Confident in Prayer

Welcome to Gospel and Life. What keeps your faith from unraveling when trouble comes your way? On the night before his crucifixion, Jesus told his disciples to not let their hearts be afraid. Today, Tim Keller shows us how Jesus offers a new kind of confidence that is rooted in something far more secure than our circumstances. Today's scripture is from the Gospel of John chapter 14 verses 12 through 15. Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name and I will do it. If you love me, keep my commands. The word of the Lord. So the night before Jesus died, he trains his disciples, getting them ready to go out into the world to represent him. That's what we're studying in John chapter 13 through 17. And Jesus knew this. God sent Jesus into the world to say the things he said and do the things he did, and it got him killed. Now Jesus is sending us out of the world to say the things he said and do the things he did, and we should probably expect at least a hard time. And because of that, Jesus knowing all this, in John chapter 14, he gives his disciples and therefore us gifts for the journey. We've been looking at them. He talks about hope for the future and peace for the present and knowing God. Gifts, you know, that there's in the book and in the books and in the movie Lord of the Rings, the good guys are on a quest. At one point they go to a place where they're given mighty gifts for their quest. They're kind of magic vials and swords and daggers and things like that. They're all given these great gifts to help them on this incredible quest. In some ways, that's what Jesus is doing right here. And he's giving us things that will fortify us and that will equip us for the very, very difficult work of being his representatives in the world. And one of those great gifts is prayer. And if anybody out there is saying, oh, yeah, I know that, what else? You don't know that. I don't think any of us know that. It's one of the mighty gifts that he gives us to get us ready for a difficult life. And therefore, let's take a look at it. Now, it's a very brief passage. In fact, I would go so far, even though I'm going to refer to all the verses, in a sense, something we need to know about prayer is locked in one verse. We're going to look at the power of prayer, the conditions for prayer, the purpose of prayer, and the foundation of prayer. And it's all in verse 13. I will do whatever you ask. That's the power of prayer. In my name, that's the conditions of prayer. So that the Father may be glorified. That's the purpose of prayer. In the Son. And that's the foundation. So let's start. The power of prayer. And I will do whatever you ask. It is so tempting for me as a minister to immediately run on and say, oh, but that does not mean. And start to look at the conditions. And let me at least say, you can't pull this thing out of context because, don't forget, Jesus is sending him into the world. Verse 12 says, I'm sending you into the world to do even greater things than I've done. Now, that's, by the way, that verse is worth a whole sermon in itself. But the consensus of theologians and commentators over the years is Jesus saying, because I'm going to the Father and I will be sending the Holy Spirit into the world in a new way, you will actually be able to bring about greater transformation in the world than anyone has ever been able to do, including me while I was on earth. So the idea of him, his death and his resurrection, his ascension is going to equip them to do great works. Don't forget, this gift of prayer is being given to people who are passionate in mission, who want to go out there and serve the world as those who love our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, which is what we say at the end of every one of these, our services. But this is a gift for them. And so it's not a genie of the lamp thing, you know, rub, rub, rub. And if you rub me in the right way, I'll give you whatever you want. It says whatever you ask in mission, in my name for the glory of God. So obviously there are a lot of caveats. Well, going to get to them. But what I'm afraid of is if we don't take at least a minute to stop and just be amazed at the power of this anyway. In spite of the caveats, in spite of the conditions, in spite of all the other things we're going to say, let's just rest for a second and think about the power of what we just are being told. In fact, let's boil it down. Here's what it says, the Lord of the universe says, you ask, I do. See, that's the verbs, right? The Lord of the universe says, you ask, I do. James chapter five talks about Elijah, who, as you remember from, he was confronting Ahab, the wicked king. So he prayed that there wouldn't be any rain, and then he prayed that there would be, and God answered his prayer. And James five draws a lesson. First of all, he says Elijah was, quote, a man like us. So James is, first of all, trying to say, Elijah was a prophet, but he's a man like us. And then he said he prays for rain, God hears, and then he says, this is James chapter five. Therefore prayer can have great power and produce wonderful results, unquote. Prayer has great power and can have wonderful results. John Calvin, some of you may have heard that name before, John Calvin was believed in predestination, and that God is in control of everything. So it's amazing what John Calvin says when he comments on James chapter five, and Elijah praying for rain. This is a guy who believes everything is under God's control. Here's what John Calvin says, quote. It was a notable event for God to put heaven in some sense under the control of Elijah's prayers, to be obedient to his requests. From Elijah we may see the miraculous power of prayer. And by the way, Calvin is being careful. He says in some sense, he doesn't believe that somehow in our prayer we can somehow grab control of the universal way out of God's hands. And he's still saying that the power of prayer is that God in his goodness makes the world susceptible to our prayers. It was a notable event for God to put heaven in some sense under the control of Elijah's prayers. That's power. So here's the Lord of the Universe saying, you ask, I do. So let's not miss that. There's a great story that drives that home, great little story. Boston Phelps, who was a, wrote a book back in the early 1800s on prayer called The Still Hour. It's a great little book on prayer. And in the book there's a story he tells about Ephelphrith. Ephelphrith was the pagan Saxon king of Northumbria in the 7th century AD. And he was invading Wales, and the Welsh, however, were Christians. So the Saxons were invading the Welsh and the Welsh were Christians. So one day before the battle, Ephelphrith goes up to a high place to sort of survey the opposing army to figure out what he's going to do. And he notices a company of men over here that don't have any, they're not armed, but there they are. And he says, who are they? And one of his counselors says, oh, those are the Christian monks of banger. And they're there to pray for the success of their army. And Ephelphrith says, oh, okay. Tomorrow when we begin the battle, attack them first. And Austin Phelps says, the pagan Saxon king of Northumbria had a better grasp of the power prayer than the average Christian. So there's the power prayer. But yes, it doesn't just say ask whatever you ask, and I will do. It is, it says, and I will do whatever you ask in my name. So right away, let's get into the most famous condition of prayer. Prayer depends not just on asking, but asking in my name. So what does it mean to come to God in the name of Jesus? It means at least two things. And there's, in a sense, they're both conditions. Prayer depends on who you are and why you come. Who you are and why you come. So who are you? A Christian. See, to come in Jesus' name is to mean you come and Jesus' name is upon you. So when Jesus is talking, in Jesus' day, how did you get someone's name put on you? Well, marriage or adoption. But of course we know that in the Bible, the metaphor of adoption is the one that the New Testament writers use to convey the nature of prayer. Jesus taught us to pray, our Father. That's how you start. John chapter one, verse 12, like we looked at it during the Advent season, where it says, as many as received him who believed on his name, he gave right to become children of God, you know, born of God, children of God. Right. See, when you're adopted, it's a legal thing. You're adopted and you legally come in under the care of your new father and mother and you have rights, rights of inheritance. And of course, one of the rights, of course, is access. And therefore what we're being told in the New Testament over and over again is as a Christian, prayer is your right. See there are places in the Bible, just for the record, there are places in the Bible where we see God hearing the prayers of non-believers. Go to the book of Jonah, chapter three, and go to 1 Kings 21. You'll see other places where God hears and answers the prayers of people who are not believers. But there's no obligation. There's no agreement. There's no arrangement. But what we're being told is if you're a Christian, to have a father who's open to hearing your needs day and night, that's your right. That's your privilege. So to come in Jesus' name means you come as a Christian. That's the first condition. The second condition is it does have something to do with not just who you are, but why you come. It does have something to do with the conditions of your heart, the motives of your heart. To come in someone else's name instead of your name means you're not coming in your name. R.A. Tari was a famous Christian minister about 100 years ago. He also traveled around the world preaching. He was in Melbourne, Australia. He was about to get up. He was preaching every evening. He was about to go up to the platform to preach. Someone gave him an anonymous note. It wasn't signed. It was somebody in the audience. The anonymous note said, please Dr. Tari, when you get up there, talk about unanswered prayer. I'm really, really concerned. I don't understand unanswered prayer. And here's what the note said. He said, dear Dr. Tari, I am in great perplexity. I have been praying for a long time for something I am confident is according with God's will, but I do not get it. I have been a member of my Presbyterian Church for 30 years and consistent in attendance the entire time. I have been superintendent in the Sunday School for 25 years. I have been an elder for 20 years, yet God has not answered my prayer. I cannot understand it. Can you help me? So, Ruben Tari walked up to the podium, read the note aloud and said, this man thinks that because of all of his service to the church, God is obligated to answer his prayer. He is demanding that God answer his prayer because of all of his great service. He is actually not praying in Jesus' name. He is coming in his own name. And by the way, right after the service, the man, the anonymous note writer came up to him and said, that was me, and you hit the nail on the head. I am surprised he didn't say, and you hit me on the head too because it was me. Tari should have said, it wasn't after the nail, it was actually after you. So why would modus matter? Oh my goodness, why would modus matter? James, by the way, James chapter 4 and 5 are another great place to go to learn about prayer besides John 14, 15, 16. In James chapter 4, verse 2 and 3, there's two somewhat different statements about how crucial your modus are when it comes to prayer. And why in a sense the modus of your heart are conditions because if God gave you things and your heart wasn't right, it would destroy you. So in James chapter 4, verse 3, you probably heard both of these quoted in the past, in James chapter 4, verse 3, James says, you ask but you do not receive because you want to spend it on your selfish desires. You ask but you don't receive because you want to spend it on your selfish desires. So I can give you a billion examples, but in interest of time, I'll just give you one. Let's just say you pray, oh, I want that job, please get me that job, but what if you want that job too much? What if you want that job in such a way that if you got that job, you would put your career ahead of your health, put your career ahead of your family, put your career ahead of anything else. I mean, what if it be the worst thing in the world? You have not because you ask and you don't receive it because you want to spend it on your selfish desires. God says, I'm not going to let you destroy yourself by getting things that you've asked for wrongly that would only take those bad motives of the heart and it would just make them stronger. Then James chapter 4, verse 2 says something different, but it's still about motive. James chapter 4, verse 2 says you have not because you ask not. James 4, 2, and 3 are very famous. You have not because you ask not, but when you do ask, often you ask for selfish reasons and you don't get it. When it says you have not because you ask not, you say, well, why would God, you know, hold back good things just because we haven't asked. Think. What God is saying to us in James chapter 4, 2 is he's saying, I've got tons of great things I'd be happy to give you, but it wouldn't be safe to give them to you unless you fervently prayed for them. You know why? Because if they just came, you would say, oh, I don't need God. I'm doing fine. It would make you self-sufficient. It would make you overconfident. It would actually cloud your vision about the reality, which is you're dependent on God for everything. It would set you for terrible failure in the future. So see, God is saying it's another motive problem. Unless you're fervently asking for things in prayer, he says, I've got all kinds of things I'd love to give you, but you're not asking for them. I can't give them to you. It would ruin you. Or you're asking in a wrong way. I'm not going to let that destroy you. You see conditions for prayer? So first of all, whatever you ask, I will do. If you ask in my name, it means it has to do with who you are. And why you're coming. At this point, some of you are saying, okay, let me get this straight. Whatever you ask for, I'll give you, but not really. So I know at this point in a sermon, or whenever I've taught on prayer, a lot of people are saying, okay, so what we're really saying is, I'm not going to give you whatever you ask for. So why does he say it? There's all these caveats and things like that. And the answer is, well, at one level, there, of course, there's unanswered prayer, but at another level, there's not if you pray with the purpose of prayer in mind. So our third point is the purpose of prayer. It says, whatever you ask, I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified. If you use something not in a line with, not in accord with its purpose, you shouldn't complain if it doesn't work right. So if you have a space heater that's designed just to enhance the heat in your room, and you try to cook some food on it, and the food actually doesn't come out very well, you can't say what a terrible space heater. You say, no, the space heater's not for that, and because you're using it not in accord with its purpose, you can't complain if it doesn't work. What is the purpose of prayer? People are constantly saying, you know, well, like that guy who wrote the letter to R.A. Torrey, he says, you know, what's the purpose of prayer? Is the purpose of prayer to get God to satisfy your desires immediately? Or is the purpose of prayer to set your heart on the things that will satisfy your desires ultimately? Which isn't? What is my purpose in life? What is a good life? And why does the world feel so broken? In the Gospels, Jesus meets people who are asking these very questions, and when Jesus responds, their lives are changed in unexpected ways. In his book, Encounters with Jesus, Tim Keller explores several of these conversations. Looking at Jesus' interactions with everyone from a skeptical student to a religious insider to a social outcast, Dr. Keller shows how these encounters with Jesus can uniquely address the big questions and doubts we still face today. Encounters with Jesus is our thank you for your gift this month to help Gospel and Life share the hope of the Gospel with more people. Request your copy today when you make a gift at gospelandlife.com.giv. That's gospelandlife.com.giv. Now here's Tim Keller with the remainder of today's teaching. Of course, the answer is the second one, because what will satisfy your desires ultimately is the glory of God. And you say, how does that work out when it comes to prayer? Well, the best place I know to go to understand this is a wonderful letter that St. Augustine wrote to a woman, a noble woman, on how to pray. You can find this online. It doesn't have, by the way, a title, generally. But if you put it in St. Augustine prayer, and the woman's name, Anissa Proba. Anissa, A-N-I-C-I-A, you know, sounds like Anissa or Anissa Proba. And she was a noble woman, you know, a wealthy woman, which is important when you see what he's going to say to her. And she writes, how do you pray? Now, he gives you a number of principles, and I'm only going to give you the first two, because they're the ones that matter for us today. But it's a remarkable letter. The first thing he says is, before you ask for anything, you've got to get something settled in your mind. Before you ask for anything, you've got to get one thing settled in your mind. And what is it? Here's his quote. You must account yourself desolate in the world however prosperous you may be. Now, he's talking to a wealthy person at this point, but he says, you must account yourself, every word here accounts, you must account yourself desolate in the world however prosperous you may be. Don't ask for anything until you've settled that. And he goes on to explain that. And what he does, he goes on and he says, you have to understand that all the health, all the wealth, all the human acclaim and approval, all the power, all the sex, all the romance, all that stuff, everything out there in the world that you might find desirable, you have to understand will never bring you any lasting happiness or satisfaction, not at all. And you have to understand that the honor you're looking for, the love you're looking for, the satisfaction and fulfillment you're looking for, you will only find in the face and the arms of God. It was Augustine who elsewhere said it's maybe the most famous line, the beginning of his confessions, where he says to God, you made us for yourself and our hearts are restless till they find their rest in thee. But now, what's that got to do with the glory of God? When you only see God's power, you go to him to get things. But when you see his glory, you start to love him not for the things that he gave you, but just for the beauty and the greatness and the glory of who he is in himself. To see the glory of God is to see him as something beautiful and great and someone that you want to love and know himself, all by himself. And so in prayer you're trying to get him. You're trying to see more of his glory because the more you see it and experience, the more you love him for it, the more all these other things are good things, but they're not all the things anymore. They're fine things. Health is great. Wealth is great. All those things are great. But unless you see that even if you have all those things, you are desolate in the world if you don't have him. And to have him means to see his glory, to say glory means his ultimate importance, his supreme importance, his supreme beauty. The purpose of prayer is to fix your heart on where true joys can be found. Do you get that? That's the first thing. See, until you understand that, don't even begin to pray. Until you account yourself desolate, no matter how prosperous your circumstances are. Until you see what I really need is I need to actually see, not just God in some abstract way, I need to see his glory, I need to be attracted to him, I need to sense his beauty, I need to sense his love. He can't be an abstraction to me because all these other things they're never going to satisfy. Got that? Okay, everybody? St. Augustine is saying to you, you got it? Now the second thing is now you can begin to pray. Oh, so what is the first thing you should ask for? I can just see, I can see Augustine smiling when he writes this. He says, if you did the first thing and you account yourself desolate and you recognize the importance of the Lord God, the second thing, the very first thing he says that you ought to pray for is ask God for a really happy life. But you're going to do it in a completely different way. And you're going to respond in a very different way when things don't go exactly as you asked. And he gives an example. He says, here is the way most people ask for, you know, give us a stare at your bread, you know, help me to have enough money, help me to have a job, you know, how do we pray for our material once? He says, here's how most people pray. He says, oh Lord, give me the amount of wealth that a man or woman of my ability in education deserves. Because he says, here's what you really, you look at other people of your experience, your age, your education and your ability, you see how well they're doing. And if you're not doing as well, then you say, oh Lord, you've got to get me a better job. And it's all based, he says, it's at that point, you are not accounting yourself as desolate regardless of how prosperous your circumstances are. You want that too much. That's too important to you. You've lost the purpose of prayer. The purpose of prayer is not to get God to satisfy your desires immediately, but to set your heart on the things that will satisfy your desires ultimately, which is to know him, to please him, to promote his glory, to serve him, and to become the person he wants you to be, which of course will make you glorious and happy. So he says, instead what you say is, Lord, I need a better job. Give this job to me if in the grand scheme of things, it makes me the person you want me to be. If in the grand scheme of things, it actually sets my heart where true happiness should be found. And therefore, and this is to me the great insight, when you pray like that, when you know what your purpose is, if you're actually saying, Lord, I want your glory, I want to serve it, I want to promote it, I want to see it, I want to know it, when that's your purpose, you see that's the purpose of prayer, then there's a core, you might say there's a kernel and a husk to every one of your prayers. The kernel is always, give me this because I really think it will glorify you because I really think it will make me who I should be, because it will really make me a servant of yours, it will draw me closer to you, it will make me more like Jesus. In other words, there's a kernel and then there's a husk, and the husk is, and I think that job will help me, and I think that, you know, that relationship will help me, and I think that person will help me, which means, see, there's two ways to pray, oh Lord, let this person want to marry me. One way is because then I'll be happy. The other way is I want you, I want to know you, I want to become the person you want me to be, which I know is incredibly glorious and wonderful. I want to love you for yourself alone because that's the only way I'm ever going to be able to put everything in proportion, and I think that person marrying me will help me get there. In that case, there's a kernel which he always answers. In fact, let's go back to John Calvin. John Calvin actually, which just bold me over, John Calvin says, God always grants our prayers even if he does not respond to the exact form of our request. Isn't that amazing? He always grants our prayers. When he's thinking about the kernel, even if he doesn't always give it to you the way you want it, which is the husk, or put another way, God always gives you what you would have asked for if you knew every single thing he knows. God always gives you what you would have asked for if you knew absolutely everything he knows. In a sense, friends, once you understand the purpose of prayer and you put up your prayers, God fixes your requests on the way up so they don't destroy you. But on the other hand, as you pray, if you understand the purpose of prayer, it fixes your heart. It makes you the person you ought to be. Are you praying like that? Now look, we come to the end here, but here's the question. When I read Augustine's letter, I say, yes, this is it. This is the way to do it. But then I say, but how do you want the glory of God? That's just too abstract for us. How do you want the glory of God? Why would I want the glory of God? I mean, it's just like, come on. How could that, you know, why? And the answer is, if you love him because you see what it cost God to open the door of prayer to you, because it doesn't just end, does it? And I will do whatever you ask in my name so that the Father may be glorified. It says, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. And when Jesus Christ, the night before he's about to die, talks about glorifying the Father, we all know what he's talking about. The ultimate way he glorified the Father was to die. And therefore, unless you meditate on the death of Jesus Christ as his way of glorifying the Father, you're not going to want to love this God and know this God and know his glory. Here's how it works. Think of it like this. If somebody came to me and said, I have come in the name of Queen Elizabeth II, well, I have a lot of respect for Queen Elizabeth II, especially after watching the crown. I especially like, I always liked her before. So I respect all that she's done. So if you come to me and say, I'm coming in the name of Queen Elizabeth II, she sent me, I'm coming in her name, I'm going to treat her not as you deserve. You may not, I may not like you, I'm going to treat her as she deserves because of all that she has done. What does it mean to come in the name of Jesus Christ to the Father? The Father treats us. The reason why the door is always open everybody to the Father day or night, why the Lord of the universe, the omnipotent Lord of the universe says, just come to me and ask me. Yes, care about your motives. Remember what the ultimate purpose of prayer is, but now come and ask. The door is always open on the Lord of the universe. Come. Why is that? Because Jesus deserves that kind of open door, but we don't. And if God in prayer treats us as Jesus deserves, you know, it's the only reason, the only reason why that's possible is because at one point God treated Jesus as we deserve, and here's the great irony, and I want to look at some of you in the eye as I say this. The far answered prayers are all based on Jesus' great unanswered prayer. The reason why God can't answer our prayers is because he didn't answer Jesus' prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Or let me put it like this, some of you have had shattering experiences of unanswered prayer. And what worries me, as I preach a sermon like this, what worries me that some of you are going to be saying, you just give me all kinds of, you know, weasley, you know, reasons why I shouldn't feel bad that something I asked for that was really important I didn't get and it was shattering to me. Well I don't think up to now I have given you a good answer. Well, you have to know that it might not have been the best thing for you and all that sort of thing. Those things are, that's cold comfort, but here's maybe the only thing that might comfort you. God knows, God himself actually knows the shattering experience of unanswered prayer. Because God came to earth in Jesus Christ, he went into the Garden of Gethsemane, and he saw the wrath of God that he was going to have to drink it. He was called the cup. And he knew when he went to the cross he was going to suffer the penalty of sin for the human race on, because of our sin. And he was in the Garden and he says, Father, let this cup pass from me. I don't think I can bear it. And the answer was no. And here's what's really interesting. The answer was no. Why? Because, you see, Psalm 69 says, if I cherish iniquity in my heart, he will not hear me. If I, there was a minister that came to Gordon Conwell, our seminary. I wasn't there that day, but came and spoke in chapel on Psalm 69. If I cherish iniquity in my heart, he will not hear me. Everybody was, there was just devastated, because he was just saying, here's what the Bible says. If you cherish iniquity in your heart. That's the way of saying, unless you are just death, death on the sin in your heart, if you cherish it, if you nurture it, if you support it in any way. Why should God hear you? The God will shut the door. Everybody was just devastated by it. Well, Jesus Christ had no iniquity in his heart. Why was the door shut on him? He got the shut door, so that when we come in his name, the door is always open. Book chapter 11, Jesus was teaching his disciples on prayer. And he says, if you fathers, if your son comes and asks you for a fish, will you give him a scorpion or a snake? Your son asked you for a fish to eat. Are you going to give him a scorpion or a snake? And then he says, if you who are evil, give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? It's a marvelous statement. He's saying, even you flawed human beings, mothers, fathers, you so want your child to be happy. Okay. You see, you so want your child to be happy. But God is a perfect father, which means he wants you, he wants more happiness for you than you want for your own child. And you go, I can't be. Well, yes, he does. Listen, no father on the earth wants joy and well-being for his son or daughter, like your heavenly father wants joy and well-being for you. And Jesus says, you know why it's possible? Because I got the scorpion. I got the snake so you could have the fish. You know, we're like, we're like an eight-year-old boy who's crying because his truck broke. And then somebody comes walking in and says, hey, a distant relative just died and left you a hundred million dollars. You know what that eight-year-old boy is going to do? He's going to keep crying. He won't be consoled at all. Why? Because he doesn't have the capacity to take it in. All he knows is he's going to have to truck. So God comes and says, glory. You're adopted. You're mine. I love you. I'm going to take you to live with me forever. You know, I put my Holy Spirit in you. You're justified. You're accepted. You know, your sins have been taken away. And then you say, but I didn't get that job. Augustine says, set your heart where true joy is to be found. That's the first purpose of prayer. And after that, then just ask for everything. And you'll see powerful effects. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you for the gifts of prayer. Lord, I think everyone in this room has to respond to these words of Jesus in a different way. There are people here who have never actually had his name put on them by putting their faith in you and asking that you accept them because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. But there's also plenty of us in this room, Lord, that we have to admit we do not use prayer the way we should. Our motives are wrong. We've lost sight of the purpose. In fact, a lot of us just don't pray. And there's so many good things you want to put in our lives, but you can't because we haven't asked. Oh, Lord, enrich us. Make us vehicles for incredible blessing to the people around us because we finally pray. Make us able to face anything in this life because we finally pray. And we ask for prayer in prayer through Jesus in His name. We ask it. Amen. Thanks for joining us here on the Gospel and Life Podcast. If you were encouraged by today's teaching, you can help others discover this podcast by rating and reviewing it. And to find more great Gospel-centered content by Tim Keller, visit Gospelandlife.com. Today's sermon was recorded in 2017. The sermons and talks you hear on the Gospel and Life Podcast were recorded between 1989 and 2017 while Dr. Keller was senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church.