Cayman Brac-Trinity 7 - delivered by Sam Haigh

 

Scriptures: 2 Kings 4:42-end, Eph 3:14-end, John 6:1-21

 

Theme: To pray as Paul prayed. We are to trust God to provide for us.

Aim: To encourage a deeper knowledge of Christ through prayer to enable us to trust that God will supply all our needs.

 

Opening prayer: Ps 19:4-May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

 The life of a Christian can often feel like a jigsaw puzzle. If we take one piece of the puzzle out of its wider context, we are left with a tiny part of something that is so much bigger. The readings we have heard this morning are but two pieces in the Christian puzzle, but they fit together beautifully. In our New Testament reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians there is a great deal to be learned from the way Paul prays for the Ephesians. And our old testament reading and Gospel reading are remarkably similar, and each draws us to put our trust in God’s provision to us, to trust that God will provide for all our needs. And I firmly believe that these two pieces of the puzzle are very closely linked. Because to see God’s provision in our lives, we are required to be persistent in prayer. Prayer and provision can not be separated. And not only in praying for ourselves. Each reading today has a sense in which we are to be a blessing to others. Just look at how Paul prays for the Ephesians: ‘For this reason I bow my knees before the Father (So this is Paul praying for the Ephesians, but who is he praying for? It goes on), from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant YOU to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in YOUR inner being,  so that Christ may dwell in YOUR hearts through faith―that YOU, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that YOU may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ So you see Paul’s prayers are not selfish, he cared deeply for the Church at Ephesus and prayed earnestly for them. He longed for them to know Christ more. And we too are to spur one another on in the faith and hold each other up in prayer, Just as Paul did with the church at Ephesus. So with this in mind I want us to look closely at these two points of Prayer and provision. 

 

●  PRAYER

If you’re anything like me, you’ll always find it encouraging to know that someone is praying for you. To know that someone has remembered you before the Lord in their personal prayer time is a real blessing. And that’s what Paul does here with the Ephesians. He is letting them know what he is praying for them. He wasn’t praying for them as some kind of nice gesture but he absolutely, totally and completely believed that these prayers would make a difference. And the challenge to us is, ‘Do we believe our prayers make a difference?’ When we pray for people do we believe that God hears us? And not only hears us but will act to do something? Paul did and so should we. 

In 1864 five young college students were spending a Sunday in London, so they went to hear the famous preacher Charles Spurgeon speak at his Church. While waiting for the doors to open, the students were greeted by a man who asked the Gentlemen if they would like to look around. Shortly into the tour their guide randomly asked if they would like to see the heating plant of the church. They were not particularly interested to be honest, as it was a rather hot day in July. But they didn’t want to offend the stranger, so they agreed. The young men were taken down a stairway, a door was quietly opened, and their guide said, “This is our heating plant.” Surprised, the students saw 700 people bowed in prayer, seeking God’s blessing on the service that was soon to begin in the Church above. You see commitment to prayer is vital for us as individuals and as a church. We are to be faithful in our own prayer life and that of the church. A healthy church is a church that prays. Prays for themselves, prays with each other, prays for the wider church, prays for their community and prays for the world. How often are we praying? Early African converts to Christianity were earnest and regular in private prayer. Each one reportedly had a separate place in the thicket where he would pour out his prayers to God. Over time the paths to these places became well worn. As a result, if one of these believers began to neglect prayer, it was soon blatantly obvious to the others. They would kindly remind the negligent one by saying, “Brother, the grass grows on your path.” If we only pray at church on Sunday there will be grass on our path also so to speak. We need to make that journey to prayer often. 

The prayer Paul prays for the Ephesians in these few verses is quite extraordinary. He begins with ‘bowing his knees to the Father.’ This shows us Paul is coming before the Father with an attitude of humility. He goes on to say ‘from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named’ To be ‘named’ in biblical usage refers to the definition of our identity. God the Father who is the creator of all things is also the one who names (that is to say ‘defines the identity of’) all things to the extent of naming every family in heaven and on earth. Paul is also affirming God’s sovereignty over all things. So we’ve got Paul bowing his knees in prayer and acknowledging who God is in these two verses. Then we go on to four verses of prayers for the Ephesians. Which basically consist of Paul praying that the Ephesians would know God better and deeper and closer. That they would realise more who God is. And Paul ends his prayer with praising God, he says ‘to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.’ So you see this is a simple structure and one we can find useful and effective in our own prayer life. First come before God with and attitude of humility, then bring our requests to God whatever they may be and end with praising God.

 

●   PROVISION

Provision is one of those subjects in modern Christianity that we don’t tend to focus on too much. I mean we live in a day and age where the thought of not having enough food to eat or water to drink is unthinkable in this country. But it was a reality for the society of two of today’s readings. In our Old testament reading from 2 Kings we read of Elisha multiplying a limited amount of food in the face of the incomprehension of the servant. So that it not only provides the immediate needs of the people but creates a surplus. It is a powerful demonstration that the God of Elisha provides. We read a very similar story in our gospel reading from John’s gospel. The feeding of the five thousand, one of the most well known stories in the Bible. The story echoes God’s provision of Manna in the wilderness through Moses. And again as Elisha did, Jesus multiplies the bread and fish not only to cover the needs of the people, but so there is some left over. So what we have here is God showing his power by providing for his people. So how do we apply this to our lives? How do we depend on God to provide our needs and the needs of others? Well I think the key to a life dependant on God comes firstly through acknowledging that every good thing is from God. Jesus gave thanks for the food before he distributed it to the crowd acknowledging and thanking God for providing the food. I suppose he was also thanking God that he would multiply this food as well. Dependance on God also means when we are in need of something, our first thought isn’t to try and fix things ourselves. But rather to bring our needs to God in prayer acknowledging that he is in control and he will take care of us. 

My mother-in-law recently saw a need in our town for a drop in centre for teenage Mum’s. She felt sure this was something God had placed on her heart so she and her husband rented a shop in town. However the shop needed some refurbishment to make it into a suitable drop in centre. When they took on the property they didn’t have enough money to carry out the work that needed to be done. However  they were certain of what God had told them to do. Gradually money came in and work begun. At one point they had an ￡8,000 bill to pay with absolutely nothing in the bank and the work men needing to be paid. But again being certain of what God had led them to do they wrote a cheque and gave it to the company telling them to cash the cheque one week from now and they would trust that the money would be in the bank by then. And low an behold within that week they received a phone call from a donor who told the m she wanted to make an ￡8,000 donation. Quite an amazing display of God’s provision. And God is still providing for the needs of his children and all we have to do is trust that he is a faithful God who will take care of us. Because how we act during the hard times often shows us where we put our trust. When people find themselves in desperate times we often see them question what they put their trust in. Often because what people put their trust in lets them down. Of course the current financial crisis is an excellent example of that. People who have trusted in the fragile world of finance, which at one point looked so strong and indestructible and have recently realised it’s fragile-ness and ended up loosing everything. You see human and worldly empires come and go but we have a foundation that is strong and sure. We can put our trust in the fact that in Christ, God will provide all our needs and his is a Kingdom that will never fall. It never changes and he never change s, and he will never fail us. 

 

CONCLUSION

So in closing, what can we take from today’s scripture readings? Well we see how prayer and provision fit closely together, and I find my self challenged by the way Paul prayed so earnestly for the Ephesians. So let us pray earnestly to see the renewal of our own lives as well as the lives of those around us, and let us pray believing that God will act and provide for us when we are in need. Because our God is not a God who is absent but a God who cares for his children and want us to trust in him. As Christian’s we constantly have to remind ourselves of this truth and transfer our trust from the world over to Christ. To close let us pray the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians:

 

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith―that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.