His Prayerfulness

‘<Tet all-the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye erucified.’’ — Acts 2:36. ‘¢Who in the’days of His flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and having been heard for His godly fear.’’ — Heb. 5:7. ‘¢And it came to pass in these days, that he went out into the mountain to pray; and he continued all night in prayer to God.’’ — Luke 6:12. ‘“And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took with Him Peter and John and James, and went up into the mountain to pray. (29) And as He was praying, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling.’’ — Luke 9:28, 29.

‘*And it came to pass, when He had sat down with them to meat, He took the bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. (31) And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vanished out of their sight.’’ — Luke 24:30, 31.

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked. — 1 John 2:6.

We have studied thus far eleven very marked characteristics of The Real Christ, the Christ of God’s own appointment, the Christ of actual fact as distinguished from the Christ of popular faney and philosophical and mystical speculation, the Christ whose coming and conduct God gave His chosen prophets of the Old Testament to see in anticipatory vision and whose actual life on earth God inspired historians to record with marvelous accuracy and fullness in the astonishingly brief but complete records found in the Four Gospels. We have studied His Holiness, His Love for God the Father, His Love for Men, His Love for Souls, His Compassion, His Meekness, His Humility, His Manliness, His Imperturbable Peace, His Constant Joyfulness and His Unconquerable Optimism. We have not dwelt, as we well might, upon His Geniality, His Sociability, His Frienddiness and His Love for home life. Just let me say this, Christ Jesus, The Real Christ, was no ascetic and no self-absorbed mystic. He loved the society of His fellow-men. He was a welcome guest at social and festive gatherings. His first miracle, in which He ‘‘manifested forth His glory,’’ was performed at a wedding feast and for the distinct purpose of saving that joyous and festive occasion from ending in embarrassment, disappointment and gloom. (John 2:1-11.) He turned again and again to Bethany for the solace of congenial human companionship and the restful gladness of the genial joys of home life. (John 11:5.) Even on His last visit to Jerusalem, with the cross only six days ahead of Him, He was the willing guest at a feast His friends in Bethany made for Him. (John 12:1-2). And when He went to the Garden of Gethsemane for its awful conflict and agonies He longed for human companionship and not only took the eleven to the

Garden, but took a chosen three into the deeper depths of its shadows to be with Him as He prayed more earnestly and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. He was a winsome Friend as well as a mighty Saviour and absolute Lord of majestic mien. Did He not say during His last hours, ‘‘Henceforth I call you not servants... but friends’’? As we look this morning for the last time, in the present series of studies, at that wondrous picture of Him which God has given to us in the Bible, I invite you to consider carefully and earnestly a characteristic that stands out more prominently than almost any other and that underlies all those already mentioned, His Prayerfulness. I approach this subject with more hesitation than any other we have had; because it takes us into the Holy of Holies of His life, where we must take off our shoes and tread softly. We have six texts:

Acts 2:36: ‘“‘Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made Hum both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom ye crucified.’

Heb. 9:7: ‘Who i the days of His flesh, havmg offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Hum from death, and having been heard for His godly fear.’’

Luke 6:12: ‘‘ And it came to pass in these days, that He went out into the mountain to pray; and He continued all mght im prayer to God.’’

Luke 9: 28, 29: ‘‘ And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took with Him Peter and John and James, and went up into the mountain to pray. (29) And as He was praying, the fashion of His countenance was altered and His raiment became white and dazzlong.’’

Luke 24: 30, 31: ‘‘And wt came to pass, when He had sat down with them to meat, He took the bread, and blessed it, and brake, and gave to them. (31) And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him; and He vamshed out of their sight.’’

1 John 2:6: ‘‘He that saith he abideth m Him ought himself also so to walk even as He walked.’’

In the very brief record found in the four Gospels of the wondrous life of our Lord here on earth, the words ‘‘pray’’ and ‘‘prayer’’ were used at least twenty-five times in connection with Him, and the fact of His praying is mentioned in other instances in addition to those where these words are found: The life of Christ, as we have seen in the past nine weeks, had many marked characteristics, but nothing is more marked, if anything else is ag marked, as His Prayerfulness. Charles Sheldon wrote some years ago the book that had such an immense circulation, ‘‘In His Steps,’’ in which he tried to picture ‘‘What Jesus Would Do’’ in various relations of life if He were on earth to-day. It was very largely pure and entirely unwarranted imagination; but as the Lord

Jesus ‘‘is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and forever,’’ I know one thing that He would do were He on earth to-day, I know one occupation in which He would expend very much time and a - great deal of physical and mental energy — praying. I do not know how He would conduct a newspaper. I do not think He would conduct one at all. But I know He would pray, pray, pray. And the one who does not spend much time in prayer is not walking ‘‘In His Steps’’ and is not like Him.

I. How the Prayerfulness of the Real Christ Was Manifested

Let us consider first How the Prayerfulness of The Real Christ, not the Christ of man’s imagination, but the Christ of indubitable historic fact, was manifested.

1. In the first place, the Prayerfulness of The Real Christ, the Christ of the Boble, the Christ of God’s own Word, was manifested by His contimumg all nght m prayer to God. This Luke tells us — in one of our texts, Luke 6:12: ‘‘ And it came to pass mm these days, that He went out mto the mountam to pray; and He continued all night m prayer to God.’’ On another occasion we see our Lord in prayer from about sunset until after three o’clock in the morning. (Mark 6: 45-48.) This whole night of prayer was after a day of intense — and wearying activity when He had been so busy that He could not eat and had taken His disciples apart to ‘‘rest a while,’’ but the needed and desired rest had been immediately broken in upon by the multitude who outran Him, and the entire day had been spent in teaching and healing the sick and feeding flie multitude. That exhausting day was followed, not by sleep, but by a night of prayer. There is often a better way to recuperate exhausted energies than by sleep. Oftentimes when we are so tired we cannot sleep and waste time tossing to and fro upon our beds, if we would arise and pour out our hearts to God we would get far more rest and go back to bed quieted and to realize what the psalmist says, ‘‘He giveth His beloved sleep’’ (Psa. 127:2). Of course, we are not to understand that every night of our Lord’s life was spent in prayer, but many nights were. Here, too, we might wisely follow Him.

2. In the second place, the Prayerfulness of Christ Jesus was manifested in His arising a great while before day and going out mto a solttary place to pray. This Mark tells us in Mark 1:35; and this, too, was the next morning after a very busy day and evening. During the day He had taught in the synagogue at Capernaum; and had healed a man possessed with an unclean spirit; and then had gone to the house of Simon and Andrew and raised Simon’s wife’s mother from the sick-bed where she lay ‘‘sick with a fever’’; and as the sun had set, the people, hearing of the wondrous things He had done, came flocking to Simon’s house from every quarter, bringing unto Him ‘‘all that were sick, and they. that were possessed with demons.’’ In fact ‘‘all the city was gathered together at the door’’ and He ‘‘healed many that were sick with divers diseases, and cast out many demons.’’ But exhausting as the day had been and as late as He had retired at night, long before day He had risen up and gone afar out into a desert place where He would not be disturbed and there prayed. Happy is the man that has learned this secret from the Lord, to get alone with God in the early morning while others are sleeping, that he may have undisturbed communion with God and may have plenty of time for prayer. If we all would do this, there would be more likeness to Christ in our characters and conduct, and more effectiveness in our service. Years ago I read that one of the most successful statesmen England has ever produced, the first Karl of Cairns, had said before his death, that, if he had any success in life, he attributed it more to this fact than any other, that for years he had given the first two hours of every. day to the study of the Word of God and prayer. When I was in England I had the privilege of meeting the widow of Lord Cairns at dinner at Lord Kinnaird’s house and of taking her out to the repast. After the dinner was over, I said to her, ‘‘Lady Cairns, I read some years ago that your husband said that if he had ever had any success in life he attributed it more to this fact than any other, that for years he had given the first two hours of every day to the study of the Word of God and prayer; is that true?’’ Lady Cairns replied, ‘‘I cannot say positively about the two hours, but this I do know, that whatever hour of night we reached home from parliament (I always went with him, and we always rode home together), whatever hour it was when we reached home, midnight, one, two or three o’clock in the morning, he always arose at the same early hour in the morning (I think she said it was six o’clock). and shut himself up alone with his God and with his Bible.’’ And she added, ‘‘When he was a member of Lord Disraeli’s cabinet and there was a stormy session, when my husband entered, Disraeli would say, ‘Now we will have peace, the Earl of Cairns has come.’”’

3. In the third place, the Prayerfulness of Christ Jesus was manifested by His preparing for all the crises and great events of His life by prayer. In Luke 3:21, 22, we are told that it was as He was ‘‘praying’’ the heaven was opened and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, ‘‘Thou art my beloved Son: m Thee I am well pleased.’’ So we see He prayed before His baptism with the Spirit and His entrance upon His public ministry. In Mark 1:35, 36, we see Him praying before entering upon an evangelistic tour. In Luke 6:12, 13, we see Him spending a night in prayer before choosing the Twelve whom He would train to be the leaders in the early church. Luke also tells us in his 9th chapter (v. 18, 21, 22) that it was after a special season of prayer with His disciples He announced to them — His approaching death. It is evident that He prepared for all the great crises of life by special seasons of intensive prayer. There is a lesson in this for us, a much needed lesson. Thirty denominations in this country have recently undertaken what they affirm is ‘‘the biggest thing the Church of Christ has ever undertaken.’’ They are putting many millions of dollars into the preliminary campaign to raise the money. They are doing. such extensive advertising as the greatest business corporations in the world have never ventured upon. And what are their prayer preparations for this mighty event? The Christians of the land were urged in thousands of newspaper. advertisements to give five mimutes to secret prayer on the day the campaign was launched. It would be ludicrous, if it were not sad enough to almost break the heart of any one who really knows The Real Christ and the spirit and method of His life.

4. In the fourth place, the Prayerfulness of the Christ of God was manifested by His going alone to pray after the great achievements of His life. This we see illustrated in Matt. 14:23: “And after He had sent the multitudes away, He went up mto the mountain apart to pray: and when even was come, He was there alone.’’ This was at the close of a day filled with some of the most marvelous displays of Divine compassion and Divine power of His whole life. He had healed multitudes of the sick by His Word or His touch and crowned all by a display of Divine creative power by feeding ‘‘Five thousand men, beside women and children’’ with five small loaves and two small fishes. The multitudes were carried away with an enthusiasm for Him that knew no bounds. They wished to take Him and make Him King on the spot, but No, He wanted none of their applause and dismissed them, and dismissed the twelve also, and then went into a secluded part of the mountain to pray, remaining there nine hours alone with God in prayer. Why? First of all, that He might recruit His strength. His miracles cost Him something, an expenditure and loss of power (Cf. Mark 5:30). But furthermore to guard against temptations to pride or self-satisfaction or contentment with the work already achieved. Let us never forget that our Lord Jesus, while He was very God of very God, was also a real man, subject to the same temptations that we are, and, in order to set us an example, met them with the same weapons we must, the Word of God and prayer. What a lesson for us! With most of us it is more common to pray before the great events of life than after them, but the latter is as important as the former. If we would only really pray after the great achievements of life we might go on to greater. But as we do not, we are either puffed up or exhausted by them; and so we proceed to no greater achievements. —

5. In the fifth place, the Prayerfulness of Christ Jesus was manifested by His withdrawmg from the multitude when life was unusually busy and gomg wmto a solitary place to pray. This we see, for example, in Luke 5:15, 16, ‘‘But so much the more went abroad the report concerning Hum: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of their infirmities. (16) But He withdrew Himself wn the deserts, and prayed.’’ How unlike we are to Him. We would have thought this to be the day of opportunity, the time to cultivate the crowd, the day to stay with them, the time to work and not to pray (as if praying were not the mightiest kind of working). But not so, with our Lord. This was the time He needed God and must get alone with God.

Some men are ‘‘so busy’’ that they ‘‘can find no time to pray,’’ but apparently the busier Christ’s life was, the more crowded with necessary activity, the more He prayed. There were times when He had no time to eat (Mark 3:20) and occasions when He had no time for needed rest and sleep (Mark 6:31, 33, 46), but He always took time to pray; and the more the work crowded, the more He prayed. Many a mighty man of God has learned this secret from Christ, but many another mighty man of God has lost his power because he did not learn this secret, and so has allowed increasing work to crowd out prayer.

One of the mightiest men of God I ever knew was shorn of much of his power in this way.

6. In the sixth place, the Prayerfulness of Christ Jesus was manifested by His preparing for the temptation He saw approaching by prayer. We see a remarkable illustration of this in Luke 22 :39-41,‘‘ And He came out, and went, as His custom was, unto the Mount of Olives; and the disciples also followed Him. (40) And when He was at the place, He said unto them, Pray that ye enter not wmto temptation. (41) And He was parted from them about a stone’s cast; and He kneeled down and prayed.’’ He prepared for the temptations He saw drawing near by prayer, so He always came off victorious. The disciples, despite His solemn warning, slept while He prayed; so He stood and they fell. The calm majesty of His bearing amid the awful onslaughts of Pilate’s judgment hall and of Calvary was the outcome of the prayer, the struggle, the agony and the victory of Gethsemane.

7. In the seventh place, the Prayerfulness of Jesus Christ was manifested in His praying m the midst of the most ordimary matters of every-day life. Over and over again (e. g., Matt. 14:19) our attention is called to the fact that He prayed in connection with the most ordinary meal. Indeed, so characteristic was His manner of praying in connection with His everyday meals that the disciples on the road to Emmaus who had failed to discover who He was up to that point, though their hearts had burned within them, while He spoke to them and opened to them the Scriptures, knew Him instantly the moment He lifted His eyes to pray to God before breaking the bread (Luke 24:30, 31.) With most of us it is in connection with the little things that we most frequently forget to pray. Every step of Christ’s life seems to have been accompanied with and sanctified by prayer.

8. In the eighth place, the Prayerfulness of Jesus Christ was manifested by the last utterance of His earthly life being a prayer. This we see in Luke 23:46, where as He breathes His last and gives up His spirit to God, He cries: ‘‘ Father, mto Thy hands I commend My spirit.’? And that was not the only prayer in those closing hours of His life spent on the cross (see v. 34). His life had been a life of prayer and with a prayer it came to its fitting close.

Lover of human society though our Lord Jesus undoubtedly was, nevertheless, in His deep sense of need of communion with God we often see Him fleeing from the crowds to the solitary place (Mark 1:35), and to the hidden recesses of the mountains (Matt. 14:23) to pray. Each of the four evangelists makes mention of His going to the mountains to pray and in Luke 22:39 it is added, ‘‘As His custom was.’’ Stalker in his ‘‘Imago Christi’’ has this suggestive comment, ‘“When He arrived in a town His first thought was which was the shortest way to the mountain, just as ordinary travelers inquire, ‘where are the most noted sights and which is the best hotel?’”’ He prayed alone by Himself (Matt. 14:23); with a chosen few (Luke 9:28); with the whole apostolic company (Luke 9:18); in the midst of a great multitude (Matt. 14:19).

II. How Jesus Christ Prayed

We shall get no adequate conception of the prayer life of the Christ of God without giving some consideration to the question of, How He Prayed. The Bible has much to say about that.

1. In the first place, Christ Jesus prayed with God’s glory first in view, t. e., that God might be glorified by answering the prayer. This we see, for example, in that marvelous prayer He offered in the presence of His disciples and just before His arrest, trial and crucifixion. These are the words with which He began His prayer: ‘‘ father, the hour ts come: glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee,’ (John 17:1.) We see the same thing again in the prayer He taught His disciples, which begins with these words, ‘‘Our Father which art m heaven, Hallowed be Thy name,’’

2. In the second place, Jesus Christ prayed m™ perfect submission to the Father’s will. This we see in His cry of agony in the garden: ‘‘O My Father, if this cup may not pass away from Me, except I drink wt, Thy will be done.’’ (Matt. 26 :42.)

3. In the third place, as to the posture which He assumed in prayer, He sometwmes prayed standing (Matt. 14:29; John 11:41, 42; 17:1. Cf. 14:31; 18:1); sometimes kneeling (Luke 22:41); sometimes lying on His face before God (Matt. 26:39). If the sinless Son of God got down upon His knees, yes, upon His face, before God what attitude shoe we ordinary morale assume as we go into God’s presence?

4. In the fourth place, He prayed with intense earnestness. This we see in Luke 22:44 where we read: ‘‘And being m an agony He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat became as it were great drops of blood falling down upon the grownd.’’ The literal force of the word translated ‘‘earnestly’’ is ‘‘stretched-out-edly.’’ The thought is of the soul stretched out in the intensity of its desire toward God. We see the same thing in Heb. 5:7, ‘‘Who wm the days of His flesh, having offered up prayers and supplications with strong cerymg and tears unto Him that was able to save Him from death, and having been heard for His godly fear.’’ The intense earnestness implied in these words comes out in two ways: first, in the words ‘‘prayers and supplications.’’ The word translated ‘‘prayers’’ is a strong and expressive word, meaning the definite expression of a definitely felt need: it means ‘‘entreaties.’? The word translated ‘‘supplications’’ is found nowhere else in the New Testament. It is a pecuharly significant word and indicates ‘‘imploring supplications.’’ But the intense earnestness of our Lord’s prayer comes out still more clearly in the words ‘‘with strong crying and tears.’’ The word here translated ‘‘crying’’ is a very strong word, meaning ‘‘outery’’ or ‘‘clamor,’’ the force of which is increased by the qualifying adjective ‘‘strong.’’ Literally translated, the words would read, He prayed with ‘‘mighty outery.’’ There are some who speak of it as an attainment of superior faith to always be very calm in prayer, and ‘‘just take’’ in childlike confidence what they ask. Those who say this have either gotten beyond their Master or else they do not know what Holy Ghost earnestness means. Not infrequently, their calm comes not from the Holy Ghost but from indifference. The Holy Ghost makes intercessions ‘‘with groanings which cannot be uttered’’ (Rom. 8:26). In view of the example of our Lord we need to be careful not to confuse the laziness of indifference with the ‘‘rest of faith.” Any ‘‘rest of faith’? that does not leave room for mighty conflicts in prayer and in action too is not Christ-like.

5. In the fifth place, our Lord Jesus prayed with a large outlay of tume. He spent whole nights in prayer. To this we have already referred in another connection, in interpreting Luke 6:12. The time element in prayer is of great importance. A man by the use of modern machinery can do more in a minute than he once could do in hours, but no machinery has ever been invented nor can be invented by which the work of prayer can be expedited. Effective praying demands time, much time, and woe be to the man whose accumulating activities lead him to curtail the time given to prayer.

6. In the sixth place, Jesus Christ prayed umportunately, that is, He repeatedly asked for the same thing. This we see in Matt. 26:44 where the Holy Spirit tells us, ‘‘He left them again, and went away, and prayed a third time, saying agam the same words.’’ We see in the example of our Lord in this matter that it will not do to say, as so many do, that the failure to take what you ask the first time you ask for it necessarily indicates a weakness of faith. It indicated no weakness of faith on the part of our Lord that in His intense earnestness and in the determination of faith, He uttered precisely the same petition a third time.

7. In the seventh place, our Lord prayed with thanksgiving. This we see in John 11:41, 42: “*So they took away the stone, and Jesus lifted up His eyes, and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou heardest Me. (42) And I knew that Thou hearest Me always: but because of the multitude which standeth around I said it, that they may believe that Thou didst send Me.’’ In this case the thanksgiving was for an answer to prayer yet in the future and that could only be seen by the eye of faith.:

8. In the eighth place, our Lord prayed believmgly; t. e., with the absolute certainty that He had recewed from God the petition thai He asked of Him. This we see in the passage just quoted, where our Lord Jesus says: ‘‘I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me,’’ though Lazarus still lay in the grave. His faith in God’s answering His prayer was such that He thanked God for answering His prayer before the thing that He had asked was actually done. He believed, indeed He had no doubt, indeed He ‘‘knew”’’ that the Father would grant His every request. We see John, the beloved disciple, following in the steps of His Master’s faith in 1 John 3:22: ‘‘ And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do the things that are pleasing ain His sight.’’? And so we too, should learn when we approach God in prayer, resting upon His own promise and asking something according to His will, to believe that we ‘‘have received.’’ (Mark 11:24, English Revision.)

What a striking contrast in the matter of prayer there is between The Real Christ, Christ Jesus, and the Christ, the ‘‘ Christ principle,’’ of ‘‘Christian Science,’’ ‘‘lyingly so-called.’’ Mrs. Mary Baker Grover Patterson Eddy scoffed at the thought that there was a persona! God who answered prayer. What ‘‘Christian Scientists’’ sometimes call prayer is not in any proper sense prayer at all. It is merely intense, concentrated, self-willed thinking, iterated and reiterated denying of the existence of the things from which they wish deliverance, be it sickness, pain, sin, death, or misfortune of any kind. ‘‘Demonstrating the truth,’’ they sometimes called it, the devil-suggested substitute for prayer, that has landed many in their graves, many others in divorce courts, including the Founder, many others in the lunatic asylum. I hold in my hand a copy of ‘‘Science and Health’’ that was given to Mr. Jacoby in this City when we were holding a united evangelistic campaign here in 1908, by a man who said Christian Science had robbed him of his wife and daughter and wrecked his home. Im giving the book to Mr. Jacoby, he said, ‘‘This has nearly landed me in the insane asylum.’’ But the true Christ, the Christ of God, the Lord Jesus, really prayed and by His prayers He wrought miracles, healed the sick, cast out demons, raised the dead, escaped death Himself, glorified God, finishing the work God gave Him to do.

We have come to the end of our studies of the wonderful picture of The Real Christ that God has given us in His Word. Let us follow Him. Let us follow Him in His Holiness, let us follow Him in His Love for the Father, let us follow Him in His Love for Men, let us follow Him in His Love for Souls, let us follow Him in His Compassion, let us follow Him in His Meekness, let us follow Him in His Humility, let us follow Him in His robust Manliness, let us follow Him in His Imperturbable Peace, let us follow Him in His Constant Joyfulness, let us follow Him in His Unconquerable Optimism, and, above all, let us follow Him in His Prayerfulness, which in many ways was the secret of all the other beauties and glories of that peerless life, that Divine life, lived as a real man here on this earth, under the same conditions that you and I live under, with the same temptations and with the complete victory that can also be yours and mine. And while we pray intensely, often in long vigils in the solitary place alone with God, let us never forget that closing prayer that God’s Word teaches us, our prayer of response to the closing promise of God’s word: ““Surely I come quickly.’’? ‘‘Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus’’; for when He comes we shall be perfected in Holiness, in Love to the Father, in Love to our Fellowman, in Love for Souls, in Compassion, in Meekness, in Humility, in Manliness, in Peace, in Joy, in Optimism, in every grace and perfection and glory of Christ’s character; for when He comes ‘‘ We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him even as He is.’’ (I John 3:2.)