John 16:23-27
Sunday Morning Bible Study
December 8, 1996
Introduction
Jesus has been preparing the guys for what's up ahead of them, after He leaves to go back to heaven.
He's told them that they're going to face tremendous persecution, but they wouldn't be facing it alone, they would have the Holy Spirit to help them.
There would be a time up ahead when they would have great sorrow, yet their sorrow would be turned into joy.
:23-27 New instructions in prayer
:23 in that day
In what day?
The day we talked about in last week's passage, His resurrection, when He'd turn their sorrow into joy.
:23 ye shall ask me nothing ... Whatsoever ye shall ask
It gets a little confusing over the next few verses, but let me just say that the two words that are translated "ask" in this verse, are two different Greek words.
The first "ask" translates a Greek word that carries the idea of "asking a question".
NAS - you will ask Me no question
Jesus has been talking kind of cryptically in the last few verses, when He was saying things like:
(John 16:16 KJV) A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.
In fact, after Jesus said that, the disciples were kind of in a huddle, asking each other, "What did He mean by that?" (vs.17).
Now Jesus moves to say that in "that day", when He turns their sorrow into joy, a time which I believe is also tied to the ministry of the Holy Spirit, their teacher ...
Jesus says that on that day they're not going to be asking Him any more questions.
The Holy Spirit will be teaching them all they need to know:
(John 16:13 KJV) Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
:23 Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father
The word Jesus uses here for "ask" (aiteo) is a different word in the Greek than the word used earlier in the verse (erotao).
Though the word used earlier can be a word used to describe prayer, it would carry the idea of asking a question in prayer.
The word used here (aiteo) carries the idea of asking, begging, or desiring.
Jesus has moved from the idea of asking questions of Him, to asking God for your requests in prayer.
:23 in my name
This is the qualification that Jesus puts on receiving answers to prayer.
So simple, yet so profound.
Lesson:
Praying in Jesus' name.
We have some false ideas about what it means to pray in Jesus' name.
I think that we often have the idea that it means that we add a little code phrase on the end of every prayer, and that somehow this gets the prayers into heaven.
So we always end prayers by saying, "in Jesus' name ... amen".
What does it mean to pray in Jesus' name?
1. An authorized representative
The concept of doing something in another person's name is the idea of doing it in their place, as their representative.
Illustration:
A charge card always has a name on it.
Some of our charge cards have my name on it.
And when my wife uses one of those cards, she's using it in "my name", with my authority, with my permission, with all the privileges and credit (or lack of credit) that comes with my name.
It's kind of funny that us guys are so touchy about these things, but some of our credit cards are in my wife's name.
When I use those cards, I always feel a little funny, just waiting for somebody to ask me if my name is "Debby".
Has Jesus authorized us to use His name in prayer?
That's what this verse and the next one is all about.
He's given you His authority. (see also Matt. 28:18-20)
2. A representative in character
I think there's more than just being given authority to use the name, I think it also involves praying with the same character, with the same nature, as Jesus.
In the Bible, a person's name often carried some kind of connotation as to their character.
"Abraham", the father of the faith, the father of the Jews, means "father of a multitude".
"Jacob", that conniving trickster, means "heal-catcher"
"Nabal", a man whose name means "fool", and that's just what he was.
Even God's own name is descriptive of His nature:
Exo 34:5-7
And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. {6} And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, {7} Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.This is God's own description of what His name, Yahweh, means.
He is merciful, gracious, patient, abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy and forgiving all kinds of sin.
And what about that vengeance upon sin part?
Deut. 7:10 indicates that this only applies to those who "hate" God.
It doesn't apply to us.
In fact, Jesus' own name is the Greek form of the Hebrew name, Joshua.
And Joshua means "Yahweh is salvation".
Even Jesus' own name carries the understanding of grace, mercy, and forgiveness.
When we begin to see what a person's name represents, we begin to realize that doing something in another person's name carries the idea of doing that thing in the nature, in the character of that person.
Example:
Jesus gave us an example of this, in how He did things in His Father's name:
Joh 17:6 ¶ I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world ...
He made a point of showing the disciples what the Father's name was all about by the way He lived.
With prayer, if we are going to be asking "in Jesus' name, then we need to be people who represent the character of Jesus, the character of God.
Perhaps we need to look at the things we pray for, and ask ourselves whether or not they fall in line with the character of God.
Is this request merciful?
Is this request gracious?
Does this request demonstrate patience?
Is this request abounding in goodness and truth?
Does this request demonstrate forgiveness of sin?
:23 he will give it you
There is no sense in which we could translate this "He might give it to you."
The sense here is that it's a definite, absolute promise.
If we ask in Jesus' name, understanding what that means, then God will give it to us.
It's a statement of fact.
:24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name
same as the second "ask" in verse 23.
Up to now, the disciples haven't used Jesus' name in direct prayer to the Father.
That's going to all change.
:24 ask, and ye shall receive,
As we've seen, if we will just ask in His name, we WILL receive.
It's a fact.
Lesson:
Receiving answers to prayer.
So, why aren't my prayers answered?
1. Maybe I'm not really praying.
James 4:1-2 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
Sometimes we tell people that we're praying for something to happen, but how often are we really taking time to get away and really seek God in prayer?
Talking about prayer, and praying are two different things.
Illustration:
A bus driver and a minister were standing in line to get into heaven. The bus driver approached the gate and St. Peter said, "Welcome, I understand you were a bus driver. Since I'm in charge of housing, I believe I have found the perfect place for you. See that mansion over the hilltop? It's yours.
The minister heard all this and began to stand a little taller. He said to himself, "If a bus driver got a place like that, just think what I'll get."
The minister approached the gate and St. Peter said, "Welcome, I understand you were a minister. See that shack in the valley?"
St. Peter had hardly gotten the words out of his mouth when the irate minister said, "I was a minister, I preached the gospel, I helped teach people about God. Why does that bus driver get a mansion, and I get a shack?"
Sadly St. Peter responded, "Well, it seems when you preached, people slept. When the bus driver drove, people prayed."
Quote:
The great tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, but unoffered prayer.
-- F.B. Meyer
2. Maybe I'm praying with the wrong motives.
James goes on to say:
James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
Example:
"Lord, help Calvary Fullerton grow!"
That sounds like a good prayer, but what if my reasons for praying that are so that I can brag to my friends about what a big church I go to.
Example:
"Lord, save my husband!"
That sounds good, but are you praying that because you don't want your husband to go to hell, or is it because you just don't want him giving you a hard time for being a Christian, or is it so you don't have to come to church by yourself?
3. Maybe I need patience.
Jesus tells a story about a friend who gets up at midnight to borrow some bread from his neighbor. (Luke 11)
And because he just won't take "no" for an answer, he keeps knocking at the door until his neighbor gets up to help him.
The old saints often write about "praying through" to an answer.
You keep praying until you get an answer, one way or another.
Maybe God wants to see just how bad I think I need this thing.
4. Maybe it's not God's will.
1Jo 5:14-15 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. (AV)
If it just isn't God's will, then it's just not going to happen.
But I am kind of growing in the opinion that if I will just begin to grasp what it means to pray in "Jesus' name", and pray with the same character as Jesus, then I don't think I'm going to be doing much praying that isn't according to God's will.
:24 that your joy may be full.
joy = joy
be full - pleroo - to make full, to fill up, to fill to the full; to complete; to fill to the top; fill to the brim
Lesson:
God wants you joyful!
He wants you so filled with joy, that there's no room for anything else.
And how does this joy come?
1. His Word
Joh 15:11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and [that] your joy might be full. (AV)
2. Prayer
Sounds pretty simplistic, huh?
Sounds kind of unbelievable actually, huh?
How could you get joy from the Bible and Prayer, when there's movies to go to? TV to watch? Boyfriends and girlfriends to conquer?
Jesus said to the woman at the well, who had already been through five husbands,
Joh 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (AV)
The joy that Jesus gives is joy to the FULL! You'll never thirst again.
If you haven't experienced joy in prayer, perhaps you've never really prayed.
:25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs:
NIV - I have been speaking figuratively
:25 I shall shew you plainly of the Father
How would Jesus be showing the disciples things "plainly"?
It will be through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, who would "show" (same Greek word) the disciples the things of Jesus (John 16:13,14,15)
:26 At that day ye shall ask in my name
They will learn to ask in His name.
:26 I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you
What? Is Jesus saying He's not going to be praying for us?
NO.
The Scripture tells us that even NOW, Jesus is still praying for us!
Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (AV)
Note:
This word "pray" is (erotao) ... same as first word for "ask" in vs. 23, the idea of asking a question.But here it's used in the sense of prayer, of Jesus relaying the disciples' questions to the Father.
Jesus is saying that when the disciples learn to ask in Jesus' name, He doesn't want them asking Jesus to pass on messages to the Father because ...
:27 the Father himself loveth you,
It's interesting that the word used for "loveth" here is phileo.
It's a word that we've heard lots about, but we always seem to make it sound kind of cheap, compared to agape.
In reality, it's a word that speaks of warmth, emotions, affection.
It was used by the Jews to describe how Jesus felt about Lazarus, when they saw Him weeping at Lazarus' grave. (John 11:36)
It's even used to describe how the Father feels about the Son:
Joh 5:20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. (AV)
Lesson:
God cares about you.
God is not some cold-hearted robot in the sky who doesn't really have any feelings toward you at all.
God cares very deeply about you.
Jeremiah writes:
Jer 31:3 The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. (AV)
Illustration:
When Elizabeth Barrett became the wife of Robert Browning, her parents disowned her because they disapproved of the marriage. The daughter, however, wrote almost every week, telling them that she loved them and longed for a reconciliation. After 10 years she received a huge box in the mail that contained all the notes she had sent. Not one had been opened! Although these "love letters" have become an invaluable part of classical English literature, it's really pathetic to think that they were never read by Elizabeth Barrett's parents. Had they looked at just one, the broken relationship with their daughter might have been healed.
God cares very, very much for you.
He's done everything possible to make things right between He and you.
He even sent His own Son to die on a cross, paying the price of your sins, so that the way back home could be opened up for you.
Lesson #2:
God wants to hear from you.
Not by praying through the "saints".
Not even by praying through Jesus, as in the sense of asking Jesus to ask the Father something.
God wants you to come directly to Him, but in the name of Jesus.
Sometimes when we haven't talked with someone for a long time, we kind of get these funny ideas built up in our head as to what must be going on.
We tell ourselves that they must really hate our guts for something we did.
But maybe they're really just longing to hear from us.
Spend time with Him.
:27 because ye have loved me,
phileo
also used here.:27 and have believed that I came out from God.
Have you come to believe that Jesus came from God?
Have you come to believe that Jesus Christ paid for your sins while hanging on a Roman cross, and is God's ultimate proof of love for you?
Have you come to believe that Jesus Christ is God's way for salvation?