Ye Shall Ask in My Name

In Nomine Iesu!

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Sermon Text: St. John 16:23-30

“‘In that day ye shall ask in My Name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you; for the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from the Father.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

Lord God, our heavenly Father, Who by Thy Son hast promised to give us whatsoever we shall ask in His Name, We beseech Thee, grant us the power of Thy Holy Spirit, that we may make known our requests unto Thee in faithful prayer, and desire of Thee that which is well-pleasing to Thee and profitable for us, lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting, and being firmly assured that Thou wilt hear our prayer; through + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, gives us a great promise today. He promises that whatever we ask the heavenly Father in His Name—in the Name of the Lord + Jesus—will be given to us. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, if ye shall ask anything of the Father, He will give it you in My Name.” Why is it then that there are some prayers that go unanswered? Why do we not receive from the heavenly Father everything that we ask for in the Name of the Lord + Jesus? Every prayer must be for our benefit, or the benefit of our neighbor. Every prayer must also be according to the will of the heavenly Father. When we ask for things that do not fit into these categories, our prayer will go unanswered even though we have asked our heavenly Father in the Name of the Lord + Jesus. 

St. Paul had prayed three times to the heavenly Father to take away the thorn in his flesh, the nagging guilt that plagued him because he wreaked havoc upon the Church, by both imprisoning and murdering those who clung in faith to the Lord + Jesus. Our Lord’s response was, “My grace is sufficient.” St. Paul only needed the preaching of forgiveness; that his sins were forgiven by the Lord God. His guilt over his past sins remained for his benefit. It kept him in humility, in kept him in repentance, it kept him in a state which constantly sought the grace and mercy of the Lord God. When our past sins haunt us, the same is true of us. Our Lord’s grace is sufficient. He wants us to know that His forgiveness is all we need. For our guilt keeps us humble and contrite; always seeking forgiveness from Him.

St. Paul prayed for something that seemed to be for his benefit, for the thorn in his side to be removed. But there was a greater benefit to him in keeping his thorny side, it drove him to a stronger faith in the Lord God. It drove him to seek the Lord God in all things. There are many things which we pray for that seem on the surface to be for our benefit, but our heavenly Father Who knows all things answers our prayers in a way that gives us even greater benefits.

We can, and have most likely, prayed for many things that do not truly benefit us, or our neighbor. Many people pray for earthly blessings. They pray to be rich, or to be granted other worldly benefits. Our heavenly Father grants these all to us according to His divine will. Often our will is not in line with our Father’s will. These worldly blessings may make us happy for a time, but they do not truly bring us joy.

That is what our Lord + Jesus tells His Apostles in the Gospel reading from the Apostle and Evangelist St. John. “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be made full.” To be full means that there is no more room for anything else. Think about that! Our Lord + Jesus wants us to pray to the heavenly Father in such a way that what He grants us will make our joy full. When He grants us our petitions there will be no more room for anything else. That is how full our joy should be. Worldly blessings may give happiness for a time. Having money to put gas in the car, or to pay our bills and living expenses, certainly relieves stress. But these things only give us joy for as long as the money holds out. Then we are back on our knees imploring our Lord to grant us these earthly blessings again.

This is why our Lord + Jesus is talking about spiritual blessings. Spiritual blessings when granted give us true joy. This is why we should pray daily for forgiveness of sins, for with the forgiveness of sins we have all the benefits of heaven. Where there is the forgiveness of sins, there are also eternal life and salvation granted. Knowing that our many sins and transgressions have been forgiven brings true joy. Knowing that on account of our Lord’s sacrifice for us on the tree of the holy cross that we have the forgiveness of our sins, and that He has also won for us eternal life in heaven, and has saved us from our spiritual enemies—sin, death, and Satan—gives us true and lasting joy. This gives us a joy that lasts forever. 

This is why we ask for these spiritual blessings in the Name of the Lord + Jesus. For it on account of His works and merits that we may be granted these things from the heavenly Father. Indeed, my dear friends, these gifts are already ours for the taking. Our Lord + Jesus has already purchased and won them upon the tree of the holy cross. We laid hold of these gifts through faith. This faith is granted to us by the working of the Holy Ghost in the means of grace. Therefore, we should daily pray to our heavenly Father, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer, that He would grant us to know His holy Word, and that we may receive His Blessed Sacraments. For by these means is faith not only created in us, but is also strengthened in us. Faith is preserved in us through these means of grace. 

That is why we should not cease in petitioning our heavenly Father that He might lead us daily to see the benefits that He bestows upon us through the pure preaching of the Word of the Lord God, and in the Blessed Sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution. For by these means is our joy made full. Indeed, we will know true joy in heaven, when we join the saints who have gone before us in the faith. Their joy is now completely full. They have so much joy that no more joy can be added. Their cup of joy runneth over, for their joy is full.

We have a foretaste of this joy because we cling in faith our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Because of our faith, we are in Christ, and He is in us. If we dwell in the Christ, then we also dwell in the heavenly Father, for the Christ—our Lord + Jesus—and the Father are one. This is why He came down from the heavenly Father. He came to make us one with Him and the Father. He came to prepare a place for us in heaven with the heavenly Father. It is because of our Lord + Jesus that we know the Father. We know the Father, because we know Him. We know because He came from God.

He came from God in such a way that He did not completely leave the heavenly Father. He remained God, even though He took upon Himself our flesh. When He returned into heaven, He did not leave us completely alone, either. He had promised at His ascension that He would be with us to the end of the age. He is with us in His means of grace. But He also promises us today in the Gospel pericope that He is with us in our prayers. For whatever we ask from the heavenly Father in the Name of our Lord + Jesus will be given to us. He intercedes to the heavenly Father on our behalf. Indeed, because of Him we can bring our prayers directly to the heavenly Father, for He has promised that our Father in heaven will hear our prayers.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us not waste our prayers on frivolous things. Let us not waste our prayers on evil things, which do not benefit us or our neighbor. Rather, let us pray for all those things which benefit us and our neighbor, especially those things which redound to our spiritual benefit. For it is the spiritual blessings which our heavenly Father gives us which fill our joy to the full. With the grace and mercy of our Lord God our joy is truly full. His grace truly is sufficient, for His grace leads us to realize that our salvation is in Him alone. It makes us to know that there is no salvation in our own works and merits. This teaches us to trust fully in Him. For in Him is our joy made full. For in Him and in the Name of our Lord + Jesus we are granted the eternal joys of heaven. May our heavenly Father continue to grant us this grace. In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!