Rogate Sunday
John 16:23-30
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
May 5, 2024
In Numbers 21, the people of Israel grumbled against God and against Moses in the wilderness, so God sent fiery serpents to bite them and killed many of them. Since the people were too afraid to cry out to God directly, they asked Moses to pray for them, which he did. God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole, so that whoever was bitten could look at the bronze serpent and live. Moses did so, and many were saved. The people were afraid to speak to God directly, so they asked Moses to be their mediator. Yet, the prophet Isaiah foretold of a day, when God would answer His people before they called and while they were yet speaking, He would hear (Isaiah 65:24). In other words, God promised that His people could pray to Him directly, and He would answer them. It is that day, which Jesus speaks of in our Gospel lesson, when God will make a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17), that is, when He will establish His holy Christian Church on earth through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When Moses lifted-up that serpent in the wilderness, he not only foreshadowed how Christ would be lifted up for the sins of all people, so that whoever believes in Him will be saved (John 3:15), he also foreshadowed a day when the people would ask the Father directly through Christ Jesus, who was crucified for their sins. Jesus tells His disciples and us that the day will come when we will not ask Him to speak to the Father for us, but we will ask the Father directly, and whatever we ask Him in Jesus’ name, He will give to us. It is no longer like the people of Israel of the Old Testament, who asked Moses or the high priest, or one of the prophets to pray for them. No, in the New Testament Church, we pray directly to the Father, because Christ has been crucified for our sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and is now and ever interceding for us. This is what St. Paul writes in Romans 8, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (8:34) We do not need to ask Jesus to pray on our behalf, because before we even think to pray, Christ Jesus is already interceding for us for the sake of His suffering and death, which atones for our sins and appeases God to us. Before we call out to the Father, Christ is already calling out for us. Before we pray, the Father is already listening for the sake of His Son.
So, it is for those who live in the New Heavens and the New Earth, the Holy Christian Church, established by the blood of Christ. We are currently living in that day through faith in that blood. Jesus not only teaches us to pray directly to the Father, but He also teaches us what to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. We begin the Lord’s Prayer with, “Our Father Who art in Heaven.” This prayer cannot be prayed without faith in Christ Jesus, God’s own Son. But because He, who makes constant intercession for us before the Father invites us to pray in this way, we are confident and bold to pray to God as dear children ask their dear father.
The Lord’s Prayer has seven petitions. A petition is a request. With these seven petitions we ask God to take care of three things: the Holy Christian Church, our bodies, and our souls.
The first three petitions, “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” teach us to pray for Christ’s Church. “Hallowed be Thy name” means that we are praying that God’s Word would be taught in its truth and purity, and that we, as the children of God, would also lead holy lives according to it. We also pray that God would protect us from false teachers. By praying, “Thy kingdom come,” we pray that God would send His Holy Spirit, so that we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and thereafter in eternity. “Thy will be done” means that we pray that God would break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which fight against God’s name and kingdom. In other words, we pray that God would place us firmly into the New Heaven and the New Earth, where God answers our prayers before we even ask them. He does this by creating faith in our hearts by the preaching of His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus says that He will speak to them plainly and not in figures of speech. In the holy Christian Church, Christ speaks the Gospel clearly, so that we may have faith in Him and ask the Father in His name.
This is why it is so wrong to pit prayer against the means of grace. People often say that they don’t need to go to church, because they can pray anywhere. But the first thing Jesus teaches us to pray for is that we would go to church and hear His Word taught clearly and faithfully. When you pray, “Hallowed by Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” you are praying that the Holy Spirit would guide your pastor to preach truthfully, clearly, and powerfully, and that your heart would be elevated to hear and accept the Word of God from his mouth. We cannot pray to the Father except through faith in Christ. And faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
The fourth petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” teaches us to pray for our bodies. Because we live in this world and constantly feel the woes of our flesh, most of our prayers fall under the fourth petition for daily bread. Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. This includes the elderly, sick, and pregnant women in our church prayers, as well as prayers for our government, travelers, and farmers, prayers for our marriages, and our children’s future marriages, for good friends and neighbors, and the like.
Of course, God gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people. But we pray this petition, so that we would realize this and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. This may seem like a small thing, but consider the people of Israel. They complained, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” (Num. 21:5) There is no food, and we loathe this food. Don’t they sound like children. “I’m hungry!” Eat your vegetables. “I’m not hungry for vegetables!” But adults are the same way. They just don’t have their parents telling them to be thankful for what they’ve got. But we should learn to be hungry and grateful for what the Lord provides us. By being content with what the LORD provides for us, we can focus more on God’s kingdom, which is eternal, and have greater confidence that God will answer all our prayers.
The fifth through seventh petitions teach us to pray for our souls, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.” We are taught in our catechism that we deserve nothing for which we pray, because of our sin. For this reason, we must daily pray that God would forgive our sins. Why do bad things happen? While you cannot determine that people who suffer greatly suffer more than others because their sins are greater, suffering is always an opportunity for self-reflection and repentance (Luke 13:1-5). The children of Israel were plagued by fiery serpents, because they grumbled against the Lord and Moses instead of being grateful for the food and water God provided for them in the wilderness. This is why the people were afraid to call out to God. They knew their sin and were afraid to call to God on account of their sin. This is why, in order to pray to God, we must believe in and receive the forgiveness of sins.
Our sin is the greatest danger to our souls. So, we must daily pray that God would forgive us. And as a sign of our faith in God’s forgiveness, we must forgive one another, knowing that the forgiveness we take comfort in from God is offered to all. Yet, being forgiven is not enough as long as we live in this world. We must also daily pray that God lead us out of temptation. For, although I stand forgiven now, I know that the devil, world, and my own treasonous sinful flesh will in the next moment try to draw me to guilt and shame. The final two petitions stand together, because it is the evil one Satan, who leads us into temptation, so that we fall into false belief, despair, and finally unbelief and hell.
Yet, we must again consider the children of Israel in the wilderness. They asked Moses to pray to God to take away the snakes from them. Yet, you’ll notice that God did not take the snakes away. Instead, He provided a remedy for the snake bites, so that when they were bitten, they could flee to the cross and be saved. The snakes represent the many temptations and evils of this world, which daily plague us. We pray that God take them away from us, but often God tells us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) And so, we must carry on with fiery serpents all around us. Yet our awareness of these serpents draws us to constantly look to Jesus lifted-up for us as our advocate before God the Father. Only through Jesus can we find forgiveness of sins. Only through Jesus can we find aid against temptation and every evil. Jesus is that balm for the soul, which heals and strengthens.
So, when you are assailed by doubts, lusts, and every evil vice, flee to prayer and pray for your soul, that God would forgive you for Christ’s sake and grant you every good thing by grace, that He would lead you out of temptation, and deliver you from Satan. And do not simply say a quick prayer and rush back into the thicket. Keep praying until the temptation passes. Set your eyes on Christ and His crucifixion for you until Satan flees from you.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.” Jesus said in our Gospel lesson. Amen means yes, yes, it shall be so. Amen means that what is said is trustworthy and sure. This is why we close our prayers with “Amen.” We believe that what we ask, we shall receive, for Christ is no liar, neither is anything impossible with Him. By beginning your prayer, with, “Our Father,” you are confessing that you have faith in Christ Jesus, because no one can come to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6). And by closing your prayer with, “Amen,” you declare your faith that God will give you what you ask. To say Amen, while doubting, is to take God’s name in vain. So, whenever you say Amen, you need to say it with sincerity and faith. The word Amen should teach you to pay close attention to what you pray for, and to take comfort in Christ’s promise to give it to you.
Dear Christians, through faith in Jesus you currently dwell in a New Heavens and a New Earth. You live in that day, when whatever you ask of the Father in Christ’s name, He will give it to you. So, ask. This is your greatest power and privilege. Ask. And it shall be given to you. Amen.
John 16:23-30
Pastor James Preus
Trinity Lutheran Church
May 5, 2024
In Numbers 21, the people of Israel grumbled against God and against Moses in the wilderness, so God sent fiery serpents to bite them and killed many of them. Since the people were too afraid to cry out to God directly, they asked Moses to pray for them, which he did. God commanded Moses to make a fiery serpent and put it on a pole, so that whoever was bitten could look at the bronze serpent and live. Moses did so, and many were saved. The people were afraid to speak to God directly, so they asked Moses to be their mediator. Yet, the prophet Isaiah foretold of a day, when God would answer His people before they called and while they were yet speaking, He would hear (Isaiah 65:24). In other words, God promised that His people could pray to Him directly, and He would answer them. It is that day, which Jesus speaks of in our Gospel lesson, when God will make a new heaven and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17), that is, when He will establish His holy Christian Church on earth through the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
When Moses lifted-up that serpent in the wilderness, he not only foreshadowed how Christ would be lifted up for the sins of all people, so that whoever believes in Him will be saved (John 3:15), he also foreshadowed a day when the people would ask the Father directly through Christ Jesus, who was crucified for their sins. Jesus tells His disciples and us that the day will come when we will not ask Him to speak to the Father for us, but we will ask the Father directly, and whatever we ask Him in Jesus’ name, He will give to us. It is no longer like the people of Israel of the Old Testament, who asked Moses or the high priest, or one of the prophets to pray for them. No, in the New Testament Church, we pray directly to the Father, because Christ has been crucified for our sins, risen from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God the Father, and is now and ever interceding for us. This is what St. Paul writes in Romans 8, “Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (8:34) We do not need to ask Jesus to pray on our behalf, because before we even think to pray, Christ Jesus is already interceding for us for the sake of His suffering and death, which atones for our sins and appeases God to us. Before we call out to the Father, Christ is already calling out for us. Before we pray, the Father is already listening for the sake of His Son.
So, it is for those who live in the New Heavens and the New Earth, the Holy Christian Church, established by the blood of Christ. We are currently living in that day through faith in that blood. Jesus not only teaches us to pray directly to the Father, but He also teaches us what to pray for in the Lord’s Prayer. We begin the Lord’s Prayer with, “Our Father Who art in Heaven.” This prayer cannot be prayed without faith in Christ Jesus, God’s own Son. But because He, who makes constant intercession for us before the Father invites us to pray in this way, we are confident and bold to pray to God as dear children ask their dear father.
The Lord’s Prayer has seven petitions. A petition is a request. With these seven petitions we ask God to take care of three things: the Holy Christian Church, our bodies, and our souls.
The first three petitions, “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” teach us to pray for Christ’s Church. “Hallowed be Thy name” means that we are praying that God’s Word would be taught in its truth and purity, and that we, as the children of God, would also lead holy lives according to it. We also pray that God would protect us from false teachers. By praying, “Thy kingdom come,” we pray that God would send His Holy Spirit, so that we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and thereafter in eternity. “Thy will be done” means that we pray that God would break and hinder every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which fight against God’s name and kingdom. In other words, we pray that God would place us firmly into the New Heaven and the New Earth, where God answers our prayers before we even ask them. He does this by creating faith in our hearts by the preaching of His Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus says that He will speak to them plainly and not in figures of speech. In the holy Christian Church, Christ speaks the Gospel clearly, so that we may have faith in Him and ask the Father in His name.
This is why it is so wrong to pit prayer against the means of grace. People often say that they don’t need to go to church, because they can pray anywhere. But the first thing Jesus teaches us to pray for is that we would go to church and hear His Word taught clearly and faithfully. When you pray, “Hallowed by Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,” you are praying that the Holy Spirit would guide your pastor to preach truthfully, clearly, and powerfully, and that your heart would be elevated to hear and accept the Word of God from his mouth. We cannot pray to the Father except through faith in Christ. And faith comes from hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17).
The fourth petition, “Give us this day our daily bread,” teaches us to pray for our bodies. Because we live in this world and constantly feel the woes of our flesh, most of our prayers fall under the fourth petition for daily bread. Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body. This includes the elderly, sick, and pregnant women in our church prayers, as well as prayers for our government, travelers, and farmers, prayers for our marriages, and our children’s future marriages, for good friends and neighbors, and the like.
Of course, God gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people. But we pray this petition, so that we would realize this and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving. This may seem like a small thing, but consider the people of Israel. They complained, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” (Num. 21:5) There is no food, and we loathe this food. Don’t they sound like children. “I’m hungry!” Eat your vegetables. “I’m not hungry for vegetables!” But adults are the same way. They just don’t have their parents telling them to be thankful for what they’ve got. But we should learn to be hungry and grateful for what the Lord provides us. By being content with what the LORD provides for us, we can focus more on God’s kingdom, which is eternal, and have greater confidence that God will answer all our prayers.
The fifth through seventh petitions teach us to pray for our souls, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, lead us not into temptation, and deliver us from evil.” We are taught in our catechism that we deserve nothing for which we pray, because of our sin. For this reason, we must daily pray that God would forgive our sins. Why do bad things happen? While you cannot determine that people who suffer greatly suffer more than others because their sins are greater, suffering is always an opportunity for self-reflection and repentance (Luke 13:1-5). The children of Israel were plagued by fiery serpents, because they grumbled against the Lord and Moses instead of being grateful for the food and water God provided for them in the wilderness. This is why the people were afraid to call out to God. They knew their sin and were afraid to call to God on account of their sin. This is why, in order to pray to God, we must believe in and receive the forgiveness of sins.
Our sin is the greatest danger to our souls. So, we must daily pray that God would forgive us. And as a sign of our faith in God’s forgiveness, we must forgive one another, knowing that the forgiveness we take comfort in from God is offered to all. Yet, being forgiven is not enough as long as we live in this world. We must also daily pray that God lead us out of temptation. For, although I stand forgiven now, I know that the devil, world, and my own treasonous sinful flesh will in the next moment try to draw me to guilt and shame. The final two petitions stand together, because it is the evil one Satan, who leads us into temptation, so that we fall into false belief, despair, and finally unbelief and hell.
Yet, we must again consider the children of Israel in the wilderness. They asked Moses to pray to God to take away the snakes from them. Yet, you’ll notice that God did not take the snakes away. Instead, He provided a remedy for the snake bites, so that when they were bitten, they could flee to the cross and be saved. The snakes represent the many temptations and evils of this world, which daily plague us. We pray that God take them away from us, but often God tells us, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9) And so, we must carry on with fiery serpents all around us. Yet our awareness of these serpents draws us to constantly look to Jesus lifted-up for us as our advocate before God the Father. Only through Jesus can we find forgiveness of sins. Only through Jesus can we find aid against temptation and every evil. Jesus is that balm for the soul, which heals and strengthens.
So, when you are assailed by doubts, lusts, and every evil vice, flee to prayer and pray for your soul, that God would forgive you for Christ’s sake and grant you every good thing by grace, that He would lead you out of temptation, and deliver you from Satan. And do not simply say a quick prayer and rush back into the thicket. Keep praying until the temptation passes. Set your eyes on Christ and His crucifixion for you until Satan flees from you.
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.” Jesus said in our Gospel lesson. Amen means yes, yes, it shall be so. Amen means that what is said is trustworthy and sure. This is why we close our prayers with “Amen.” We believe that what we ask, we shall receive, for Christ is no liar, neither is anything impossible with Him. By beginning your prayer, with, “Our Father,” you are confessing that you have faith in Christ Jesus, because no one can come to the Father except through Jesus (John 14:6). And by closing your prayer with, “Amen,” you declare your faith that God will give you what you ask. To say Amen, while doubting, is to take God’s name in vain. So, whenever you say Amen, you need to say it with sincerity and faith. The word Amen should teach you to pay close attention to what you pray for, and to take comfort in Christ’s promise to give it to you.
Dear Christians, through faith in Jesus you currently dwell in a New Heavens and a New Earth. You live in that day, when whatever you ask of the Father in Christ’s name, He will give it to you. So, ask. This is your greatest power and privilege. Ask. And it shall be given to you. Amen.
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