March 1, 2015 A.D., by Pastor Ben Willis

John 16:24 [NLTse]

16 “In a little while you won’t see Me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see Me again.”

17 Some of the disciples asked each other, “What does He mean when He says, ‘In a little while you won’t see Me, but then you will see Me,’ and ‘I am going to the Father’? 18 And what does He mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand.”

19 Jesus realized they wanted to ask Him about it, so He said, “Are you asking yourselves what I meant? I said in a little while you won’t see Me, but a little while after that you will see Me again. 20 I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn over what is going to happen to Me, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your grief will suddenly turn to wonderful joy. 21 It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. 22 So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy. 23 At that time you won’t need to ask Me for anything. I tell you the truth, you will ask the Father directly, and He will grant your request because you use My name. 24 You haven’t done this before. Ask, using My name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.

Sermon

Does anyone remember the TV show M*A*S*H? Channel 3 on Basic Cable is called “Me TV” and it runs old TV shows all day and night long. One of those old shows is M*A*S*H and my kids have really come to enjoy it.

Some people journal or keep a diary, but the lead character of M*A*S*H, a surgeon named Hawkeye Pierce, writes to his dad. The show never shows you the letters he writes, but you get to know all about them because you hear Hawkeye’s voiceover speaking what he’s writing as the camera shows him scribbling words on a pad. Watching the show as a Christian the scenes of Hawkeye’s letter-writing always give me the sense of listening in on someone’s prayers.

“Dear Dad…” and then he writes to his dad about what happened in the operating room that day and what’s going on with his tent-mates and about this or that prank he and Trapper or BJ pulled. He writes to his dad about things he’s proud he did and things he’s feeling ashamed of. He writes about different things they need around their mobile army surgical hospital, or the amazing provision of things they’ve received…

I bring it up to us this morning because the elders have called our church to fast the Wednesdays of Lent from after dinner Wednesday nights right up to dinnertime Thursday nights. And prayer and fasting always go together, yet I know that many Christian people struggle in the practice of prayer. So I mention this scene for you of army doctor writing letters to his dad as a picture of prayer…

In our reading from John’s gospel Jesus is trying to prepare His disciples for His death and resurrection. He says to them, “In a little while you won’t see Me anymore. But a little while after that, you will see Me again.” But the disciples don’t get it.

Jesus tells them that what’s about to happen will be so horrible that they’ll cry and grieve for Him, but that His enemies will celebrate. But He goes on to say that their sadness and grief will suddenly become rejoicing and celebration the same way a mother’s anguish and suffering turns into wonder and joy once her baby is born.

And then Jesus says that after that has happened – after their mourning has turned into rejoicing – that they will no longer ask Him to ask the Father for what they need because they will then be able to ask the Father directly, and that God will answer their request because they use Jesus’ name.

Note how Jesus says, “You haven’t done this before,” that is, they’ve never asked God for anything using Jesus’ name. So Jesus says, “Ask, using My name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”

Notice a couple of things with me here in the Lord Jesus’ words. First, notice that Jesus doesn’t talk about prayer here, He talks about asking God for things. And I raise that up to us because I know of too many Christian people who ask others for things all day long but who don’t have confidence that they know how to pray.

Throw away the word “prayer” if you must. Never use it again, if you don’t want to. Tell Him how great He is, instead. Tell Him you’re sorry for all you’ve done to hurt Him and others, instead. Thank Him! And ask Him for what you need and what those around you need. “Prayer” is just an old English word for asking. So let’s stop using it if it gets in the way of us talking to our Daddy. Let’s tell Him we love Him and ask His forgiveness and share how we’re grateful and seek Him for help, instead.

A second thing I was hoping we’d get from Jesus’ words is what He’s saying about asking our Abba for things in Jesus’ name.

In John 16:24 Jesus was speaking to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. Notice that He didn’t tell them they had never asked for anything in prayer before. No. He said they had never asked God for anything in His name. And it gets me thinking how many times we all, likely, asked God for things before we were Christians, before we committed ourselves to Jesus’ life. We probably especially tried praying when we were in trouble. But we weren’t “in Jesus” then: We weren’t committed to Him; we hadn’t put our trust in Him; we weren’t asking from the assurance of knowing we belonged to Him; let alone, we never asked in His authority or in the certainty we were asking from a fully restored relationship with God on account of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Before we became Christians we didn’t ask with any of these things in mind. We were just crying out. Maybe we’d seen others pray or maybe we’d heard about prayer, so we gave it a shot. Anything to get what we wanted or thought we needed at that time.

But the Lord reminds His disciples that once He’s gone away and then returned again – once He’s died and then come back from the dead again – things will be different. With the punishment for their sins paid for they would be able to approach the Father directly. They would have to approach Him in Jesus’ name because it was Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross that opened up the Way, but they would be able to approach the Father directly, and have the same kind of confidence in the Father giving to them all that they asked Him for that Jesus Himself had.

1 John 3:22 adds that we can be confident of Jesus giving us what we ask when we do what pleases Him. So we can’t be out there doing whatever we want to do and expecting God to move Heaven and Earth to give us what we’ve asked Him for. We need leave our sins behind us and live in a way that, when He does give us what we’ve asked for that, those around us will know that God was the One Who provided for us and give Him the credit.

According to Matthew 7:7-8, we are to keep on asking God for what we want, seeking God for what we want, and knocking on Heaven’s door for what we want. Faithful praying is keeping at it. And when we’ve kept at it then we will receive, then we will find, and then we will have it all opened to us.

John 15:7 tells us that Jesus’ words need to be in us to have God answer our prayers, and that’s because 1 John 5:14-15 says we must ask for what will please God to expect Him to answer us. And, of course, how can we know what Jesus wants in order to ask Him for it without His Word in us?

Jeremiah 33:3 whets our prayer-whistles to remind us that God not only gives us what we ask when we pray but also reveals things we could not otherwise know. And Ephesians 3:20 reminds us that our Abba can and often does so much more than we could ever think to ask Him for or even imagine. And in Matthew 7:9-11 Jesus makes sure we know that God only gives good gifts to His children.

[Ask the congregation] Which get me wanting to ask you, “What do you think God would do if you asked Him for something He knew would be bad for you?” [Wait for answers.]

[Ask the congregation] “What do you think God would do if you asked Him for something but He knew it would be better for you to receive it at a later time?” [Wait for answers.]

One last thing the Lord Jesus makes clear to us in His words through John is that talking with God results in joy! Seeing God provide for us and respond to what we’ve talked with Him about and enjoy His fellowship and the confidence of His caring about us and listening to us creates joy in our hearts.

All of this is our inheritance in Christ! No one else has provided such a Way to the Almighty’s heart as Jesus Christ has done for those who love Him, have repented of their sins, and walk in His ways. This joy, this peace, this confidence, this power are all ours for the living and enjoying in Jesus.

One last thing: As a man sharing a house with a wife and a daughter who have long, beautiful hair, our home is filled with hairbrushes filled with hair, hair that I spend too much time pulling out of hairbrushes I’d like to use and throwing those gobs of hair into toilets or trashcans.

Well, Satan may try to have us doubt the effectiveness of talking to God and asking Him for anything at all. He may whisper, “You don’t think God is really personally interested in you, do you? He’s far away, and concerned about more important things. Surely you don’t think He’ll hear your prayers – much less answer them?”

But Matthew 10:29-31 reminds us that you and I – God’s children on account of Christ – that even the most insignificant things in our lives – our hairs! – are known and counted and kept an eye on by God. This isn’t true for everyone on the Earth. Nope. Just us. So precious. So prized. God’s beloved; His chosen ones! What I throw into the toilet or trash so precious and beloved to God because they are the hairs of those He gave His Son for, those He gave His life for; His beloved, His bride…

Trusting we are so important to Him we can be sure He cares and listens and will answer us when we talk with Him in prayer.

Father: Help each one here talk to You in the conversation of the loving, caring Father You are…