Month: May 2019

Leave a comment Posted on Sermons

Praying in Jesus’ Name

Sermon for Rogate based on John 16:23-33

Dear children of God who pray to God: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, He will give it to you.” He tells us that we can pray directly to God the Father because He Himself loves us. God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father. He has promised to hear the prayers of His children and to answer our prayers.

For what do children normally ask from their fathers? Candy? A treat? A toy? Yes, children tend to ask their fathers for frivolous things. We really are no different. As God’s children, we tend to pray for frivolous things, too. We pray for prosperity, for mammon, for little trifles for this life. We might pray for a bigger house, a newer car, more prestige in the community.

Saint James writes, “You ask and you do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.” (4:3) Like little children, we don’t know what we should be asking for. We ask for things out of jealousy or greed. We pray for selfish things that aren’t good for us.

Our Father in heaven knows how to give good gifts to His children. While we tend to pray for earthly blessings, His desire is to give us heavenly blessings. While we tend to desire earthly pleasures, He desires to give us eternal pleasures, eternal joy. Our eternal life is what He always has in mind in what He gives and doesn’t give in answer to our prayers.

To be sure, God does also give us earthly blessings and pleasures. We can certainly pray for them. Like the child who is told “No” when asking for more candy, we may also be told “No,” but God has given and continues to give us very much more than we need for this body and life.

The thing about earthly joys is that they don’t last. A fun moment, a pleasurable dinner, a nice vacation – they all end, and then all you have left are the memories. Every earthly possession will one day break down, rust, or be destroyed. Even our bodies will one day give up our spirit and decay in the ground.

Why would we not pray for spiritual blessings? As opposed to earthly blessings, spiritual blessings are promised to us by God. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

There is true joy in having your sins forgiven and having peace with God. There is true joy in knowing that God is not angry with you over your sin, and that He will not punish you for your sin.

When you pray for forgiveness of sins, you don’t have to wonder if God will grant you forgiveness or not. The context of Jesus telling the disciples that they can pray directly to the Father in His name is Jesus speaking about His upcoming suffering and death on the cross. It is because of Jesus’ death that you know God will forgive your sins when you ask in Jesus’ name. It is because of Jesus’ suffering and death that you know that God will forgive you your sins for Jesus’ sake.

To pray in Jesus’ name means to pray with faith. It means to pray that God would give you what you ask for Jesus’ sake, relying on Jesus’ death in your place. Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, which means that He has satisfied the demands of God’s Law for us through His perfect obedience and His perfect payment for sin. Praying in Jesus’ name is relying on Jesus having satisfied the wrath of God over our sin.

Praying in Jesus’ name also means trusting that God knows what you need and will give it to you. So, pray for prosperity. Pray for mammon. Pray for little trifles for this life. Pray for a bigger house, a newer car, more prestige in the community, but pray for it all asking that God’s will be done. That is what we pray in the Lord’s Prayer, which Jesus taught us. We don’t pray, “My will be done,” but “Thy will be done.”

We pray that God’s will, which is good and perfect, would be done in everything for which we pray and in everything in our lives. We pray that if in our lack of wisdom we pray for something that is harmful for our spiritual well-being, God would not give it to us. If we pray for something that would lead us away from God, that would cause us to sin, that would lead us into temptation, we pray that God would not give it to us. We pray that God’s will would be done rather than our will.

God does want what is best for you. That you can know and trust. Since He has given His only Son to death for you, you know He will withhold nothing from you, but will graciously give you all good things. He who claimed you as His child in the waters of Holy Baptism, forgives your sins through Absolution, and strengthens your faith through Christ’s body and blood will give you everything you need and more.

Even sinful earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children. How much more does your heavenly Father know how to give you good gifts. He Himself loves you, so you can pray directly to the Father in Jesus’ name, knowing that He will answer your prayers and your joy will be full. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

 

Leave a comment Posted on Sermons

All of the Truth

Sermon for Cantate based on John 16:5-15

Dear possession of God: grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus told His apostles that it is to their advantage that He goes away because He would send them the Holy Spirit who would guide them in all the truth. This explains to us how the timid and fearful men who fled at the arrest of Jesus were later preaching publicly, even amidst opposition and threats, that He is risen from the dead. It explains to us how these men who struggled to understand much of what Jesus taught them while He was with them were able, by the inspiration of the promised Holy Spirit, to write the inerrant words of holy Scripture. The Holy Spirit guided them in all truth. They did not write man’s word, but God’s Word as directed by Him.

It is worth pointing out also that Jesus did not say that the Holy Spirit would guide them in some of the truth, but that the Holy Spirit would guide them in all of the truth. Everything we have in the Bible is the truth. Not just a version of the truth, as if there are other versions of the truth, but the Bible is all of the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

The Bible is thus reliable for us as we learn the truth. All our doctrine therefore must be from the Bible since that is how the Holy Spirit now guides us in all the truth.

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes, He will convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.

What is sin? The world says sin is being judgmental, intolerant, or unaccepting. The world accepts and praises every depravity and perversion, and thinks Christians sin if we stand up for the truth of God’s Word or say that their depravities and perversions are sin. The world will accept every idea, lifestyle, and religion, so long as it is not from the Bible, the only source of truth.

The world also has its own ideas about righteousness and judgment. They justify their every selfish behaviour as if they are righteous. They don’t believe judgment in hell exists. Everyone just goes to heaven. Except maybe people like Hitler, but certainly, they do not believe hell is something the average person needs to worry about, even though Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” (Matt. 7:13-14)

Those who find the gate to eternal life are few because people prefer to follow the world’s definitions of sin, righteousness, and judgment, not God’s definitions as He gives us in His Word.

God defines sin as that which breaks His holy commands. God’s Law does not tolerate sin, but judges sin. God’s Law commands you to love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbour as yourself. Because you are sinful, it is not possible for you to fulfil these commands. You do not live for God because you want to live for yourself. You do not live for your neighbour because you want to live for yourself. God’s Law condemns the entire human race. We are all guilty of sin, which means we are sinful not righteous.

Yet, we must understand that even though our unrighteousness is found in our failure to love God and our neighbour, our righteousness is not to be found in fulfilling the command to love God and our neighbour. Our righteousness is not to be found in doing good works. Our righteousness is not to be found in giving generously to charities or helping your neighbour. Our righteousness is found only in Christ. He is our righteousness. His blood covers our sins. We must be covered by Christ’s righteousness if we are to appear righteous before the judgment seat of God.

Note carefully who Jesus says is judged. He says that when the Helper comes, He will convict the world concerning judgment “because the ruler of this world is judged.” The ruler of this world is Satan, and he has been judged guilty and condemned of being a liar and perverter of the truth. Those who follow his lies are thus condemned along with him, that is why Jesus says that the world is convicted of sin because the ruler of this world is judged. They are convicted because they reject the truth of God’s Word and follow their own hearts, which are of one mind with the devil.

Those who follow the truth of God’s Word, even though we are convicted by the Law as sinful, are convicted that we are not righteous, and are convicted that we deserve judgment, nevertheless do not despair because we trust in Christ. Christ has taken our sin. He is our righteousness. He was judged in our place.

Thus, we do not seek righteousness in what we do. We do not think that we are right in God’s eyes because we help our neighbour, give offerings at church, or visit the sick. We are right in God’s eyes because Jesus’ righteousness covers us. Because Jesus’ righteousness covers us and we were purchased by His blood, we belong to Him. It is not some kind of part-time ownership or timeshare. First Corinthians says, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.” (6:19)

You belong to God. All of you – your heart, mind, body, and soul; your time, your money, your possessions. So, when you consider how you should use any given hour of the day, remember that the hour belongs to God. When you consider how you should use any given dollar, remember that the dollar belongs to God. When you consider how you should use any possession, remember that the possession belongs to God.

Also remember that your use of God’s time, money, or possessions will not give you any merit or worthiness in His sight. The only merit and worthiness you have is Christ’s. Everything that you think, say, and do is covered by Christ’s righteousness and thus forgiven. Yes, I dare say that even if you squander all of God’s time, all of God’s money, and all of God’s possessions that He has entrusted to you, for the sake of Christ, God will not condemn you.

That is the freedom of the Gospel. The free forgiveness of sins frees you from doing what you are commanded to do. You are then free to use God’s time, money, and possessions in a God-pleasing way – not because you must in order to be saved, but because you want to. You have been freed from the slavery of sin and from the condemnation of the Law, and have been promised eternal life in the new heavens and the new earth.

Eternal life is, in the end, all that matters. Time, money, and possessions will all be burned and they have no future. You have been freed from the slavery to these elementary principles and have been granted freedom in Christ who gave His life for you on the cross to pay the price of your sins and rose from the dead to secure your resurrection to life everlasting.

Cling therefore to the eternal truth of the Word of God. Cling to God’s definition of sin, righteousness, and judgment, because your sin is forgiven, you are declared righteous on account of Christ, and the ruler of this world has been judged and cast out, and you have the promise of eternal life. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.