You Are Prayed For

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern,

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Mark chapter 1 verses 29 through 39.

Immediately Jesus left the synagogue, entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

Now Simon's mother -in -law lay ill with a fever and immediately they told him about her.

And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and the fever left her and she began to serve them.

That evening at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons and the whole city was gathered together at the door.

And he healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons. And he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him.

And rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed.

And Simon and those who were with him searched for him and they found him and said to him,

Everyone is looking for you. And he said to them, let us go to the next towns that I may preach there also.

For that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. All right, last time

I saw you, I was sick and I've spent the majority of my time this week fighting the flu.

That means I've done a lot of resting against my will, really. Thinking, sleeping, a lot of that.

And coming to grips with the physical limitations that have been imposed on me by this flu.

How ironic that after a few bouts of the fever this week that I would end up preaching on this text.

It's kind of funny. Sometimes you sit there on your back and you look up to heaven and you say, really

God? Really? Serious? You got a sense of humor. What I'd like to do today as we look back at our gospel text, if you want to put your finger there.

But as we look back at our gospel text, I would like to consider our gospel text in light of the topic of prayer.

And in order to discuss prayer, we're going to talk a little bit about what prayer is not. There's a lot of misunderstanding regarding prayer.

And I'm going to mention a few of them. Number one, many times people think that prayer is kind of a last resort.

I've mentioned this before in a sermon, but it bears repeating. And it's this idea that if somebody is truly ill, very sick, somebody might meekly say something to the effect of,

I think we might want to consider praying for this and such a person. And somebody might let out a gasp and go, oh my goodness, has it really come to that?

We're really to the point where we've got to pray. That's not a good way of looking at prayer. But another way that people think about prayer, and it's a false way of praying, and I must step on some toes here, is that many of the people who are in Roman Catholicism, they spend a lot of time praying to saints, or praying to the

Virgin Mary. We're going to talk a little bit about that as well. Now, don't think that I'm not an equal opportunity discerner here.

In American Evangelicalism, if you listen to Christian radio or Christian television, you may have come across a fellow, or nowadays there's preachers who are women, who are preaching and teaching that we as Christians, when we pray, that somehow we are to exercise authority over, well, flus and diseases and demons and things like this.

And so rather than humbly praying to God, God have mercy on us, please help us, or please heal us, they instead do this crazy thing where they literally say, oh you flu,

I bind you in the name of Jesus and I cast you off of people. And it was kind of funny, this week while I was ill, somebody,

I think they were trying to make me laugh, but it actually kind of made me upset, sent me a video of Gloria Copeland, the wife of the televangelist

Kenneth Copeland. And Kenneth Copeland's wife literally was saying that no Christian needs to have a flu shot, and that Jesus has already given them a flu shot, and all they have to do is exercise their faith and say,

I will not get the flu, and they won't get it. Well, clearly I didn't do the right thing.

I ended up flat on my back, and it was just too late for me. But we'll talk about that a little bit as well.

But the other thing that happens is that we as Christians oftentimes despair. We literally think, who am

I? I'm so small. I'm so insignificant. That why on earth would the

God of heaven listen to me? Why on earth should I feel like he's going to answer my prayers?

And so sometimes in our experience, we are tempted to believe that our prayers, somehow, we pray them, and then they bounce right off the ceiling and fall on the carpet.

But that's not what happens with our prayers. And so we're going to consider our gospel text then today in light of what real prayer is.

And you're going to find how amazingly, well, humble it is. It's not flashy.

It's not showy. In fact, it's quite simple if you get it down at its core. Along the way, kind of debunk some of these bad ideas regarding prayer.

So our gospel text begins with these words. Immediately Jesus left the synagogue. He entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

Now Simon's mother -in -law lay ill with a fever. This bears note is that the

Roman Catholicism teaches that Peter is the very first Pope. And you're going to notice that he has a mother -in -law. Now, I only know one way in which you can acquire a mother -in -law, and that is you have to marry a gal.

I'm just saying. So this would mean that Peter was married. I want to put that out there.

So his mother -in -law is ill. She has a fever, and I know exactly how miserable that is. It's very recent memory.

And so listen to this. Immediately they told him about her. I would like you to think about that.

At its core, that is exactly what prayer is. It's really that simple.

You have a need, or your neighbor has a need, and prayer is as simple as telling

Jesus about the person who is in need. You don't have to pray in King James English.

You don't have to learn your these and thousand thys and thines. Does that make any sense?

No, you can just simply say, your prayers can be just as simple as, Jesus, my neighbor has a problem.

What are you going to do about it? It could be really that simple. And you'll note that even that prayer expects that Jesus is going to do something about it.

So they go to Jesus and they tell Jesus about Peter's mother -in -law, and Jesus answers the prayer.

This time he answered the prayer by deciding that it was his will that she would be healed. And so he came, and I love this picture.

He took her by the hand and lifted her up. You'll see this again in the Gospel of Mark with the story of Jairus's daughter.

Jairus's daughter who had died, while Jesus was on the way to heal her.

And when he gets into the upper room, he takes her by the hand and he says to her, Talitha koume, which means little girl, arise.

And it's a term of endearment. Kind of the same thing is happening here. There's Simon's sick mother -in -law.

He takes her by the hand. What kindness our Lord has. And he lifts her up and the fever left her and she began to serve them.

In a cross -reference, the Greek actually says that Jesus forgave her the fever. And I think a good way to think of it then is this, is that every time we're sick or we're down with a cold or a flu, we're having a little bit of a wrestling match with death.

Each illness is kind of like that. And so when Jesus heals us, whether he heals us via the doctors or he allows your body to do its natural thing with its immune system, and you're able to be restored to health, that's a kind of, if you would, a little mini resurrection.

A little being raised from the dead. I love the picture there. So there's an example of what prayer looks like.

Tell somebody about Jesus, Jesus answers. It's that simple. It's not that hard.

Now another picture we see then, in what follows, is another example of prayer.

And sometimes prayer doesn't involve words. It involves actions. And so here's what it says. That evening at sundown, they brought to Jesus all who were sick or who were oppressed by demons.

And so in this case, the prayer is actually them saying, Jesus is there. I'm gonna take you to where Jesus is.

And in this case, you can kind of think of it this way. You're unbelieving neighbors and friends and family members.

Bringing them here to church or bringing them to a church where they can hear the gospel. That is a form of action prayer, if you would.

Knowing that Jesus is present to help them, to heal them, to open their eyes, to free them from the demonic, to give them faith and forgive their sins.

So this is an action prayer, if you would. Not spoken with words, but put into effect by action.

Taking somebody to where Jesus is. So the whole city, they gathered together at the door, and he healed many who were sick with various diseases.

And he cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak because they knew him.

Yeah, Jesus doesn't like it when demons speak. And then here's the last part of our gospel text that I would like us to consider.

You would think that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God in human flesh, that if anybody had the right to walk around the countryside and have a little bit of a

God complex, it would be him. But he doesn't. And you're going to note that in Philippians 2, we're reminded that Christ in his incarnation has humbled himself.

And although he is God in human flesh, and he is equal with God, he here in his work in taking on our human flesh and living a sinless life for us, he lives as a man who has a

God. It's a kind of an important thing. And so listen to what it says this. Rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

And you'll see that's a recurring theme throughout all of the Gospels, that Jesus was a man of prayer, which should tell us something.

Jesus is God in human flesh, and he made a point of praying.

Now, I and you, we are saints, and we are also still sinners at the same time.

We are not God in human flesh. We are regenerate believers who still have a sinful nature.

If God in human flesh has got to pray, maybe we should consider just how important it is and not despise it or look at it as if it doesn't mean anything.

Over and again, I'm surprised at how many people despise baptism. It seems so humble.

Tap water, I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What's the big deal? Well, the big deal is that God's Word reveals what goes on in baptism.

It's huge. You're united with Christ in his death and his resurrection. Your sins are washed away.

Your heart is circumcised by the very hand of Christ himself. That's important stuff. And so we dare not despise what looks so humble.

In the same way, prayer looks so humble. But don't believe for a second that it's not important.

In fact, I think it is so important that this is one of the reasons why the devil tries to get our mind off -track when it comes to prayer.

Because the devil just, the devil knows exactly how important it is. So Jesus himself is a man of prayer.

Now, I would like to frame then the rest of our discussion as we look at this concept of prayer in light of the first commandment.

The first commandment says, you shall have no other gods. And I think

Martin Luther's explanation from the large catechism, the opening paragraphs in the large catechism, really will help us get what this is talking about and then how it relates to prayer.

And if I could, I'd like to quote Luther from the large catechism just a little bit right here. And here's what

Luther says, you shall have no other gods. That is, you shall regard me alone as your

God. And that's God speaking. So what does this mean? How is it to be understood? What is it to have a

God? What is a God? I mean, what's the point of having one? What's that all mean? They're great questions.

And so he says, a God is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need.

To have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe him with our whole heart.

As I have often said, the trust, that trust and faith of the heart alone make both

God or it could also make an idol. If your faith and trust are right, then your

God is true, is the true God. But on the other hand, if your trust is false and it's wrong, then you have not the true

God. For these two belong together, faith and God. That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is,

I say, really your God. So the purpose of this commandment, therefore, is to require true faith and confidence of the heart.

And these fly straight to the one true God and they cling to him alone. So the meaning is this, see to it that you let me alone be your

God and never seek another God. In other words, whatever good you lack, look to me for it, seek it from me, and whenever you suffer misfortune and distress, come and cling to me.

I am the one who will satisfy you and I am the one who will help you out of every need.

Only let your heart cling to no one else. And so you'll see then this idea, and I think

Luther is on to something, this idea that our God is the one to whom we look in our time of need.

And prayer is intricately linked with that because prayer connects us with God and has us communicating to God what our needs are.

And when we pray to God, we are praying with the expectation and trust that he hears us, loves us, and will meet our needs.

And so you'll note then that true faith in the one true God that prayer is the natural thing that comes about as a result of it.

Now, this is the reason why then prayers to saints and prayers to the Virgin Mary are actually blasphemous.

Note that by praying to them, I would be expecting them to be doing what

Christ has promised to do, what God has promised to do, and I would be putting my faith in them.

And you'll note that within Roman Catholicism, they have saints for just about any occasion that or any need that you might have.

And so, are you a fellow in need of selling his house? There's a saint for that. That's Saint Joseph.

Are you traveling and in need of protection while you're traveling? Well, there's a saint for that.

And are you burdened down with burdens? Well, apparently there's a saint for that as well. And I learned that that saint is

Saint Christopher, but I went and learned that the story about Saint Christopher isn't even true.

He didn't even really exist. So your prayers to him go nowhere. Are you an artilleryman? And are you in need of protection on the battlefield?

Well, then you say you pray to Saint Barbara. I'm not making that up. That's true.

And you're gonna note then that what I'm expecting these saints to do under this system is the thing that God has promised to do for me.

Why would I pray to a saint and expect the good that I expect from God from them?

You see, it doesn't make any sense. And Scripture is very clear in 1st Timothy 2 5.

There is one God and there's one mediator between God and men and that is the man

Jesus Christ. So we are to pray to the Father. We are to pray to Christ.

We're not to pray to anybody else, whether they were saintly in this life or not.

Now the other thing that we mentioned at the beginning of the sermon was this temptation to believe that God does not hear our prayers.

It is a real temptation. I don't know if you've ever had those seasons in your life where you have a great need and you are diligent in your prayers and yet the answer from heaven seems to be slow in coming.

It's as if you had ordered a need off of a mail -order catalog and it got ordered from China and the boat somehow sank somewhere in the

Pacific and you're waiting for it to arrive and you're thinking, does God even hear my prayers?

Well, our Old Testament text helps us in this sense. Our Old Testament text actually gives us the right way of understanding these things and I would like you to consider, open up to Isaiah 40 21 through 31 and listen to how

God is assuring us of his great power and might and how his great power and might is not used by him to ignore us.

But his great power and sovereign knowledge is an assurance that he hears us and there's a wonderful promise at the end of our

Old Testament text. Here's what it says. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told to you from the beginning and have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

It is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are all like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, spreads them like a tent to dwell in, and he brings princes to nothing, makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

Now that sounds like a scary thing, but you're gonna note there, those of you who believe in the flat earth, that's just got blown away by the fact that God sits above the circle of the earth just saying.

We had a lunar eclipse and you'll notice that when the earth passed, you know, in front of the moon and big circle, you know, yeah, that's because we're on a globe.

But all of this is to note this, that God himself is describing himself as sitting above the earth and he sees us like grasshoppers and he's the one in his mighty power who stretched out the heavens and scarcely, he says, they are planted, talking about the princes.

He's the one who puts heads of states in power. In years past it was kings and queens and now it's presidents and prime ministers.

But he's the one who establishes them and he's the one who takes them out of office as well. And so he's the one who scarcely has planted them, scarcely sown them when their stem has taken root and then he blows on them and they wither and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

We always rejoice when presidents we don't like get blown away like that and we would prefer the ones we like to stay a little bit longer but God is the one who puts them in and takes them out.

So he says to this, he says this, to whom will you then compare me that I should be like him, says the

Holy One. Lift up your eyes and see who created these. He who brings out their hosts by number, calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing.

And here we have this wonderful picture of God in the heavens and we know the names of different stars and nebulas and galaxies and things like that.

God has them all already named and he says none of them are missing. And he says, why do you say,

O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord and my right is disregarded by my

God. And see, God is saying, do you not understand? I see it all.

Nothing is missing. My might and my knowledge is so deep and unfathomable that I know when a sparrow dies out in the field and you are not missed by God.

You are not missing. And so he's assuring us, he's assuring us that he has not disregarded us.

He says, have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting

God. He's the creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

And listen to this then, he gives power to the faint. And that's me and that's you.

And to him who has no might, he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted.

I always think it's funny that the Olympic athletes, and I'm an Olympic guy, I love the Olympics, looking forward to the next couple weeks when the

Olympics get rolling, but I always find it fascinating that these young, really well -carved athletic types, that after they've competed in their events, there they are off to the side going, the strongest among us have a limited amount of power.

Oh, if only I had half of it. Next life, next life. But here's what

God promises us. He says this, even you shall faint and be weary, young men shall fall exhausted, but they who wait on Yahweh, they shall renew their strength.

And here is a promise for the resurrection and the life to come. Now we languish under the curse.

Now the wages of sin is death. Now our bodies age and decay. And oh, if I can only do a hundred meter swim like I used to when

I was 18, it would probably kill me now, right? But we all know what this feels like.

But here God is promising us. Not only do I hear you, not only are you not disregarded,

I am promising you that if you wait on me, I will renew your strength.

You yourselves will mount up with wings like eagles. You will run and you will not be weary.

You will walk and not be faint. You see, God hears all of your pleas for mercy.

He hears all of your prayers for healing. And here's the fun thing in this, is that here we see that all of our prayers in Christ ultimately are yes and amen.

And you think about this for a second. We have prayed for those who have been terminally ill here at Kongsvinger and they have died.

We have prayed that God and his mercy would heal them and they stopped breathing and now they're out there.

And yet this text teaches us that all of our prayers for healing ultimately have a yes.

And that yes is in the resurrection. And in that yes, we learn that although now our bodies fall apart, that then when he calls us from the grave, that in that day we will mount up with wings like eagles.

We will run, not be weary. We will walk and not be faint. And that we will totally be healed.

And that's the promise. So prayer then is not ignored by God.

That's the part that we need to get into our heads. Now keep this in mind. Now I know

I've been making a lot about prayer. And some of you in hearing this may be saying, pastor,

I hear what you're saying, but you got to understand you're actually kind of stepping on my toes here.

Because as you've been talking about prayer and things that people do wrong about it,

I realize I have not trusted God as I ought to have trusted him. And I have not been calling upon God in my times of trouble and need.

And I have not asked him to help me as I ought to. Instead, I've trusted in myself.

I've trusted in my bank account. I've trusted in my ability to put together a cool scheme or a cunning plan.

Or I have trusted in my... and then just fill in the blank. What have you trusted in?

Now worse, you may have also trusted in the false words of a false teacher.

I made mention of Gloria Copeland earlier, and this is the part I'd like to put this in here. Gloria Copeland, in the video that was sent to me, literally in her prayer, this was her prayer, these were her exact words.

Flu, I bind you off the people in the name of Jesus. And you people just need to keep saying,

I will never have the flu. I will never have the flu. Put words inoculate yourself with the

Word of God. That's not a prayer. That is not a prayer.

And here's the problem. Remember, prayer ultimately identifies in whom or what you are trusting.

If you think that somehow prayer is saying to the flu, I bind you,

I cast you off, who's your God? You are.

Listen, I'm a terrible God. I want to get out of this God business altogether, and that's the problem with my sinful nature and your sinful nature.

You're miserable little gods, too. You're awful at it. So get out of the God business and stop thinking that you can somehow command and control flus and diseases and stuff like this.

And instead, trust in the one who can actually do something about it, who actually has the authority to take the flu off of you.

And that's God, not you. And see, that's the problem with this false teaching that has invaded the church regarding prayer.

It turns Christians into little deities who, rather than asking God and trusting in Him for the good that they need, are trusting in themselves and their own authority and their own power as if somehow they have the authority to cast these things off.

And they don't. So, all of that being said, let's end our sermon today by noting this, that each and every one of us, we have not prayed as we ought.

This is the reality. Some of you have erred in prayer in different ways even than when

I have described. And what that reveals is that we are guilty, collectively, of breaking the first commandment and having a different God, whether that God is yourself, whether that God is your cunning schemes and plans, whether that God is your money.

It doesn't matter. We all have fallen short in this way. And when we fall short, it actually condemns us.

It makes us feel guilty because we realize, I do not pray, have not prayed, as God would have me pray.

And to this I would say, this is true. And Scripture says that that's a sin.

And Scripture has given us the solution to our sin in Jesus Christ and tells us to repent, tells us to acknowledge and confess that we are guilty of breaking the first commandment, and Scripture also commands us to be forgiven.

I would remind you, brothers and sisters, that Jesus himself, being a man of prayer, that we have an example of one of his prayers that is well worth looking at.

And it's found in the Gospel of John chapter 17. And I'm not going to read it in its entirety because it would take quite a bit of time.

But I would want to point out to you that toward the end of this high priestly prayer, that Jesus, in this prayer, he prays for his disciples.

But I want you to note something, that in his prayer, he also has prayed for you.

Have you considered that? And I want you to listen to these words of Christ.

I'll start partway through the prayer. And Jesus says this, he says, I have manifested your name,

Father, to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you, for I have given them the words that you gave to me.

And they have received them and have come to know the truth that I have come from you. And they have believed that you sent me, and I am praying for them.

I am not praying for the world, but for those whom you have given to me, for they are yours.

All mine are yours, and yours are mine. I am glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world.

I am coming to you then, Holy Father. Keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given to me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost, except for the

Son of Destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things

I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.

I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. So sanctify them in the truth.

Your word is truth. And so you're going to note here, Christ praying for his disciples, prays that the

Father would sanctify them, and sanctify them through the word, and the word itself is truth.

As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world, and for their sake I consecrate myself that they also may be sanctified in the truth.

And then he goes on and listen to these words. I do not ask for these only.

So far, Jesus in this prayer is praying for his disciples who were with him while he was praying. And this is on the night that he was betrayed.

This is Maundy Thursday, the day before he goes to the cross. So he says, I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me, through their word, that they may all be one, just as you,

Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

You're going to note, Jesus prayed for you. Because you, brothers and sisters, believe in Jesus because of the word that was written down and preached by the apostles.

You are believing through the word that they have given, and so Jesus here is praying for you.

And he says this, the glory that you have given me, I have given to them, that they may be one as we are one,

I in them, you in me, that we may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and love them even as you love me.

And now listen to this. Father, I desire that they also, that's you, that you, whom you have given me, that they may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Think of it this way. Yes, we have fallen short. Christ has forgiven us, but more than that, he has also prayed for you.

And here he has explicitly said in his prayer that it is Jesus's will that you be where he is.

That's his will. He is continuing to sanctify you, to sustain you in the one true faith, to convict you of your sins.

Even today he's going to feed you with his very body and blood, broken and shed for the forgiveness of your sins.

You see, you are prayed for, you are bled for, you are died for.

And in Jesus' prayer we see him humbly expressing his desire and will for you to be where he is.

So as we travel in our wilderness wanderings towards the promised land of the new earth, as we wait for Christ to return, know this, brothers and sisters, yes, we fall short, but Christ has prayed for you.

He wills for you to be where he is. He has forgiven you, he is sustaining you, and he has prayed that the

Father would continue to sanctify you in the word. They say the prayers of a righteous man availeth much.

I cannot think of a more righteous man than Christ. And his prayers for you still redound to this day.

So therefore, you who are prayed for, pray. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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