THE SIXTH SUNDAY OF EASTER - MAY 5,8 & 9, 1999

St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church - Watertown, WI

KEEP ON TALKING Matthew 7:7-11

Have you ever been told to be quiet? To sit down and keep your mouth shut? I have many times when I was in school. How many times have we who are parents told our children to shut up? There are times when we become irritated and agitated by continual talking and blubbering on and on. Yet talking and communicating are so very important in any relationship. We don't know what a person is thinking. They have to tell us. We don't know how a person feels about something unless they open up and tell us. So in any relationship, be it between parents and children, employer and employee, supervisor and workers, or husband and wife, communication is vital.

The same is true in our relationship with the Lord. Communication is vital. If we are going to have a strong and healthy relationship with our Savior Jesus we need to be in daily and open communication. The Lord speaks to us in his Word, the Bible, and in the sacraments of baptism and holy communion. We in turn communicate with God in prayer. Communication is a two way street. It's not just God talking to us nor is it just we talking to God. Both lanes need to be open and busy all the time.

The sixth Sunday of Easter has been designated as Prayer Sunday for centuries. So our thoughts and attention today focus on our communication with our God. Since this is also our national Mother's Day it is important that we learn about the importance of prayer. For most of us learned our first prayers from our mothers. As we consider Jesus' words on prayer from his Sermon on the Mount, we focus on this command of our Savior - KEEP ON TALKING! As we think about Jesus' words we learn that I) God Wants Us To Talk and II) God Will Answer Our Requests.

GOD WANTS US TO TALK

Two of the POWs that were released from Yugoslavia last Sunday commented that what helped them deal with their solitary confinement was prayer. Even though they had no contact with each other and minimal contact with their captors, they had intimate contact with their Savior God. Regularly they could talk to him and know that he was listening. This is something that Jesus teaches us regarding our communication life with him. He impresses on us that God wants us to talk to him. When you have been captured by an enemy, you suddenly realize that you have no control over your life or your death. You need someone to talk to about these things. You need someone that you can ask for help, for strength and for the ability to cope with whatever you may encounter. That someone is the Lord our Almighty and Loving heavenly Father.

When you clam up, you remain silent and don't talk; all kinds of things can happen. We have seen what happens when communication lines breakdown between people at work and in the home. There are misunderstandings, hurt feelings and misread communications. There is anger, depression and broken relationships. But how often aren't we afraid to communicate with someone because we don't know how the person will react? We are afraid of confrontation. We aren't certain how we personally will deal with our own emotions and feelings. So what do we do? We don't communicate. Rather we sit and stew. We worry and fret and don't handle the situation well. This occurs in our personal relationships and sad to say, it often occurs in our relationship with our Savior Jesus. How can we come before our perfect and mighty God when we recognize what we are?

Often we may feel unworthy and undeserving of coming to our Heavenly Father and talking to him. Why would that be? Because we recognize that we are imperfect and sinful. How can we talk to our holy God when we have blown it? How can we ask for help when often the mess we are in has been caused by our own sinful and rebellious actions? How can we talk to the Lord when we don't even know what we should be asking for? We are in such a turmoil that we haven't a clue what is best for us.

How can we come before our holy and perfect God? We come before him because he has made us his forgiven and holy children. As the Bible teaches us we can come before our God because of the faith that God has given us in Jesus Christ our Savior. As Paul writes, "You are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26) God has adopted us as his special and holy children in the sacrament of holy baptism. Because of this we can regularly and often come before our heavenly Father and communicate with him regarding all our concerns, our fears, our worries, our joys and our thanks. Why? Because he is our loving Father, we are his children and he cares about us and he wants what is best for us. Even when we aren't sure what we should be asking for the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf. As Paul wrote, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." (Romans 8:26)

Not only does God make it possible for us to approach him, he even commands us to be persistent. That means, don't give up. Keep on trying. Keep on presenting your requests to God. Notice how Jesus put it. "Keep on asking . . .; keep on seeking . . .; keep on knocking . . .." (v. 7) How often haven't we heard people comment, "Well, I prayed and nothing happened." Jesus commands us to continue in prayer. Notice he first says ask. From asking he proceeds to seeking. That word implies looking for. From seeking he goes to knocking which implies pounding on someone's door and seeking help and assistance. As you read your Bible you see many examples of persistence in prayer. Remember how Abraham dickered with God on the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? When God revealed to Abraham that he was going to destroy the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham went to bat for the believers in those cities. Remember how he got God to agree that if there were 50 righteous people in those cities he would not destroy them? Well after Abraham got that answer from God, he had second thoughts about the high number of believers. Through persistent prayer he finally whittled the number down to ten and God agreed. But the sad truth was there were not even 10 righteous people in those two cities and God wiped them from the face of the earth with fire and brimstone. Another example of persistence in prayer can be taken from the life of Paul. The apostle was afflicted with a thorn in the flesh. It was some physical problem that was a hindrance to Paul's ministry. It may have been a speech impediment or it could have been a problem with his eyesight. Whatever it was, Paul pleaded with God and pleaded with him to remove this thorn from him. God's answer was no. He told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Corinthians 12:9) However, until Paul received God's answer of no, he kept on praying and pleading for God's hand of healing. Or think of the Syro-Phoenician woman whose daughter was possessed with a demon. She came to Jesus seeking healing and Jesus rebuffed her and told her that you don't take the children's food and give it to their dogs. Jesus' response did not deter the woman from continuing her begging for help. And finally Jesus said to her, "Woman you have great faith! Your request is granted." (Matthew 15:28) This is the type of endurance that Jesus encourages each of us to have in our prayer life. Don't give up. Keep on bringing your requests to the Lord.

GOD WILL ANSWER OUR REQUESTS

Why try? It won't work. How many times have we thought that, said it or heard it said by someone else. It doesn't do any good to ask because you'll never get what you want. You don't know until you try. When we as children of God come before our Heavenly Father and present our requests to him we can be certain that our requests will be answered. As Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks the door will be opened. (vv. 7-8) When we go to our heavenly Father he is listening and he will answer.

How many times have you gone to someone to talk to them and they don't appear interested in what you are saying? Often their minds seem to be miles away thinking about something else. They really don't seem to care about your problems, your troubles and cares. They have enough of their own. But that is not the case with our risen and living Savior. He does care. He is interested about each of us. Why? Because he loves us. We have been created by him. We have been saved by him. He has prepared an eternal and lasting home for us in his heavenly kingdom. He is concerned about our lives here and now. He cares about what is happening to us. He understands the feelings that we are experiencing better than anyone else. He's been there, done that. But even more exciting he has the power and the ability to do something about it. So often with our friends and families they may care, but there is little if anything that they can do to help. But not with our almighty and loving heavenly Father. He actually has the capability to do something about our problems.

Yet how many times haven't we thought or said, "God didn't answer my prayer."? He always answers our prayers. But not necessarily in the way that we may have wanted or thought that it should be answered. Early in my ministry we had prayed for a member of our congregation that God would heal her of an illness. After the church service was over one of the elders of the congregation came up to me and said, "Well, Pastor, if Mrs. So and So lives or dies, God will have answered our prayers." My initial thought was, "No". If she dies, God didn't answer our prayer. As that thought was crossing my mind, he went on to see, "God can heal her by preserving her life here or he can give her a perfect healing and take her into heaven." God was teaching me something there. He answers our prayers by doing what is best for everyone. His answers can also be no or wait. We have to understand something about prayer. Prayer is our communication with God. It is not dictation. Prayer is not saying to God, "Look, I've got this problem and this is how you should handle it." Prayer is committing to God my problems and concerns and simply saying, "God help me." Then we leave it in God's hands. God knows what to do, when to do it and what will be best for me and others. And he may say no to some of our requests. Just as he told Paul, "No, I'm not going to take your thorn in the flesh away from you. That's something you're going to have to live with the rest of your life. And my power is going to be made evident in your weakness."

For God always does answer our prayers with what is best for us. Jesus makes that clear in the comparison he draws. He says, "Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" (vv. 9-11) Jesus points out that we are all evil. We are not perfect. And yet when our children ask for something we don't give them something useless or harmful. When they ask for bread, you don't give them a stone. The bread made in Jesus' day was flat round loaves and a stone could be mistaken for a small loaf of bread. Well, we know better than to give our children stones when they need bread. Nor when they ask for fish will we give them a snake. Now a fish and a snake don't even look alike. However, if you cooked both fish and snake meat you might not be able to distinguish between the two by how they looked. However, for a Jew to eat snake meat was a sin, because that animal was unclean. So a parent would not give something to his child that would lead him to sin. Now Jesus says, "If you parents who are evil and sinful know how to give your children what is useful and beneficial for your children, your holy God certainly knows how to answer your prayers and give you what is useful and best for you."

Isn't that wonderful and comforting to know that when I ask for something from my heavenly Father he is always going to answer my prayers in a way that is good and beneficial for me? Because if God gave you and me everything we asked for, just think of the many more problems and troubles we might have beyond those we are already experiencing.

People of God, forgiven children of our heavenly Father, keep on talking. Don't shut up. Open up. Express all your thoughts, your feelings, your concerns to your heavenly Father. They don't have to be verbal with your mouth. They can be expressed in your thoughts and ideas. God wants you to communicate with him. And in your communication always be confident that your Creator, Savior and Friend is not only listening attentively, but he will answer all your requests in a way that is best for you.

Amen