Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Rogate  – Easter 5 (May 20, 2001)
John 16:23-30

TITLE: “Ask in My Name”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Our text for today is from the Gospel lesson just read, with focus on Jesus’ words, Whatever you ask in My name, my Father will give it to you.  Amen.

“Name it and claim it.”  Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase.  There was a movement a while back that argued anything you asked for in Jesus’ name, if you prayed hard enough or often enough, that you would get it, no matter what.  Robert Schuller promises much the same thing, as did Norman Vincent Peale with The Power of Positive Thinking.  The most recent version of this whole idea is the so-called Prayer of Jabez.  This is a popular book in the Christian market.  I even saw copies of it at Shop-ko on Friday.  The premise of this book is that God always wants the believer to prosper here in our earthly lives.  Basically, according to this book, God is going to conform His will to ours if we say this prayer three times a day.  God is kind of our butler or maid, will do whatever we ask, if we only ask with the right words.  Right?  Wrong.  A thousand times wrong.

So how is the Christian to understand prayer?  Why does God want us to pray, and what is the benefit we receive from such prayer?  As I often say to my catechumens, prayer is a conversation that God starts.  That’s what Jesus means when He says, Whatever you ask in My name.  When we pray in Jesus’ name, we pray as one of God’s children.  Furthermore, when we pray, we are never alone in our prayers.

Do you remember when Jesus gave the disciples what we call the Lord’s Prayer?  The disciples went to Jesus because they say others praying, and they rightly wanted to learn how to pray.  Now Jesus could have said to them: go off on to a mountain by yourself and pour your heart out.  Tell God everything you want in the world!  And if you’re sincere enough, or persistent enough, then maybe God will hear you.  That’s how many falsely think of prayer.

But Jesus didn’t do that.  What he said was, when you pray, pray like this, “Our Father who are in heaven…” and so forth.  Jesus gave them the very words to pray, so that by praying in His name, with His words, they would learn how to pray, what to pray for, and God would shape their hearts and minds to His will.

Think of it this way: when you ask someone for something, you are saying that you need something they have.  By praying, you are confessing to God and to the world that you can’t do it alone, you need Him for all things, for remember that in the Lord’s Prayer we pray for all things.  By praying, you are confessing that you need God, and that is something only God Himself can teach you.  This is why we pray both the Lord’s Prayer and the Psalms. 

But there’s a downside to this.  I can talk until I’m blue in the face about the benefits and value of prayer for your soul, but the fact of the matter is that for most of us, our prayer life stinks.  How often do you pray?  Do you pray before and after meals?  Do you pray when you get up in the morning or when you go to bed?  Do you pray at all during the day?  For many, the answer is no.  We are like the two year old that insists, I haveta do it MYSELF!  That’s what you’re saying to God when you refuse to pray.  You are telling God that you don’t need Him, and that you are in this alone, be it good or bad.  As we say in confession, my prayers and worship have faltered.

Satan continues to seek to drag you away from Christ and His work for you.  Satan wants you to believe that prayer is a useless waste of time.  Satan wants you to believe that real Christians don’t pray, they work.  They get work done.  This is kind of like saying I don’t have time for God’s Word, I have to get to more important things.  Martin Luther once said that he had so much to get done during the day that he had to pray for two or three hours.  Now for Luther, prayer didn’t mean presenting God with a laundry list of things to do for us.  Rather, prayer meant conversation with God, where God speaks to us in His Word, and we in faith and trust respond to that Word of God in prayer.

But that’s what Satan doesn’t want you to believe.  He wants you to believe that in prayer, you’re on your own.  So either you don’t pray, which is what most of us do, truth be told, or you turn God into a divine butler that is supposed to respond to your every whim.  But God will have no part of this false piety and prayer.  So what is the Christian to do?

The great message of the Gospel, and the foundation of all Christian prayer, is that you are not alone.  You are never alone.  Perhaps you’ve noticed this thread running through our readings this Eastertide.  It’s very deliberate on our Lord’s part.  He died for your sins and rose again from the dead for you.  Very soon we celebrate His ascension into heaven, but this is not a time for mourning for the Christian.  Our Lord does not leave us alone.  He sends the Holy Spirit to you, who preaches to you, baptizes you, forgives your sins and gives you the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Because of that great work of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are bold enough to pray, Our Father who art in heaven.  Hard to believe, isn’t it?  But notice that first and important word: Our.  When you pray in Christ’s name, you are never alone.  There is no such thing ultimately as private prayer, as if you are having a super secret conversation with God.  All of the hosts of heaven pray with you.  Think of it!  When you pray the Our Father, the whole Christian Church prays with you.  So your voice is added to the myriad voices of all time and throughout the world.  Struggling with temptation?  You’re not alone.  All of heaven watches out for you and prays for you.  Long for forgiveness?  The angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents.  Need to hear the comfort of God’s Word?  There is no greater rejoicing than over the sinner who recognizes His need for God’s mighty hand.

I remember a time when I was in college when I was way over my head.  I had overspent my checking account.  I had been foolish and irresponsible.  And because my dad had co-signed the account with me, He actually ended up paying the financial consequences for my dumb spending habits.  I don’t know if he even recognized it at the time, but it was a lesson for me I never forgot.  He bailed me out.  He saved me, humanly speaking.  I could have gotten into a lot of trouble, but I didn’t, because when I signed my name, he signed it with me.  Debt paid.

Christ says the same thing to you, as does our heavenly Father.  Think again to the words of the catechism.

So have no fear, my friends!  He is your father, and He will hear you.  He put His name on your in Holy Baptism.  You eat and drink His body and blood in the Holy Supper.  You are His child.  He has promised to hear your prayers.  He will keep you and hold you in the palm of His hand.  As Jesus Himself said, In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.  In the strong name of Jesus.  Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting.  Amen.

Copyright © 2001 by Todd A. Peperkorn.