Welcome

Over the years I have written several "book" or "booklets" and many, many, many newsletter and bulletin articles. Because the book market seeks writings to meet specific needs at specific times, my material has never been accepted. I have a tendency to write what is on my mind and so I am left with self publishing. So, with the encouragement from my wife and others, I am beginning this blog in order to put my "ramblings" "out there"! I hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer

Please note that while my intentions are to use good grammar, because of the way in which some of the material presented here is presented (orally) the grammar and syntax might not always be the best English. Also note that good theology is not always presented in the best English so there may be times when the proper grammar rules are purposely broken.

Sunday, March 17, 2024

Learning Obedience - Fifth Sunday in Lent - March 17, 2024 - Text: Hebrews 5:1-10

The word “obey” is not necessarily a popular word in our world today. To some it gives a negative connotation of being inferior or under someone else, or to be in someone else’s control. Even my dictionary says that part of being obedient is to submit to another’s control. Here in America we have come to believe that we are self-made people, that we make our own decisions and that we are under no one’s control. This lack of control, lack of obedience is one reason for chaos and anarchy in our society today. The problem is that we have come to misunderstand that we are not free from control, it is just the controller, so to speak, who has changed. Paul would describe it this way, we are no longer under the control of our loving Lord, rather we are under the control of sin. We are obedient, whether we want to be or not, it is just where does our obedience lay? In our Epistle lesson we read of Jesus’ obedience and where that lead.
 

The writer to the Hebrews first lays out the Office of the High Priest. We begin at verse one, “1For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; 6as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek’” (v. 1-6).
 

The high priest who would offer sacrifices was the one who was elected from his brethren. He did not elect or appoint himself.  Every year on the day of atonement the chosen Priest would enter the most Holy place to offer sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people.
 

Not only was this high priest elected from his brethren, he was also called and appointed by God. Thus, we see two parts to the election to the office of the high priest, that is that one is elected from his people and one is chosen by God. This election reflects the calling processes of our church body in calling a man to be a pastor in any given congregation, that is that a man does not elect himself or call himself to be a pastor, but he is chosen by a congregation and this choosing is as directed by God. To put it more succinctly, God calls the man through the congregation to be the pastor in that congregation.
 

The writer to the Hebrews now moves to speaking about our Great High Priest, even Jesus Himself. Our text continues with verse seven, “7In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence” (v. 7). The first image that comes to mind is the image of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As we read through each of the four gospels we continually find Jesus in prayer, but the most vivid image of Jesus in prayer is when He was in the Garden praying, even pleading, that there might be some other way to save the world. Jesus was a human being. He had the human emotion of humiliation and of not wanting to be crucified. But while praying in the Garden, as He always did, He prayed for the will of the Father. Jesus did not try to get out of doing the Father’s will, rather He prayed so the He might be sure of the Father’s will and being sure of His Fathers will He proceeded with confidence to lay down His life for the world.
 

God the Father answered Jesus’ prayer, not by taking the crucifixion from Him, but by giving Him the strength to go through His suffering and death and ultimately by raising Him from the dead. God the Father answered Jesus’ prayer in that through Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection He saved all people from their sins. He saved us, you and me from our sins.
 

Moving on and picking up at verse eight we read about true obedience, “8Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (v. 8-10). Jesus was obedient. He was a perfect child.  He was a perfect teenager. He was a perfect adult. He was perfect and obedient in all things. He did what Adam and Eve were unable to do. He did what the nation of Israel was unable to do. He did what we are unable to do. He was perfectly obedient and ultimately He was perfectly obedient in our place, for us, to the point of death.
 

His perfect obedience became the source of our eternal salvation. By faith in Jesus, His perfect obedience has become our perfect obedience. By faith in Jesus, His death has become our death and ultimately His resurrection will become our resurrection. Even in our Gospel Lesson Jesus refers to His obedience unto death, meaning that this was the fulfillment of the Father’s plan for the salvation of the world and through it He would be glorified.
 

The words of our text offer to us Jesus as an example of a high priest and specifically Jesus is called our High Priest. One of the jobs of a high priest was to pray for the people. Jesus as High Priest prayed for the people. Again, going back to the four gospels we have account after account showing Jesus in prayer, praying for the people.
 

As our high priest Jesus prays for us. Jesus stands before God the Father, our eternal judge, and prays for us. As we pray to the Father in Jesus’ name, Jesus confesses us before the Father and pleads for us along with our plea.
 

Another job of the high priest was to offer sacrifices for the people. The people would bring a spotless lamb which the priest would sacrifice for the sins of the people. The problem with this sacrifice was that it had to be repeated over and over again, because the people continued to sin. The reason for these sacrifices was to show that blood had to be shed. The price for sin is death. The blood of an innocent lamb was shed for the forgiveness of sins of the guilty person. Being that people are sinful and do not stop sinning, sacrifices had to continually be made.
 

But, Jesus was a different High Priest. As our High Priest Jesus offered Himself, a sinless person, as a sacrifice for us. His sacrifice was the perfect sacrifice. His sacrifice accomplished for all people of all time and all places what the other sacrifices only pointed to, this ultimate sacrifice. Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself on the cross made all other sacrifices obsolete. No longer do we or anyone else need to make any kind of sacrifice to remind us of the price of sin. Jesus’ obedient suffering, death, and resurrection accomplished the forgiveness of all people of all time and all places, once and for all. Thanks be to God.
 

What does this mean? First, we must remember that in these historic accounts from the Bible as we learn about Jesus there is no moral to the story. I get quite concerned when I hear people talking about the moral of the story, especially when the reference is a Biblical parable or narrative account. The moral of the story is good for fables and the like, but with God’s Word there is no moral to the story, there is only Law and Gospel. So, first we must remember that the main message from God’s Words always is what God has done for us, and in today’s lesson, specifically, what God has done for us in and through Christ Jesus. Remembering what God has done for us then we move to seeing Jesus’ life as an example of how we are to live our lives. Right from the start then we will realize that Jesus was perfect and we are not, so any attempt to live as Jesus is really an attempt at futility on our part. But thanks be to God that He has sent us His Holy Spirit, so that with the Holy Spirit working in and through us we can accomplish great things. With the Holy Spirit working in and through us we can live our lives following Jesus’ example, but of course it is not we who are doing these great things, but God working through us, thus we say as always, to God alone be the glory. And I would always add, yet with God working these things in and through us we still accomplish them imperfectly.
 

Because of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection, because we see Him in prayer, we learn that we too need to pray and that we can go to Him in prayer because He has experienced all the problems we are dealing with and even more. We can pray to Him because He understands all our trials and tribulations because He has already experienced the same ones and has overcome. We know that, because He has overcome, He will help us to overcome and win out in the end.
 

From Jesus we learn persistence in prayer, again with the help of the Holy Spirit. We know that God always answers prayer, even though sometimes His answer is no. We pray in all sincerity, with strength of belief and in persistence but we remember that these are not the reasons God answers our prayers. God answers our prayers for Jesus’ sake. That is why we end our prayers in Jesus’ name, remembering that He too is pleading our case before our Father in heaven.
 

From Jesus we learn what true submission and obedience really is.  True submission and true obedience is to know that God answers prayer according to our need and according to His good and gracious will, according to what He knows we need. Perhaps that is reason enough that we should end our prayers, not only praying that God’s will be done, but also that we be able to accept whatever is God’s will.
 

From Jesus we learn obedience, but we realize that it is not our obedience that saves us, rather it is Jesus’ obedience that saved us. With the help of the Holy Spirit we too can be obedient as a response to what Jesus has done for us, and yet imperfectly.
 

No matter how hard we try we can never be free from some kind of control. There is something or someone to which we will always be obedient. We can either remain in our sin and remain under that control, being obedient to sin, or we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit become obedient to our Lord. Obedience to the Lord entails remaining faithful, that is living our lives to His glory, despite what negatives that may have for our lives, including our own obedience to death. Jesus said it this way, “The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” Love for our own life goes back to the garden of Eden and the desire to be our own gods. Hating our own life goes back to Jesus and His death on the cross because of our sins; we hate what our lives of sin have done for Jesus. Because of His great love for us, Jesus was obedient, for us, in our place, obedient even to the point of death. Now, remembering that in pointing to Jesus we are reminded that we love only because He first loves us, and we are obedient only as He has first been completely obedient giving His life for ours, knowing that we are saved by God’s grace, not by our works, yet saved to do the good works which God has initiated beforehand, my prayer is that you will not resist the working of the Holy Spirit so that He might have control of your life and work such obedience in you. Even if it is imperfect. God grant it for Jesus’ sake. And to Him be the glory. Amen.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

The Law as Guide - March 13, 2024 - Fifth Wednesday in Lent - Text: Commandments; Ps. 119:105; 1 Timothy 1:8-11; 1 John 4:9, 11

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the prayer. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about the Law as a guide in our lives.
 

In confirmation class we are taught and hopefully we learn that the Law serves three purposes, as a curb, a mirror and a guide or rule. The Law serves as a curb in that it attempts to keep order with its does and don’ts. Just as a curb on a street is there to keep cars on the street and off the sidewalk or out of the ditch, so God gives us the Law to keep us on the straight and narrow. The Law, and specifically speaking of the Ten Commandments, is intended to curb us from doing things we should not be doing and to move us to be doing the things we should be doing. Indeed, the Law is a list of dos and don’ts. When we do the things we should not be doing we sin sins of commission, committing things we should not commit. When we fail to do the things we should be doing, as Luther points out in his explanations to the commandments, “but we should . . . “ then we sin sins of omission, omitting to do what we should be doing.
 

The Law as a curb is meant to attempt to control our behavior. Now we might understand that to control one’s behavior does not mean that one’s heart can be controlled as well and that is most certainly true. Thus, we see that although the Law may be an outward control it does not and cannot change our hearts.
 

The Law also serves as a mirror, that is it shows our sins. The purpose of the Law is to show us our sins, to show us how sinful we truly are and how we cannot do anything to work off our sins or save ourselves. Although we may try to find some grey area in the Law in order to justify ourselves, our sinful thoughts, our sinful words and our sinful actions or sinful inactions, that is not the purpose of the Law. The Law as a mirror reflects our thoughts, words, and deeds so that we see how sinful we are especially compared to the sinless, spotless Lamb of God, Jesus Himself. The purpose of the Law is to move us to hear the Gospel. Please note, although we may believe the purpose of the Law is to move us to repent, it cannot do so.
 

The Law, without the Gospel never leads to repentance. The Law without the Gospel leads to works righteousness or despair. The Law leads to works righteousness when we believe we can actually keep the Law, that is that we can be the good obedient people the Law requires us to be. We believe we are good and are doing what we should be doing and not doing what we should not be doing. Or, the Law leads us to despair when we realize that there really is no way we can keep the Law so we begin to believe there is no hope for us so we despair and give up all together.
 

As you have heard me say many times before, the Law points us to ourselves. As the apostle Paul so well wrote to young pastor Timothy, “8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted” (1 Timothy 1:8-11). Indeed, the Law shows us our sins.
 

However, as Christians and only as Christians is the Law available and useful as a guide. We might suggest something to the effect that the Law is a rule book in the game of life in order to keep order so there is not anarchy and chaos. For the non-Christian, for those without faith, the Law is strictly a set of rules intended to hamper one’s freedom. But for the Christian, for those who hear, learn, know, believe the Gospel, as King David so well stated, for us the Law from God is “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (Psalm 119:105). We rejoice in the Law, not because we believe we can keep the Law, but we know the Law is a gift from God to keep us, though imperfectly, on the straight and narrow.
 

The Law is a guide only to those who have faith and thus desire to lead God pleasing lives. Without faith in Jesus or even in a god for that matter there would be no reason to need a guide. Indeed, if all life is but a survival of the fittest then the Law is seen as hampering one’s ability to survive, to get ahead. As Christians we rejoice in the Law, not because we believe we can keep the Law, but because the Law was given so that we might, with God’s help love our neighbor as ourselves, which is the second table of the Law, those Commandments dealing with our relationships with our neighbor.
 

Again, by faith, one is motivated to lead a God pleasing life. As Christians we rejoice in the Law because the Law was given so that we might, with God’s help, love the Lord our God with all our heart and all our soul and all our might, which is the first table of the Law, those commandments which deal with our relationship with God Himself. As we have most certainly heard, if we could keep the first commandment we could keep them all. The problem is we cannot even keep the first commandment. And since we, since Adam and Eve, have broken the first commandment we cannot keep any of the rest. Since our relationship with God has been broke so have our relationships with each other and the purpose of the Law is to show us this broken-ness so that we might hear the good news of the Gospel and repent.
 

What does this mean? As I said earlier, the Law without the Gospel leads to despair, believing there is no hope or to works righteousness, believing we can keep the Law. Thus, we see the importance of the Law as a curb and mirror, continually attempting to keep us on the straight and narrow and showing us our sins by reflecting our sinful lives compared to Jesus perfection.
 

We know the Law does not motivate repentance, but only the Gospel. As you have no doubt heard my illustration of the teacher in the classroom who passed out new boxes of crayons to all her students with the warning to be careful and not break the crayon. Yet, several students did break the crayons so when the teacher asked if those students that broke crayons would place them on their desks, one student decided to not get in trouble and hid the broken crayon in the box. When the teacher picked up the broken crayons and gave new crayons that student did not get one because he failed to confess his broken crayon. Such is the Law without the Gospel. However, had the teacher proclaimed the Gospel, that she would give a new crayon for the old crayon, the student, motivated by the Gospel of forgiveness would have confessed the broken crayon and been given a new one.
 

So, when Law and Gospel are confused and commingled it leads to moralism, such as Aesop’s fables. Moralism takes the Gospel and makes it into a new Law, such as if you want to be saved all you have to do is be good, choose Jesus, be obedient, dedicate your live to Jesus, and so forth rather than simply hearing the Words of the Gospel.
 

So, the Law must be preached in all its harshness and the Gospel in all its sweetness. The Law must be preached so we can know just how sinful we truly are. And the Gospel must be preached so that we can know for sure, have the certainty that the reason God created us was to love us and the reason Jesus came into the world was to do for us what we could not and cannot do. Jesus came to live for us, to be obedient for us, to choose us, to dedicate His life for ours. Jesus came to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus came to take our sins, all our sins and to pay the complete price for our sins so that nothing more need to be done. Indeed, the Gospel must predominate.
 

As we continue in this Lenten Season, we too rejoice in the Law that although it is for us Christians a guide, when we are in our sin it still continues to be a curb and a mirror showing us our sins and our part in putting Jesus on the cross. But even more we rejoice in our privilege to hear the Gospel, the Good News of God’s great love for us, of Jesus living for us, of Jesus paying the price for our sins, of Jesus giving us the forgiveness He earned and of our gift and promise of eternal life with Him in heaven. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Sunday, March 10, 2024

Dead and Alive - Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 10, 2024 - Text: Ephesians 2:1-10

Our text for this morning contains a very familiar verse and one that is particularly important for us as Lutherans, the verse which reminds us that we are saved by God’s grace, through the faith which He gives to us, and not by our works. This verse is one which is important to us and sets us apart from other religions, cults and sects and even from many other denominations. Not only is our text for this morning familiar, so are the Old Testament lesson and the Gospel lesson.
 

In the Old Testament lesson we hear the account of the grumbling of the children of Israel in the wilderness. As we follow the life of the children of Israel, we know that God took care of them, watched over them, provided for all their needs and yet, they still found things to complain about. In the Old Testament reading for today we hear them complaining about a lack of food and water, as if God had not provided these in the past and as if He would not continue to provide these for them now. They sound a lot like we sound today. God has provided for all our needs and yet, at times, we tend to doubt if He will continue to provide for our needs today and tomorrow. We would rather trust in ourselves than in Him. In the Old Testament reading we are introduced to what is called a type of Christ. A type of Christ is something which looks like Christ will look like when He comes. In the Old Testament reading the serpent is the type of Christ. The serpent is that thing which brought death, but is also that thing which would bring life. If a person was bitten by the serpent, the person would die, unless that same person looked at the image of the serpent on the pole which would then bring life to that person.
 

In the Gospel Lesson we are given what we call the antitype, that is Christ Himself. Christ is the antitype. Christ is a human being, as well as truly God. In Genesis we are reminded that  Adam, a human being, brought death into the world. In the Gospel lesson we are reminded of Christ, a human being, who brings life into the world. Thus, as a serpent brought death, so a man brought death and as one looked at the serpent on the cross to gain life, so we look at a man, Christ on the cross to gain life, eternal life. Paul expounds on this in our text for this morning when he reminds us that our salvation is ours by God’s free grace.
 

Paul begins by laying out our condition. We being with verse one, “1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (v. 1-3).
 

Paul reminds us that we are spiritually dead. We are conceived and born in sin. From moment of conception we are spiritually dead. And just as a physically dead persons cannot raise himself, so it is with spiritually dead people, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. Indeed and unfortunately there are those that would suggest that we are to reach out to God, we are to choose, accept, or do something, anything to save ourselves, which is just as impossible as it is for someone to raise themselves from the dead.
 

Not only are we spiritually dead, we are also spiritually blind. We are so wrapped up and involved in our sinfulness we cannot see how sinful we really are. We cannot see what is right or good. Indeed and again unfortunately there are those who do not see their spiritual blindness and so unwittingly lead others to think they can do something, even anything to bring themselves alive from spiritual death.
 

Thus, we are also enemies of God. If we are not for God, we are against Him. Paul says it this way, that we “follow the prince of the power of the air,” in other words, we follow Satan. Yes, we are enemies of God,  fighting against Him. This fighting against God is, or rather, happens before Christ has His way with us, in other words, this was our condition.
 

After laying out our condition, Paul lays out God’s rich mercy. We continue at verse four, “4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—6and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (v. 4-7).
 

God shows His great love for us in this that He raised us up with His grace and He did this while we were yet sinners. We talked about this a couple weeks ago, that is that someone might give their life for someone or some cause deemed worthy, but for someone or some cause deemed unworthy this would never happen. Yet, God shows His great love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, while we were sinning and fighting against Him, He gave His life for ours. This is just as John spells it out for us in our Gospel reading for this morning, the Gospel in a nutshell as we call it.
 

God in Christ has given His life for ours, yet God is not through with His giving. He also gives us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation. As we talked about last week and many times before, the greatest gift we are given is the gift of forgiveness of sins, because with forgiveness of sins is life and salvation.
 

And here, our Lord gives us a glimpse of His immeasurable riches in heaven. Our God is a gift giving God. He gives and we are given to. And when our Lord gives He does not give some now and hold off and give some more later. There are no conditions on His giving, that He will give us some now and if we do this or if we do that He will give us more later. No, our Lord always gives us the whole lot of His gifts and a whole lot more.
 

Finally, in our text for this morning we have the infamous words that remind us that we are saved by grace through faith. We pick up at verse eight, “8For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (v. 8-10).
 

We are saved by grace and I do like how this is spelled out as, grace is “God’s riches at Christ expense.” God’s grace is His undeserved love. We do not deserve any of the gifts our Lord gives. As a matter of fact, this is what Paul is so well laying out for us, we are spiritually blind, spiritually dead and enemies of God. There is no reason we should imagine that God owes us anything. And the more sinful we realize we are, the greater God’s great grace is understood. Yet, as we know, God’s grace did not come without a cost. While it costs us nothing, it cost Christ His life.
 

We are saved by grace and through faith. This faith is something that is given to us as well, This faith is given through the means of grace and this faith is the instrument which grabs hold of and makes the rest of the gifts ours. Thus, we see that not only is faith important, but the object of faith is important. Not only does it matter that we believe, it also matters in whom we believe.
 

And finally, Paul does bring up the issue of good works. We are saved for a purpose, to do the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. Thus, we see that these are not good works we initiate, but these are good works which God initiates, which God works in and through us and which are done to His glory. Always the focus going back to our Lord. And what are these good works which God prepared in advance for us to do? They are works which the Holy Spirit works in and through us, so we can take no credit in these good works. They are good works which begin with loving God and loving our neighbor, and we show these good works by living confident lives of faith, that is by living with a joyous trusting attitude in all things. They are good works which include encouraging each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, encouraging each other in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They are good works which include spreading the good news of Jesus. They are good works which give glory to our great Lord.
 

What Does This Mean? We live in a world in which many people are looking for meaning and purpose. For too long we have been taught, and unfortunately too many people believe, that we are simply a product of many thousands of accidents. Our Christian country has digressed to the point of no longer being a Christian country but in being a country in which there are some Christians. As we look at the three lessons for this morning and in particular as we look at these texts wrapped up in our text, Paul reminds us, as Moses does in Numbers and as John does in his Gospel, that we do have a purpose. Our purpose in life is first and foremost that God created us to love us. As we were reminded last week, parents do not have children in order to be served by them, but parents have children in order to love them, care for them and bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, so our Lord created us, not to serve Him, as if He needs anything from us, but in order to love us, care for us and bring us up in His nurture and admonition.
 

God created us. We sin. God redeems us. God created us to love us and to do for us. At the same time, God redeemed us for a purpose, to do good works. But, lest we think in terms of our good works as something we do on our own, let us remind ourselves that our good works are good works because they are good works which He works in and through us. Remember Paul’s words, that these are good works which were prepared beforehand. God is the one who initiates. God initiated in the creation of the world. God initiated in our redemption. God initiates or gives us faith, bringing us from spiritual death to eternal life. And now we see that God initiated in our sanctification.
 

What a Great God we have. God does, God gives and we are done to and we are given to. And even when God does and gives, we continue to follow our former ways of resisting and sinning. We tend so much to be like the children of Israel. Thanks be to God that He does not and will not give up on us. Thanks be to God that He continues to do for us and give to us.
 

What a great trio of lessons we have again this morning. With God’s Word, we cannot go wrong. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” So that, “by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us,” has taken care of everything. God gives and we are given to. Thanks be to God and to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Prayer - March 6, 2024 - Fourth Wednesday in Lent - Text: First Petition; Ps. 19:14; Matthew 6:5-15

Last week we continued our series on Lutheran Doctrine by hearing what we believe about the correlation of faith and works. Today we continue our series by being reminded of what we believe about the prayer. What is prayer? What is the best prayer and why the Lord’s Prayer is the best prayer? And the importance of prayer, not for God, but for us.
 

So, what is prayer? In confirmation class we define prayer as a heart to heart talk with God, anytime and any place. And we distinguish between prayer and a creed, as you might remember, we study the Ten Commandments followed by the Creed and then the Lord’s Prayer, so we distinguish between a creed and a prayer as such; a creed is a confession of faith. A prayer is simply speaking to God as we would speak to another person. I bring up this difference because on any given Sunday when we profess our faith using the creed many of us do so bowing our heads as if we are praying. And we can pray the creed, there is nothing wrong with that practice. However, perhaps we would do well to boldly hold up our heads and do as one of my friends said they do in their church, open the doors and confess and profess to the world.
 

But, I digress. A prayer is a heart to heart talk with God. I like the bumper sticker I once read that said, “As long as there are tests there will be prayer in public schools.” How true I am sure. A prayer does not necessarily have to be spoken out loud, although it is suggested by some that speaking our prayers out loud is a good habit as it helps us to hear what we are praying. To define prayer as a heart to heart talk with God helps us better understand that our prayer includes our thoughts as well as our words. Indeed, in my own life I often find myself in prayer, not out loud, but simply speaking to God as I walk or drive or whatever it is I may be doing.
  

Prayer is also a part of our conversation with God. A conversation is a two way path, God speaks to us through His Word, we speak to Him in prayer. We are reminded that God commands that we pray, but also He promises to hear our prayer and to answer our prayers. Although we often need to be reminded that sometimes God’s answer is “no.”
 

Prayer is a gift from God, given to us so that we might know His love for us and His desire to hear us. Because prayer is so important He even gives us the best prayer, His Prayer, the Lord’s Prayer as we call it. In the Lord’s Prayer, as Jesus taught His disciples and us to pray, at their request, Jesus gives us the very words to say and Jesus rejoices when we speak back to Him the very words He has given us to say, indeed, to pray the words of the Lord’s Prayer makes it the most perfect prayer because they are God’s perfect Word.
 

Yet, not only has God given us the most perfect prayer, He has also given us all of Scripture and especially the Psalms. When we may be having a difficult time we can read through the Psalms and we can find great prayers throughout the Psalms, prayers that express the thoughts and feelings that we are having, but are not sure how to express them.
 

And again, as I said, Jesus rejoices when we speak back to Him the Words He has given us to say. One of my favorite professors expressed that all words are Law words until Jesus makes them Gospel words. So, here in His prayer, throughout the Psalms, in all of Holy Scripture, Jesus gives us His Word, Gospel Words to speak and to pray back to Him. And He rejoices when we speak His Word, His perfect Gospel Word back to Him.
 

Along with God’s gifts of faith, forgiveness and life is His gift of prayer. As we navigate the struggles of this world we see the importance of prayer and we see our need to pray. Truly it is we who need this gift of prayer and that is why God gives us His gift of prayer. Because God is omniscient, all knowing, certainly we know that God’s knows what we need even before we pray, which may bring us to wonder why then do we pray? We pray because of our need to acknowledge such needs. We pray because of our need to pray.
 

It is the same with all that we do. We come to Divine Service because of our need to be given the gifts God gives in the Divine Service. While God might rejoice in our coming to Him to Divine Service and even to worship Him, He does not need our worship, as if it is our worship that keeps God going. Why do you thing we call our service, Divine Service, that is God service? Because first and foremost we come to be given to by God so that we might then be able to go out into the world and face the world for another week.
 

Again, all that we do, worship, pray, even bringing our firstfruits, tithes and offerings we do because of our need, our need to give, as a response of faith, we simply cannot help ourselves. God needs nothing from us. God does not need our prayers. God does not need our worship. God does not need our money. Why would we think that God would actually need anything from us? Speaking to the people on Mars Hill Paul expresses the fact that as the Creator of all, God needs nothing from us, rather He is the One who does all and gives all to us. As Luke relates the account, “22So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription, ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, 25nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (Acts 17:22-25). God gives and we are given to and He even gives to us to respond because of our need to respond.
 

What does this mean? Prayer is another example of what a great God we have, what a loving God we have, what a gift giving God we have. God created us to love us and He does love us and He shows His love for us in all that He does for us and gives to us. God gives us His Word. The Word that God gives is a Word that effects, that does and gives what it says because it is a Word with power. When God says it, that settles it. God gives us His Word and His Word is the power in Holy Baptism, in Holy Absolution and in His Holy Supper.
 

God gives us His Word and today we rejoice that God gives us prayer, the privilege to communicate with Him, to speak to Him. He speaks to us and gifts us with all that He has to give through His Word and He gives us prayer to speak to Him responding in faith, acknowledging the gifts He gives and seek further gifts from Him, which is His greatest desire to give to us.
 

God gives us His Word. God gives us prayer. And because of our need to respond to all that He does for us and gives to us, God gives us, stirs in us, and rejoices when we respond with our prayers as well as our thanks and praise.
 

Growing up I was always a bit concerned about Paul’s words of encouragement writing to the Thessalonians. Paul says, “16Rejoice always, 17pray without ceasing, 18give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). I had a difficult time understanding how one can “pray without ceasing.” Now that I am older and life seems to be throwing more and more difficulties at me I can truly understand Paul’s exhortation. Indeed, I can truly say that my life is a life of “praying without ceasing,” as I find myself constantly during the day in prayer, that is in a silent, thoughtful, heart to heart talk with God, whether that be in the morning brushing my teeth, driving to work, driving to see a shut-in or to the hospital, in prayer seeking an answer in Bible Class, asking the Spirit for the Words while preaching. Yes, I can see my life as being in constant prayer and I rejoice in this most blessed and wonderful gift that God has given to us.
 

As we continue rejoicing in the gifts of God, I would encourage you as Paul does to “pray without ceasing.” Speak to God as you would speak to a friend. His desire is to hear you and His desire is to pour out on you all the gifts and blessings He has to give. To paraphrase James a bit, “You have not because you ask not.” Today we rejoice in this most wonderful gift of God, the gift of prayer and even more in the most perfect prayer, His prayer, the Lord’s Prayer. Thanks be to God for His gifts and love for us. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.