Study in John’s Gospel

Study in John’s Gospel Presentation 59

Praying In Jesus’ Name Chap 14v13-14 Presentation 59

Introduction There is a TV advert that shows a man in front of a blank computer monitor, obviously frustrated because nothing is happening! He appears to be thinking, “I’ve been sold a dud. Computers clearly aren’t all they are cracked up to be!” And then a child enters the room presses a few keys and the machine is up and running. Clearly the computer was not deficient. But the “user” didn’t know how to handle it properly. Presentation 59

Introduction The adult’s response to his computer clearly mirrors the response on many Christians towards prayer. “It doesn’t work. It’s not all it’s cracked up to be”. But often the problem is that we do not know how to use prayer properly. And I suspect that our sense of frustration and failure is heightened by texts like the one before us. “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it”. Presentation 59

Introduction Failure to have prayer requests granted has caused some to devalue its currency so that some conclude, ‘We might not get what we ask for but prayer will do us good somehow’. Others accept that we do not get what we pray for when we pray foolishly and selfishly. The petition, “Lord please give me a Lamborghini sports car,” is unlikely to meet with a favourable response! Again we know that God in his mercy often refuses some of our requests because he knows they would not be good for us. Presentation 59

Introduction But what is Jesus teaching here? Jesus’ immediate goal is not to teach that praying will do us good; nor is his primary concern to teach us that selfish requests will not be answered; he is not even attempting to teach that God knows best what good gifts to give us - all of these things, Jesus would acknowledge to be true! However, Jesus’ purpose is to makes it crystal clear that God will indeed provide the very things we ask for in his name. Presentation 59

In My Name However, for that to happen there are certain conditions to be met. First, we are encouraged to ask “in his name”. But what does that mean? To begin with, to pray in his name requires us to have a personal relationship with Jesus. Remember that this block of instruction is not public ministry, which is addressed to the world at large, but instruction given specifically to Jesus’ followers. Followers who had been previously identified in v12 as those who had a faith relationship with him. This is important! Presentation 59

In My Name The Bible never promises that God will hear and answer the prayer of an unbeliever. Of course he sometimes does hear and answers such prayers, particularly if they have been made by those in whose life he has begun to work. eg. The Roman centurion, Cornelius. Cornelius was a man that God intended to lead to faith in Jesus Christ. But, and this is the all-important point, God has not bound himself or promised to answer such prayers. Presentation 59

No Other Name Secondly to pray "in Jesus name" involves approaching God only on the basis of what Jesus has accomplished by his death on the cross. In prayer, it is possible for the Christian to automatically and unthinkingly use the words ‘in Jesus name’ while in his heart he believes that God should answer him on the grounds of his own performance and not because of what Christ has done. The Christian may be dwelling upon how much he has suffered for Christ or, on how much he has sacrificed to follow him. This position is not the one that Jesus requires for such a person is really saying, “I deserve to be heard because of what I have endured for Christ’s sake”. Presentation 59

No Other Name Let me illustrate. When R. A. Torrey, a famous Bible teacher was conducting a series of meetings in Australia and a note was thrust into his hands. It read; "Dear Dr. Torrey: I am greatly perplexed. I’ve been praying for a long time for something that I’m confident is according to God's will, but I do not get it. I’ve been a member of the Presbyterian Church for thirty years, and have tried to be a consistent Christian all that time. I’ve been superintendent in the Sunday school for twenty-five years, and an elder in the church for twenty years; and yet God does not answer my prayer and I can’t understand it”. Presentation 59

No Other Name Torrey answered; “You think that because you have been a faithful church member, a Sunday school superintendent and an elder all these years, that God is under obligation to answer your prayer. But you are really praying in your own name. God will not hear our prayers when we approach him in this way. We mustn’t think that we have any claims upon God. Not one of us deserves anything from God. But Jesus Christ has great claims on God, and we should go to God in our prayers not on the ground of any goodness in ourselves, but on the ground of Jesus Christ's claims.” Presentation 59

No Other Name Immediately, the writer of the note understood his problem. For he believed that God owed him an answer because of his service. Many people make the same mistake. They imagine that because they have done certain things for God that they have some claim upon him. They are greatly disillusioned and angry - they feel cheated - if God does not do what they ask of Him. But only Jesus has any claims upon the Father and we can approach God solely on that basis. Presentation 59

No Other Name There are others who think that praying in the name of Jesus is like waving a magic wand over their own desires thus ensuring that their petitions will be granted. They treat the expression, “In the name of Jesus” as a kind of Christian incantation. As if it were a kind of magic formula guaranteeing success. Sadly, some Christian workers use Jesus’ name in precisely this way. “Oh God, I pray that you would heal this man in the name of Jesus.” They assume, wrongly, that the expression ‘in the name of Jesus’ is a ‘power expression.’ This is not what Jesus is encouraging in this text! Presentation 59

In Booth’s Name And so a third point needs to be made. To pray in Jesus' name is to pray as he would pray and for those things that he desires. Let me illustrate. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, began work with the poor and deprived in Victorian London. He provided help and lodgings for those whose lives had been destroyed by alcohol. Now if one of those unfortunates were to leave Booth’s rehabilitation clinic and walks into a bar at the end of the street and say; “Give me a double whisky in Booth’s name”. What would happen? Presentation 59

In Booth’s Name The bartender would ask, ‘Do you mean William Booth’. ‘Yes’ answers the man. ‘Do you mean William Booth who is running the rehabilitation clinic at the end of the road’, asks the bartender. ‘The very same,’ the man replies. The bartender then says, ‘You want to charge this drink to him. How dare you? If you had really coming in his name, you would be wanting to take back some poor drunkard like yourself to be helped down at the clinic. Booth is not a drinking man, and therefore those who name his name are not customers of mine." Presentation 59

In Booth’s Name To pray in the name of Christ is a serious matter. Do we ask for many things in order to please ourselves? Are we concerned with our benefit, our comfort, our well-being? For example we might pray for our next door neighbours to come to faith because the noise they make constantly arguing keeps us awake at night. Or we may pray for a new job because we do not like the colleagues we work with- when God has put us in that very place in order to influence them for him...etc . Presentation 59

God Glorified There is one final requirement. It’s found in the phrase, "that the Father may be glorified." This is a new thought for many people. We are so filled with the idea that prayer is getting something from God that we fail to recognise that prayer is actually a means by which God gets something from us. A blind Christian man, a gifted Bible teacher spoke in many unfamiliar locations. He was dependent upon the help given him by others: “We’re going up stairs now… just three more steps.” And he found himself asking, "Why should I suffer in this way when God can restore my sight?” Presentation 59

God Glorified He prayed but got nowhere. He asked for healing at his church without success. He visited someone who had a gift for healing. Nothing happened. Then one day God spoke to his heart, “Have you not thought that I might be able to accomplish more through you because of your blindness than if you were fully sighted? And if that is so what would you do if faced with the choice of restored sight or, service that brought glory to my name?” After some thought he answered, ‘to bring glory to your name’. The Westminster catechism begins by asking, ‘What is man’s chief aim?’ Its answer, ‘To glorify God and enjoy him forever.’ Presentation 59

God Glorified Paul discovered this truth when he repeatedly prayed for his ‘thorn in the flesh’ to be removed 2 Cor.12v7-8. The essence of God’s response was, “I will be glorified by not removing it”. The goal of prayer is not obtaining our wishes but to bring glory to God. In the Lord’s prayer in Jn.17 Jesus, anticipating the completion of his atoning death upon the cross says, ‘I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do’ v4. The Father’s glory always took precedence over any personal preference, “Father take this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but yours be done”. Lk.22.14 Presentation 59

God Glorified Do we really know what that means to seek God’s glory in our praying? If not then we will discover that by doing so our lives our lives will be transformed. Throughout our lives we will undoubtedly suffer many of the things that are common to man; illness, grief and disappointments will enter our homes, our workplaces and church fellowships. How will we react in such circumstances? Will we complain and blame God or, will we receive these circumstances from his hand and seek to glorify him in them? Presentation 59

God Glorified William Chalmers Burns was greatly used of God in the Scottish revival in the 1840s. Thousands were touched by his ministry. To the great surprise of many he turned his back on this success and in 1847 sailed for China where he worked incessantly for God till his death in 1868. His last words provide the clue to his move, "Thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever ". He wanted his ministry to promote God’s glory and feared that by remaining in Scotland he would become an object of popular acclaim. How much of our prayer and work in the kingdom is motivated by a desire for God’s glory? How much is spent promoting our own Glory? Be careful for God will not share his glory with another. Isa.48v11 Presentation 59

Study in John’s Gospel