John 16:23-30 - The Practice of Prayer

“In that day”, the day Jesus is talking about is when he returns from the grave, the resurrection, when their grief will be turned to joy. In that day the disciples will no longer ask him for anything because they will know that Jesus has opened the door of relationship/communication with the Father and they can go directly to the Almighty with their requests. The reason they had not asked anything in Jesus’ name yet was because he had not made them righteous in God’s sight in the crucifixion, and until the resurrection / receiving of the Holy Spirit, they had not trusted completely that He was the Son of God, Mediator to the Father.

Luther finds five requisites for true prayer in this text. First, the foundation for prayer is the promise of God to hear and answer it. Why would anyone approach God with requests if they did not believe God could provide an answer? And since the promise has been made, Luther questions why anyone would fail to take advantage of the riches offered since God is more willing to give, and even more than we ask.

The second requisite is faith by in the individual that the promise is true. This may be obvious, but it may be the reason why many people don’t pray. They don’t have faith that God will be true to God’s promises. Yet, faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit, so how can we criticize those who don’t pray? If you haven’t been given the gift of faith, why would you pray? So, if you have been given the gift of faith, then why not pray for high and lofty things? Like Elijah, who prayed that it not rain for 3 years – he became lord of the clouds! By faith. Our trust grows when we taste the sweetness of God’s promise in seeing prayers answered (1-#6).

We talked about answers to pray that help us to grow in our confidence in prayers being answered. Weeks ago, our church prayed for a preschool mom who had an inoperable brain tumor. Yesterday, she found out it was gone. What happened to it? She said to thank our church for praying for her. God is glorified when we proclaim the power of prayer and give evidence for God’s presence and power and activity in our world today.

A third requisite for prayer is to be specific in naming what we want. Jesus taught us to pray for specific things in the Lord’s Prayer. And we pray for needs, not necessarily frills. I suppose the more specific we are in our requests, the more clearly we can see God’s answers, and yet we can’t tie God’s hands with time limits, etc. One of our participants said her brother was very sick with a painful ailment, partially self-inflicted, and was living with her after her husband died. And she was praying that God would take him because she was so distressed about his discomfort. One day when she was at work, he fell asleep and dropped a cigarette, which burned down her house and killed him. She felt like she’d prayed for the wrong thing, and lost her house as a part of that ‘answered’ prayer. Maybe we should be careful what we pray for? Yes, but also what good came out of having to move? She moved out of Chicago to western KY where she’s in a wonderful neighborhood and gets to fish whenever she wants. Didn’t it all turn out good?

The fourth requisite is that our prayers arise from the depths of our soul that reveals the true desires within us, not just spoken words that are read from a page. The words are important to start the process, but our deepest needs are offered in wordless prayers in which the Spirit intercedes for us and which we cannot even speak. That’s pretty deep desire. Yet this is the truest prayer.

The fifth requisite is that we ask in the name of Christ. What he means by this is that we ask, knowing that nothing we have done or can do makes us worthy to approach the Almighty. But we ask, knowing that Christ has interceded for us, and God hears because we love Christ, the Son. Those who pray long, beautiful, and many prayers merit nothing. It is only because we trust our prayers will be answered for the Son’s sake and not our own sake that makes us worthy to receive answers.

Overall, the more we pray, the more we see the promises of God are true. So our faith grows in proportion to our prayers. Start praying, and don’t stop. Blessings, PWM

Update – Blogging the Gospels with the help of Martin Luther

If you’re checking this blog out, here’s what I’m doing: Last year I read Martin Luther’s Church Postil, at least his sermons on the gospels. I saw a different Luther, and heard a different voice. He was teaching local clergy to help them with their sermons, but he was also preaching to the people. Instead of trying to figure out his ‘theology’ and apologetic to Rome or the scholastic community, I wanted to hear what he said to his congregants. I was pleasantly surprised, as much as you can be when trying to wade through the length and breadth of his messages. Luther was no biblical literalist. The Word spoke to him in ways academia might consider superfluous today. Through 2008, I wrote a prayer every week based on his sermon(s) for the lectionary text for that week. The prayers were provided on Sundays for parishioners to pick up and use during their personal study/prayer time during the week. This year, I’m leading a weekly study on the same gospel texts. We are trying to determine how the gospel text speaks to our lives today, and we consult Luther’s thoughts to see if they add anything to our own ideas. This blog highlights some of the things we talk about and tells some of the more interesting things Brother Martin teaches in his sermons. You can find Luther’s sermon on the links in the right column. The fastest way to find Luther’s sermon is to scroll down the left column at the sermon website to find the appropriate Sunday’s lectionary text, and then click on it to move to the sermon location on the right. I hope you’ll be blessed somewhere along the line if you choose to follow it. Peace in Christ - PWM

In a Little While - John 16:16-23

Four times, Jesus says the words ‘in a little while.’ We are comforted when we know trials and difficult times will only last for a little while. Jesus knew and we know the disciples were going to experience despair for three days when Jesus was taken from them. When you are in the beginning and midst of His absence, it feels like an eternity. But not to worry – in a little while, He will return in resurrection joy. How many times do we have to experience this feeling of His leaving us to figure out that if we will only trust His words to us – "in a little while you will see me again." Isn’t that part of the answer? It isn’t that He has left us, but usually we have left the presence of God in favor of sin, or simply following our own way. We can’t see Him when we depart from Him in distrust. And yet, He finds a way to open our eyes to His constant presence. Trust and wait patiently for His return. Every time He returns, our trust/faith gets stronger. Luther suggested that the disciples’ understanding about Jesus was hindered by their thinking that He was still going to establish an earthly kingdom, and they would be lords with Him. To go to the Father means Jesus enters the immortal life where time and the needs of the body are no more, and He can rule in the hearts of all people without the need for food or sleep. Luther equated the ‘world’ with the scribes and Pharisees who find joy in opposing Christ because they were always bothered by His teaching, and found no joy or peace wherever they interacted with Christ. Brother Martin liked the image that the Gospel is repeated in us – Christ dies in His human form in us and then rises to new life to reign in our hearts. He cautioned us to not judge ourselves or our faith according to our feelings as if comfort is lost and sorrow will not end when we sense His absence, but hold onto the words ‘in a little while’ when our sorrow shall be turned into joy, for Christ will arise in our hearts again (3-#32)…soon. Peace - PWM

Christ’s Kingdom and the Office of the Holy Spirit - John 16:5-15

Luther makes some interesting points on this text. One of his observations is that the world is blind to the reality of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Sin is actually unbelief, and other sins flow out of this root. Unbelief is lack of trust. When we do not trust Jesus will provide for our needs, we take matters into our own hands and steal, or work seven days a week. When we do not trust a relationship founded in God is sufficient, we seek to fulfill our need for relationship outside the boundaries of marriage and commitment to one person. When we do not trust God has set in place a system of consequences that follow wrongful actions, we take vengeance into our own hands. So those who trust in God through Jesus Christ have given up sin and their actions are motivated by love for God.

Righteousness is not good works alone because not all works are done gladly, willfully, joyfully, or with the right motivation. What is in the heart is more important than the outward actions. And even more important, for Luther, is that Christ has gone to the Father to mediate for us. Righteousness isn’t so much about our works making us any more worthy, but that Christ goes to the Father on our behalf. This causes us to love Christ and our works arise out of this love. The world doesn’t know how to judge rightly until it understands sin and righteousness. Reason is not able to decide what is right or wrong before God because it always relates righteous action to good works. Nothing is good that doesn’t come from Christ (who is love) or the Holy Spirit. Righteousness is having a pure heart more than outward actions, even though it always leads to outward actions.

Another point Luther makes is that Jesus rules a spiritual kingdom, not an earthly kingdom. That’s why he had to go to the Father, so people wouldn’t expect Jesus to rule a worldly kingdom. And yet, so many people think Jesus is coming back to rule the earth. This is where the Holy Spirit is needed as the teacher/counselor.

Concerning the office of the Holy Spirit, we can know any teaching and truth is of the Holy Spirit if it glorifies Christ as being known through his word (4-#75). The Holy Spirit’s work is to teach of the spiritual kingdom and to glorify Christ (4-#61). And Luther says the office of an apostle is teaching only, it cannot use worldly power (3-#4).

We asked the question: so, how do we hear from the Counselor? The word of God is one way, and our consciences are also aids to knowing what God wants. When you remember that the fruit of the Spirit is love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, your actions that generate feelings or conditions other than these are suspect. The bottom line is that if we trust in Jesus Christ to be a gracious God to us, we will love God with all our heart so we will want to follow all his commands, which results in loving our neighbor. Grace and peace - PWM

Bearing Witness to Truth - John 15:26 – 16:4

Jesus didn’t tell his disciples from the very beginning that the hour would come when the religious establishment would excommunicate them and even seek to kill them. There was no need to because He was with them. But when harming them, the accusers would believe they were serving God in their actions. Martin Luther saw the biblical text speaking directly to reformers in the sixteenth century. This was no Scripture reading stuck in the first century. In hindsight, we can see how he would apply it in his own setting.

The real question is - can we apply it in our setting today? Is persecution happening in the 21st century where we live? Let’s address the same comments Luther made in his sermon: “The world defends God by killing the Truth itself (1-#4)” and today’s “religion is a human institution that cannot accept the Gospel (1-#11)” and “The Gospel is a teaching that offends human rationality/reason and will be condemned as the devil’s gift from hell (2-#10)” and “It is the church who suppressed the Gospel and compelled submission to the point of burning dissenters at the stake (2-#13)”. Enough. What is at the heart of the dissention?

The heart of the dissention is the Gospel. What is it and how does the church kill the Truth? The Gospel is the confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Jesus Christ is God and the “Christian faith is founded upon Christ alone, who accomplishes all for us (1-#12)”. Christ is a gift to us, and “to know Christ died for me and transferred the load of my sin on himself is to realize that what I do makes no difference (1-#20)”. The Gospel is that we don’t need indulgences, commandments, or holy living to bring us salvation. To kill Truth today is to promote law as the means to the end. This is wrong because Christ is the only means to the end.

The Holy Spirit has testified, witnessed, convicted us of this truth in Christ. With this knowledge infiltrating our being, we are comforted in facing any challenge before us…even if it leads to death.

We still have churches, denominations, today who require submission to certain doctrines, practices, obedience, even to the Holy Scriptures, before declaring the words of salvation to their members. Luther hits the nail on the head when identifies “those holy ones who call themselves Christian leaders persecute Christ’s people because they have not know the Father or Christ. They follow Moses in their doctrine (2-#24).” They promote putting the Ten Commandments in public places instead of the cross, and they call that Christianity.

Faith and the confession of faith, which Luther says is saying Jesus is Lord/God expresses itself and witnesses to the truth in godly actions. And the Spirit gives us courage and strength to live our faith. We no longer fear persecution, but only grow stronger. Peace – PWM

A Different Law - John 14:23-31

I really liked Martin Luther’s sermons on this text. They reveal why he was viewed as such a threat to traditional Christianity. Traditional religion is so easily drawn into obedience to the laws of Moses as the right way to act because God declared it so. Brother Martin takes an ax and cuts off the branch of the law as a necessary part of our religious practice. This was his sermon for Pentecost, and he relates it to the Jewish practice of Pentecost. The Jewish tradition celebrated it as the 50 day journey to Mt. Sinai, after having been released from bondage in Egypt. At Sinai, Moses received the law from God and delivered it to the people.

The Christian Pentecost celebration, for Luther, comes at the end of 50 days of journey after we were released from bondage to sin and death through the resurrection, and on the 50th day, we received a new and different law – the gift of the Holy Spirit. He says the old law does not enter the heart, nor does it cause works to follow (like feeding the hungry, caring for the sick, etc.). “The Law is dead-writing only, and has ruled a dead people, for hearts are dead who do not willingly do God’s commandments” (1-#10). Notice that he doesn’t say the Law is of no value. Only the Spirit can change the heart to make one see the wonder and blessing of the Law of God, and thereby willing to follow it.

“We cannot make people godly by preaching the Law. There must be love in the heart, otherwise nothing is accomplished in keep the Law.” Thomas Merton said it right when he said, “In Christianity, motivation is everything.” That motivation is love. And love alone is the fulfillment of the Law (Rom. 13:10). Jesus said if you love me, you will keep my word. Love is what helps us commit to the well-being of our neighbor.

One of the key points for Luther is that the Holy Spirit changes our hearts by bearing witness to Christ, helping us to see God rightly, and this helps us to love God as we ought. In sermon 2, he says ‘the knowledge of Christ converts, nothing else.’ The Spirit helps us recognize God is kind and gracious, not angry. Since God is not angry, we can know peace, even when the conditions of life are anything but peaceful.

People are drawn to Jesus because of the peace and comfort he offers. The Law offers us no peace. So what do we preach most to others? Blessings, PWM

The Good Shepherd, John 10:11-18

To interpret this lesson for the current day, it helps to identify the individuals mentioned in the analogy. The Good Shepherd and the sheep are easy. Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and his flock are those who follow His example. Concerning the relationship of these two, Jesus confirms that He came to lay down His life for the sheep. The first verses of John 10 talk about Jesus laying down in front of the sheep pen as the gate. Why did Jesus have to die? To show us a God who cares so much for us that He will go to ultimate lengths to prove it. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay his life down for his friends” (John 15:13). And if Jesus did not die, would anyone really believe He was fully human? Humans are born and they die. His death assures us that He knows our greatest fear – what will happen to us when we leave our earthly bodies? The Good Shepherd lays His life down so the sheep understand a God of love and compassion. The hirelings, on the other hand, watch over the sheep only for their own benefit. They do not care for the safety of their flock. When danger (the wolf) comes, they flee. The wolf, according to Luther, can be the devil, but also any person who harms the sheep. Most notably, that would be the pope or clergy who teach only what destroys the soul - the Law and doctrines of works (3rd sermon, #36). Neither of these can nourish the sheep because they are impossible to keep. Only Christ, the Good Shepherd, can give life to the soul. Luther points out that Christ is the only shepherd today who actively watches over us today in His kingdom. The kingdom of Christ is concerned about the weak, the poor, the sick, the broken, that He might help them. Sheep that are weak are not to be driven by laws and threats. They will only respond to consolation, so we should preach Christ as one who rejects no one (sermon 1, #11, 12, 14, 16, 20). In his 3rd sermon, Luther says Christ’s kingdom and Christ’s church are not bound to the Laws of Moses, nor Judaism, nor the pope. It’s okay to teach the 10 Commandments but not without telling where we can seek refuge since we cannot fulfill them (#14, 34). Brother Martin spends some time explaining that the Church is not an organized group of people, but a spiritual assembly who hears the Shepherd’s voice and follows His governance. He says religious legalists cannot conceive of a spiritual knowledge (hidden and secret) that they cannot organize and control with reason (#50, 56). How does this speak to us today? Is Luther on the right track? If we follow his interpretations, we ought be wary of law-toting, works-demanding religious leaders (hirelings and wolves) who create fear of the afterlife if we don’t do something they think we need to do. You can’t scare someone into eternal life. The law destroys us by showing us we cannot keep it. So to be required to follow it is not the point. It can’t be done. The point is Christ alone covers us with His innocence (3-#39). We ought to focus on the kingdom of Christ, helping the poor, rather than promoting or defending the law. Luther says faith is the distinguishing mark of a Christian, not baptism, going to church, or receiving the sacraments (3-#48). Only the Good Shepherd recognizes His own sheep. Let someone say these things today and watch the flames of theological argument erupt. Have a Blessed Easter! - PWM