Sermon Archives

May 16, 2010
Pastor Judy Bangsund

"Jesus Prays for You"
John 17:20-26

Perhaps you've heard the story of a priest, a minister and a guru who sat discussing the best positions for prayer, while a telephone repairman worked nearby. 'Kneeling is definitely the best way to pray,' the priest said. 'No,' said the minister. 'I get the best results standing with my hands outstretched to Heaven.' 'You're both wrong,' the guru said. 'The most effective prayer position is lying down on the floor. ''Hey, fellas,' the repairman interrupted. 'The best praying I ever did was when I was hanging upside down from a telephone pole.'

It probably doesn't surprise you that nearly everyone prays at some point in their lives. Even those who profess to be atheists will cry out to God in a crisis. And yet, there are many - even among Christians - who feel their prayer is lacking. In one website poll, of the 678 respondents who pray, only 23 felt satisfied with the results. There is a perceived disconnect between prayer in theory and prayer in practice.

You may have sung the following tune: Hey, hey anybody listening? It's a song about evangelism - sharing the Good News - but it can also describe our feelings as we pray. God, are you listening? Are you there? Do you care? These feel like prayers born of doubt, but they can also be born of faith. Many Psalms ask these questions, did you know that? Jesus himself cried out from the cross (quoting Ps 22), My God my God, why have you forsaken me? God, are you there?

I want to tell you, right up front, that I believe in prayer. Perhaps a better way to phrase that is to say, I believe in God. I pray because I believe God cares and answers our prayers. But perhaps the strongest and simplest reason that I pray is that Jesus prayed and told us we should, too. When Jesus prayed, not only did things happen, but people drew closer to God and grew stronger in faith.

Today we read part of the prayer Jesus offered the night before he died. He prayed it in confident faith that his Father would hear him and do the right thing. He prayed out of love for his friends and he prayed for you and me, too. As he prayed, his disciples were listening in and learning about prayer. Today as we listen in to Jesus' prayer, we can also learn how to pray like he did.

First, begin with God. That's where Jesus began. If you look at the beginning of John 17, you will find that Jesus began by addressing God as Father. He began with a God's-eye view, rejoicing in God's purposes for the world. Now if you and I are honest, we would admit that our prayers often begin with a very small and local view - often arising from our own particular need or trouble. And God welcomes those prayers - because they draw us closer to him. But often, because we are wrapped up in our own situations, we don't see beyond them. Sometimes we fall into a rather mechanistic view of prayer, such as we heard in that story just now, 4 guys trying to do it right. How do you get the best results? That's what they wanted to know. What position should you take? Do you need to twist God's arm, make sure he is properly informed? Sometimes prayer feels like that. But when Jesus prayed, he started in a different place. He started with relationship, calling God Father. Think of it! Not "Almighty God," though he certainly is that. Not "Creator of the Universe," though he's that, too. But "Father." And then, what did he pray for? He prayed that the Father's will would be done. That's where Jesus started. Jesus began with God's point of view.

George Marshall, the great World War II general (whom you may know best by the Marshall Plan) said this: "We must stop setting our sights by the light of each passing ship; instead we must set our course by the stars." Begin with a God's-eye view. Such a view could change the way you pray.

Now, don't get me wrong. God wants to hear about your needs and hopes and desires. And yet, you and I are aware that God already knows and cares about your life. Tim Stafford of Campus Life says this: "God is waiting for us to care with him. When we pray, we stand by God and look with him toward those people and problems." It's a different view. Instead of twisting God's arm, we take his hand and follow his lead, trusting His judgment. That's how Jesus prayed. He began with God, in relationship with his Father, looking at the world through his Father's eyes.

That's the first thought. Begin with God. The second is to remember that God works through you and me as we pray. Don't you sometimes wonder why God doesn't just intervene, take matters into his own hands and fix things? Now, I believe in miracles. But as Jesus' prayer demonstrates, God often chooses instead to work out his grace from the bottom up, from the inside out. God seems to prefer to use human hands and feet to accomplish His purposes, even when that seems to be the least efficient means. A dad tells of the time he was building a patio behind his house, using stones weighing 100-200 lbs each. His 5-year-old daughter wanted to help, of course - but not just by accompanying his work with singing (as he suggested). She wanted to help, moving stones into place, just like her daddy. So in ways that wouldn't endanger her, he showed her where to put her hands on the rocks, pushing as he maneuvered them. At the end of the day, he not only had a new patio but a proud and happy child who helped build it.

How might God be working with you in your life? Not only for you - which he does! - but in participation with you? As you pray, seek out God's will and ask for His direction, because this partnership with God enriches your life as God accomplishes greater things than just the task at hand..

When you begin your prayers with God, you will find yourself growing in relationship with him. When you seek to participate in His work, you join Him in looking at his world through new eyes. You join with him in his work, instead of the other way around. That's how Jesus prayed - he started with his relationship with his Father, and then together moved forward in the work they had set out to do.

Here's a third observation: Seek God out regularly in prayer and keep company with him. Take delight in that relationship, as God certainly does. Jesus prayed. I'm struck by that fact. Jesus, as the Father's Son, knew his Father far better than do we. And yet, he prayed, and he prayed often. He sought out the company of his Father. He didn't make a big deal out of it, but often arose early or slipped away at the end of the day, sometimes to pray all night long. Jesus didn't take his Father for granted; he sought out his company and made time for him.

I think we can learn from that. One Christian said, "I used to write in my daily calendar, 7-7:30 am: Prayer. But many times I passed that up. It was just one more thing to do that day. Now I write 7-7:30 am: God. Somehow that's a little harder to neglect."

Jesus had a unique relationship with his Father, and rejoiced that he was one with him. Because of this text and others like it, the Church has come to understand that God is a complex Being, three-in-one, the Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit - one Being and yet three Persons - hard to wrap your mind around. If we learn anything from that, it is this: there is a relationship going on, even within the Godhead. God is all about relationships, and wants to draw you in.

We so often settle for less. Jonathan Aitken, former Member of the British Parliament, compares his early relationship with God to that with a bank manager: "I spoke to him politely, visited his premises intermittently, asked him for a favor now and then (perhaps a small overdraft), kept up the appearance of being one of his reasonably reliable customers, and maintained superficial contact with him on the grounds that one of these days he might come in handy." Well, that polite but distant relationship ended when Aitken was convicted of perjury and sent to prison. There he attended the Alpha course, and his relationship with God got a lot closer. He said later, "Trusting in God does not mean that none of the things you are afraid of will ever happen to you. On the contrary, what you fear may well happen to you, but with God's help it will finally turn out to be nothing to fear."

Begin with God; participate with him in his work; seek him out and keep company with him. Prayer is a growing relationship; that's what we have seen so far. So what about outcomes? God often answers prayer directly, for which we give thanks. But when Jesus prayed for you, he prayed that you would believe. That you would know the Father through the Son and begin to place your trust in him. That's what was important to Jesus; that's his bottom line. Jesus had to trust his Father as he went to the cross, trusting that this was the right thing. "Not my will, but thine," he prayed later on in the garden. To be "one with God" means trusting him at a deeper level. That night in the upper room, Jesus began by rejoicing in his relationship with his Father. Then he prayed for his disciples, thinking of their next 24 hours, their next 3 days. And then, he prayed for you and me. That was the part we heard in our Gospel reading today. "My prayer is not for these alone," Jesus said, but "for those who will believe in me through their message." That's you and me. Jesus prayed for you. And what was his greatest desire? That, believing in him, we would be one, even as Jesus is one with his Father. This is another outcome of prayer.

Unity; oneness. Some people have challenged the Church for its lack of unity - the many denominations being the prime example. But I don't think Jesus was praying for denominational unity that night. The unity Jesus prayed for goes far deeper than institutional structures. Unity is less about structure and more about relationship. It is about growing relationships with each other as we grow closer to God. As we share his love, participating in his work, we grow in unity. When Pastor Jim and I were serving overseas as Lutheran missionaries, we joined hands across various boundaries to worship and teach together, to build hospitals, to dig wells. The same thing happens here in America. Our unity is in Christ.

Imagine this: a group of people is standing in a large circle, about an arm's distance apart. One person stands in the center and invites them all to come closer to him. As the people on the periphery come closer to the one in the center, they also draw closer to each other. It's that simple. As we draw closer to God, as we become one with him in truth and love and purpose, we also draw closer to each other.

Look at the picture on your bulletin cover. Those people have joined hands. It's a beautiful picture of love and unity. Now look again. What are they doing as they join hands? They are praying. It is their relationship with God and the act of drawing closer to him in prayer that makes them one.

Jesus prays for you. He prayed for you on that night so long ago and he does so today. The Bible says that Jesus continues to pray for you and that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you. My friends, that's your trump card! Even when you don't feel like your prayers are reaching the ears of God, you can know that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are praying for you, in that unique relationship we call the Trinity. Hey hey, anybody listening? Oh yeah. More than you know. God is here. We are about to come to the Lord's table to experience his presence in a unique way. It's part of his promise, part of Jesus' prayer, "that they may be one." And so we are one, even as we draw near to the one God, partaking of his one body. Even as we come forward to experience his dying love for us, going out again with him, sharing his love with others. Come. He is already there for you. Amen.