Sermon in Minneapolis 05.08.2002

In the Son, in the Holy Spirit, let us begin our services with opening prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, our dear Heavenly Father, again this morning we bow our hearts in prayer unto you for all of your many bountiful blessings that you have given unto all of us. All our temporal needs, which belong to our daily bread, but above all, your only Son, Jesus Christ, who is that one and only mediator between you, God, our Heavenly Father, and us, your children. He has done all on our behalf. He has opened the pathway to heaven that was closed because of that great fall into sin there in paradise. He appeased the wrath of God. He paid the price of sin, paid the price of redemption. And thus, through his name and in his blood, we have today the remission of sins as children in your kingdom, heirs of heaven and joint heirs with him.

So again, we ask for service blessings that you would be with us through your spirit. Bless our gathering. Comfort and console us. Strengthen us and also feed us. Bring us one day to our home there in heaven. All of this we ask in the name of your dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Today is the fifth Sunday after Easter, which is also known as Rogation Sunday, or in other words, the Sunday of prayer, or the Sunday of supplication. Today's gospel text is found in Jesus' farewell sermon from John 16, verses 23 through 30.

"And in that day, you shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in Proverbs. But the time comes when I shall no more speak unto you in Proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day, you shall ask in my name, and I shall say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you. For the Father himself loveth you, because you have loved me. And I have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father."

His disciples said unto him, "Lo, now speakest thou plainly. And speakest no proverb. Now we are sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God." Amen.

As I mentioned already, today is Rogation Sunday. Rogate is a Latin word that means "call ye" or "pray ye." Perhaps you read in the newspapers or heard in the news last week that here in our country there was a national day of prayer. I'm not sure of its historical background, but I would assume it coincides with this church holiday that falls on the fifth Sunday after Easter, Rogation Sunday or Prayer Sunday, the day of supplication. Amen.

And also outwardly, there were wars and times of unrest. So it was during these times when this day of rogation, supplication, and prayer was set aside as a church holiday.

When reading Luther's sermons on this text, he has three different sermons that are recorded in the church apostles and also the house apostles. He at length goes on to expound that there are five things necessary for the prayer to be a true prayer unto God, the Heavenly Father.

He said that the first and foremost is this, that God has given His promise that He will be heard and that we have this avenue, we have this promise or ability, this grace medium that we can approach our dear Heavenly Father in prayer. We can say, "Abba, dear Father," approach our Heavenly Father as little children would. Come and approach their own temporal mother or temporal father. In one of the Psalms it says, "In your day of distress, call unto me and I will hear it."

Here in the beginning portion of our text, it said, "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you." Does this mean that we can have this type of idea that first of all, all we have to do is name it in prayer and then we can claim it? We can claim it automatically, what we ask of the Father in prayer, He is going to give it to us. He has promised to hear our prayers. That doesn't necessarily mean He is going to give us everything that we ask of Him.

A very clear illustration of this is when you have a little child at home and the little child perhaps asks if he or she can have the bread knife, a little two-year-old girl or boy. Is the father or mother going to give that two-year-old child a bread knife? Even though it is asking for it, the mother and the father know that the sharp knife is very dangerous for the child and is not going to answer that request.

Likewise, everything that we ask of God may not be necessary for us or may not be good or profitable for us. Therefore, He may not necessarily answer our wishes. Or perhaps, and it is so, that His timetable is not our timetable. We may pray for something to happen very soon and immediately. But it may not happen until days, weeks, months, or even years later.

One brother related he was at services. During the services, a mother received a child, a boy, a young man, 30 years old, received the grace of repentance at these home services. The mother was immediately around the neck of her own son, and she said that, "I have prayed on behalf of my child, who has been in unbelief for 15 years. Half of his life he had now been in unbelief. 15 years she had prayed that her son would be led back to the kingdom of God and be able to receive the grace of repentance. And now her prayer was fulfilled."

So, everything that we do receive of God the Heavenly Father, is all of His divine goodness. And nothing that we have, temporally or spiritually, we could say, is of our own merit. Neither is it on the basis of our prayer. But because of God's divine goodness, because of grace, He has given it out of His divine love.

And when we pray, as Luther says, we shouldn't depend on our own ability to pray. For we would never feel ourselves to have the grace of God. We would never have this ability. Neither should we wait for that day, that moment or that time, when we feel ourselves to be ready, good and ready to pray. For Luther also says that day may not come. We would perhaps put it off until tomorrow, the next day, the next week, and so on and so forth. If we would await that moment when we are worthy of praying and wait for that correct time, that time may not come.

But what is the reason we pray in the first place? Isn't it this, that we are unworthy of all, that good and evil, that good God would be good and gracious unto us, and love us with His grace and mercy?

Then next or secondly, Luther says that we should have this faith, or sure trust in His promise, and never doubt, that our prayers will be heard by Him, God, our Heavenly Father.

We remember one Old Testament prophet, the prophet Elijah. James writes so clearly that he was sin corrupt, just like you and I. He didn't have these feelings of being one who was worthy of praying. Nevertheless, James says, and also in the book of Kings it says, that when prophet Elijah prayed that rain would not fall on that country for three years, that prayer was answered, and there was a drought for three years.

Three years later, prophet Elijah was asked to pray again, that rain would come. When he prayed, the rain clouds became visible on the horizon, and pretty soon raindrops were falling from the sky.

James also says, if any person lacks wisdom, let him ask for wisdom of God, and He gives everything liberally. And let him ask in faith, and waver not, or doubt not, for a person who wavers is like one who is being tossed to and fro like the waves and the swell in the sea.

But then Luther says thirdly, that when we pray, we should also name something, have something that we are praying for or praying about. Don't we turn to God often in prayer that we would remain steadfast in faith, that God would preserve us in this begun faith, that He would kindle love in our hearts toward our brothers and sisters in living faith, and also toward our fellow countrymen?

And also, perhaps we could pray for this, that peace would abound in our land and throughout the world, that the leaders of our country would be given that correct wisdom and ability to lead our land in a good and proper way.

One of the texts for today, gospel text, is the Lord's Prayer that we are very familiar with. And of course, the Lord's Prayer is divided into many petitions.

"Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name." We pray that His name would be hallowed, that it would be preserved as pure and holy on our lips. And that we would pray for the march of the gospel, and also for strength and for words for the preachers, and also be prayed for protection against heretics, unbelievers, and so forth.

"Thy kingdom come." We of course pray for the best of God's kingdom for its protection. But then also, on the other side of the coin, we pray that God would oppose the kingdom of the devil, and the kingdom of this world. That we could be protected and guarded from its dangers in onslaught.

"Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." That God's will would be done. As Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, when He was about to confront the evil, that most difficult battle in His life, being captured, interrogated, and then to be crucified on the cross, carrying and bearing the sins of all mankind. Jesus prays that God would take this cup of wrath and suffering away, that He wouldn't have to drink it or bear it. But nevertheless, He continues, "God, let Your will be done, and may not My will be done."

"Give us this day our daily bread." We pray for wisdom for the leaders of our homeland. We pray for temporal blessings for our own families, for temporal goods for our life. And Luther goes on to explain a long list of things that belong to our temporal needs, all of which he calls our daily bread.

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who have trespassed against us." Thank you, Lord, for the grace of the Holy Spirit that has been given to us, that God would be good and gracious unto us and that He would turn His wrath away from us.

"Lead us not into temptation," that through His word and the Holy Spirit that we would find an out, an escape, and be delivered from these moments of trials, difficulties, and temptation. That we would be able to overcome temptation through the power of His word and Holy Spirit.

"And deliver us from evil, for Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen."

We also pray, waiting for that day, and that moment, and that hour, when we can leave this temporal land, we can lay down the cross, and we can receive that everlasting crown there in the glory of heaven.

There in heaven, we will experience joy, from everlasting to everlasting. Forever delivered from the evil of this life.

And then, fourth of all, Luther says that we wish that this petition would be granted. This petition that we have been given by the Holy Spirit is a gift to the world. And we are very grateful to the Holy Spirit for His grace and His love for us. And we are very grateful to the Holy Spirit for His salvation. We believe that His calling has been given to us by the Holy Spirit. And that, that is a mission that we are asking for.

And of course, we cannot attempt to limit God for the place, the time, the means or the method by which God would answer our prayer.

Another Gospel text Jesus tells that don't be like the scribes, the Pharisees, and the hypocrites, who openly pray on the street corners, bowing back and forth like a reed being blown by the wind, with their long prayers attempting to gain praise, honor, and glory from the people who see them publicly delivering their oral prayers.

Jesus says, "But when you pray, go into your closet, and God, who you pray to in secret, will repay you openly."

So our place of prayer doesn't have to be in some certain designated spot or location, as it was perhaps during the Old Testament time that all worship was done in the temple of Jerusalem or during the wilderness journey there in the tabernacle.

When Jesus was visiting with that Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar, during that occasion it was asked of him, "Where do your people pray? For we Samaritans have this certain mountain on which we pray. Perhaps there is some temple of worship on that mountain, Gerizim."

Jesus said that it is not in some certain place or location. For the time will come and is now at hand when true petitioners, or people who pray, pray unto God in spirit and in the truth.

When Paul writes to the Romans, he says in this way, that we often don't even know what to pray, but we have this Holy Spirit who prays on our behalf, and utters wordless sighs unto God, the Heavenly Father.

Perhaps mother in the morning, when dressing her children, sending them off to school, sends them off with a prayer that they would be protected from all harm and from all temptation and evil.

Perhaps mother and father, going to bed at night after tucking their own children into bed, may utter a wordless sigh that they themselves would be protected in living faith, that their children would be preserved in this begun faith.

Perhaps they have children in unbelief, they may pray unto God, that lead them and guide them back to your kingdom, so that they could receive the grace of repentance and become a child of God again.

We remember Moses when leading the people of Israel out of the bondage of Egypt. Before them was now the Red Sea. There were mountains on either side, and Pharaoh's armies were coming up quickly behind them.

Moses, who was the leader of the people of Israel, sighed unto God. And God said, "Moses, why are you shouting?" That wordless sigh came to the ears of God as a loud cry or a shout. It came from the closet of his heart.

"When you pray, go into your closet, to the closet of your heart, and God who hears you in private will repay you openly."

God told Moses, "Moses, you have a staff. Stretch it out over the Red Sea." And when Moses obeyed, the seas, the waters parted, and they were able to pass on dry land to the other side of the ocean.

But then when we pray unto God, our Heavenly Father, we pray in his name. "Hallowed be thy name."

Luther says one of the worst blasphemies that there could be is that someone would begin to pray unto God in their own name and through their own merits.

But as Paul writes to Timothy, there is one God, and we have one mediator between God and man. And that mediator is Christ Jesus.

And therefore also when we pray, we approach him in the name of God's dear Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray, or taught them that familiar Lord's Prayer that we recalled already, after this, Jesus goes on to give a very clear example.

"Ask and you shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened. Seek and you shall find."

But then he goes on and he says, "Is there a mother and father here upon this earth that would be so cruel, or so evil, that when their child asks, perhaps for a piece of bread, they would give their child a stone instead? Or if their child would ask for an egg, they would give them perhaps a scorpion? Or if a child would ask for a fish, would a mother or father ever give a scorpion? Or would they give that child a serpent instead?"

I'm sure there's hardly found a mother and father who would be so cruel to do such a thing to their own child.

But then using this as an illustration, he continues and says that if we as parents who are evil, because of original inherited sin, every one of us are evil because of that old Adam that we carry, if we who are evil do good for our children, then how much more will God, who is good, not be good and gracious unto us and give us good gifts?

So Jesus also says that all things, whatever you ask of him in prayer, asking in faith, he will give it unto you.

So if we could now quickly then go through our text, that's the preface to our text, now we'll begin to look at some points of our text.

"And in that day you shall ask." So what is this day that Jesus is talking about when saying farewell to his disciples? Is he talking about that final day of the world, that day when corruption will cease and perfection will begin? No.

Jesus is actually talking about three days later, after he rises victorious from the grave, and then also referring to the time of Pentecost, 50 days later.

So "in my name," as we mentioned already, this is the foundation of our faith. Jesus is that true cornerstone, and it is also the basis of our prayer.

And Jesus says that now he has been speaking in Proverbs. Proverbs meaning parables, riddles, dark sayings, obscure sayings, speaking using figurative language, parabolic language, or as Luther says, it's like a covered dish or a covered meal.

During these last three chapters of this book of the Gospel according to St. John in this farewell sermon, he has been speaking of very many matters soon to happen, soon to come to pass.

And the disciples basically could not comprehend what he is talking about. He said he is going to depart from them. And, "In my Father's house, there are many mansions. I will send the Comforter onto you. I will not leave you as orphans," and so on and so forth.

Talking about the parable of the true vine. "I am the vine and you are the branches."

And we could enumerate many other items in the last three chapters.

I am sure the disciples were thinking that perhaps Jesus is just going to some far away country here upon this earth and then would return from this long journey and again be with them.

Even though Jesus at other times clearly told that He would be crucified, He would die, be buried, and then rise again, they could not truly comprehend these matters of which Jesus was speaking.

They were truly dark sayings, obscure sayings. They were like riddles, parables, or as it says here in our verse, Proverbs.

But I am sure on Easter day and the days succeeding soon thereafter, then their eyes were opened. Then they were able to understand many of those things and perhaps most if not all of those things that Jesus had been speaking to them during that farewell sermon and during those three years even when He was in their midst here on this earth.

But He asked that your joy would be full. We have this joy of believing that our sins are forgiven, that we are a child of God in traveling toward heaven. But one day our joy will be perfect. It will be full when corruption is taken away and we receive that everlasting, everlasting joy, proud there in heaven.

So then He says that the Father loves you and He has come down from the Father. And this is what grace is. Herein is love, not that we have loved Him, but that God has first loved us and He gave His Son to be the sacrifice for sins on our behalf.

That love was so great that God sent His Son. And the love of His Son was so great that He gave His life. No greater love is this that one would give their life on behalf of one's friends.

And Jesus paid the price of sin. He suffered the penalty of sin, appeased the wrath of God, and through His suffering death on the cross and resurrection from the grave Easter morning, He opened that pathway to heaven.

Now we have access unto Him by and through faith. And one day, through faith, we can go to that glorious place. We can go to that glory there in heaven.

And as Paul writes to the Corinthians, that now we see as in a smoky glass or a smoky, through a foggy window, seen very obscurely. But one day we shall see Him face to face, clearly, just as He is.

But God, God's Son, our Heavenly Father, is there at the glory of heaven, at the right hand of God. And He is praying prayers of intercession on our behalf. He knows our trials. He knows our difficulties. He knows that cross that we are under and that we must bear.

We remember when Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was being stoned to death. Stephen was able to see that the heavens were open and the Son of Man was standing at the right hand of God there in heaven.

Jesus actually stood up and perhaps with outstretched arms was ready to accept and take into glory that tired, weary, persecuted traveler of faith, a child of God.

And so He also, with His all-seeing eye, is watching over us, seeing us, seeing our difficulties, our trials.

But not only does He pray on our behalf, but onto us has been given the gospel of His kingdom, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe.

And through this gospel we can hear that good speaking voice of the Son of God saying, "Be of good cheer. I have won the victory. I have paid the price. I have done all on your behalf."

All of this you can own and possess as a free gift, as a gift of grace. You can believe just as you find yourself, tired, downtrodden, weary, tempted and doubting. You can believe. Sin's forgiven in Jesus' name, in precious blood.

Through this gospel message, He lifts and He carries, and He will one day bring us to our heavenly home. In Jesus' name, Amen.

The Lord make His face shine upon us and be gracious unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.