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*The Gospel of John XXX: *
*Abiding in Prayer*
*John 15:13-17*
*/August 30, 2009/*
*Main Point(s) of sermon:*
· The reason God answers prayers is so that we can partner with Jesus in bearing fruit in order to bring glory to God.
· The reason God has us partner with Jesus is so that we may be friends of Christ, becoming more like him and being in him as he is in the father.
· When our prayers are contrary to these purposes (be it wrong request, motive, or timing) they are not answered.
When they are in harmony with these purposes, they are answered.
· Having your prayers answered, then, is a skill to be developed, not a gift that some have and others don’t.
· Abiding in his words is a primary way we develop that skill, as we better understand his purpose and what will bring him glory.
*Objectives of sermon:*
· To help the church better understand the purpose of prayer and hence pray with greater hope and expectation, trusting that he will answer the prayers that will bring him glory and us joy.
* *
*Prep: *
· 077, 082, 083, 084
· First pages of leftovers
*Scripture reading: John 15:13-17*
Intro
Verse 16 “the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”
As kids we quickly learn that this verse doesn’t work:
Q Does this mean I can ask for $1,000,000?
We’ve learned the answer is no.
We are told that this only works if it’s something God knows we should have.
Even though that’s true, it still feels like a cop-out.
Don’t you agree?
Why does God answer some prayers and not others?
That is the focus of this sermon.
It can be summed up in these points:
· The reason God answers prayers is so that we can partner with Jesus to bear fruit in order to bring glory to God.
· The reason God has us partner with Jesus is so we may grow in relationship with him and become more like Christ.
· When our prayers are contrary to these purposes (be it wrong motives, requests, or timing) they are not answered.
When they are in harmony with these purposes, they are answered.
· Having your prayers answered, then, is a skill to be developed, not a gift that some have and others don’t.
If you get this, then you can ignore the rest of the sermon.
Prayer
I boldly ask that you help us understand and apply this stuff, knowing it is your desire to for us to partner with you.
To the glory of God
Q Why does God answer prayers?
*John 14:12-14 * 12 ¶ I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
*John 15:7-8 * 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
[=partnering]
The reason God answers prayers is so that we partner with Jesus to bring God glory by bearing fruit.
To bear fruit means that we do the things that Jesus did, that we act as Jesus did, and that our attitude be that of Jesus:
· It means serving as Jesus did (washing feet).
· It means loving one another and the world.
· It means being full of the fruit of the Spirit.
When we do these things, people get a glimpse of God’s character, how kind, loving, just, and glorious he is.
This is how we bring God glory, by making him more clearly visible.
· When confronted by that they choose if they want more or less of this glory (next week).
Asking for what we want
So the entire purpose of answering prayers is to bring God glory, but does that mean can never just ask God for something we want?
Not at all! Two reasons:
/1) //God delights in giving us //good// //gifts// and it is to //his// //glory// to do so, as it shows us his //character//./
God is not a stingy father looking for a reason to say no, he is a generous father who looks for ways to say yes, even giving a gift as simple as a breeze in the summer.
· The problem comes when we ask for things that will harm us, frequently by distracting us from him.
/2) // His glory is what we //really// //want//./
When God is glorified it means that his good character is most full seen and felt, and that is what we really want.
“When God is most glorified, his people are most happy.”
· Everything that is good, joyful, and pleasing is in some manner a reflection of God’s glory, even if it’s corrupted.
If I had a $1,000,000...
Think to the things you want, e.g. that $1,000,000.
What is behind that desire?
Security that comes from God? Happiness that can’t be found in things?
Beauty of a good view?
· God would give these to you without them possessing you.
So the call to pray is a call to eagerly pursue the glory of God, not begrudgingly (“Since I can’t have my million, I guess I’ll settle for God’s glory”), because it’s what we really want.
Q Isn’t this an anthropocentric (man-centered) perspective?
Q Shouldn’t we seek God’s glory even if it makes us miserable?
To me that is a nonsense question.
If seeking God’s glory were to make us miserable, it would only be because God is not the source of all that is good, but he is so it doesn’t.
· The problem is not that we pursue God’s glory as our highest joy, it is that we pursue lesser joys and lesser gods.
The test comes when we can’t see how his glory is our highest joy (which happens more often than not).
Will we pursue joy as we think we see it, or God’s glory, trusting that it he our joy.
Partnering with Jesus
So God answers our prayers so that we can partner with Jesus to bear fruit and bring glory to God.
But why does Jesus want to partner with us?
It certainly isn’t pragmatic – God could do it all better without us, if “it” was to display his glory in all of its mind-shattering brilliance.
· But “it” (that God wants to do) is draw all humanity to him in relationship, and for that, partnering with Jesus is best.
Friends of Christ
This idea we are friends with Christ is and was revolutionary.
*John 15:15 * 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business.
Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
In the OT, only two men were ever called friends of God, Abraham and Moses.
But now we are “no longer” servants.
This is a fundamental shift from OT to NT.
With the grace that flows from the cross and the internal heart change that comes from the gift of the Holy Spirit, we now can be friends of God, motivated by love, not fear of punishment.
Ancient religions – have we changed?
This wasn’t just revolutionary among the Jews, but also the Gentiles.
The ancient religions lived in fear of the gods and of fate.
Very few of the gods simply sought the good of people.
· Rituals sought to appease the gods, and magic sought to control them.
The sad thing is that this is still the perspective that many of us hold regarding prayer.
We either beg or plead with God (with or without hope) or trying to make him do what we want.
We try to do the right things to appease God so he will answer.
We try praying “enough,” living right, or making deals.
· “If you do ___, I will do ___” assumes that God doesn’t really want to answer our prayer!
We also act like the ancient magicians, hoping to force God to answer: Fasting, praying the right words, saying “In Jesus name.”
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