Sunday
Morning Study
January
23, 2022
Let’s read together Romans 8:18-27.
I’ll do the first and even numbered verses, you join on the odd numbered
verses.
(Romans 8:18–27 NKJV) —18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the
revealing of the sons of God.
20 For the
creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who
subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also
will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of
the children of God.
22 For we know
that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for
the adoption, the redemption of our body.
24 For we were
saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still
hope for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not
see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
26 Likewise the
Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for
as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings
which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows
what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the
saints according to the will of God.
Introduction
I think the
older I get, the more I realize that I have a lot to learn about prayer.
A guy from
Tyson Foods arranges to visit the Pope. After receiving the papal blessing he
whispers, “Your Eminence, do we have a deal for you. If you change The Lord’s
Prayer from ‘give us this day our daily bread....’ to ‘give us this day our daily chicken....’
we will donate $500
million dollars to the Church”. The Pope responds saying, “That is impossible.
The Prayer is the Word of the Lord and it must not be
changed”. “Well,” says the Tyson man, “we are prepared to donate $1billion to the Church
if you change the Lord’s Prayer from ‘give us this day our daily bread....’ to
‘give us this day our daily chicken....” Again the
Pope replies “That is impossible. The Prayer is the Word of the Lord and it must not be changed”. Finally, the Tyson guy
says, “This is our last offer. We will donate $5 billion to the church if you change the Lord’s
Prayer from give us this day our daily bread....’ to ‘give us this day our
daily chicken....’” and he leaves. Next day the Pope meets with the College of Cardinals to say that
he has good news and bad news. “The good news is that the Church has come into $5 billion”. “The bad news is that we
are losing The Wonderbread Account”.
Is that what prayer is all about?
Is prayer just learning to recite the “Lord’s Prayer”?
A few years ago a movie was released about the Apostle Paul being
in prison in Rome. Pay attention to what
the movie producers have the church praying…
Video Clip:
Paul, Apostle of Christ – There will be games tomorrow
I have
to think that prayer is more than reciting the “Lord’s
Prayer”. Paul himself shared quite a few
prayers in his epistles, and he doesn’t once quote the Lord’s Prayer.
I just want to zero in on one verse from Romans 8 and see what it says
about prayer.
In context, Paul is talking about
various kinds of struggles, pains, or groanings.
Creation is groaning, waiting for
Jesus to come back (v.22)
Believers groan, waiting for our
new bodies (v.23)
Even though we don’t yet see the
finish line, we persevere (v.25)
Romans 8:26 Spirit
Help
:26 Likewise the Spirit
also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we
ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered.
:26 Likewise the
Spirit also helps in our weaknesses
likewise
– hosautos – in like manner, likewise
The word speaks
of comparing one thing with another.
What is Paul comparing?
As we just read, Paul has been talking about the frustration that both we
as humans as well as all of creation experience due to the sin that mankind has
brought into the world, and as we are all waiting for the day that God will
change things when Jesus comes back.
(Romans 8:22–23 NKJV) —22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with
birth pangs together until now. 23 Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting
for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
Paul
is comparing groans.
Creation
groans as it waits for the world to change.
We
groan as we wait for Jesus to come back.
Now
Paul tells us even the Holy Spirit is “groaning”.
He isn’t groaning from frustration at our situations, but
out of compassion as He makes intercession for us.
helps – sunantilambanomai (“with” + “before” + “to take with the
hand”)
Many Greek words are built by starting with
a root and adding one or more prepositions.
The
root here is lambanomai, which means to
“receive” or “to take with the hand”.
When
you add anti, which can mean “against” or “before”, they create a word often
translated “help” or “hold fast to”, such as in –
(Acts 20:35 NKJV) I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must
support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He
said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
I like that idea of
“support”.
When
you add the second preposition
sun, which means “with”, you form our word, which carries the meaning of
“to help
with; to lend a hand together with”
Because of the
combination of three words stuck together, there’s also a sense of intensity in
the word.
It’s also a “present tense”, meaning that this is something that the Spirit is constantly
doing.
This word is
only found in one other place in the New Testament, when Jesus visits Mary and Martha:
(Luke 10:40 NKJV) But Martha was distracted with much
serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister
has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help
me.”
Martha was bothered because her sister was sitting at
Jesus’ feet while she was doing all the work.
Martha doesn’t want to stop serving and let Mary take
over, she wants Mary to help alongside her, with her.
The word is also found in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old
Testament. Moses’ father-in-law is giving him advice about appointing elders…
(Exodus 18:22 NKJV) And let them judge
the people at all times. Then it will be that every great matter
they shall bring to you, but every small matter they themselves shall judge. So it will be easier for you, for they will bear the
burden with you.
After
Israel made it out of Egypt, Moses was sort of a one-man
government. He made all the
decisions. He judged all the court
cases. Moses’ father-in-law was concerned that Moses was taking on too much, so
he advised Moses to appoint 70 elders to help him rule the nation.
They weren’t supposed to replace Moses, but they were to
help carry the load (sunantilambanomai) with him.
The same usage and
situation is also found in Numbers 11:17.
(Numbers
11:17 NKJV) Then I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the
Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they
shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it
yourself alone.
Though this is a different word, it
reminds me of another similar word used of the Holy Spirit:
(John 14:16 NKJV) And I will pray the
Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you
forever—
Helper – parakletos
– summoned, called to one’s side, esp. called to one’s aid
Lesson
Help, not replace
Some
folks have the notion that when God
is a part of their life, that they no longer have keep trying, but God will
take over and fix everything while they just stand by and watch.
There may indeed be times when this is
the case, but it is by no means the only way God works.
Other folks have this notion that after they choose to
follow Jesus, they have to let God stand on the
sidelines and watch while they do all the work and prove how awesome they are.
That’s completely wrong.
I
often find that instead of God doing
everything, sometimes He just wants to be alongside of us to help.
It’s
like the two wings on an airplane.
One wing is God’s
help.
One wing is my effort.
The plane isn’t going
to get off the ground with only one wing.
In
the TV series The Chosen, Jesus does
an amazing miracle before calling Peter to follow Him.
In
the storyline of the series, Peter
has been struggling with paying his Roman tax debt and spent the entire night
fishing without catching a single thing.
Early that morning, Jesus asks Peter if
He can use His boat to preach from, and Peter reluctantly agrees.
After His message is over, Jesus asks
Peter to launch out into the deep and let his nets down for a catch.
This is from Luke
5:1-11
Video – The
Chosen 1.4 – Fish Miracle
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWGCkovAUWM
In this episode’s storyline, that catch of fish would pay off Peter’s debts.
We might focus on the
miracle of Jesus causing the fish to fill the net, but don’t forget that Peter
the fisherman had to obey Jesus, let his net down, and haul up the fish.
I’ve seen this important principle
neglected often.
Folks ask for prayer for a new job, but neglect to
even look for a job, or don’t give a job a try because they don’t think they’ll
like.
I’ve
seen folks ask for prayer over a
health situation, but neglect to go to a real doctor, or do what the doctor
suggests.
I’ve
seen folks struggle with addiction,
expecting God to miraculously deliver them, but never consider that perhaps
they might need to get involved in the process, like join a twelve
step program and actually work the steps.
Please don’t
misunderstand me. God wants to work in
your life. He is able
to do a miracle and deliver you before you even lift a finger. But He may be wanting to “help” you, by
taking up part of the load while you take up the other part of the load.
weaknesses – astheneia
– lack of strength, weakness, infirmity
The Spirit wants to help us in our
“weakness”, but what is our “weakness”?
Paul means our inability to pray.
:26 we do not
know what we should pray for as we ought
pray – proseuchomai
– to offer prayers, to pray
as we ought
– dei – it is necessary, there is need of, is
right and proper
Lesson
Clueless Prayers
Some of us grew up in churches where “praying” meant
using fancy words nobody understands. Maybe even words in a language you don’t
understand.
There’s a classic scene of prayer in National Lampoon’s Christmas movie where Clark has gathered the
whole family together for their turkey dinner and he decides that Aunt Bethany should have
the honor of saying grace, or giving the “blessing” at
the dinner.
After a few minutes of explaining to
hard-of-hearing Aunt Bethany, she begins,
“I pledge allegiance,
to the flag, of the United States of America…”
I’m not sure Aunt
Bethany understood prayer either.
When we started Calvary Fullerton, though I had been
in ministry for over fifteen years, I have to admit now
that I really didn’t know much about praying.
I knew how to pray, but
hadn’t spent too much time consistently praying.
Over the years I’ve read a lot of books
on prayer. I have been in a lot of prayer meetings.
As a pastor, I have learned to develop
a discipline of regularly praying for the needs of the church. I have learned
the importance of spending time every day in prayer.
I think I’ve grown some in prayer over
the years.
Do I think I’ve “arrived”? Not even. The older I get, the more I realize I need to
grow.
Because of this verse, I’m not sure we’re ever going to
“arrive” when it comes to knowing how to pray.
Why don’t we know how to pray?
1. Wrong motives
(James 4:1–3 NKJV) —1 Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they
not come from your desires for pleasure that war in your members?
2 You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain.
You fight and war. Yet you do not have because you do not ask. 3 You ask and
do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your
pleasures.
It’s hard to tell sometimes just what
our motives really are. I think that often our motives are really a mixture of
a lot of things. I doubt we ever have completely pure motives on anything.
I think there are even times when we
want to ask for something, but we know that we have improper motives, so we
don’t ask. But the thing would have been the right thing.
2. Misunderstanding needs
Our passage here indicates that we
don’t know what is “necessary”,
how to pray as we “ought”.
When it really comes down to it, we
don’t really know much at all. We don’t really know the things to be asked for.
Things aren’t always what they seem. We
often make our judgments on situations based on what shallow, surface things we
can see. But often the truth about a matter can be far below the surface.
Illustration
A Tale of Faulty Inferences
The train
rushes across the Hungarian countryside. In a compartment sit a mother with her
attractive daughter, a Nazi officer, and a Hungarian official. When the train
passes through a tunnel, the compartment is engulfed in darkness. Suddenly
there is the sound of a loud kiss followed by a shattering slap. When the train
emerges from the tunnel, no one says a word, but the Nazi officer’s face bears
the unmistakable signs of having been slapped.
The mother looks at her daughter and thinks, “What a good daughter I have.
She certainly showed that Nazi he can’t fool with her.”
The daughter looks at her mother and thinks, “Mother sure is brave to take
on a Nazi officer over one stolen kiss.” The Nazi officer stares at the
Hungarian official and thinks, “That Hungarian is clever. He steals a kiss and
gets me slapped, and there’s nothing I can do about it.” The Hungarian official
stares blankly as he thinks, “Not bad. I kiss my hand and get away with
slapping a Nazi.”
Things aren’t always what they seem.
You can find a person obnoxious for
some reason and just want them to go away. But God may want you to be a part of
their life to bring healing and help to them. God may want them to be a part of
your life, to teach you how to understand and be patient with others.
What if God’s higher
priority is not your comfort, but their salvation? What if God would rather have you endure them
a little so they might get a taste of grace and mercy?
Here I am praying for
them to go away, and God wants them to stay.
I don’t know what to
pray.
But God sees and understands
everything.
(Romans 11:33 NLT) Oh, how
great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to
understand his decisions and his ways!
He knows just what needs to be done.
Illustration
“There was a
time when I was a lump of clay. My master took me and he rolled me and he
patted me over and over and over. I yelled out “Let me
alone” but he only smiled and said, “Not yet”. And then I was placed on a
spinning wheel, suddenly I was spun around and around and around. “Stop it I’m
getting dizzy,” I said. The master only nodded and said
“Not yet” Then he
put me in an oven, I’d never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me and I yelled and I knocked on the door
and I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips. As he nodded
his head he said “not yet.” Finally
the door did open “whew”, and he put me on a shelf and I began to cool. “That’s
better” I said. And then suddenly he grabbed me and he brushed me and he began
to paint me all
over. I thought I would suffocate, I thought I would gag, the fumes were
horrible. And he just smiled and said, “Not yet”. And then suddenly he put me
back into an oven, not the first one but one twice as hot, and I knew that I was going to suffocate.
And I begged and I screamed and I yelled, and all the time I could see him
through the opening, smiling and nodding his head, “Not yet,
not yet”. And then I knew that there was no hope, I knew that I wouldn’t make
it. I was just ready to give up when the door opened
and he took me out and he put me on a shelf .Then an hour later
he came back and he handed me a mirror and he said
“Look at yourself”. And I did. And I said, “That can’t be me, I’m beautiful!”
Just like that teacup, we may not understand
what needs to be done, we don’t know how to pray.
But the truth
is, we still “ought” to pray. The Spirit isn’t going to do our praying for us,
He is here to “help” us.
I think we learn to pray better the
more we pray.
:26 the
Spirit Himself makes intercession for us
makes intercession – huperentugchano
(“over” + “in” + “hit the mark”) – to intercede for one
from tugchano – to hit the mark; to reach, attain, become master of
The word translated “makes intercession” comes from
an archery word to “hit the mark”
We don’t know what to pray for, but the Holy
Spirit’s prayers always “hit the mark”.
Present tense
– He’s always praying for us.
:26 with groanings
which cannot be uttered
groanings
– stenagmos – a groaning, a sigh;
This is related to the words in verses
22,23, the groaning that creation and us humans do.
While our “groanings” are only just noise, the Holy Spirit’s groanings are
productive.
It’s how He intercedes for us.
which cannot be uttered – alaletos
(“not” + “spoken”) – not to be uttered, not expressed in words
Lesson
Praying in the Spirit.
Jude tells us that we are to be praying “in the Spirit”.
(Jude 20 NKJV) But you, beloved, building
yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
Paul also mentions prayer in the Spirit when he was teaching about
spiritual warfare.
(Ephesians 6:18 NKJV) praying always with all prayer and
supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all
perseverance and supplication for all the saints—
1. One aspect
of “praying in the Spirit” involves the gift of tongues.
“Tongues” is praying in a language you didn’t learn by any natural means.
(1 Corinthians 14:12–15
NKJV) —12 Even so you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, let it
be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel. 13 Therefore let him who speaks in a
tongue pray that he may interpret. 14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit
prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. 15 What is the conclusion then?
I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the
understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with
the understanding.
He uses the terms “tongues” and “the Spirit” synonymously.
They mean the same thing.
Notice that praying with “tongues” is something that seems
to bypass the mind (understanding) – that’s why I’d consider it in the class of
groaning “which cannot be uttered”.
2. Another
aspect of “praying in the Spirit” is what we see here, the Spirit doing the
praying, groanings, no words.
I wonder if this isn’t part of what was going on with Samuel’s mom, Hannah:
(1 Samuel 1:12–13 NKJV) —12 And it happened, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli watched her mouth. 13 Now Hannah
spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk.
She had this pain inside her. She prayed words in her
heart, but no words came from her mouth.
Sometimes it’s just hard to speak. God understands.
3. A last
aspect of “praying in the Spirit” is allowing the Holy Spirit to prompt
you to be praying according to the will of God…
I think God wants us to learn how to listen better to the promptings of the
Holy Spirit.
Illustration
A little
girl in England, Josie Caven, was born profoundly deaf. Growing up, she often
felt isolated because of her inability to hear, but that changed after
receiving a cochlear implant during the Christmas season. At the age of 12, she
heard clearly for the first time. The first sound she heard was the song “Jingle
Bells” coming from the radio.
Was Josie’s hearing restored? Yes—completely. Was she
hearing well immediately? Not exactly. Her mother said, “She is having to learn
what each new sound is and what it means. She will ask, ‘Was that a door
closing?’ and has realized for the first time that the light in her room hums
when it is switched on. She even knows what her name sounds like now, because
before she could not hear the soft ‘S’ sound in the middle of the word. Seeing
her face light up as she hears everything around her is all I could have wished
for this Christmas.”
Josie’s hearing was restored, but that restoration
introduced her to the daily adventure of learning to distinguish each new sound
in the hearing world.
"Christmas
Carols Music to the Ears of Deaf Girl," Yorkshireposttoday.com
One of the
problems we have in responding to the Spirit’s promptings is that we might
“hear” it but we don’t “understand” it.
Elijah learned
that God didn’t speak to him through earthquakes or fires, but instead with a
“still, small voice”
(1 Kings 19:12 NKJV) and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and
after the fire a still small voice.
Personally, I think we often have too much noise in our
lives to hear what God is saying.
Sometimes it’s just an impression that you need to be praying for someone.
Sometimes it’s something that reminds you of a person – pray for them.
Learn to listen to the prompting of the Spirit.
Sometimes we have difficulty just hearing things well…
Illustration
Dill Rummel, a
woman from a church in Illinois, once told her pastor the story of how a
colleague of hers was hospitalized for ten weeks. Her name was Colleen, and she
had broken her back in two places. Despite the doctors’ efforts, her back wasn’t
healing. Dill was very busy, but she knew God wanted her to visit Colleen. In
fact she felt God wanted her to lay hands on Colleen and pray for
healing—something that was pretty “out there” for Dill at the time.
When Dill finally got around to going to the hospital, she and Colleen
chatted for quite some time about real estate and everyone they knew. Over the
course of her visit, Dill eventually summoned up the courage to say, “Would you
like me to lay hands on you and pray for you?” Colleen readily agreed. Dill
told me, “I did not feel warmth dribbling down through me or anything, but I
did what God wanted me to do.”
About three weeks later, the doorbell rang, and there was Colleen standing
on Dill’s front porch. She explained that the day after Dill had visited her,
the doctor sent Colleen to the lab for some X-rays. They showed where the two
breaks had been, but they were completely healed.
Colleen eventually started coming to Dill’s Bible study. One day, when they were
talking about that famous painting of Jesus knocking at the heart’s door, Dill
explained that the artist didn’t put a door handle on the outside of the door,
because we must open our hearts from the inside. Later that day Colleen prayed
these words: “Lord, I guess if you’re out there and I can open the door, I want
you to come in.” That day Colleen was born again.
Submitted by Lee Eclov,
Vernon Hills, Illinois
Listen. Pay attention when the
Spirit is prompting you.
Let’s pray
For those who need to let Jesus into their heart.
For us to learn even more how to pray.