I CAN HAVE ANYTHING?
A Sermon on Prayer
TEXT: "If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." --John 14:14
SCRIPTURE READING: John 14:1-14
It is said that General George Patton -- the great general of World War II -- had great respect for his Army Chaplains. He always had them at staff meetings when important decisions were made. He always called on the Chaplains to "get a hot line to God!" During the Battle of the Bulge when the weather was so terrible, General Patton ordered the Chaplain to write a prayer for him to pray that would change the weather. The resulting prayer went something like this: "Restrain these immoderate storms, O Lord. Grant us fair weather for battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee, that armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen."
General Patton gave this prayer on December 12, 1944. It took God a few days to clear the weather, but Patton’s army did "advance from victory to victory."
I remember that battle so vividly. I was a senior in high school. I served as cadet Adjutant Major in the Reserved Officers Training Corps, and one duty was to read carefully the daily communiques from the battle. I knew about the awful winter storm that was preventing the Air Force from protecting our troops in fierce battle on the ground. I had a brother who was in the midst of that battle. Each day I placed colored pins on a map of Europe that showed how the Nazi forces were pushing our Allied troops back to the sea. Believe me, I was praying for favorable weather, too.
However, I was having difficulty with my prayers. I had read the words of Jesus from the 14th chapter of John that is our text today: "If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." And I believed it. I believed that the verse meant that all I had to do was ask and my prayer would come to pass.
Or at least I wanted so much to believe it.
It was during that time that I was struggling with the decision about whether I had received a call to become a minister. I was active in the church and the youth of the church. I was President of the city-wide youth group. Eighteen is a critical time in every youth’s life standing at the crossroad of life’s crucial decisions. I had a great ambition that I wanted with all my heart and I had prayed earnestly for it over and over.
But it didn’t happen. I was disillusioned. As a result, I went through what is called a "crisis in faith." If I could not trust God with this Biblical promise, could I trust Him at all.
Several years ago I met the man who was called the "Chaplain of Las Vegas Strip." He held religious services along the famous Holiday Inn casino strip. He told me that visitors to the strip always made the same request when he met them: "Reverend, will you pray for me to win?"
Are there no limits to the power of prayer?
In the first full-time church I served in Macon, Georgia there was a little 8-year-old boy named Raymond. When I first arrived I learned that Raymond had experienced a real tragedy in his life -- he had watched his father fall out of a pear tree and kill himself. The congregation surrounded Raymond and his mother with love to help them through the misfortune. About a year later tragedy struck again -- Raymond was diagnosed with sinus cancer. The American Cancer Society came through and he was treated by the best doctors in Atlanta. But all treatment was unsuccessful and one August day his mother, Laura, came to me to report that the doctors said that in spite of all their efforts, he would die within a month or two. Laura came to me with a request. "Raymond loved Christmas time," she said. Would I consider having Christmas early? So that was why we had "Christmas in August." We had a Christmas tree and presents and carols for Raymond. The Macon newspaper carried a story of "Christmas in August" and a picture of Raymond. And the United Press picked up the story from them and newspapers across the country carried a paragraph about it.
Raymond began to receive Christmas cards by the truck full. I still remember the joy on his face as he opened the cards -- mostly to shake them to see if any money fell out. But the story also caught the attention of quack cancer doctors and healing evangelists. One televangelist that Laura heard from was a young healer from Tulsa, Oral Roberts. He sent a prayer cloth. It was a piece of material cut out with pinking shears smaller than a handkerchief. God had told Oral that the prayer cloth would be a source of contact between Raymond and him. Laura was to place the cloth over the cancer on Raymond’s face. Return the prayer cloth, along with an offering, and it would be a point of contact between Raymond and Oral. "When I touch your cloth ... it will be like touching you! When you touch this cloth, it will be like taking my hand and touching me, and the healing power of prayer will make you well," he wrote.
That’s quite a claim.
But let’s examine it a little closer. Notice first of all that Jesus is talking to his disciples. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and Father is in Me?" Jesus asks his disciples. "I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son."
Jesus is giving his disciples words of encouragement. "You’ve seen the blind recover their sight," he is saying. "You have seen the lame made whole." "Hey, you’re going to do greater works than that!" Jesus is talking to the church! He was not talking about new houses or new cars or passing examinations. He is not talking about winning at the slot machines or becoming a brilliant scholar. He was talking about the work of the Kingdom of God. He was saying that when his disciples decide to get into action doing the work God has called them to do, nothing is impossible!
And that’s true! Nothing is impossible for the church of Jesus Christ!
Dr. Robert Schuller, that legendary advocate of Possibility Thinking, says that there are two words that have killed more God-inspired dreams and hopes than anything else he can think of. The two words are "Be realistic!" If we Christians, Dr. Schuller says, were "realistic" then nothing could be accomplished. He tells the story of Tom Dempsey -- a young man who was born with half a right foot and a deformed right arm but a ton of faith. Dempsey wanted to be a football player -- in spite of his many handicaps. And he did play football. He became a kicker for his high school team. But that wasn’t enough. He wanted to play college ball. And again, he became the kicker on his college team. But when he graduated from college, his dream became even wilder and more fantastic. He wanted to be a professional football player!
A professional football player with half a foot and a deformed right arm. Impossible! No coach would accept him. They all shook their heads. All except one, and it is ironic and more than coincidental that Dempsey became a kicker for the professional football team, the New Orleans Saints! The rest, as they say is history. In 1972 Dempsey kicked the longest field goal ever -- 63 yards! All because he was not realistic! All because, Schuller tells us, Tom Dempsey had faith in Jesus Christ who gave him the strength to do what he dreamed.
My dear people of God: you can pray for anything that is on your heart. You can pray to have the winning ticket and win a hundred million dollars. You are praying to a loving Father who cares for you. But in my opinion, God is not an indulgent parent; a parent who doesn’t know that giving a child everything that is asked for will seriously cripple the child’s spirit.
Amazing things are accomplished in this world by people who believe and will not give up. Our text for the day says that you and I are capable of amazing things when we set out to serve Jesus Christ. Jesus was speaking to his church when he said, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Nothing is impossible for his followers.
But there is something else just as important -- Jesus adds a qualifier: "And whatever you ask in my name," Jesus promises, "that will I do, THAT THE FATHER MAY BE GLORIFIED." Christ will do anything we ask if it glorifies the Father. Here is where we generally stumble. Not everything we do is done to the glory of God.
A story circulating on the Internet concerns Rabbi Feldman who was having trouble with his congregation. The rabbi and the congregation could not agree on anything. The president of the congregation said, "Rabbi, this cannot be allowed to continue. Come, there must be a conference, and we must settle all areas of dispute once and for all." The rabbi agreed.
The rabbi, the president , and ten elders met in the conference room of the synagogue, sitting about a magnificent mahogany table. One by one the issues were dealt with and on each issue, it became more and more apparent that the rabbi was a lonely voice in the wilderness. The president of the synagogue said, "Come, Rabbi, enough of this. Let us vote and allow the majority to rule." He passed out the slips of paper and each man made his mark. The slips were collected and the president said, "You may examine them, Rabbi. It is eleven to one against you. We have the majority."
The rabbi rose to his feet and said, "So, you now think because of the vote that you are right and I am wrong. Well, that is not so. I stand here" -- and he raised his arms impressively -- " and call upon the holy One of Israel to give us a sign that I am right and you are wrong." And as he said this, there came a frightful crack of thunder and a brilliant flash of lightning that struck the mahogany table and cracked it in two. The room was filled with smoke and fumes, and the president and the elders were hurled to the floor. Through the carnage, the rabbi remained erect and untouched, his eyes flashing and a grim smile on his face. Slowly the president lifted himself above what was left of the table. His hair was singed, his glasses were hanging from one ear, his clothing was in disarray. Finally he said, "All right, eleven to two. But we still have a majority." We all know that not everything that is done in the church is done to the glory of God.
But wouldn’t it be great if we had a dream for this church that was big enough that we would have to depend on God to accomplish it? Wouldn’t it be great if we searched our hearts and souls with prayer so that our dream would match God’s dream?
We have had such dreams at Central. Most every one of us has been aware that some of the things we are praying for in Rise, Shine! Central, will not be accomplished by the work of our own hands, but by God.
Though we have had setbacks and disappointments I still believe that the greatest days of Central Christian Church are in the future. I believe that we have only just begun to accomplish some of the great things God wants us to do. God ain’t through with us yet.
So here is the last point I want to make: You and I can have a part in the great things God is doing. If we dream a dream for this church and if it is truly God’s dream, then great things will continue to happen and each of us can be a part of it.
What is your dream for Central?
Why not put God to the test? Let’s dream a dream for Central big enough that we will have to depend on God -- God’s dream -- and then let’s go out and see that dream come true. Christ has promised us, "If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it." |
