What’s so important about praying together?
That’s the question we’re looking at today, and we’re going to start to answer this question by looking at a fairly familiar passage. I’d love for you to join me in Philippians 4:4-9.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your graciousness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy—dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” (CEB)
These were the apostle Paul’s words to the church he helped plant in Philippi. They were very timely words for the church there, because the church in Philippi was struggling.
Let me tell you a little about the church in Philippi. Philippi was a deeply Roman city. Because it was such a Roman city, it fully embraced all aspects of Roman culture: all of the cultures practices, the Roman religion, the Latin language. Because Philippi was so Roman, fully embracing Roman culture, most people who lived in Philippi were pagan. It seems there were only a handful of Jewish people who lived in Philippi, and it seems that most of the Jewish people in Philippi were women, so there was no synagogue. These women would often meet outside of Philippi for the Sabbath.
Those who founded the Christian Church in Philippi were Paul, Silas, and Timothy, all of whom were Jewish in heritage and had come from Jewish faith before becoming followers of Christ. After they had established the church, which caused a lot of commotion in Philippi, the magistrate of Philippi told them to leave Philippi because of the issues they had caused.
All of these issues stemmed from the culture war between Roman culture and practices that were so prevalent in Philippi and small Jewish influence on the new Christian church in Philippi. Quite simply, the Romans in Philippi despised the new Christians and their church because they came from Jewish roots.
The church was greatly persecuted and oppressed. They were treated as citizens who were less than those who were not Christians. They were denied jobs. They were denied food and goods. They were denied a place in public spaces. They were seen as trouble-makers because they would not recognize Caesar as lord. They were treated horribly.
Paul wrote them this letter to encourage them as they were struggling. He had already had to deal with severe problems in the church in Corinth, and problems in the church in Galatia as well, and he simply couldn’t bear the thought of the Philippi church falling prey to discouragement from persecution. His closing remarks to them that we’ve just read tell us simply what his solution was to them.
Pray in everything.
Paul’s encouragement to pray in everything is an IMPERATIVE command to the whole church as one. An imperative command is something that must be done. Paul’s command was to the whole church. He was saying to them that if they were going to withstand persecution and oppression, if they were going to survive as a church, they must pray, and they must do it together as one.
It wouldn’t be enough for them to gather strength through prayer as individuals. They would need to gather together, band together, and pray together.
Paul knew that if they did that, the Lord would hear their prayers said with thanksgiving, and would work supernaturally to make the church in Philippi not only survive, but to thrive.
What’s so important about praying together? Everything! Because when we pray together, we submit ourselves to the Lord and set ourselves aside to give Him room to work.
There’s a few things that Paul told the Philippians about, things that would happen as they gathered and prayed together, things that the Lord would do and ways He would work as they prayed together as one.
Paul assured that as the church gathered to pray together, He would give STRENGTH to stand firm. Remember that the church in Philippi was facing extraordinary persecution and tribulation because of their faith. At every turn, the enemy was trying to steal their joy, knock them down, defeat them, and make their witness ineffective.
Isn’t that what the enemy does? Try to steal our joy, knock us down, defeat us, make our witness ineffective? Paul told the Philippians this, just two sentences before our passage this morning, “in this manner stand firm in the Lord, dear friends” (4:1, CSB).
Paul knew that this would only truly happen if they gathered and prayed. They were facing terrible troubles, and they would need every strength the Lord could give them. Paul reminded them too, to not worry about the troubles that they were facing. Not to be anxious about the things that would come either.
The strength the Lord gave them would help them stand firm, but also help them to not worry about their troubles and what might happen because of the persecution they faced.
The strength the Lord gave them would help them in another way as well. Paul tells the Philippians, “Let your graciousness be known to everyone.” In many translations, it reads, “Let your gentleness (or gentle spirit) be known to all people.”
Have you ever tried to be gracious or gentle to someone who is hurtling insults to your face? To be gentle to someone when they’re yelling at you? To be gentle to someone who is telling you that they despise who you are at the core of your person?
That is an act of strength. A strength that doesn’t come from this world. That is the kind of strength the Lord gives, and it was this strength that He gave to the Philippians. It’s the kind of strength that not only bears persecution and insults, but doesn’t respond in retaliation and revenge. It’s the kind of strength that keeps persevering when everything seems lost. It’s the kind of strength that keeps faith in what God says is right, even when everyone around you says it’s wrong.
We need this strength, church. So we must pray together.
As He gives us strength when we pray together, He also grows our UNITY with each other.
Paul told the Philippians to “Rejoice in the Lord always!” As I mentioned before, Paul came from a very Jewish background. He was raised up in the synagogue, trained by learned Jewish men to know the Scriptures inside and out. Paul often drew from his rich knowledge of Old Testament Scripture. This is one of those times when his words to the church were meant to bring the Scriptures to mind.
Psalm 64:10 says, “The righteous person will be glad in the Lord and take refuge in Him; And all the upright in heart will boast.”
Psalm 97:12 says, “Be joyful in the Lord, you righteous ones, And praise the mention of His holy name.”
For Paul, because of his deep understanding of the Old Testament, he understood that those who are truly devoted to the Lord, those who are covered in His righteousness, respond with rejoicing and thanksgiving! Paul reminded them of this important belief, that they should know that even in their troubling circumstances, their proper response to the Lord’s righteousness dwelling in them was to rejoice.
But the important part of that sentence, “Rejoice in the Lord always!”, are the words “in the Lord.” Paul was reminding them to rejoice, yes, but He was always reminding them that they are to do it together, as one body, in the Lord.
Elsewhere in his letter to the Philippians, he told them to take on the same attitude as Christ, to humble themselves before one another as Christ did for us, to serve one another and place one another’s needs before their own.
As we gather together to pray, to rejoice in the Lord as one in the Lord, He grows our unity with each other.
When we pray together, the Lord reminds us to practice what we have received, HEARD, and seen. This is one of the greatest works of the Spirit.
Paul said, “Do what you have learned and received and heard from me, and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” Paul of course lived a good example of the Christian life for them, and they saw the example of Silas, Timothy, Lydia, and many others. But it is the work of the Spirit who brings those things to mind. He reminds us of the godly treatment we have received from other believers. He is the one who reminds us of the truths we have heard from other believers. He reminds us of what we have seen from others in their treatment of others. He reminds us of what these things are so we can put them into practice.
Paul spoke not only of the example given to the Philippians by himself and other believers, but reminded them that God can and does use His creation all around them to remind them of what to hold on to and practice in troubling times. Paul told them to look for whatever is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent or praiseworthy, wherever they might find it.
How freeing it is for us to know that the Spirit can teach us about a godly life even through something that isn’t explicitly “Christian” in nature?
When we pray together, the Lord reminds us of what these things are that we are to practice as we work out our salvation.
Paul tells us that as we pray together, the Lord gives us PEACE to guard our hearts and minds.
It’s a peace that is unfathomable, beyond understanding, and it goes against the logic of the world. In all these troubles the Philippian church was facing, they should have been anxious and worried, they should have been focused on all the negatives, they should have felt defeated, but His peace protects us against all of that.
At the end of this passage we’re looking at, Paul reminds them that it is the God of peace who gives them peace to guard their hearts and minds. The word for peace here is shalom. Perhaps that’s a word you’ve heard before. It means peace, the way we understand it, certainly, but it also means “wholeness” and “well-being”.
When we come together as a body to pray, the God of wholeness, of well-being, gives us His wholeness, His well-being, to protect His church.
Paul draws on the Old Testament again, as Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” NIV. Paul understood the heart, and the mind, to be the center of where our actions and thoughts come from, and he knew they must be guarded, but that we cannot do that ourselves. It is the work of the Lord to guard our hearts and minds.
His peace does the guarding. He makes us be at rest when the world says we should be falling apart, but He also makes us whole, makes us well. That is the depths of His peace.
When we gather together to pray, He gives us this peace to protect us.
So, what’s so important about praying together as a church? Do you need strength to stand firm? Do you want your unity with each other to grow? Do you want to be reminded of what it means to walk the Christian life? Do you want peace to guard your heart and mind? So do I.
1. What is your view of corporate (together as a church) prayer? How much importance have you placed on it in the past?
2. God works wonders in the church when we pray together. Which of His works do you want to see more of in your life?
3. How can you help make corporate prayer more of a priority?