Ask And You Will Receive What?
Pastor Mathew Magera – 5/1/16 – Sermon 163
St. Thomas Lutheran Church, Trufant, MI
To God be the Glory!
Grace
and peace to you from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and
the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Ask and you will receive.
Ask and you will receive? I don't like this verse. I genuinely don't like it. I
don't like it because it is often misunderstood. I don't like that because it
is often misunderstood it is often seen as a false hope. Ask and you will receive.
There are far better places and people to ask for something and actually get
what you want in return. How many times have we asked God to heal somebody and
it doesn't happen? How many times have we asked God to reduce our suffering but
it doesn't happen? How many times have we asked for peace in the world but it
doesn't happen?
When I was young, my mom
worked for my school in our transportation office. Every day after school I
would walk from my school to my mom's office building where I would wait for her
to finish her day at work before I would get home. As I walked into the office,
I would set my backpack down, find my mom and get some quarters. I had one
thing in mind... the vending machine. I was ready for my after school snack.
We've all, most likely, had a staring competition with a vending machine at one
point or another. I mean, so many choices, so few coins. Just look at the
choices. You have your potato chip rows that carry the Doritos, Fritos, the Cheetos,.
You have the fruit row where you find Skittles and the Starburst, the Good N'
Plenty. There might even be a row of bubble gum. But, not always did those
interest me. I wanted the good stuff. There would always be the row full of
Milky Way, Snickers, Reese's, M&M's, Butterfinger, Three Musketeers,
KitKat. The list goes on. Again, so many choices. Eventually, you make up your
mind, decide what you want and you put your money in. Now that you have all the
money in, you have the machine's attention. The only thing that stands between
you and that chocolatey goodness is the letter and number that you have to
punch in so the machine knows which one to release. So, you push in the
buttons. E 7. The machine comes to life. That spiral thing begins to move. You
can almost taste it now. Then, as the coil finishes its single revolution, the
unthinkable happens. It stops moving but your selection has yet to fall. What
do you do now? Do you bang on the glass? Do you surrender more money? Do you
call for help? Do you simply walk away with you head hung in dreadful sorrow?
This is how I feel when I
ask God for something. Everything has been done just as it was supposed to but
in the end I feel like I have been cheated out of something I rightfully deserve.
We've even asked for what we want in Jesus' name and it still doesn't seem to
work out. I'm not even talking about asking for a new car or $1 million or a
clean house. I'm talking about those sincere prayers when we are on the verge
of breaking down, so desperate for help and still it seems that God isn't giving.
Especially in those times when we feel most sincere in our prayers, how are
exactly are we to understand such an encouraging word that doesn't end up
seeming too encouraging?
"In that
day you will no longer ask me anything.
Very truly I
tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.
Until now you
have not asked for anything in my name.
Ask and you
will receive, and your joy will be complete."
John 16:23-24
We've always been drawn to
the part that says, "in my name" when we talk with others. We'd say
things like, “well, maybe it just isn’t God’s will.” It’s hard to come back with that when the
Bible says, “ask and you will receive.” I know too many people who pray
earnestly and so sincerely in Jesus' name and still do not receive what they
are praying for. So, there must be something else to it than just ending a
prayer with the words, "In Jesus' name. Amen."
The truth is, Jesus tells
his disciples that they have not yet, to this point, asked anything in Jesus'
name. Why is that? Well, if we think about where we are right now in John,
we've already had the Last Supper. Jesus is now out at night praying and
talking with his disciples before Judas comes back to betray him. He is almost
at the end of his ministry on earth and he tells them to this point no one has
asked anything in his name. Why is that? Because they don't know his name. Now,
how exactly is that possible? They know his name is Jesus. They know he is the
Messiah. Still, Jesus is saying they don’t know his name.
We've been talking about
this sort of situation in our Thursday night Bible studies as they relate to
the book of Exodus. You see, there was one point in Exodus 2 where Moses is
complaining to God about going before Pharaoh saying, "God, what if I go
before Pharaoh and tell him all these great things that you will do and he asks
me what your name is? What do I do if he asks me your name?" To us, this
doesn't seem like a difficult question to be faced with. If we were out and
about and someone asked us the name of our God, one, we'd be a little caught
off guard and two, we'd probably say his name is "God." The other
person would be satisfied and you would go about your day. Well, this isn't
what Moses was complaining about. Of course, Moses knew God's name. Yahweh, El
Shaddai, Elohim, Adonai are all names that we attribute to God. He wan't afraid
of being asked a question that he could simply give off one of these names. He
was, rather, afraid of a question that might ask him about who God was, what
his character is like. If Pharaoh were to ask God's name, for us, it would
sound like, "Tell me about this God of yours." This is a question
that become a little more difficult to answer. If you were going about your day
and somebody stopped you and said, "Tell me about this God of yours"
you may lock up and not know where to start. This is what it meant to talk
about God's "name" in Exodus, about God's nature and character and
I'm wondering if this is what Jesus is referring to when he talks with his
disciples and to us about asking for things in his name.
To know how to ask God for
things in Jesus' name is to know the very nature and character of God. At this
point in John, the disciples did not yet understand. They were still denying
that Jesus was going to die, let alone rise from the dead. When Jesus tells
them they have yet to ask for anything in his name, it's pretty much true
because they don't understand yet that he will be raised from the dead and what
that means for them in the future. For us to ask for anything in Jesus' name is
to do so knowing the full nature and character of God.
When we get to this point,
things get a bit sticky. Do we really know the full nature and character of
God? Of course not. We know Jesus was raised from the dead and why he had to
die but we still struggle to understand who God really is. That's why we come
to worship and why we have devotions and Bible studies, so that we can keep
exploring and experiencing God in new ways. So, do we know how to ask for
things in Jesus' name? No, not really. Not on our own, at least. We need help.
On the other side of things, Jesus says that there will be a day when you will
no longer ask for anything. This day is the day we know the complete nature and
character of God and the reason I think we won’t ask for anything is because
when we know the true nature and character of God, we’ll realize God is all we
need and we lack nothing.
That’s great to know for the
future, but how do we manage this upcoming week knowing that if we ask anything
in Jesus' name it will be given to us but that because we don't know how to ask
in that way it seems hopeless? How do we understand why we can pray for someone
when they get sick, see them get better but then the next time they get sick we
pray and they don't get better? Is it us? Is it our poor praying ability? No.
It's God working in a world that is polluted by sin. We know God can fix
anything with the snap of a finger but often times he doesn't work that way.
That's part of God's nature. When we pray for someone and they get better we
rejoice at God's ability to shower love, grace and mercy, but when we pray for
someone and they die, we question God's very goodness. Somehow God is working
his goodness through everything but sometimes our shock confirms our lack of
understanding.
The nature and character of
a vending machine is that we put in money, hit a few buttons and a certain coil
makes one revolution. That's it. It does not take into account other variables
such as the size of the item that is placed in the machine, the person who put
it in there or the way they put it in there. But, when we peer into that glass
at a Snickers bar, that's where are eyes are focused. That's what we want. If
we get mad about our candy bar getting stuck, we blame the machine, yet it did
nothing wrong. We may not know a lot about God's nature and character but we do
know that he loves us and that he desires an eternal relationship with us and
his work is aimed at softening our hearts for him. I wonder what it might be
like if we took a step back and asked ourselves if the problem isn't that God
didn't hear our prayer but that because we lack what it takes to know God we didn't
know what to ask for?" The good news here, friends, is that even when we
don't know how to pray we have help. You may know the verse from Romans that
says we don't know how to pray as we ought but the Spirit "intercedes with
sighs too deep for words." This is our help. This is our rescue. Even when
we pray in times of trouble and we pray for letter A but God's will is number
7, the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf and completes our prayer.
So when we think of the
words, "ask and you shall receive" perhaps we need to think a little
longer about not what we are asking for, but rather the very nature of the God
who we are asking. For if we are to understand God we would begin to realize
that he has always given us everything we have ever needed, that he is focused
on our long term relationship and that’s why he sent Jesus to die on the cross
in the first place. When we think of the words, "ask and you shall
receive" let us remember that though we may not know how to ask that God's
very Spirit intercedes for us. When we think of the words, "ask and you
shall receive" let them be a reminder to us that while trials, tribulations,
bankruptcy, debt, cancer, and death are not part of God's plan of creation that
He has already brought victory over them through Jesus Christ. When we think of
the words, "ask and you shall receive" help us to know that we can
always find rest, comfort and peace in God's arms and that he will reassure us
each and every time.
Even though a loved one
dies, God still answers prayer. Even though we may suffer from different
ailments on a daily basis, God still answers prayer. We may or may not see
healing from that in this world, but we can trust that through God's
incomprehensible nature and character that if God can hold this very world in
his hand without letting it fall, he can help us in this very moment with what
we are going through
Ask and you shall receive.
It's a promise that rings just as true as the promise of eternal life. My
prayer for you this day is that you would gain a deeper understanding of Jesus'
name that we may be comforted by the truth that through it all God is faithful
to his promises even if they will continue to confuse us until Jesus comes
again. Rest assured, if we ask in Jesus' name, it will be given to us. All we
have to do is take our focus off of the Snickers Bar and onto the cross for
that is the first place that we can look to know, to really know, Jesus' name.
To God be the glory now and always. Amen.