“Whatever You Ask…”

Context: The Last Supper

John 13:1–14:7

The Last Supper refers to the final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before his crucifixion. During this meal, Jesus broke bread and shared wine with his disciples, instructing them to do so in remembrance of Him. This is the foundation of the ordinance of Communion, or the Lord’s Supper. You may have seen the painting by Leonardo di Vinci [SHOW PICTURE].

Bible Passage: John 14:8–14

John 14:8–9 NLT

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.” Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?

Pay attention to Jesus’ response to Philip’s question. This will be important to understanding the verses that follow.

John 14:10–11 NLT

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do.

Jesus is explaining to Philip, and to the rest of the disciples, that if they believe Jesus’ testimony as being unified with the Father then asking to see the Father doesn’t make sense. It would be like someone coming up and asking me to see the Student Pastor at Second. I would explain to them that I am the Student Pastor at Second, my name is Billy. For that person to continue asking for the Student Pastor after I told them that was me would show me that they either don’t understand or don’t believe me. That’s why I think Jesus responds to Philip like this; to show him that what he is asking either proves lack of faith or lack of understanding.

Other translations don’t use the phrase “just believe” in verse 11. I want to clear that up because I think we can read into that a “blind faith” that the disciples were just supposed to follow without being able to comprehend. But nothing about Jesus’ ministry could be described as “blind faith”. If someone wouldn’t believe based on hearing Jesus’ words that came from the Father, they at least could believe based on the works that they were eye-witnesses to.

John 14:12 NLT

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.

We have further proof of Jesus’ words being true by the accounts found in the New Testament showing Jesus’ disciples after His resurrection performing miracles.

After Jesus' resurrection, the disciples performed various miracles as recorded in the book of Acts. These included healing the sick, casting out demons, raising people from the dead. They were miraculously freed from prison, Paul survived a venomous snake bite. And that’s just outward events that happened in greater frequency, that’s not including how God miraculously moved through a small group of faithful followers to infiltrate the whole world with the Gospel.

Charles Spurgeon has a great quote about Jesus’ statement of greater works being done by those who believe:

The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes Chapter 14

While the Master was here in his humiliation, he healed a few poor Jews and raised here and there a dead one, but he purposely veiled the splendor of his Godhead. Now that he has gone up on high, he does greater wonders by his servants than he, himself, personally did, for he said to a few poor fishermen, “Go and break up the Roman Empire,” and they did it! They preached the gospel, and the gods of the heathen that sat on their thrones for ages were cast to the moles and the bats! And there are greater victories yet before the church of God.

John 14:13–14 NLT

You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!

These verses can cause a lot of misunderstanding and even some hurt if we are not careful to read this correctly. When taken out of context these verses can be, and have been, used to give people the idea that anything you pray about that you throw “in Jesus name” at the end of your prayer to will be answered. Anybody that has ever prayed to win the lottery or for the homework you forgot to turn in would somehow turn into an A+ will tell you that’s not true.

So if these verses don’t mean that Jesus answers every prayer the way we want Him to when we pray “in Jesus name”, what does it mean? Let’s take closer look.

“…In My Name…”

Ex. Your friend is a famous musician. They tell you next time they are having a show in town, you can come to the show and go backstage, hang out at the tour bus, get some free merch, whatever you want to do, just tell them that you’re friends and they will make it happen.

You try to get backstage and the security stops you because you’re not on the list. But then you see your friend getting ready for their show and you tell the security, “Hey! There’s my friend right there! Ask him, he will tell you that I’m good to be here!” The security guard then asks your friend, who obviously says yes you can come backstage before the show, and then they let you in. You asked to be let backstage “in the name” of your friend who had the authority to answer your request.

But this only works because you are asking for something that lines up with what your friend wants to do. Let’s use the same example, but instead of asking to go backstage, you tell the security guard, “Hey! There’s my friend! Ask him if it’s ok if I take his check for tonight’s show. He said I could ask for whatever I wanted tonight!” Your friend is going to tell you no. That’s not what they meant when they said you were free to be apart of they were doing. Something that you would not have access to doing on your own.

This is how we can treat God with our prayers. We can ask for things that are only in our interest without considering what His will is, and then get frustrated when we read verses like these that say we can receive anything in Jesus’ name.

So, how do we determine what God’s will is?

“…Bring Glory to the Father.”

What is the point of miracles anyway? Are they just to show off? No. The point of miracles is to help people believe and to give glory to the Father. Jesus’ prayer of Lazarus being raised from the dead was an incredible miracle. And as a friend of Lazarus’, I’m sure Jesus was happy that His prayer was answered. But the prayer wasn’t answered just so Jesus could talk to His friend again. And it wasn’t answered for Lazarus’ sake, it wasn’t so he could get a few more years on earth before he had to die again. The miracle happened so that the Father would receive the glory that comes from faith in His son Jesus.

It is amazing when our prayers are answered the way we want them to be. And I think that it is important to pray and ask God for things that we want to see happen. But we need to remember that we are asking these things in the name of Jesus whose goal is to bring glory to the Father, not to us.

So what does that mean for our prayers that don’t get answered? Are we just being selfish? I don’t think that’s the case all of the time. Just look at Philip’s question.

Philip’s question — “Lord, show us the Father…”

This is how I know that these verses can’t mean that we just get whatever we want just by praying. In verse 8 Philip asks Jesus to show them the Father so that they would be satisfied. It would be “enough” for them if Jesus would just answer this “prayer”. This kinda sounds similar to how some people (never me, of course not!) would ask for a sign in order to know that God is real or that they are making the right decision. But Jesus’ answer, as we have already discussed, doesn’t give Philip exactly what he was asking for.

There are a couple of different answers that God has for our prayers. It’s important to know the distinction between them and how to respond to each of them.

Yes

No

Not Yet

Something Better

Summary: Jesus wants us to have faith in Him. By the words He has spoken and the things He has done in our lives, we can have faith that He is who He says He is. When we align our lives and our prayers with the will of the Father we can trust that we will receive an answer. Even if we don’t understand, we will know it is for our good.