Sermons

Worth Green, Th. M., D. Min.

This is the second sermon in a series of sermons on Prayer.

Last week we saw that “Prayer is the great two-handed engine at our door. “ (P.T. Forsyth) When I read that I think of Albrecht Dürer’s “Praying Hands.” An engine supplies power. Prayer supplies power. Two hands are more powerful than one. This engine called prayer is “at our door.” It is not a closed door. It is an open door. We all have access to prayer. By prayer we enter heaven, and place ourselves and our concerns before God. By prayer we claim God’s promises, and lay hold of God’s provisions. “Prayer changes things,” said the late Dr. J.C. McPheeters, first President of Asbury Theological Seminary, “prayer changes the pray-er.” Prayer changes me. Prayer changes you. The ancient Rabbis had a saying: “No prayer is genuine unless the one who prays it is willing to be a part of the answer.” By prayer we move the earth. “More things are accomplished in prayer than we can imagine.”

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Worth Green, Th. M., D. Min.

Prayer is arguably a human being’s first act of faith in God. According the Scripture, God addresses us constantly. In Romans 1 the apostle writes:

“Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made.”

And in Psalm 19we read:

1 The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork. 2 Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. 3 There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; 4 yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.

Prayer is our response to God’s initiative. It turns monologue into dialogue.
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Worth Green, Th.M., D.Min.

We come now to the most dramatic and colorful gift, also the most divisive: tongues and the interpretation of tongues. Let me begin by sharing with you a number of images from my past—I have firsthand knowledge of each of these instances and conversations. These are specific instances. Please do not draw general conclusions from them.

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Worth Green, Th.M., D. Min.

In 1979, while seeking a Master’s Degree in New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, I took a class under Dr. John Koenig who now teaches at General Theological Seminary, the Episcopal Seminary in New York. The class was entitled, “The Gifts and Tasks of Ministry.”

Dr. Koenig said that for every task of ministry God assigns to the church, God gives a gift to an individual or individuals within the church. And for every gift that God gives to an individual, God has a task to be done, in the church and in the world.

There is a symmetry in that.

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Worth Green, Th.M., D.Min.

Last week we saw how God gave the gift of prophets to the church. In Ephesians 4 we read:

“When Christ ascended on high, he gave gifts to me and his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor-teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry.”

We saw that there were Hebrew Bible/ Old Testament prophets like Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Even Moses, the great Lawgiver was identified as a prophet. (Deut. 34:10

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Worth Green, Th.M., D.Min.

In 1st Corinthians 12:10 Paul speaks of the gift of the Holy Spirit called prophecy. Then, in 1st Corinthians 12:28, he talks about the gift of “prophets.” He says that God appointed in the church first apostles and second prophets. And in Ephesians 4, he makes it plain these two offices, and several others, are God’s gift to the church:

8 Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” …11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry…

In Ephesians 2:20 the apostle writes that the church is “built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.”

Notice the order of these two words: The church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

You will remember who the apostles were. Jesus appointed twelve to be with him. The apostles were those disciples who accompanied Jesus in the days of his flesh. More than that, the Apostles, “the sent ones,” were also eyewitnesses to the Risen Christ. The twelve (I use the symbolic number as Paul did) were eyewitnesses and apostles, “then he appeared to the twelve.” (1st Cor. 15:5) Paul was also an apostle. In 1st Corinthians 9:1, Paul asks a rhetorical question saying, “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” According to 1st Corinthians 15:6 the Risen Jesus appeared to more than 500 brethren. We thus conclude there were at least 500 apostles.

So many apostles, yet the church is not built upon the foundation of the apostles alone. It is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets.

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Worth Green, Th.M., D. Min.

There was a time in the history of the church and the world when miracles were accepted uncritically. This went on for 17 or 18 centuries, until the time of the Enlightenment. [ See Footnote 1] The Enlightenment did not close the book on miracles for all people; but it did close the book on miracles for a great many people.

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