Sermon Series: “Questioning the Faith”
Sermon #10 “Why Pray in Jesus’ Name?”
Text: I Timothy 2:5
OPENING JOKE: Father’s Day Jokes –
#1 “A second-grader was given the assignment of writing about her personal hero. Her father was flattered that his little girl had chosen him. He pushed his luck though when he asked, “Why did you pick me?” She pulled the valve on his inflated chest when she replied, “Because I couldn’t spell Arnold Schwarzenegger.”
#2 “A young boy was asked to explain Father’s Day. He quietly contemplated his answer, then made the following observation: “Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day except you don’t have to spend as much money on the present.”
#3 “A little girl posed a curious question to her mom. She asked, “If the stork brings babies, and if Santa Claus brings presents, and if the Lord gives us our daily bread, then why do we keep Daddy around?”
REMINDER: Please remember that this series on questions will go on until I run out. As I looked this week I noticed that I am running short. If you have questions, please write them and place them under my door.
INTRODUCTION: Today we are going to answer a question that revolves around the humanity of Christ Jesus
The Divinity of Christ has been pondered for centuries
I believe the Scripture is crystal clear concerning His role in the Godhead, that He is God in flesh and that the incarnation of ‘God the Son’ in the person of Jesus Christ is an essential Doctrine of the Christian faith.
John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” [Then verse 14 indicates that ‘The Word’ is Jesus Himself]
Colossians 2:9 “For in him [Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”
Jesus even claimed the proper name of God from the OT, the name “I AM”
John 8:58 “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
But in pondering the Divinity of Christ, we often lose sight of His humanity
God the Son, coming in the form of ‘anthropos’ (Greek: ‘human being’) is the great miracle of the Bible
And understanding His humanity is essential to answering today’s question
QUESTION: “Why, if Jesus has gone away and has sent us the Holy Spirit, do we now pray in the name of Jesus and not in the name of the Spirit?”
To answer this question, we must look at the role of Christ as our ‘High Priest’
I. CHRIST, AS A MAN, WAS BOTH PROPHET AND PRIEST
a. First let us establish the difference in these two roles
b. (1) Prophet
i. Responsible for bringing God’s message to the people
1. Moses was sent to bring a message of release to Pharaoh
2. Jonah was sent to bring a message of judgment to the Ninivites
3. Jeremiah was sent to bring a message of surrender to king Zedekiah
4. Isaiah was sent to bring the message of the coming Messiah to the Israelites
5. John the Baptist was sent to bring God’s message of repentance and Baptism
ii. Likewise, Christ brought God’s message of salvation from sins
1. He was the ‘prophet of prophets’
2. He was the one Moses spoke of when he said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
c. (2) Priest
i. Responsible for bringing the people’s petitions before God
1. In the OT the tribe of Levi was chosen to produce a priesthood in Israel
2. Thus the book of Leviticus was written as instructions for the priesthood
3. Moses was also a priest, because he not only took God’s message to the people, but he also took their petitions to God
ii. This is why, I believe, Moses said “a prophet like me”
1. Because Jesus was both ‘Prophet’ and ‘Priest’
2. These were His dual roles in His humanity
d. Man has never been able to go to God on our own
i. This is because of the separation cause by sin
ii. In the OT, the priest would have to go to God for the people
iii. And he went through a specific cleansing period before he could even do that
iv. The presence of God is so awesome that someone who was considered unclean would die in His presence
1. Illustration: “Rope around the leg” This isn’t Biblical, but an old custom says that whenever the priest would enter into the presence of God (the Holy of Holies), he would wear a rope around his leg – in case he dies they would pull his back out
2. I don’t know if that is true
3. But I do know that he wore a robe that made noises, so that the people could hear him working in the temple and know he was alive
4. Exodus 28:34b-35 “…a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around. And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out, that he may not die.”
e. But Christ, in His Humanity, became our High Priest
i. Hebrews 3:1 “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus”
1. He is called ‘Apostle’, which means ‘appointed messenger’, because He was God’s appointed messenger to us
2. He is called ‘Priest’ because He then takes our confessions to God
ii. If ever an in-depth study of Christ’s Priesthood is done, the book of Hebrews is the place to go
iii. Christ is referred to as High Priest over 15 times in the 13 chapters of Hebrews
f. Quote: Christ does for us what we cannot do for ourselves: He goes to God on our behalf
II. CHRIST’S PRIESTHOOD IS BASED IN HIS HUMANITY
a. In God’s economy, Christ could not intercede for us unless He was man
i. That is why our opening verse stresses “the man Christ Jesus”
ii. It is through the incarnation, or the assuming of humanity, that Christ is able to speak on our behalf
b. Hebrews gives us a clear picture of Christ’s humanity being essential for His Priesthood
c. Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
i. In Christ’s humanity He can sympathize with our failings
1. God is omniscient (all knowing) omnipotent (all powerful) and omnipresent (everywhere)
2. He cannot know temptation because the Bible says God “cannot be tempted” [James 1:13]
ii. But Christ, who has been here with us, has felt our human frailties, and now He is able to intercede for us when we fail
1. He faced temptation, pain, suffering, hunger and thirst
2. But, in all that, He remained sinless
3. And in Him being the only sinless man, He is the only one truly worthy of the High Priesthood
d. Hebrews 7:26-27 “For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.”
i. Again we see the perfection of Christ’s Priesthood
ii. The OT Priests had to offer sacrifices for their own sin
iii. But Christ became our sacrifice, and He needed not a sacrifice, because He was totally without sin
III. CHRIST’S PRIESTHOOD IS ETERNAL
a. Hebrews 7:24 “But He [Jesus], because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood.”
i. In the OT, every time a new High Priest would come around a new way of running things would inevitably come up
ii. Kind of like the transition of the Papacy we see going on right now in the Catholic Church
b. But Christ, who lives eternally in His glorified state as the God-Man, is our eternal and unchanging High Priest
i. We no longer need a human priest to take our petitions to God
ii. We no longer have to wait for a priest to go to God
iii. We have Christ, who ripped back the veil of the Holy of Holies and allows us to go into God’s presence through Him
c. You see, we will always need a Priest because of our sin
i. But we need not an earthly priest any longer
ii. Because now we have the Eternal High Priest, Jesus, sitting at the right hand of the Father, forever making intercession for us!
CONCLUSION: Well, let’s get back to our initial question – “Why do we go to God in Jesus name and not the Spirit?”
Simply, because Jesus is our High Priest
The Spirit converts us, guides us, and even aids us in prayer
Romans 8:26 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
But it is through Christ that our prayers are taken to God
Romans 8:34 “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.”
Illustration: “The President’s Son” There is a story of a union soldier during the civil war that needed desperately to be discharged to go and see his sick wife. He sat outside the Whitehouse crying because, as he tried to get in, the security stopped him. Just then a little boy asked the man “why are you crying?” After hearing the man’s tail, the boy took him by the hand and led him through the rooms of the Whitehouse, past the guards and into the president’s office. The boy was Tad Lincoln, the president’s son.
I am not sure just how true this story is, but it gives a great point for our message tonight:
If you want to get to the father, go through the son
The only way to go to God the Father, is through His Son Jesus…our mediator…our Priest…our Friend
