Ancient Prayer
Genesis 18:1-33
16Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. 17The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” 20Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, 21I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Abraham Intercedes for Sodom
22So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
27Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. 28Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” 29Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” 30Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” 31He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” 32Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” 33And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.
We are starting a new sermon series on prayer this week and this morning’s title is ‘Ancient Prayer.’ My first thought at such a title is in the form of a question? Can there be a difference between prayer today, now, in the 21st century and prayer back then, in the time of Abraham, ancient prayer? Are we talking about a different attitude towards prayer, a different posture perhaps or different words?
Prayer is when we draw close to and communication with our Father God. It is the point where we corporately and personally relate to Our Father whether that is orally or mentally. It is part of our worship, inescapably linked to how we act in our obedience to God’s commands. Although in the 21st century our understanding of salvation and God’s plan of redemption is much improved from Abraham’s time the ancient prayers of praise and thanksgiving, pardon and communion, protection and healing, vindication and salvation that are found in the Bible are just as relevant today. Prayer is about us communicating in our relationship with God. We can do this because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us restoring a relationship we broke and that applies just as much to Abraham as it does to us today. So as we look at this ancient prayer of intercession its application is very relevant for us today.
We have all heard of the god’s of ancient Greece Zeus and Poseidon, Hades and Apollo. Each of these god’s were assigned dominion over a particular aspect of nature Zeus was the sky-god, sending thunder and lightning, Poseidon ruled over the sea and earthquakes, and Helios ruled over the sun. But these Gods were of human creation and had human weaknesses and vices they would oppose one another and try to outdo one another. They were more a reflection of an Eastenders episode than a reflection of the one true God. The gods were such that Hesiod the poet even gives advice in one of his poems on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, rendered yet more dangerous by its gods. The Greek gods were fickle and unpredictable and that gave rise to a situation of manipulation. The Greeks would often look to gain the favour of the gods with sacrifice and offerings, trying to twist the will of the gods to their own ends.
This is a trap that we can so easily fall into trying to manipulate situations to our own advantage whether it is exploiting the kindness of a colleague at work for our own gains or a wife using emotion and tears to force the hand of her husband or a boyfriend using empty promises of love in order to sleep with his girlfriend. Perhaps not even something so obvious it could just be a look or a touch, a compliment even with ulterior motives. Manipulation is a sin and it’s demonic, it is rooted in selfishness and pride, exploiting another for one’s own gain. It is the opposite of humility and servanthood that we are called to as Christian.
This sin is bad enough against one another but when we have the gall to think we can manipulate God then we are playing a very dangerous game indeed. If we think that we are good people and that somehow by what we do we can win favour with God or be in a position that God owes us anything then we are horribly mistaken. God is our maker and we his creatures. His love and his grace are not earned by works but are a gift of mercy against a people who have by nature and choice turned our back on Him.
As we approach this passage some might say that Abraham is being very clever, slowly but surely whittling God down, in some way manipulating God into changing his mind from what he originally said he would do. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let us look at the passage together. If you can turn with me to verse 17, what we find is the Godhead the Trinity discussing together whether or not they will reveal to their servant Abraham what they are about to do.
17The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, 18seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? 19For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.”
What we find here is not the Lord giving Abraham opportunity to change his mind but an opportunity for something greater! The Lord is giving Abraham opportunity for relationship, a chance to be a part of God’s amazing plan, to be in partnership with God and in this particular instance to be a part of the judgement against horrendous injustice occurring in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.
The Lord has chosen Abraham to be the Father of a great and mighty nation not because of any great work that Abraham had done but just through grace and mercy. And because the Lord had chosen Abraham he is actively involved in pursuing relationship with him and making him a partner in this nation that he is building. And this nation will ultimately bless the nations of the world through Jesus. And if you are a Christian here this morning then you too have been chosen to be part of the Church, the Bride of Christ whose calling for us is spelled out in Matthew 28:19-20.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
And behold I am with you always, to the end of the age. The Lord is actively seeking a relationship with each and every one of us so that we too can be a partner in the Lord’s plan of salvation as Abraham was. The Lord chose to reveal his actions to Abraham to see how he would respond. And how did he respond to the news of Sodom and Gomorrah’s impending destruction? He responded with a prayer of intersession. Let us just read the first section again from verse 22.
22So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. 23Then Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? 24Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” 26And the Lord said, “If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
There are some epic lessons that we can learn here from Abraham’s prayer life in this passage. As we read in verse 22 Abraham stood before the Lord. This is how Abraham lived his life, stood before the Lord. Brother Lawrence the French lay brother puts a helpful twist on this and spoke about practising the presence of God. Practising the Presence of God is living out our life and all that we do for God and his Glory. Just as Abraham did our prayer life begins by standing before the Lord. How can we ever imagine to have an intimate relationship with our Father without this separateness this holy living. This means getting rid our manipulation of others, giving up our prideful rights, stopping our foolish talk, crude joking and gossiping. Putting aside sexual immorality, lusting of the eyes and covetous idolatry. Not only are we to take things so far but as Ephesians 5 finishes off with verses 11 the list of all that we are to put off:
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.
We are to expose such things in non-Christians sensitively but also in our own Christian Brothers and Sisters. Let it be normal that when we meet together we talk about Jesus and his kingdom and let talk about others things become an interruption instead of the reverse. Sitting the other day with a group of friends, someone began to talk about Jesus and you know what was sad was that it took me a little by surprise because of the situation we were in. As Christians how can that be!
And so Abraham stood before the Lord. Then we see in verse 23 Abraham drew near to God. This was possible because of the relationship that he had with the Father. The Lord had already drawn near to Abraham and had made him aware of the judgement situation and it was Abraham’s turn to draw near to God. This is prayer; this is ancient prayer in action. When we listen, when our life is less cluttered and less busy we can hear God draw close to us and when he does he will make us aware too of different situations. May be even now you know of a situation to which God has burdened you with. Perhaps the Lord is pointing out a friend struggling with depression or with the loss of a loved one. Perhaps the Lord is pointing out or a colleague with financial difficulty or dabbling in tarot cards and horoscopes. Maybe the Lord is pointing out a Christian Brother or Sister who is not thankful or crude joking. What will our response be, will we draw near to God as Abraham did? Will we respond with action as Abraham did?
We like to control situations, even in our prayer and we end up guilty of worry praying. Like on a tennis court in prayer we need to hit the ball back into the Lord’s court as we work in partnership with him saying “what do you think, Lord?” This is what we see Abraham doing. This is not a worry prayer. This is not Abraham trying to control the situation. This is Abraham working in partnership with God. The Lord provided Abraham with the information and he took action. He interceded on behalf of the righteous and was confident in his knowledge that the Judge of all the earth would do what was right.
If we are to pray as the ancients prayed then we need to be living lives as Christians that are separate and holy so that we can hear as we stand before the Lord what God is wanting us to partner with. Then we need to respond by drawing close to the Lord in prayer and acting but not acting to control the situation but in relationship and in partnership with the Lord. And finally we need to leave it in the Lord’s court knowing that “Shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just”. We need to have the same attitude of Christ as he had in the garden of Gethsemane and pray not my will but yours be done. And as we are told in Romans 12 we need to make room for the vengeance of the Lord. That is his settled and steady opposition to injustice in the situations that he puts before us!
