May 22, 2022 Easter 6 The Sunday of Prayer
Easter 5
John 16:23-33
May 22, 2022
“Father”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let me tell you a story. A story about God and you and how often you talk to Him. One day you and I are going to die and go to heaven to be with Jesus. Because we believe in Him and He’s risen from the dead and He’s promised us that He will take us to be with Him in our Father’s house.
So that Last Day will come, all the dead will be raised up and we’ll go to heaven. Now we love some of those unknown questions about heaven. Will my pets be there? How old will we be? Etc. There’s a lot we don’t know when it comes to heaven. It’s fun to think about it. Paul says it’s beyond anything we can compare it to. So even our imagination falls a bit short. Most important we will see God face to face which will be entirely new and unknown. We’ll see Jesus and find out if He really has a beard and long hair. Speaking of that, I wonder how much hair we’ll have? How long will it be? All those unknowns…
However, when we get to heaven there’ll be some things that haven’t changed one bit. There’ll be some things that’ll be just as comfortable as ever. Like it never changed at all. And that will be God talking to us and us talking to God. That conversation will simply continue on as it has been. Yes, of course, then we’ll be even closer to God but we’re close to Him right now. And right now He talks to you in His Word, the Bible, and you talk to Him in prayer. It’s as comfortable as it always will be. And when we get to heaven the conversation between God and you will continue as it always has—only better even yet.
The other day I talked to someone on the phone I hadn’t talked to in two to three years. Immediately when she started talking I knew her. By her voice, of course. And it was like two or three years hadn’t really passed at all. That’s a bit what I mean. God’s voice is so familiar to us in His Word and our voice is so familiar to Him in prayer that the conversation we’re having here with God will just comfortably continue on right into heaven.
If you live away from your family like I do, then you go back home for a holiday there’s no awkwardness at all because you’ve been talking to your family over phone and text and email all this time. Only difference is now you’re talking face to face.
So right now you and God are talking. Talking the same you’ll be talking when we’re face to face with Him in heaven. We know His voice from His holy Word. We know His voice very well. 66 books of His voice. And He knows our voice very well—at least I hope He knows your voice very well. I hope you’re praying to Him every day just like you are today with all of us. If He’s not hearing your voice every day, we’ll talk about what you can do about that in a minute.
Jesus is explaining all of this to us in the Gospel reading today. Explaining that God is now our Father and we can ask from Him anything that we need. We can talk to Him every day directly in prayer just as you would talk to your Mom or Dad every day. And Jesus says, “Look, I’m not saying that I’ll have to go and ask the Father on your behalf. No, I’m saying that you can talk yourself right to our Father and He will answer you.” Are you hearing this? You can talk directly to the Father. He’s your Father and always will be your Father.
What a thing this is to call God our Father! Those first two little words in the Lord’s Prayer—“Our Father”. What words those are! Jesus is right here with us in this Church and He’s saying, “Let’s pray together, ‘Our Father’.” How’s that possible?
You remember the story of the Prodigal Son who took Dad’s money and ran off to Vegas and squandered it on drugs and prostitutes? He was living with the pigs and longing to eat their food when he suddenly got an idea. He’d go back to his dad and say these words, “Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and before you. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.” That’s the truth of all of us. We’re not worthy to call God our Father or to be called His son or His daughter.
Why would God want to talk to us? We’re ungrateful for everything He gives us. We’re lazy and waste half of the things He gives us. The worst thoughts are always going through our mind about things we’d like to do and things we’d like to happen to others. We’re selfish and do most things purely for our own pleasure. Why would God ever want us near Him? Why would He ever want to talk to us? Or call us His son or His daughter?
Notice that Jesus keeps saying, “In that day…” What day is He talking about? The day when He dies on the cross and rises from the dead. That day. That’s the day the Father will receive you as His son or daughter. The only reason He does is because Jesus has brought you to Him.
Jesus has opened the door for you to come home to your Father. You see on the front of the bulletin today the picture of the open door. That’s my favorite picture right now for thinking about prayer. It’s a very Biblical picture. Jesus calls Himself the door, for one. He also says, “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” He also says, “Knock, and the door will be opened to you.” He also tells the parable of the friend at midnight knocking on the door asking for bread. So this picture is all over the Bible.
And it’s exactly what Jesus has done. The prodigal son was right. We’re not worthy to call God our Father. But the door has been opened by Jesus for us to come home. He’s paid the price with His blood. It’s why we emphasize so strongly in our Church the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion and Absolution. These sacraments are God bringing us into His house…opening the door for us. Baptism is God washing us clean so that we can come in and live with Him in holiness. Communion is God setting us down at His table so that we can be one with Him in the body and blood of Jesus. Absolution is God giving us a bath every day to wash away the sins that have accumulated.
That’s how we can open our mouths and say, “Our Father.” That’s what Jesus has done. Many of you have been going through the book of Hebrews with us in Sunday morning Bible study. You know that whole book is about how Jesus is the greatest and has brought us back to God so that we can call Him Father. In Hebrews 10 we studies these verses, “Therefore, brothers, [see that language…we’re all brothers…family…children of God], since we have confidence to enter the holy places [to walk into God’s house] by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for through the curtain, that is, through His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God [again, see that language of “house”], let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
So let me bring this story together. You are living in God’s house even now because you’re His child. Because Jesus has brought you in through the door. And God’s talking to you in the Scripture and you’re talking to Him in prayer. He’s your Dad. You’re His child. The conversation is good. And one day you’ll carry that conversation right into heaven and talk face to face. Until then, we keep calling to Him, “Our Father who art in heaven.”
Then the only thing left to talk about in this story is to ask, “How often are you talking to Him? How often are you praying? How well does God know your voice?” If He doesn’t know your voice very well, then you need to make a plan to change that. My experience lately is that women are much better at prayer than men. Of course, that’s a much bigger problem in the church that we call the “feminization of the Church”. We’ve come to act like Church is only for ladies and not a manly thing at all. But Jesus is the manliest Man you will ever find in the history of the world and He prayed all the time. And He sang. Sometimes I wish I could take all of the men from our congregation with me to these conferences I go to. You should hear these men sing and pray. Just this last Monday and Tuesday I was at Camp Cilca for a small conference—about 15 to 20 of us guys. All men. And you should hear the prayers and the singing. We blew out the room as we always do. Some of the manliest men you’ll meet. And they all pray.
But we’ve all got our excuses, don’t we? Too busy. Don’t know what to say. Not good at praying. It’s all excuses. Nothing else. Just stop the excuses and make a plan to get better at it. It’s very easy to get started. Just say the Lord’s Prayer every day. You have it memorized. So say it the first thing when you get out of bed and last thing when you lay in bed. God wants to hear your voice and He loves to hear the Lord’s Prayer.
Start with that. Then second, men, fathers, husbands, make sure you’re praying at every meal when you sit down. That’s also an easy one. And keep going from there. Keep talking more and more and more to your Father. Make a plan and stick to it. It will change from time to time. No problem.
Finally, I started by saying that when we get to heaven we’ll be talking to God face to face. But please understand God is just as close to you now. I put a picture on the sermon insert that isn’t very good but was my best shot in the time I had. I took two pictures and put them together. One of you who’s an artist…maybe you can draw me a better one for next year. I have there the little girl praying and I wanted to show where God was as she’s praying. He’s right there, of course, with her. Listening to her. Remember that the next time you open the door and pray. When you say, “Our Father,” or “Dear Lord” – where’s God? He’s right there listening to you. He can hear your voice because He’s within ear shot. Talk to Him. Call Him Father. Ask Him for what you need.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.