The Grace of Prayer

Good morning, church family. It’s good to be with you this morning.

Well… We are about half-way through our 6-week mini-series on the Ordinary means of grace

The ordinary means of grace are those things that are prescribed in God’s word that are the means by which God grows his people

They are ordinary, not flashy

There is no hack for spiritual growth

Instead, growth happens through a life in which the means of grace are embraced and followed.

Definition of Grace: God’s self-giving favor that gives undeserving sinners unhindered access to Him, with all the benefits of life with Him.

So God gave us access to himself through Jesus Christ, and the means of grace are those things that God uses for us to enjoy that life with him.

Last week, we looked at the Word of God as a means of grace.

And we learned that God’s word is the means by which we hear God’s voice

This morning, we move to the second means of grace: the Grace of Prayer.

God speaks through his word… we speak back in prayer, according to what his word says.

But we have to be careful, because if we have the wrong idea about prayer from the outset, we will miss seeing prayer as a means of grace.

And there are lots of ideas about prayer out there that we should guard against.

A waste of time

God already knows what will happen, so prayer doesn’t really matter.

Or we assume God is distant, distracted, or uninterested in the details of our lives.

A sign of weakness

Prayer is for people who can’t figure things out.

A last resort

I have tried everything… “Well, I guess all we can do now is pray.”

Asking God for things

Illustration: Christmas as a kid

One year the piñata was Santa’s head… that was traumatizing

A lot of times we see prayer like that

God is a piñata and prayer is the stick

And if I pray enough, I will wear him down, and he will finally give me what I want.

But here is the issue with all of these views of prayer:

I won’t pray

Either I will think it is ineffective or I will think, “If I have to wear God down, he clearly doesn’t want to hear from me.”

Or I will think, God’s job is to give me what I ask for… and he didn’t…

So he must not be a good God.

And if we operate with any of these views of prayer, we will miss how prayer is a means of grace for us.

So it’s worth asking at the outset:

Do you pray?

Do you draw near to God in prayer?

If not, it’s very likely because one of these misunderstandings is shaping how you think about prayer.

But if grace is unhindered access to God, and if prayer is a means of grace,

Then prayer is first and foremost not about me getting what I want from God,

but about me coming to God so that I can receive what I need most… and that is God himself.

And Jesus is going to give us a vivid picture of how prayer is a means of grace for us in John 15:1-11…

So let’s give these words our full attention

John 15:1–11 ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

These are God’s words for us as his people - May we have ears to hear them and hearts to obey them

Big Idea: Prayer is the means by which we express that we are abiding in Christ. [9:00]

This passage, though not primarily about prayer, is about the nature of our relationship to God through Christ and at the center of it, in v. 7, is the confidence we can have in prayer.

So there is a connection between our relationship to Christ and our confidence that God hears us when we pray.

And in telling us about the nature of our relationship to God through Christ, Jesus repeats the word “abide” throughout the passage

To abide means to remain—to stay near, to stay close, to continue to depend.

It’s not simply staying put in a place; it’s staying put in a relationship.

To abide in Christ is to persist in nearness to Him, to live in ongoing dependence on Him.

So in John 15:1-11, Jesus is highlighting for us this truth:

A life of abiding will be expressed in confident prayer that impacts how you live in this world.

So in our text, Jesus gives us 4 marks of a life that is abiding in Him.

And as we walk through them, we’re going to see that prayer is not something added onto the Christian life. Prayer is, in fact, the natural outworking of a life that is abiding in Christ.

So we’re going to move through the passage like this:

I am abiding when…

And then we’ll see how prayer naturally flows out of each of those realities.

I am abiding when…

I know my need for Christ (1–6) [11:00]

Jesus gives us a picture in verse 1 that carries the entire passage. He says,

John 15:1 ““I am the true vine…”

Why does Jesus call himself the “True Vine”

A vine is the source of life for everything that grows out of it.

If you think about a grapevine, there’s a central trunk, then large arms extending out from it, and from those arms come the smaller branches.

And it’s on those branches that the grapes grow.

The branches do not produce life. They don’t sustain themselves.

They live only because they are connected to the vine.

If there is no life in the vine, there is no life in the branches.

So when Jesus says, “I am the true vine,” He is saying, I am the true source of life.

Not one option among many. Not a supplement to an already full life.

No, He is the only place where true life is found.

And then He says, “My Father is the vinedresser.”

God the Father’s active care for the vine that ensures true life flourishes

So the picture we have so far is that Jesus is the source of life and God the father ensures that life flourishes through him.

And v. 2 tells us how

“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”

So Jesus is the source of life, God the Father ensures that life flourishes through him

And the way he does that is by cutting off branches and pruning other branches.

There are branches that bear fruit - and those branches are pruned so they can grow more.

And there are branches that do not bear fruit - and those branches are taken away.

And v. 6 says that those branches that do not produce fruit and are taken away, they whither, and are thrown into the fire to be burned.

Now, why could a branch not bear fruit?

Before we moved up here, we had a property with grapevines.

And it was always interesting to watch them grow.

I loved walking around them, just watching how they grew and I would often recite this passage as I was looking at them, trying to see John 15 through the lens of an actual grape vine.

You’d see the trunk, then the two arms of the vine, and then all these smaller branches growing out.

And some of those branches would produce grapes.

And others would look just like the fruit-bearing branches, but they never produced anything.

They had leaves.

They had length.

They looked connected.

But there was something wrong inside.

They looked good on the outside, but they were not drawing the life that produced fruit

Here is what Jesus is saying:

It is possible to look like you belong to Christ without actually living from the life of Christ.

So how can I know if that is me?

Look at v. 3-5

John 15:3–5 “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

What is he saying?

When you receive my words as true and when you come to me for life, you are abiding in me

When you hold me at arm’s length, when you are indifferent toward my words and see yourself as enough… you are not abiding in me

There is no such thing as abiding in Jesus while simultaneously rejecting his words

There is no such thing as having life in Jesus while simultaneously seeing him as optional for life.

And when that is my view of him, it will be obvious because my life will not produce anything that flows from him.

On the contrary, when I have truly received his words and I truly see him as my only source of life, it will be obvious to me and to those around me

And the most obvious fruit that reveals if I know my need for Jesus is my prayer life.

When I know my need for Him, I will go to Him.

When I don’t, I won’t.

We often say things like, “I am so busy, I don’t even think to pray”

But the truth is, “I am so proud… so i don’t even think to pray.”

We so often don’t see our need for Jesus, so we don’t pray

If that is you… Pause for a moment and go to him in prayer

“Jesus, I have seen you as optional in my life… I have been self-sufficient…

I have been arrogant in thinking that life comes from the wrong things

But only you are the source of true life

And I need you every moment of every day.”

This doesn’t mean that prayer is the cause of life in Christ

No, the cause is Christ himself

Prayer is the means by which I express my need for the life that only he provides.

So when life is hard - we run to Jesus in prayer

When you’re weary - run to Jesus in prayer

When you feel exposed, anxious, lonely, or disappointed - Run to Jesus in prayer

Apart from him, we can do nothing… We need him

And the more I know my need for him, the more I will go to him in prayer.

Second, I am abiding when…

I vocalize my dependence on Christ (7) [20:00]

Prayer is something vocal - It might not be polished, it might not be eloquent…

But when I am abiding in Christ, what should come out of my mouth is dependence on Christ.

“I am struggling - help me depend on you.”

“I am in need - Meet my need, Jesus.”

“I am seeing things in a broken and twisted way - Show me the truth.”

Prayer is not a means of getting God to do what I want, but asking God to do what I truly need.

John 15:7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”

And this is where I think we need the most correction in how we understand prayer.

We read verses like that and think…

“Great. As long as I ask,- God has to give me what I want.”

and then he doesn’t… and we get upset…

But if we slow down, we will see that Jesus is not saying God will give you whatever you want if you just ask…

That is the second half of the verse…

The first half tells us some very important details.

Jesus says, “If you abide in me…”

If you are finding life in Me.

If you see Me as your source of life

“and my words abide in you…”

I have spoken. You have heard what I have said.

And you have said, Yes, that is good and right, and I need it.

So the conditional statement is “If you are depending on me and you are listening to me…”

And if I am depending on jesus and listening to Jesus, I am going to begin to be changed in what I even ask for in the first place

That’s why Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

That does not mean, If I like God enough, He’ll give me whatever I want.

It means: when you find in the Lord all that you need, He changes what you want.

And when your desires change, how you pray changes.

And when you pray for what God wants, the answer is always yes.

That’s exactly what Jesus is saying here.

“If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, your desires will begin to align with My desires.

You will begin to ask for what I want for you. And when you ask for what I want, it will be done for you.”

Now, I hear people say , “God doesn’t answer my prayers - so I don’t pray.”

And maybe you’ve felt that way.

But the truth is: It is not that God didn’t answer your prayer

He just didn’t give you the answer you wanted.

There are times when God knows that what you are asking for - even with good intentions - is not what is best.

And because He is good and wise, he will always give you what is best to accomplish his good purposes in your life.

And when I understand this, and when I am living in dependence on Jesus as the source of true life

How I pray will look different

So here is what it looks like to vocalize dependence on Christ in prayer.

It sounds like this:

Lord, I am abiding in you, and your words abide in me. Where I am not, convict me and draw me to repentance. Instruct me by your word to want what you want.

Based on how you've worked in my life and what I've heard in your word…

Here is the thing that I believe is in line with your character the most, and so I am praying for that thing.

I can't see anything better in this situation than this thing that I'm praying for.

So if, in your infinite and perfect wisdom, you see that this thing is the best thing for your glory and for my life and for the lives of the people that I'm praying for, then I can know by faith that you will do that thing

And so I'm asking that you would.

But…

if you see something I don't, and in your perfect wisdom, you know that it is better.

Then, Lord, do two things:

One: Don't give me the thing I'm asking for, because it's not as good as what's in your mind.

And two: change my heart to want the thing that you want.

That prayer will be done every single time.

Because what we should desire most is not outcomes, but transformation as we depend on Jesus.

And when we abide in Christ, prayer becomes the way we vocalize our dependence on Him, not to change God, but to be changed by Him.

So that is the second

Third, I am abiding when…

I reflect the life of Christ (8–10) [27:00]

When Jesus is my source of life, the result will be a life that looks more and more like Jesus.

If I am a branch that sees the vine as my source of life - if I am dependent on that vine - then over time, the life of the vine will show itself through me.

The branch will begin to reflect the vine it’s connected to.

Jesus gives us a clear pattern for what this looks like in verses 8 -10.

John 15:8 “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”

Jesus says the Father is glorified when we bear fruit.

Now, in the vine imagery, fruit is not an add-on.

Fruit is the product of the vine.

It is the visible outworking of the life that is in the vine, produced through the branches.

So when Jesus says that bearing fruit glorifies the Father, what He means is this:

God is glorified when the life that is in Christ is visibly displayed through the lives of those who belong to Christ.

And he tells us how that life grows

John 15:9–10 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.”

Notice the connection that Jesus draws between love and obedience of God’s commands

It is really easy to disconnect the commands of God from his love

And in fact that is what so many do today by ignoring what scripture says and amplifying the idea of the love of God

What Jesus is saying here is that abiding in him necessarily involves keeping his commands from a place of love

Jesus says elsewhere, “If you love me, you will keep my commands”

John writes in 1 John 5 that love for God is to obey his commands

And he goes on to say “and his commands are not burdensome”

If you think about a loving home in which the parents are constantly acting for the good of their children…

The love of those parents is not disconnected from the rules that they have in their home

Instead, their rules in their home are actually an expression of their love for their children

They are saying “this is for your good and if you will believe me your life will thrive by listening to my words.”

And the child who rejects those rules is the one who thinks that the love of the parents should be disconnected from the rules that they give

But the child who embraces the rules is the one who recognizes “my parents love me and they want good for me and they know things I don’t know and so the most loving response I could give to their love is to obey what they say.”

And how do we ensure that our kids know that our rules are for their good?

We talk with them

They talk to us

We help them understand

They apologize when they go wrong

The conversation between us and them keeps in the forefront of our minds and their minds that the rules are for their good and are from a place of love

Jesus is saying, it is no different with your Father in heaven

His rules are for you good, because he loves you

As you grow in your knowledge of his love for you, you will see his rules as good and from a place of love

And the way that we keep that in the forefront of our minds is by talking with him and him talking with us

he speaks to us through his word, we speak to him in prayer

We confess where we are struggling with his commands

We repent of our sin and ask for his forgiveness

We ask him to help us to know and love his commands more and more

And as we abide in the True Vine of Jesus, we will grow to reflect the life of Jesus, because God teaches us through his word as a loving father and we come to him in prayer as his loving children

And lastly

I am abiding when…

I find my joy in Christ (11) [34:00]

Look at v. 11

John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Jesus links abiding in his words with the fulness joy.

We often confuse joy with happiness - but they are not the same thing.

Happiness is tied to circumstances.

And because circumstances change, happiness is fleeting.

As soon as the situation that made me happy changes, my happiness goes with it.

Joy is different.

Joy is not rooted in circumstances.

Joy is anchored somewhere deeper.

Joy is the settled confidence that no matter what is happening around me, I have a hope and a peace that cannot be taken away.

And that anchor for our joy is the words of Jesus that give life

Joy does not come from getting everything I want.

That is short-lived pleasure

Joy comes from getting what I need.

And what I need is the life-giving word of Christ.

When His truth is my anchor, circumstances can rise and fall, but they cannot steal my joy.

Because I know what is true about God.

I know what is true about myself.

I know what is true about my future.

I know that everything He has said is true for me now… and will be true for me forever.

And nothing in this world can take that away.

And when that joy settles in my heart, my response to Christ is prayer

Not asking Him to give me more things, but thanking Him for who He is and what He has done.

Prayer is me expressing gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise.

When I am aware of my need for Christ… When I know that I depend on Christ… When I desire to grow in reflecting Christ, all according to the word of Christ…

And I believe it and I see it in my life and in the lives of others…

Joy follows.

When i know what used to be true about me and how the word of Christ has changed me as I live in relationship to him

I can pray with gratitude, thanking God for the life he has given me in Christ.

And you and I can rejoice, with John Newton, who wrote

“I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be and I am not the man I hope to be, but, by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be.” - John Newton

And when we can say that, our response will be joy

And our joy with lead to gratitude

And that gratitude is part of the content of our prayer as we abide in Christ

[Conclusion] 39:00

If you have been taking notes, I want you in these 4 points from v. 1-11, that the reality of abiding in Jesus prompts the whole of prayer

My need for Jesus should cause me to come to him

My dependence on Jesus should cause me to seek his will in my requests

My growth in his word should cause me to confess sin, repent, and ask him to lead me in righteousness

My joy in him should prompt me to bring thanksgiving

Abiding in Christ leads to a response of prayer

Prayer is a means of grace because through Jesus Christ, we have unhindered access to God, with all of the benefits of life with him

and prayer is the means by which we continually stay close to Jesus, abiding in him, seeing him as the source fo true life

And this means two things for us as a church

Personally - We need to pray

If you struggle with knowing how to pray, pick up this book:

Praying the Bible by Donald Whitney

Corporately - We need to pray together

We will prioritize prayer in services

You’ll be asked to pray with people around you (prepare your heart for that)

We are going to start having prayer services

We need to pray with one another after the service

We must be a church that prays

Let’s be a church that is constantly expressing that we are abiding in the true vine, Jesus Christ.

Amen.