12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
(Matthew 21:12-13)
It is very significant that when Jesus, full of righteous anger, entered into the temple and drove out the money changers, he condemned their very practices saying, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.” So often, when considering this text, we focus so much on the sins of the money-changers and pigeon sellers that we neglect the single alternative action that Jesus says should be the trademark of the house of God. Jesus said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”
Prayer should be the primary characteristic of any gathering of Christians. As Jesus designates the temple in Jerusalem, the place where God’s people gathered for worship, as a house of prayer, so should each and every church be designated. Any holy gathering of believers should be characterized by prayer. When any congregation of believers is considered, it should be said of them that they are a congregation who pray. Above all other activities these Christians do in their gatherings, the foremost and the utmost should be prayer.
How tragic is the neglect of prayer in the church today! Such is the decline of prayer that there are few church-goers who can honestly say about their church, “These are a people who pray.” While we are very careful not to write prayer out of our order of worship, we hardly give prayer the focus and the time it deserves. We will pray as we begin worship, pray as we transition from one act of worship to another, and we will pray as we close; prayer is not given time of its own. We do not pray for the sake of prayer; we do not pray because we desire God, or because we feel any great need to seek God. We devote such a short amount of time to prayer today, and that time we do give to prayer, we only do so because we know we ought.
So often are churches today characterized by the giftedness of their pastor, or the power in their worship music, but what church is well-known for their prayer? When driving out the money-changers, Jesus does not say, “My house shall be called a house of great Bible study,” or even “My house shall be known for giving, not stealing.” He places prayer in its proper place, as the single characteristic by which the place of worship shall be known. While preaching, the study of Scripture, songs of praise, and giving all have their places in the gatherings of believers, these acts should never be prioritized at the cost of prayer.
Prayer is no longer the defining characteristic of the church today, as it was of the first-century church. The apostles, who walked with Jesus, saw the great priority which Jesus put on prayer. During his three years of ministry, there was hardly a time when Jesus wasn’t preaching, healing, casting out demons, ministering to the needs of others; what characterized Jesus’ life when he was not ministering or teaching was prayer. The apostles saw this; they learned this from their rabbi.
13 And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. 14 All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
(Acts 1:13-14)
The apostles, along with the other followers of Christ at the beginning of Acts, were all in one accord, devoting themselves to prayer. Prayer was what characterized their gathering, as they were in one accord. The author feels no need to mention that they did anything else, if they even did. Prayer is sufficient.
31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
(Acts 4:31)
When the chief priests sought to silence the preaching of Christ, the disciples begin praying. They knew to do nothing else. They had just stood up to the Sadducees boldly, yet as soon as they depart, they gather and pray for boldness. The result of their praying was such that what happened in this place was similar to what happened at Pentecost. The place was shaken, they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Let us not think that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost was a one-time deal. However, let us also notice that this great filling of the Spirit in Acts 4 came through prayer.
5 So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
(Acts 12:5)
This sentence is written so that we can clearly see two forces acting against one another. There is one force, the power of Herod, which is holding Peter in prison. However, there is a second force, the prayers made to God by the church, which will lead to Peter’s miraculous rescue from prison. Thus, we can see that the prayers of the church are much mightier than the power of the king!
Let the actions of the early church be an indictment to the church today. The early church followed the example of Christ, in spending much time gathered together in prayer. The church today follows the example of the world, in holding numerous programs and activities, and neglecting prayer. May the tragic neglect of prayer be reversed, so that Jesus Christ can look upon any church and say, “My house is called a house of prayer.”
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