Easter 6 Rogate 2020

John 16:23-33

May 17, 2020

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

In this world’s wilderness the heat of tribulations and all sorts of troubles come upon us. There is never a lack, and no one needs to go looking for difficulties in life.  But when we find ourselves in need of heavenly blessings, then the best way for us is, that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that those who looked upon it were saved, we might look upon Christ, so that we may believe in Him and have eternal life.  We are to look up to Him who was lifted up; that is we are to cling to Christ with a believing heart so that we are able through prayer to knock on the gates of heaven. Then relief from the venomous bite of sin shall be given, and all kinds of comfort for the soul and heavenly blessings. 

However, if such a prayer is to be well pleasing to God, then it has to occur by faith and without doubting. For God was not pleased with the Israelites when they complain and doubt God’s care during the Exodus. Because of their complaints and misbelief, God sent fiery serpents among them who bit the people so that many people of Israel died.  We are to avoid such misbelief and complaints, and instead look up to Christ, who is lifted up so that all who look upon Him in faith may live.  We should knock with prayer not one or two times, but often and frequent, by faith and without doubting.

I want to speak a little bit about this prayer by Christians as introduced in the Gospel reading and show how it is to take place. First, that prayer is required of all true Christians. Whoever wants to be a disciple of Christ must not only hear the Word, but do the Word, pray the Word, act upon the Word. Prayer is necessary for a Christian. It is the sacred duty of the baptized child of God. While we are neither worthy of things for which we pray, nor have we deserved them, but we ask that He would give them all to us by grace, for we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. So we must daily ask God to take away our sins. Since we all have a need for receiving good gifts from God, it is truly good, right, and salutary that we seek them from Him with devoted prayer.

But what does it actually mean to pray, and what does Christ require of us? In the Gospel reading, Christ wants to strengthen the faith of His disciples and to grant them His peace by teaching them about true prayer to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit.  To pray does not mean to move our lips, but it is an exercise of faith, to lift up hearts to the Lord. It doesn’t start with the tongue, but from a heart cleansed by the blood of Jesus.  In the Old Testament, if a sacrifice was to please God, it had to be ignited by fire, a fire that fell from heaven.  So too, if the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and the sacrificial offering of our lips are to rise before him as incense, the lifting up our hands as the evening sacrifice, (Psalm 141:2) our heart has to be ignited by the heavenly fire of the Holy Spirit as the blood of Christ is applied through the Word and Sacraments.

We pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, enabled by Him to approach the Father on the merits of Christ. Now again in the OT, if a person wanted to pray, they turned and faced the Temple in Jerusalem, for it was there that the altar of God was placed, where sacrifices were made, and where God has promised to meet His people for their good.  This was pointing forward to the spiritual sacrifice of our prayer that is placed upon the atonement altar of the New Testament, that is, upon Christ Himself.  We don’t face a location, but we face a person, again, we look up Christ as He is risen for all to see and believe.  We are to turn our hearts and minds away from all earthly distractions, and lift them up to God the Lord in true, godly devotion and praise.

And so Jesus instructs us that we are call upon the Father with all boldness and confidence as dear children.  Our identity as God’s children rest upon our baptismal grace.  And so we pray in Jesus’ name, for that is the only name given by which we can be saved. Just as no one can please God except through Christ alone, so also no prayer can be acceptable to God unless it takes place in the name of Christ. To pray in the name of Christ means to base our prayer upon the merits and the intercessions of Son of God. This is why Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He will give it to you.” And then again, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” 

Our prayers should take place with true humility and total reliance on God. In them we are to submit all our desires to God’s will and leave everything up to Him. Christ teaches us in this Gospel account that God will provide what is best for us, even if He does not answer our prayers in the way we want.  We must follow the decision of the Spirit and not the flesh

Don’t grow tired of prayer, but endure in hearing the Word of God and responding with your praise and thanksgiving and intercessions.  Holy desire increases during hardship and temptations, as we have experienced during these past couple of months.   So begin everything with prayer. End everything with prayer. In the morning, we should ask God to reign over us all day with His Spirit and protect us with His angels. In the evening, we should ask Him to pardon our sins which we loaded upon ourselves throughout the day.  This is why Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers are such jewels, because they ask for this very thing. But above all, the Lord’s Prayer is the model for Christian prayer because it is the prayer that Jesus’ teaches us to pray and covers all that we need for this body and life. 

This sermon is based off of Johann Gerhard’s sermon for the 5th Sunday after Easter, Postilla, 402ff.