Easter 6 Rogate – Pr. Anderson sermon
St. John 16:23-30 “Asking the Father in Jesus’ Name”
May 5, 2024 | Christ Lutheran Church
In Nomine Iesu
+ + +
Lord God, heavenly Father, through Your Son You have promised us that whatever we ask in His name You will give us: We beseech You, keep us in Your Word, and grant us Your Holy Spirit, that He may govern us according to Your will; protect us from the power of the devil, from false doctrine and worship; and also defend our lives against all danger. Grant us Your blessing and peace, that we may in all things perceive Your merciful help, and both now and forever praise and glorify You as our gracious Father; through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary, by Veit Dietrich, p. 156)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (Rom. 1:7, etc.)
The sermon text for today is taken from the 16th chapter of the Gospel according to St. John. We read selected verses in Jesus’ name:
[Jesus said:] “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
His disciples said, “Ah, now You are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that You know all things and do not need anyone to question You; this is why we believe that You came from God.”
These are Your words, heavenly Father. Sanctify us by Your truth, Your Word is truth. Amen. (Joh. 17:17)
In Christ Jesus, who is your way to the Father because of His love, and as you love your Savior, the Father loves you, hearing your prayers, dear fellow redeemed:
Looking back at the time of our youth, the younger we were, it was probably easier for us to ask our parents to give us things. “Dad, can I get that toy?” “Mom, can I eat this cookie before supper?” As young children it is easy to ask such things because of the reliance we had on our parents. As we got older, we might remember that the questions were a little harder to ask because we might even know what kind of answer we were going to receive. “Mom, can I stay up just a little bit longer past curfew even though it is a school night?” “Dad, can I stay over at a friend’s place tonight?” When it comes to asking God questions, sometimes it is easy to ask Him for help, and sometimes, we don’t want to ask because we assume that God will not give us the answer we want, or we don’t deserve our requests answered. Jesus teaches us the comfort we have with our heavenly Father. It is a parent to child relationship and a relationship that consists of God taking care of our needs for our good. This is only possible because of His great love and mercy. Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you.”
As Jesus begins our text with this statement of “Amen’s” that is yes, “it shall be so,” He is teaching His disciples that what He is telling them will happen. “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you.” As has been the theme for chapter sixteen of St. John’s Gospel, Jesus is preparing His disciples for the end. Jesus must leave the disciples. His mission of following the Father’s will is almost done and then He is no longer needed physically on earth. As the world wants Him to stay, we learned that it is a good thing for Him to leave. Even though Jesus is physically gone, He tells the disciples that they now can go directly to the Heavenly Father. God is no longer scary as He sees Jesus’ sacrifice in their place. Not only do they receive this gift of being able to go to the Father, but they will also gain clarity.
Jesus continues, “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.” We see time and time again how Jesus had to instruct them in the messages that He told the people. Jesus told them parables, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. Why would Jesus speak to them like this instead of plainly? Every time Jesus told His disciples that He was going to suffer, die and rise again, they would not believe Him. So, speaking plainly was not working. Even in our text, the disciples believe they understand what Jesus is telling them, but we know what will soon happen after they leave the upper room. As their loving Savior, He tells them what is certain. They will soon understand. They will be able to make requests to the Father in His name.
When we hear this instruction from Jesus, we must make sure that we understand what He is saying. Too often we forget what prayer really is. Instead of using it as the way in which we talk to God, we can be tempted into giving God demands. Satan is quick to get us into using prayer the wrong way. He wants us to get mad at God when He doesn’t give into our demands. When it looks like we aren’t getting what we want, we then react like a spoiled child having a temper tantrum. The stiff neck of Israel when they demanded food, water, meat, more water, can be applied to us. We unfortunately live in a culture that lacks patience. If God doesn’t get to work in getting what we want, then why should we trust Him? Why should we care what He has to say? Like a pendulum, here is one extreme which is the extreme of most in the world. “God says He will give me anything, so He best listen to my demands, or He simply doesn’t exist.” The other extreme is doubt and despair.
The devil loves it if he can get us to feel despair. Jesus says, “In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God.” We are loved by the Father, so why do we fall into despair? When we are in Christ, of course we see the love of the Father because of the love of Christ. When we realize that our sins set us apart from God, it can be a lot to bear. Maybe we realized that we were demanding God to do something for us. How do we approach Him now? “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24). How do we stand in His presence and why should He hear us? We can doubt the words that come out of our mouth which when we doubt our prayers we sin, and we forget to ask the Father in Jesus’ name.
Jesus tells the disciples and us from the beginning of this text, we can have confidence when we go to the Father in prayer in His name. We are to pray, and we don’t have to doubt. These doubts disappear when we believe what Jesus tells us. He says, “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” He came from the Father because He and the Father are one. He is going back to the Father to be the mediator between God and mankind. For this to happen, Jesus proves that He is God. He follows the Fathers will to the end and die for the sins of the world. In all of this, He taught the disciples how to pray. They learned the Lord’s prayer. They watched Jesus pray that night He was betrayed that the will of His Father would be done. Jesus prayed for the cup to be removed, yet as He followed the heavenly will, He drank it.
In that divine struggle, Jesus was strengthened by an angel for the road ahead. The answer to Jesus’ prayer was that He would drink the cup willingly and willingly give up His spirit in death for the sins of the world. It is because of Jesus great sacrifice; the disciples can now go directly to the Father. They will understand all of this soon. How their Savior is from the Father and will go back to the Father for their good. As their intermediary they can go directly to God because God sees the love of His Son. He sees their love for His Son and He sees their sins forgiven by Jesus’ death on the cross. They have been restored as children of the Father.
You also have been restored. Your sins have been forgiven by your Savior on the tree. Jesus’ death and resurrection gives you a direct line to your heavenly Father. Not only does He command you to pray but He promises that He hears your prayers. You do not have to worry that they will land on empty ears. He will answer them all according to His gracious will for your good. His name is hallowed, His kingdom comes, His will is done, and He provides your daily bread. This world is fallen. As you bear your crosses, the temptations of demands and despair will creep back in. You are not alone in your struggles in thinking that God doesn’t hear you or He doesn’t answer your prayers. St. Paul, like Christ also prayed that He would find relief. After his prayer St. Paul was told, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” To which Paul continues, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). Jesus says to keep praying. He will take care of you and provide for your good.
When the world doesn’t see positive results, they only think of the negatives. You can hear the responses that God doesn’t care about you say the example if He doesn’t heal a loved one who has cancer. Where is God’s grace if they die? It doesn’t look like your Father answered your prayers. If it wasn’t for your Savior, you would have no reason to pray as you would stand condemned to hell. Even your loved one would be condemned. In God’s great love to not condemn you based on your mistakes, His Son restores your connection to your Father. He dwells in you because of the love you have for Him and what He has done for you. Your prayers for life and salvation for your loved one are answered with Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The world already struggles with Jesus’ death and resurrection so of course they will struggle with prayer. Prayer only makes sense through the hearing of God’s Word. It is because of what they were taught that, His disciples said, “Ah, now You are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! Now we know that You know all things and do not need anyone to question You; this is why we believe that You came from God.” Your prayers work with believing hearts. Of course, there will be days when you struggle and don’t even know what to pray but, in those instances, the Holy Spirit will read and know your hearts. He will carry them to the Father who loves you because of your love for your Savior. He answers it according to His will for your good. And when those who don’t believe, doubt you, Scripture tells you, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7). Your Father hears your requests because of your Savior’s love and mercy. He came from God and has returned to God. He dwells in you, protecting you from harm and danger. You are strong and your joy is full in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.
+ + +