Reformation
How are We Bold to Pray?
Romans 3:19-28
30 October 2016 – Redeemer
Martin Luther hated God. He hated the mention of Christ. He wrote of his time in the Monastery, “I was often frightened by the name of Christ, and when I looked upon Him and the cross, He seemed to me like a flash of lightning. When His name was mentioned, I would rather have heard the devil mentioned, for I believed that I would have to do good works until Christ was rendered gracious to me through them.”
How then could Luther write the beautiful words of the Small Catechism? “God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true father and we are His true children so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear Father.”
We might also ask the same question of Saint Paul. He wrote that when God’s law gets through we don’t dare open our mouths. Hearing God’s Law, truly hearing God’s Law, is like walking into your parent’s living room after you totaled your dad’s new truck because you were drinking a beer with one hand and texting with the other. What are you going to say? Is there any word out of your mouth that could justify what you have done?
That is how God’s Law works. It leaves us with no excuse. Who is at fault that 3000 American children are murdered every day by abortion? God’s Law says it is my fault and it is your fault. We have not stood up for life. We have complained about children. We have glorified sex for sex’s sake, forgetting that the chief reason God created male and female was that husbands and wives would have children. Whose fault is it that our chief Presidential Candidates act like two toddlers lying and throwing temper tantrums? It is my fault and it is your fault. For we have let anger get the best of us. We have tried to justify the log jam of sin our lives by pointing out the speck of sin in our neighbor’s eye. We have increasingly made all our decisions based on what’s best for me, instead of what’s best for my neighbor, especially my weak and needy neighbor. Whose fault is it that our children aren’t going to church? Oh we could blame the sport’s leagues and the school activities and our work schedules. We could blame the church for not having the coolest youth group in town or the pastor for not having the most exciting sermons, but who’s to blame? I am for complaining about church. You are for being bored with God’s gifts. This is what God’s law does to us. Every time you try to raise a justification for your sins it silences you. But I – sh. Then she … but work was.. Quiet. You have nothing to say before God because of your sin.
“Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:19–20, ESV)
Yet, the same Saint Paul who wrote Romans 3 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, wrote to the Thessalonians “Pray without ceasing,” and to Saint Timothy, “I desire that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarelleing.” So how is it that on one hand we dare not speak before God and on the other we should boldly parade into our Father’s presence and ask Him for whatever we need?
The answer to that question is the word around which the Reformation centered and the Word which is at the center of today’s text from Romans – justification – to be justified. “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Romans 3:23–24, ESV) The difference for Luther, the difference from fear and silence to a faith eager to pray, happened when he realized from God’s Word that he could not make himself presentable to God, but that God in His mercy had made everything right through the work of Jesus Christ. Luther despaired of God’s favor. He was a good monk, perhaps the best monk in the monastery, but he knew his sinful thoughts and desires. No matter what he did he could not rid himself of sin. But then, as Luther said, one day in his studies of God’s Word, he felt as if heaven were opened to him for the very first time, because the Holy Spirit taught him that Christ Jesus had gained God’s favor for Martin Luther.
This is what the Word justified means – that God declares you a favored son or daughter. Saint Paul clearly tells us that God’s favor is not the result of your works. You cannot stack up your good works before God and boast in hope of gaining God’s favor. Rather, God has sent His Son Jesus into the world to work justice for sinners. God declared you righteous when He declared His Son guilty at the cross. God showed His favor to you when He put His only begotten Son in your grave. God’s righteousness was accomplished when His Son took on human flesh, then took on your sin, then suffered your punishment, then died your death. Our favor before God is gained by another – by the only One capable of keeping the Law and paying the price for our sins. When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” He was speaking of God’s righteousness. The blood of Jesus Christ atoned for your sins. The offering of God’s only Son paid the price for your misdeeds – God’s righteous anger was satisfied by the death of Jesus, so now the Father has favor on all who believe and trust in Jesus. You are justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
So this is how Luther could love to go into the heavenly living room in prayer. He went in knowing that Christ went in before him and around him and with him. Martin’s sin was covered with Jesus. Martin came in to his Father’s presence as a favored son through faith in Christ. So he was bold to pray. He loved to pray. He went to pray certain of His Father’s love because His Father had given Jesus for his sins.
One of my goals this coming year, as we enter the 500th anniversary year of the Reformation is to help you pray. I’ve been working on some devotional materials for your families that I hope to have ready by Advent. Those materials will include some wisdom from Martin Luther on prayer. In the year 1535 Luther’s barber and good friend Peter asked Pastor Luther for some guidance in prayer. Luther wrote his Barber a little pamphlet. Luther’s encouragement for prayer begins first with listening to God’s Word, reading a Psalm or a text of Scripture. That’s a very important first step in prayer. We listen before we speak so that we know what God our Father wants for us. Then based on that text – Luther encouraged Peter to include four parts in his prayer – summarized by the letters I-T-C-P. I for Instruction. T for Thanksgiving. C for Confession and P for Prayer.
A prayer based on today’s text might go something like this. Lord, in this Word from Romans you teach me that I have no excuse for my sin, but amazingly I stand before you a favored son. I thank you for declaring me righteous through the gift of your own dear son. I confess that I have often try to justify my sin by making excuses and blaming others. I pray that you would strengthen my faith that I am justified before you through faith in Christ Jesus my Savior.
A summary of this Luther’s advice is found on the back of your service folder. As I said, I hope to have some more helps in your hands by the beginning of Advent. Let Luther’s words to Peter the Barber encourage you, “We have to be absolutely certain that we do not allow ourselves to be distracted from genuine prayer. The devil is not lazy! He will never stop attacking us. And our flesh is all to ready, willing, and able to make us resist the spirit of genuine prayer.” Let us pray gladly and boldly, as the righteous children of God, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
29 October 2016 anno Domini