In Confidence, We Pray Before His Throne

1 John 5:9–15 ESV

If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.

Introduction

Exaudi! Hear, O Lord.

That is the name of this last Sunday in Eastertide. It is different from all of the other Sundays in Easter, which celebrate Jesus’ victorious resurrection. For we are now 43 days past Easter, and we know that Jesus ascends 40 days after Easter. He has gone up to the right hand of God the Father where He lives, reigns, intercedes, protects, and guides His Church on earth, of which He is the Head, and from this position in heaven, He will return to judge the living and the dead on the day that the Father has appointed. To confess Jesus’ ascension is to confess our belief that there is a judgment, that all will be laid bare before all people, that things people and politicians “get away with here” will demand an answer. It will also be the Day when Jesus takes His own dear Church, His Bride, to be with Him in heaven forever.

There is evidence of this change in the Church. The Paschal Candle is no longer front-and-center, nor is it lit. It was extinguished after the Gospel on Ascension this past week. The Baptismal fount has returned to its normal location. The decorations are gone. These are not bad things at all; they are reminders to us of where Jesus is now, and what He is doing for us now.

Meanwhile, we continue to live in the wilderness, not yet having arrived at the Promised Land of heaven. In our wanderings we cry out, “Exaudi”. Hear, O Lord.

Jesus Prayed

Our Gospel lesson today comes from a portion of Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” that He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night that He was betrayed.

Jesus frequently prayed. There are literally dozens of times in the Gospels where He turns to His Father in prayer— fervent, undistracted, powerful prayer, when He converses with His Father in heaven. Jesus— God Himself— prayed.

His disciples saw this. They were in awe. They wanted to pray like Him. So they ask Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” His answer: He gave them “the Lord’s Prayer.” We pray it every week because it contains the exact words in the exact order that Jesus prayed them to His Father in heaven.

The High Priestly Prayer in the Gospel is amazing.

John 17:14–19 ESV

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

In the very hour of His betrayal, when Jesus would begin to feel the blows on His back, the spitting in His face, the Crown of Thorns, the mocking, and then laying down on the cross to be nailed upon it and the suspended between heaven and earth as it slammed into the hole prepared for it in the ground, He prays for you- the ones with whom He shared God’s Word. He doesn’t pray that God rapture us from the earth and its suffering and tribulation, but rather that we be protected from the evil one— the devil. The fact that Jesus prays this shows us the power of the devil. That power He Himself was about to take on upon the cross with your name on it. Exaudi!

He gives us the Gift of Prayer

Martin Luther called prayer “the sixth mark of the Church.” The marks of the Church are those things that identify the Body of Christ in this world.

holy word of God, effective means of grace

holy sacrament of baptism, regeneration

holy sacrament of the altar

office of keys exercised publicly, although not the office of pope. Includes also private confession as a means of grace.

it consecrates or calls ministers, or has offices, that is, to administer, bishops, pastors, and preachers.

prayer, public praise, and thanksgiving to God, the liturgy

holy possession of the sacred cross, suffering and carrying the cross as followers of Christ.

Prayer is one of the marks of being the Church; it is also a mark of the Christian life. God wants us to cry out, Exaudi

Our prayers are so often weak, feeble, done without faith. For many, prayer almost seems like talking to themselves. When it comes to prayer, our sin is that we do not pray enough, or we pray weakly (that is with an “a”).

John, in our text, calls us to change how we pray. Pray in Confidence. The Greek Word is parrasia- which indicates boldness,- which, so often, our prayers are not. An illustration here is storming into the control room of the universe, with God seated on His throne, and asking Him to do what we ask. Of course, we don’t do this by right. We do it because we are His adopted sons and daughters. He loves us so much.

How does one pray confidently, at all times, without ceasing, trusting that God hears and answers our prayers?

Through the Holy Spirit, who gives us faith in Jesus. The boldness comes from Him, who gave Himself up for us and restored us to the Father through His blood. God listens to our prayers through Jesus, who grants us access to the Father’s throne— Jesus, our great High Priest who went into the heavens.

How Do we Pray?

So what is prayer? It is talking to the Father through the Son by the Power of the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes praying is formal- as it is and always has been in the worship of the people of God. We see this in Acts 2 where it says:

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

“The Prayers” are the Temple prayers that now find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ. These Jewish Christians did not abandon Judaism; Jesus fulfilled it for them. And so in Church, praying is often quite formal, as it should be.

Prayers are written and memorized. These are helpful as well. Sometimes we don’t have the words ourselves. So we have the Lord’s Prayer. We have written prayers in our hymnals and devotional books to assist us.

But not all praying is formal or done from a book. One of the reasons that Jesus grants us the Lord’s prayer is to show us how prayers are structured.

There are 4 types of prayer: Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, and Supplication. You can remember them by the Word ACTS. A prayer of adoration is like what we read in the Psalms- just adoring God for Who He Is. “O Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth” as we sing in the Psalms- this being Psalm 8. We pray prayers of Confession— both that Jesus is Lord, and Confession of sins. We pray prayers of Thanksgiving- thanking God for all things both Good and bad, as we read in Philippians 4. And we pray prayers of supplication, asking for God to grant us things for this life. In the Lord’s prayer there are three petitions about God before we get to ourselves. This is no coincidence.

Prayers are simply talking to God. He is your beloved Father now; Jesus has made everything right between the Two of You. And so

Let this word be in your hearts and on your lips today as beloved, Children of God: Exaudi. Hear, O Lord.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.