The Sixth Sunday of
Easter
May 25th, Year of Our + Lord 2025
Our Savior’s and Our
Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer,
South Dakota
Prayer in the Name of
Jesus – Seeking God’s Will,
Pursuing His Mission
John 16:23-33
Audio of the sermon available HERE.
We pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus,
asking that His will, the mission of God,
be
accomplished among us.
The Apostle John continues detailing the
long evening of teaching Jesus delivered in the Upper Room, on the night when
He was betrayed. He’s touched on many
heavenly topics – the unity of the Father and the Son, the coming of the Holy
Spirit, the shape of the Christian life the disciples will live while they are
still wending their way through this broken, sinful world. Now the Lord turns to prayer, and His promise
is huge: Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My
name He will give you.
That is a big promise. You pray in the Name of Jesus. Do you see this promise fulfilled in your prayer life? Is the Father regularly giving you whatever you ask for? How can this Word from Christ be true, but we so often feel like our prayers go unanswered? Our prayers should flow from faith, and in turn should strengthen our faith, our confidence in our place with God, our assurance of His love and favor toward us. But this particular promise of Jesus can leave us doubting. And Satan loves to step into our doubts to attack our confidence in God, our confidence in our own salvation. The evil one hisses: If your prayers aren’t answered, is it because God’s Word isn’t true? Or, is it because you aren’t really His child, you aren’t really a Christian?
“Satan, be gone!” “Satan be gone” is our proper response to the father of lies. But for us to have confidence that the devil is truly expelled, we need more from Jesus. We need Him to teach our hearts how prayer works. And He does. He will.
We pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus, asking that His will, the mission of God, be accomplished among us.
When we mimic Jesus as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, and finish our prayers with “Father, not my will, but Thy will be done,” do we pray this with a defeatist tone? Or do we ask for the Father’s will to be done with bold and joyful expectation? Is our thought something like: “Father, if it isn’t too much of a bother, and if I haven’t asked for something stupid, it would be really great if you could do such and such”? Or do we ask for the Father’s will to be done with a happy and confident expectation? Which should it be?
Well, it is true that as sinners, we are still capable of asking for the wrong thing. Prayer in the Name of Jesus is prayer that aligns with God’s will, even when we can’t quite see how His will is good for us in the moment. Still, we live in the Resurrection of Christ, so we know that the will of God is wonderful, amazing, life-giving. Yes, of course Jesus prayed in anguish in the Garden, just hours before He went to the Cross. He was about to receive all the suffering deserved by every sinner of all time. He had reason to pray “Thy will be done” with trepidation. And yet, He also prayed looking forward to the joy. And that joy, the joy of free and full forgiveness for every sinner, the joy of redeeming a holy people for His Father, that joy should always animate our “Thy-will-be-done’s.”
We are not facing God’s just punishment for our sin, that work is finished. Jesus has taken away the sin of the world, and buried it in His own body on the tree. The will and mission of God are assured, complete, and revealed to us, in Christ’s suffering and in His resurrection. So we can and we should pray “Thy will be done” with confidence and joy.
Yes, we live by faith and not by sight; it
is not always easy for us to see how God’s will is good for us. But we know the end of the
story! We know how God’s mission turns
out. The Name ‘Jesus’ means “the LORD
saves.” The LORD saves! This is the reality, this is the Name that
animates our prayer. In the resurrected
Christ Jesus you are forgiven, you are loved, your eternal future is guaranteed
and stupendously good. Your eternal home
is safe within the glorious walls of heavenly Jerusalem. So yes, of course we know God will give us
whatever we ask for in Jesus’ Name, because in Jesus’ Name we already have
everything.
We pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus, asking that His will, the mission of God, be accomplished among us.
Jesus promises that the Father will give us whatever we ask in His Name. But if we ever think this means that the life of the Christian in this world will be a life of continuous luxury and ease, simply closely reading the rest our Gospel will dispel this idea. Jesus makes His promise, and He means it. But God’s good and gracious will looks strange in this evil and vengeful world. When the disciples proclaim that finally they understand Jesus’ plain words and believe He has come from God, Jesus responds that they will all soon be scattered. When Jesus submitted to evil, in order to fulfill the mission of God, His disciples all ran away. The Cross is the fulfillment of God’s will, God’s mission, the place where the Lord saves, and there was nothing luxurious or easy about it. But it was good. And gracious.
Jesus predicts the scattering of the
disciples, their abandonment of Him. And
yet He still goes on to say that their peace will be in Him. For on His Cross, Jesus would establish peace
between God and mankind. After Jesus’
Passion, tribulation, struggle, trials and suffering would still be part of the
life of Christians, as it was for the Christ.
But we are of good cheer, because as frightening as the world may be,
Jesus has overcome the world, for us.
We pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus, asking that His will, the mission of God, be accomplished among us.
Does God allow fear to come into our lives so that we remember to pray? We should pray without ceasing, daily, habitually, like breathing in and out. Prayer should be as easy as conversation with our loving father. Because it is. God loves to hear from you. If you ever find prayer difficult, do not hesitate to ask for help, for suggestions to make regular holy conversation with God easier.
Often, we fall into the habit of only turning inward, into our thoughts and feelings, seeking for words to pray. Sometimes this fount flows easily. But other times our heartfelt prayers run dry, and we need to be reminded God has provided other streams for prayer, streams that continually overflow. Like the 150 Psalms the Spirit has written for us. Like the many other songs and prayers that fill the Bible. Like the prayers and hymns in your hymnal, or the half dozen ways you know how to simply sing “Lord have mercy upon us.” Your Father wants to hear your voice, and if your voice is repeating His Word, all the better.
Still, I think we all must confess that too often it is only when fear strikes us that we remember to call on our heavenly Father. We turn to prayer most readily when anguish is within us, when the terrors of death fall upon us. Then we call to God, then we utter our complaints and moan, pleading for the Lord’s help.
And what does God do with our prayers when we only offer them when fear enters our lives?
If we pray in the Name of Jesus, if our faith in the Son of God’s forgiving love is still an ember in our hearts, then the Father always rejoices to hear and answer our prayer, just as Jesus promises. He may heal our disease and take away the danger that threatens, or He may carry us through our suffering, using it to draw us closer to Himself. Whatever He knows to be best. But He never rejects the repentant heart that returns to Him in faithful prayer.
And never forget, it is the also Lord’s will, it is His mission to wipe away every tear from your eyes, to give you complete healing, to comfort you and lift you up from every struggle. The final completion of His will for your body and soul awaits the revelation of the heavenly Jerusalem. At the same time, He loves to give you relief and comfort today. So go ahead, pray away; ask your Father for big gifts; He loves to bless you.
Letting our prayers falter, only bending our knees and bowing our heads when trouble threatens, this is really no way to live. God will drag you kicking and screaming across the finish line of eternal salvation, if that is what it takes. But God has much better for you, now, today, lives of peace and confidence and daily communion with the Almighty. This too is the will and mission of God, for you, a daily, abundant, joyful communion with Him, even in the midst of troubles.
Today we have this promise by faith, in Word
and prayer. Sadly, our sinful frailty means
our peace and joy are still troubled by doubt and errors. Because of our need, God today happily keeps
repentance and forgiveness at the center of our conversation with Him. But someday soon, sin and failure will be
gone forever, and we will speak with the Lord, face to face. In the meantime, God grant us wisdom to
exercise the privilege of prayer in Jesus’ Name, every day, until He calls us
to Himself.
We pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus, asking that His will, the mission of God, be accomplished among us.
Like He did for the Apostle Paul, sometimes
the Lord gives us clear, unmistakable direction. Paul intended to go into Asia, to continue
His missionary work there. God had
better plans. No to Asia, and yes to
Macedonia, a divine re-routing for His greatest missionary. Now, you may, or may not, get a messenger
from God in your dreams to tell you what God would have you do next in your
Christian life. If you need it, God will
provide it. More often, the Lord will
give you freedom to choose a faithful path.
And we already have plenty of very specific directions for our day to
day life.
Has God given you a spouse, a family? Then you know for certain that His will is for you to love and care for them. Do you have a congregation of fellow believers? Then you know for certain that the Lord has called you to gather with them regularly, to confess your sins and faults together, and receive the Lord’s grace, mercy and strength. He also calls you to love your brothers and sisters in the faith, and to offer your time, talents and treasure to the ministry we share.
Do you have people in your life who are hurting? Then you know the Lord has called you to pray for them, and serve them in their need, with the abilities and gifts the Lord has given you.
Do you know the Name of Jesus? Then you know for certain that the Lord has
called you to confess it, to be ready to give the reason for the hope that is
in you. The conversation of our culture
grows coarser by the day. The way of the
world has always been the way of tearing others down in order to build yourself
up. Now we can do it faster and farther
than ever, over the internet. The
conversation of our culture is a cesspool.
But you know for certain that your Lord has called you to use your tongue
to bless, not to curse, to speak truth, not self-promoting lies, to love your
neighbor, not use or abuse them, to give glory to God, not seek glory for
yourself.
We pray to the Father in the Name of Jesus, asking that His will, the mission of God, be accomplished among us.
Lydia was a woman of means, for purple dye was very expensive, and so purple cloth was the height of 1st century luxury. In earthly terms she had a lot going for her. But the Word of God spoken and prayed among the Jews had attracted her; she made a habit of giving up her Saturdays to gather by the river to learn to fear and love God, and to pray. One sabbath, Paul showed up, and God opened her heart to receive his message. When the Good News of Jesus entered her soul, Lydia knew what to do.
She knew the Lord was drawing her to Himself. So she paid attention, and God gave her faith. She and her household were baptized. Then, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit she had just received, Lydia knew she should disregard a bunch of human opinions, and give over her home for the sake of the preaching of the Gospel. So she invited, she compelled Paul and his companions to come stay with her.
There is a lot of cause for offense in her offer to bring Paul and his companions into her own home. She is a woman, with no husband, it appears, and she invites a bunch of strange men to come live with her. The Philippian gossip guild will love to chew on this tidbit. She is a Gentile, a non-Jew, and so according to Jewish law, Paul and his companions should have nothing to do with her. From the Macedonian-Greco-Roman side of things, bringing Paul in to preach from her home would tell the whole community that she was abandoning the pagan gods. This would be a problem, because every good citizen of Philippi offered prayers to their local gods, as a civic duty.
None of this mattered to Lydia: she was living in the Resurrection. Her faith in Jesus made her a royal daughter of the Almighty. And the Almighty needed a place for teaching and prayer in Philippi. Thy will be done Lord, Thy mission be advanced.
God’s will, His mission, was to open Lydia’s
heart and claim her and her household through the washing of water and the
word, and then put her to work, supporting His mission and will in Philippi. This is also the will of God, His mission,
for you. The same Lord God has done and
is doing the same great work, for you and through you. So we pray to the Lord of the harvest with
confidence, that He send out workers into His harvest field, and provide
helpers, like Lydia, helpers like you, to pray and serve and support His will,
His mission, in Macedonia, and South Dakota, and to the ends of the earth,
Amen.
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