Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / John

John 16:23-33 07/23/06

Message: ‘You Have To Ask’                          Text: John 16:23-33

Introduction: In this envelope I have a coupon for brunch with the Mills Family. If you want it you have to come up and say ‘Pastor Bob, I would like to have brunch sometime with your family.’ Then take the envelope and return to your seat. Who wants it?

What ______ doesn’t know is that inside the envelope are two gift certificates for $10.00 to TGIF and a $20.00 gift certificate to Lowes Movie Theater. _______, I bet you’re glad you came forward and asked for the brunch coupon. And I bet some of you are sorry you didn’t ask for the brunch coupon.

Listen to God’s Word

Read: James 4:2a ‘You want something but don’t get it. You do not have, because you do not ask God.’

This is especially significant considering what else God’s Word has to say on the subject.

Read: Luke 11:9-10 ‘So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.’

Read: 1 John 5:14-15 ‘This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.’

Read: Eph 3:20-21 ‘Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.’

In many ways, prayer is a lot like what ________ just did.

·       Just as _____ had to believe my offer was real; you have to believe God’s offer is real, that God means what he said in the verses I just read you.

·       Just as ___ had to ask for the envelope with the coupon, you have to ask God for what you want and need, it’s a condition for seeking his help.

·       Just as ______ had to expect I would actually give him/her the envelope with the brunch coupon, You have to expect that God will answer your prayer.

·       Just as _______ got more than he/she expected, be assured God will always give you more than you ask for or expect.

But you have to ask.

Transition: Open your Bibles to John 16:23 (pg. 825 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you) Here we will see Jesus speak to his disciples about how prayer impacts the Christian journey.

1. John 16:23-27        ‘Pray, In Jesus’ Name’

Read: John 16:23-27

Let me sum this up.

·       Jesus is saying that he’s leaving and will not be able to do what they ask of him anymore…he’ll be gone.

·       But it’s good that he’ll be gone because now they can ask God the Father for all their needs, wants and desires and when they ask in Jesus’ name God will answer.

·       Do this and your joy will be complete.

Remember last week I said Christian joy is not found in having everything you’ve ever wanted. Joy is not the lack of want, but rather having needs so great that only God can fill them, and then seeing Him provide in response to our prayers. The Father will give us what we need, so that we may experience great joy.

That’s what Jesus is telling his disciples who are frightened by what they will do when he’s gone.

Don’t you think it would make them feel better? Doesn’t it make you feel better about your future knowing that God wants to meet your needs, God is able to meet your needs, God desires to meet your needs more abundantly than you can ever ask or imagine.

But you have to ask and you have to ask in Jesus’ name.

So…is ending your prayers ‘In Jesus Name’ a magical formulae that will insure your prayers are heard and answered ? What does it mean to ask in ‘Jesus Name’?

·       It means we come to God on the basis of Jesus’ worthiness and righteousness rather than our own.

·       It means we recognize that the basis of our acceptance before God, the reason God is willing to hear us at all, the reason he will answer our prayers, is because we have placed our faith, our trust, our very life in his Son Jesus.

·       We ask in Jesus’ name because he is our mediator, our access to the very throne of heaven, the vast store room of God’s glorious and lavish blessings.

Wouldn’t it be to our advantage to pray more?

ILL: Scholar and pastor John Calvin wrote ‘This is a remarkable passage, by which we are taught that we have the heart of God as soon as we place before him the name of his Son.’

You have the heart of God in prayer, you get his loving attention when you approach him in the name of his Son, Jesus.

But that doesn’t mean you won’t have tough times. Jesus already told his disciples, then and now, that they must experience grief and sorry in order to experience joy. Now Jesus tells them how they are able to make the journey trough sorrow and fear to joy…it’s by prayer, praying to the Father in Jesus’ name will be the help you need.

Transition: Do you understand? That’s what the disciples said.

2. John 16:28-31        ‘Overconfidence’

Read: John 16:28-32

Jesus said ‘You believe at last!’ Did they? Really? No. Jesus is patiently and lovingly dealing with his disciples at a moment of ignorance and confusion.

Note, the disciples didn’t address anything Jesus told them. They just said they understood and didn’t want to bother him with any more questions….a clever trick of avoidance. But they didn’t pull a fast one on Jesus as he tells them their belief will be tested and they will fail.

We often do the same thing. Rather than get help, rather than find answers to things we don’t understand. We say ‘everything is ok, no, I’m fine’ when the truth is, we are no OK and we are anything but fine. We need to talk to others who can help, we need to share our feelings, we need to pray, we can’t just play the avoidance game, it will scatter our faith, just as it did Jesus’ disciples.

Transition: That’s why Jesus says he wants us to have peace, because he knows we desperately need it.

5. John 16:33              ‘Overcoming’

Read: John 16:33

Think about this for a moment…widen your gaze on what’s happening here. Perhaps at the very moment Jesus is saying he has overcome the world, Judas was meeting with the religious leaders, plotting his arrest. Jesus knew that before 24 hours are over

·       he would be arrested by the religious leaders,

·       he would be forsaken by his followers,

·       he would be mocked, humiliated, beaten by the Jews.

·       Jesus knew he would be painfully nailed on a wooden cross and killed.

Yet, he offers peace and says he has overcome the world.

Three truths I want to look at.

1. Notice Jesus offers peace, he doesn’t promise it here. There are many Christians who lack peace in their lives for many reasons, but principle is the fact that Jesus and the Christian journey truly aren’t a priority in their lives. Sure, they may go to church on Sunday but between Sundays they, like ole Blue Eyes, Do it My Way.

Peace is offered by Jesus and experienced by those who place their faith in him, who walk with him, who abide in him, who pray to him, who serve him, who take up their cross daily and follow him. That’s where peace is found.

2. Notice Jesus said he has overcome the world. Jesus is facing betrayal, rejection, humiliation, suffering and death…yet he can say he has overcome the world. Jesus went to the cross, not with fear and trembling, but with confidence and victory.

3. Notice that the first two are connected: our peace and Jesus’ victory. Our peace is based on how he lived and died…in complete obedience to the will of God the Father.

In this world you will have trouble, you will experience sorry and grief, you will know fear and despair. The way of the world will overwhelm you, but take heart, you trust in God trust also in Jesus, abide in him, ask God the Father to help, in the name of Jesus, and you too will overcome the world and the pressures it places upon you…

you will know peace and joy. Not the temporary, superficial peace and joy the world offers, but a peace and joy that can never be taken from you.

Jesus can promise this because he has overcome the world. He has gained the victory over the devil and has paid the price for our sin by his righteous life and obedient death on the cross of Calvary.

Conclusion

Do you know the song ‘Sweet Hour of Prayer’? Be honest. Does the idea of an hour of prayer sound like a punishment rather than a pleasure. I believe many Christian spend more time on personal hygiene than they do in prayer? Think about it.

Prayer is a privilege and a wonderful resource to help us faithfully and successfully navigate the Christian life.

·       By prayer we tap into God’s comfort in painful times.

·       By prayer we tap into God’s guidance in uncertain times.

·       By prayer we tap into God power in impossible times.

But you have to ask.

One of the reasons so many Christians have such anemic prayer lives is not because they don’t want to pray, it’s because they don’t plan to pray.

·       We plan our vacations

·       We plan our meals for the week

·       We plan our budgets

·       We plan for our retirement

·       But we often fail to plan to pray.

And when we do think about prayer, we have already scheduled too many things so we feel we just don’t have the time…Let me fill you in on something…you have the time…if you choose to make the time.

Try this. Plan to spend 10 minutes with God in prayer this afternoon, to rethink your priorities and how prayer fits in to them.

Set a time, set a place. Choose a passage of scripture to read. Talk to God, pray to the Father in the name of Jesus his Son.

Then plan to do it again tomorrow…and the next day, and the next. Put it in your daytimer, you PDA, you calendar program on your computer, the calendar on your wall.

Remember

Read: James 4:2a ‘You want something but don’t get it. You do not have, because you do not ask God.’

Remember

Read: Luke 11:9-10 ‘So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.’

Remember

You have to ask!