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3rd Week of Advent: He Gathers Us!
He Will Do All the Good Things He has promised!
He will gather (JOY)
Zephaniah 3:14–20
† I.H.S. †
I pray that the mercy of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ so overwhelm you, that all you can do is rejoice as you think of His coming…even as God does!
How Can I….Know this Joy
A pastor once wrote,
Day by day we encounter the world of visible things. It assaults us through billboards, broadcasts, traffic, and all the activities of daily life, to such an enormous extent that we are tempted to assume there is nothing else but this[i]
Sometimes I feel like that, like all of world that I encounter wants to assault me, attack me, trample all over me.
I so understand those words, that we assume there is nothing else but this….
struggle.
And this week, when the darkness of the dark “blue” weeks of Advent are interrupted, as if a hint of a new day were peaking through, even as the darkness still threatens, we are encouraged to rejoice. Not just look forward to the day of rejoicing… but to rejoice.
Now, today, even as we struggle with world events, with national and local problems; as we struggle with our finances, or families or maybe it is just our personal struggles, we are urged to sing and shout praises, to be glad and rejoice with everything in our hearts and minds and souls. We are called to cheer up, and not be afraid.
Thank God that He gives us a reason too…
Are We?
The people that rejoice in the presence of God are described in the following ways,
Those who need to be calmed, for they are afraid and anxious,
Those who mourn as they consider the state of appointed festivals like Christmas, and how they have become less about God and His people.
The people who will rejoice are those who are oppressed, to those who are weak and helpless.
Those who were chased away, or exiled.
This is referring to those who were run out of the camp in the days of the Exodus, who were cut off from the people of God because of their sin, yet will be welcomed back and restored.
Those who were exiled because of their sin and shame, for they too will be drawn back by God and restored.
Yeah, those who will rejoice in Jesus’s coming will include those who are burdened by shame and guilt, but who will be called by a new name, who will be given a new name, whose life will be restored. The prodigals who return, those crushed by their sin. For that is what Jesus does, as He was lifted up on the cross.
Lifted there because Jesus wasn’t just called a friend to tax collectors and sinners, He is a friend to them. And lifted up on the cross, the very image of God’s mercy and grace, He draws people to Him, as He desires.
Gather, for the Lord Will Live Among US
The pastor quoted earlier, who talked about the world assaulting us, following those words with these,
One single soul, in Pascal’s beautiful words, (your soul) is worth more (to God) than the entire visible universe. But in order to have a living awareness of this, we need conversion, we need to turn around inside, as it were, to overcome the illusion of what is visible, and to develop the feeling, the ears and the eyes, for what is invisible. This has to be more important than anything that bombards us day after day with such exaggerated urgency. Metanoeite: change your attitude, so that you may see God’s presence in the world—change your attitude, so that God may dwell in you and, through you, in the world.
There is the key to seeing where our joy comes from, in the midst of a world that will try to make life a living hell.
Realizing the worth of a single soul, your soul, to God.
And that is why we are gathered by God together. For in this Old Testament prophecy, over and over it mentions this promise – six times! – the fact that God will gather His people together, that He will make things right, and twice more just so we understand, he explains that happens as God lives in the midst of His people.
God living among His people
God gathering His people together
God living among His people
23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Matthew 1:23 (NLT)
The apostle John said it this way,
14 The Word became a human being and, full of grace and truth, lived among us. We saw his glory, the glory which he received as the Father’s only Son. John 1:14 (TEV)
and
The hardest thing to get theologically is a concept known as “now, and not yet.”
Jesus has been lifted up, He has drawn us into Himself in His death, and in our baptism, bringing us into life everlasting. We celebrate now the feast that is the first taste of the feast to come. We can live free of the guilt and shame, free of what separated us from God.
We don’t see it yet, but we get glimpses of it. As we gather, and as we do, our hearts should cry out His praises, for He is our Savior. And I want you to hear one more “now and not yet
For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
Know this, like the prodigal’s father, our Father rejoices as we are gathered into His presence… that is His love and mercy… AMEN!
[i] Ratzinger, J. (1992). Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year. (M. F. McCarthy & L. Krauth, Trans., I. Grassl, Ed.) (p. 391). San Francisco: Ignatius Press.
Can You Hear God Now? Why You Need to!
Devotional Thought of The Day:
28 About a week after he had said these things, Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up a hill to pray. Luke 9:28 (TEV)
42 They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers. Acts 2:42 (TEV)
551 Flee from routine as from the devil himself. The great means to avoid falling into that abyss, the grave of true piety, is the constant presence of God. (1)
There is a joke (at least I hope it is a joke) about an elderly gentleman and an odd sense of romance. He was asked by a newlywed how often he told his wife he loved her. The old guy thought for a moment and said, “the day we got engaged.” Seeing the shocked look on the young man’s face, he followed that up with, “and I told her if I changed my mind, I would surely let her know!”
I can’t believe there exists a woman for whom this would be satisfactory.
And so I wonder why many of us settle for that kind of relationship with God. It’s not that He doesn’t tell us constantly that He loves us, for He dearly wants us to know He loves us, to be aware of His presence.
That is what all of creation is about, about our relationship with Him.
Imagine for a moment that the old man’s wife told the young couple, “Oh, don’t worry about us, I am too tired to pay attention to my husband telling me he love me. It’s too much work to drop what I am doing, and read a loveletter he carefully wrote me. I don’t want his comfort, or for him to treat me special. Are our excuses for not spending time with God, with His people, any better?
Are our lives so perfect that we don’t need to be comforted by the Holy Spirit, that we don’t need to be encouraged by our brothers and sisters in the church? Are we somehow more mature than the early church, who gathered regularly to pray?
If this letter is producing some guilt, that is not its intent. We have been given an amazing gift, a blessing beyond compare. The presence of God, and in scripture, the proof of His love. A gift we need to use, a gift that is a life changer, to know we walk through life with God.
Spending time in prayer, in readying and stuyding His word wih others, in celebrating the Lord’s Supper – it isn’t about duty, it is about knowing we are love… about hearing and seein that love…. Together, as His family.. And there is nothing better…
1. Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1331-1332). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Image of God and His People You Will Never Forget (though you might want to!)
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy a linen loincloth and put it on, but do not wash it.” 2 So I bought the loincloth as the LORD directed me, and I put it on. 3 Then the LORD gave me another message: 4 “Take the linen loincloth you are wearing, and go to the Euphrates River. Hide it there in a hole in the rocks.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as the LORD had instructed me. 6 A long time afterward the LORD said to me, “Go back to the Euphrates and get the loincloth I told you to hide there.” 7 So I went to the Euphrates and dug it out of the hole where I had hidden it. But now it was rotting and falling apart. The loincloth was good for nothing. 8 Then I received this message from the LORD: 9 “This is what the LORD says: This shows how I will rot away the pride of Judah and Jerusalem. 10 These wicked people refuse to listen to me. They stubbornly follow their own desires and worship other gods. Therefore, they will become like this loincloth—good for nothing! 11 As a loincloth clings to a man’s waist, so I created Judah and Israel to cling to me, says the LORD. They were to be my people, my pride, my glory—an honor to my name. But they would not listen to me. Jeremiah 13:1-11 (NLT)
538 There he is: King of Kings and Lord of Lords, hidden in the bread. To this extreme has he humbled himself for love of you. (1)
There are many images in scripture used to describe the close, intimate relationship between God and His people. He is the Good Shepherd who carries his lost sheep home, the Father who runs to meet His prodigal son, The Bridegroom awaiting His perfect spotless Bride. We are His temple, His dwelling place, His home…
And then there is this one
God and His people, who are pictured as… His underwear? (that’s what a loincloth is…)
I mean, that is how close God wants His people to be to Him? Not only that, He wants us to be like clingy underwear?
TMI!!!
(which could stand for too much information or too much intimacy!)
It is an odd picture to be sure, this picture that the prophet Jeremiah puts on paper, inspired by the Holy Spirit. But it drives the point home in a way we cannot deny.
God wants His people close to Him, Closer than anything else.
Yet too often, we don’t want to be that close to Him, we don’t even want to be in his bureau. We want to keep God at just the proper distance. Close enough to rescue us when we sin, but not so close that His presence causes us to move with Him, We want to have our sins forgiven, but not have to spend time clinging to Him, having our lives wrapped around His life, going where He wants to go.
He wants us that close. He wants to be that involved in our lives, and we to be that involved in His. For even as the prophet Jeremiah pictures us as God’s clothes, Paul will picture God wrapping Himself around us
26 It is through faith that all of you are God’s children in union with Christ Jesus. 27 You were baptized into union with Christ, and now you are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself. Galatians 3:26-27 (TEV)
This intimacy is not just pictured, but occurs at a deeper level, as we take Christ’s Body and Blood into us, in the Lord’s Supper, where Christ hides Himself, as St. Josemaria tells us, that we can know His love.
This intimate relationship is why the Father sent Jesus to live among us, to die for us, to restore us to the very ideal that God created us to be…. HIs people, His pride, His glory, and that we can bring Honor to His name.
Remember, the Lord is with you!
And if you need help remember how close… remember this picture from Jeremiah!
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Locations 1299-1301). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
May These Words Burn into You Mind, with more intensity than “It’s A Small World” or “Let it Go”
Devotional Thought of the Day:
1 Thank GOD because he’s good, because his love never quits. 2 Tell the world, Israel, “His love never quits.” 3 And you, clan of Aaron, tell the world, “His love never quits.” 4 And you who fear GOD, join in, “His love never quits.“ 5 Pushed to the wall, I called to GOD; from the wide open spaces, he answered. 6 GOD’s now at my side and I’m not afraid; who would dare lay a hand on me? Psalm 118:1-6 (MSG)
286 There is nothing better in the world than to be in the grace of God. (1)
If you’ve ever been to Disneyland, there is an experience that burns into your mind as you go on what seems to be a simple, sweet ride. Just reading the title will bring back the melody that for the first 30 seconds seems nice, but after the three days inside the ride, you will never again be the same. (Okay – Google said it is only a 12 minutes ride – but it does seem longer than that, like the length of Gilligan’s 3-hour tour!)
The same intense pain may have echoed through your mind, if you took your 2-10 year old child to see the movie “Frozen”, and proceeded to have every day for the next few years haunted by shrill remembrances of “Let it Go, Let it Go!
I sometimes wonder if the music teams will be tasked for providing the music in Hades
Now that I’ve traumatized you ( we call that preaching the law in all of it strength!) it is time for another message to burn into your minds. The message that the Psalmist repeats so often in scripture,
His love never quits
The Psalms have us repeat the message over and over, His love never quits! (Some translations prefer to translate it “His mercy endures forever!”
I prefer the “His love never quits” but also recognize that we have to understand the definition of love, in this case, the word “cHesed” in Hebrew. It is more than just an infatuation, or a desire to be physically intimate with someone. Matter of fact, it is much more intimate than can be seen just in physical actions. It is a communion of souls, a dance of lives so intertwined that we cannot distinguish who is who anymore, for those who love each other not only fit that well together, they move that well together.
They are melded into each other’s life so completely that it is deeper than “it’s a small world” or “let it go” can burn into our minds.
It’s to receive God’s grace, the gift of His love and mercy, which we find our hearts and souls healed. That we find ourselves so caught up in His presence that we sing His praises even without consciously thinking to sing. To know His mercy and love so well that His love and mercy exudes (I can’t think of a simpler way – except for sweat – and that doesn’t sound right)
Try whistling it’s a small world near someone over the age of 30… they will continue where you left off (warning – they will be upset at you) Or sneak up behind a family at Targe or Walmart and sign softly, “Let it go…”. The impact of those songs will resonate with them, and though they hate it, it will dominate their mind for a while.
The same idea, without the hatred, is true of the gospel! It is true of this statement, “His Loves never quits” You can use “His mercy endures forever” if you want. The more we recognize this truth, the more it burns into our hearts and souls, the more it will affect our lives, our thoughts, our very being. The more comfortable we will be, living in the presence of God, knowing our body is the temple, the place set apart for His body to dwell.
The more we will realize a level of joy and peace… that truly helps us to desire to dwell in His Kingdom.
That’s why we repeat these phrases, over and over, and over.
God’s love NEVER quits….
Lord have mercy upon us, and refine us in the fire of Your love that never quits!
AMEN!
Escriva, Josemaria (2010-11-02). The Way (Kindle Location 755). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Church’s Mission is NOT to Convert People
Devotional THought of the Day:
26 Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me. John 12:26 (NLT)
356 The first Apostles, when Our Lord called them, were by the side of an old boat busy mending the torn nets. Our Lord told them to follow him and statim—immediately—relictis omnibus—they left everything—everything! And followed him… And it does happen sometimes that we, who wish to imitate them, don’t quite leave everything, and there remains some attachment in our heart, something wrong in our life which we’re not willing to break with and offer up to God. Won’t you examine your heart in depth? Nothing should remain there except what is his. If not, we aren’t really loving him, neither you nor I. (1)
Every once in a while, I hear a financial appeal for finances from a mission group. While they may never use the word “heathen”, that is what they are really saying. It may be to a inner city mission, or some foreign field in the middle of a desert, or swamp, or jungle. But the idea is that we must convert them, win them to Christ. Some may say they’ve had so many say a “sinner’s prayer”, or decisions for Christ. Others talk about the numbers of baptisms.
What they are focusing on is that moment when someone “becomes” a believer, the moment they were “saved”.
But the church isn’t in the business of converting people, of a one time moment that changes life, or at least gives us a guaranteed visa to heaven.
That isn’t what Jesus did, not is it what we are commissioned to do.
We are told to make disciples of all nations, not convert them.
Jesus didn’t tell Peter and Andrew, or James and John to just believe in Him. He didn’t ask Matthew the tax collector to do that either.
What God is after, what He desires isn’t a nice photo album of those who repented of their sins at a crusade, or who were convinced by a logical apologetic speech or emotional appeal.. He wants a family, people who are His, who know He is theirs. A relationship where He can bless His children and care for them. Where He can teach them and share His glory with them.
You might say, that’s what conversion does. And yes, there is a quickening, a bringing to life. A baptism, a prayer, a confession of trusting God. But our transformation, that work of the Trinity in our lives takes a lifetime, the promised completion date is Christ’s return.
What does this matter? Why am I saying our goal isn’t to make converts? Why can’t conversion be our mission our goal?
Image a lady, who wants to become a mother. Has she achieved her goal the moment conception occurs? Or is there 9 months of pregnancy, and then years of sacrifices and successes, of joy and sorrows?
Our journeys only begins at baptism, our life in Christ starts there, when we go from not knowing God, to finding Him revealed in our lives so clearly that we trust Him. Where a relationship occurs as we walk with Him, as we are taught by Him, as we enjoy this life He has brought us.
We don’t want to just convert people, we want to see them become our brothers and sisters, we want our Father in heaven to adopt them….. our mission is far longer, far deeper, far more important than winning a debate.
It’s helping them to walk with God….. to know His love and mercy. To realize that nothing else is important, compared to walking with God.
to know when we cry together, “Lord Have Mercy!”. He answers.
That is what being missional is about, about what the apostolate is about.
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 1406-1412). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Why Are We Afraid of Intimacy With God?
Discussion and Devotional Thoughts of the Day:
11 I will live among you in my sacred Tent, and I will never turn away from you. 12 I will be with you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. Leviticus 26:11-12 (TEV)
What does it mean to have a god? or, what is God? Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol. (1)
78 Heroism, sanctity, daring, require a constant spiritual preparation. You can only ever give to others what you already have. And, to give God to them, you yourself need to get to know him, to live his Life, to serve him. (2)
I have pondered why the church is anemic in America.
We have incredible theologians, great exegetes, and emphasis on apologetics. We have Church Growth studies and strategies, church planters, church restorers, more seminaries than anywhere else in the world.
Yet the church in America still is in decline. It is so bad now, that we actually have experts in church viability, and strategies to close churches. The key phrase these days is a legacy church – a church which realizes it isn’t viable, and therefore determines how to will its assets to something that will live and thrive.
We’e forgotten His promises, we’ve forgotten that this faith we have, is faith in those promises, a trust that is based in not knowing about God
A trust not founded in theological treatises, or exegeting the word skuballw correctly, or in knowing which studies to use to understand a church, or which programs might work in which context. It’s a trust that isn’t dependent on using a 14th century liturgy, (or one from a red, blue or maroon hymnal) or haing the right contemporary service order. All these things are tools, they can be used in our churches, But we never, ever dare put our trust in them. They are not what we count on, they are not whom we believe on, and they will let us down.
It is a trust that comes from knowing God, and knowing Him intimately.
It is then we can study His promises and claim those promises (not promises we or others create) as His promises to us.
But it still isn’t about the promises. They are incredible, they are awesome… but our faith isn’t in them.
It is in Him.
It is in realize that He lives with us, in us, that He has come to us, and saved us, cleansed us, is healing us, and is shepherding us, His church, that we come to know Him. Yes, intimately, and we know He knows us more intimately that we will ever know ourselves. It was that knowledge that caused Him to comes to us, to die for us, for in knowing us, He loves us, and we… amazed, in awe, begin to learn to love Him back.
That love of His for us is what makes us holy.. It is what drives missionaries and martyrs. It’s what makes grandma’s and great aunt’s pray for their prodigals on their knees, It is what makes all the heroes of the faith trust in God in their darkest hour. It is what is causing the church in the “third world” or the Global South, to grow in the face of persecution, in the face of famine, in the face of spiritual warfare.
It’s time we remembered that…. its times we shared that, in chruches, and restaurants, in our homes, our workplaces.
God is with us. God loves us… and share the extent of that love.
(1) The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
(2) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 493-495). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
Are We Afraid of Intimacy With God?
Devotional Thought of the Day:
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” Romans 8:15 (NLT)
456 You belittle meditation… Might you not be afraid, and so seek anonymity since you dare not speak with Christ face to face? You must see that there are many ways of belittling meditation, even though you might say you are practising it. (1)
Yesterday, in our adult Bible Study, I asked a question…..
“Would it seem right to pray the Lord’s prayer, “Dad in heaven”.
A number of people were squirming! “It isn’t reverent enough”, As I asked people what difference it would make, “it would make Him seem closer,”,As we talked through the idea, it also became apparent that it would make Him seem to be listening more directly, and more involved in our lives.
After all, besides my friend the seminary president who dropped in for a visit, none of us addressed our parents as “Dear Father reading the paper”, or “Dear Mother in the Kitchen”!
We want a safe distance as we pray, we want to be able to keep God there, over in the sanctuary, or a reminder on the fireplace mantle, or perhaps, we want to see Him in far out in the Galaxy. Seeing him sitting on our couch, or at our dinner table, or talking to us in the backyard while we are barbecuing? Would that be too close for you? What if God shared even more intimate moments with us?
Does the thought of God living with you strike fear in your hearts? Does it cause you to think first of that time – where your thoughts were impure, or when you couldn’t resist letting your anger, or jealousy, or lust reign in your life? Are we terrorized when we read that God knows our thoughts?
Why?
What would happen if we looked forward to that level of intimacy, counted on it? What if our reaction was the same as when a child is waiting for Dad to get home, to share with him the day, to play catch, to tell Him of our heartbreaks? What would happen if we took to times of meditation and prayer for what they were – times of intimate, deep times with God, even if a word is not said? ( I remember my times of walking down the shore road with my dad – neither saying a word for a mile or two – as some of our greatest times…) What if our conversations with God resembled Andy Griffith and Ron Howard in the closing credits of the black and white television show? That is the gift promised and given in our baptism! The presence of the Holy Spirit, for such is the gift to those God claims as His children!
Scary?
think of this – in times of joy – you can cry out – Daddy – come look and see, (as He smiles, for who do you think set up the glorious moment), in times of great trauma – you can cry our Daddy, and know His comfort and healing will be there, as He assures us, promises us that all will work out… for good, because of His love. And in the between times, we walk with Him…revealing His mercy, His care, His cleansing our lives. Revealing how deep, how high, how broad – how wide His love is for us.
Why are we afraid of this/
Cry out!
As we sang as children – with great joy, “Lord, be with us!”
(1) Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). Furrow (Kindle Locations 2013-2016). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.
The Lord’s Supper, and Spiritual Apathy
Devotional Thought of the Day:
28 That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. 29 For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. 30 That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. 1 Corinthians 11:28-30 (NLT)
“These words, I have said, are not preached to wood or stone but to you and me; otherwise Christ might just as well have kept quiet and not instituted a sacrament. Ponder, then, and include yourself personally in the “you” so that he may not speak to you in vain.
In this sacrament he offers us all the treasure he brought from heaven for us, to which he most graciously invites us in other places, as when he says in Matt. 11:28, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will refresh you.
”Surely it is a sin and a shame that, when he tenderly and faithfully summons and exhorts us to our highest and greatest good, we act so distantly toward it, neglecting it so long that we grow quite cold and callous and lose all desire and love for it.”
It’s my twenty-fifth anniversary today. As I was thinking about that, and about my sermon this week, the quote from Luther’s Large Catechism above kept coming back to mind. Let me explain why.
Twenty-five years is a pretty decent period of time. We’ve faced unemployment, major health issues (2 years in I had a massive cardiac arrest due to a genetic problem). We’ve faced adjusting to having a child after seventeen years of just us. An incredibly brilliant son, but who has some challenges as well. We have survived, we have endured. Like our parents, who also have endured much. There is a challenge to this though, and that is frequent interaction with each other. Reminding each other of our love for each other. Being passionate and perhaps even more… compassionate towards each other.
It is all to easy to stop working, to just assume the other will be there. To become apathetic in our relationship, to just get by. But the problem is that when our hearts look for that which is needed. The support, the encouragement, the interaction. The rest that comes when a couple’s home is their place of rest, their place of being nurtured, their place of being able to drop everything.
Are Kay and I perfect at this? No. ( I am involved in this after all! 🙂 ) But we do well… and have endured by God’s grace.
So what has this to do with communion?
Well, it is a primary contact point – a refuge, a place of peace and restoration in our walk with God. It is a treasure, that too often we get apathetic about, not realizing what it is… God calling us to gather around His table, and feeding us in way that is incredible. The family of God getting together, celebrating the forgiveness of sins and mercy of God and His love for us all. Clearly seen when we realize that piece of bread – yes it is His body, that little cup of wine, His precious blood – give for you and I.
As Luther says – those words aren’t for rocks and stones – Jesus spoke these words for you and I!
There are two ways I see us growing, as the church at large, callous and cold to it.
The first is when we think that it is somehow less necessary than the sermon, and therefore we celebrate it far less often. Or we cut it out of our masses or worship services because of time or convenience. (even heard one church that wanted to cut it out because of the cost of bread and wine..!) What message are we saying when we do such a thing? Are we reducing our belief that it is effective, that it is not profitable for our spiritual renewal?
The other way is when we just look at the celebration mechanically, as a duty, not as a joyous celebration of love. When we realize that God wants us there, that His greatest desire is to fellowship with His people – and that is why we gather. That we look at it with anticipation, recognizing what God is doing in this precious time. The more we consider that, the more hungry we get for it, the more it takes on a meaning that is precious – the more we desire it.
In both cases – in determining that we don’t need to celebrate it often, and simply it being a duty and not a celebration – we lead people into apathy, we lead them away from realizing the grace and love revealed to them in Christ. Paul says such is the reason for our spiritual apathy, and even spiritual death. Luther concurs with scripture, calling such an attitude a sin. It’s something we need to think about today, as the church in America has fallen asleep… and in some places is beginning to revive, breaking its fast from the blessings of God, and growing in desire of them.
This is a precious time with God, some of the most valuable and nourishing time we have in our week. It is a treasure, a necessity, a blessing beyond our able to understand, but easily one we can appreciate.
it’s a homecoming, a feast, a celebration, a time that should inspire us to worship, a time where we can know God’s promises are true in Christ.
So come, blessed children of the Father, to a feast prepared for you……
[i] Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 454). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.LARGE CATECHISM – Sacrament of the Altar
A Sermon on the Lord’s Prayer
Why is Prayer Answered?
Luke 11:1-13
† In Jesus Name †
As you are overwhelmed by the mercy and love of Jesus Christ, in you may there develop an unquenchable desire to commune and communicate with our Father, with Jesus, and with the Holy Spirit!
We can’t understand if… if we don’t understand why…
Of all the times I have taught about prayer in sermons, in Bible Studies, in classes, on retreats and in conversations over meals, I have never taken the approach I will in this sermon.
For that, I ask your forgiveness.
For I think that the question the sermon title asks and answers is the only question that really needs to be answered. This question can confidently be answered; one, without cliché’s or well-meaning stock answers that avoid the responsibility of saying, “I do not know.” This question, why are our prayers answered…silences many of the other questions.
This question causes us to see His heart… we need to grasp how much He loves us, how much He is our Father…and how much at relationship is the reason our prayers are answered.
Or our prayers are simply rote and in vain…as empty as praying to some gold lacquered statue.
So let’s answer the question – why are our prayers answered?
The Burden of Life – Melancthon
Instead of just a prayer sheet this week – I included two short excerpts about prayer. The first is by someone that Luther was a father figure for, the deacon Phillip Melancthon. Asked why we should pray when we don’t want to… he responded with 9 reasons. Look at number II.
II. The great and manifold need by which we are burdened in this penitentiary of the world, and which we cannot sufficiently understand or comprehend by thinking, must less guard against or avert by our effort, should properly move us to pray even all by itself.
In simpler language – we need to pray because this life isn’t easy, and it can overwhelm us all to easily. Whether it is the challenge of our sin and the struggle to overcome temptation, or the effects of others sin, or the brokenness of the world and even the church, prayer is what will make the difference, what helps us get through the day.
Melancthon is right – we are burdened in this world, and there are times where prayer is barely able to be said, never mind can we grasp what we are saying. This isn’t something new, it isn’t something we are the first generations to encounter this. Remember what St Paul said to the early believers in Rome/
26 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. 27 He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our (pregnant) condition, and keeps us present before God. 28 That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good. Romans 8:26-28 (MSG)
It is often in such desperate times we remember to pray… yet would we pray sooner if we understood why prayer is answered?
The Blessing of Presence
If we pray only in such oppressive times, we do because we hope someone will hear us. Maybe we realize it can’t hurt, or we vaguely remember a promise that God has made. Melancthon mentions this as well,.
IV. Very sweet divine promises draw and incite us, namely that God the Father embraces us with such great love in Christ His Son, that He regards it as pleasing and acceptable if we approach and address Him with our prayers, and He has promised to incline His ears and hear us.
I love this point – and how clearly it is seen in the Lord’s prayer, as God promises to take care of our physical needs (like providing bread) and spiritual needs – helping us with knowing we are forgiven, helping us forgive, dealing with temptation and protecting us from evil.
I love the verses that follow the prayer – those that cause us to think of how we love our kids and our grandkids. They compare the Creator of the Universe to us – to help us realize our love for them is but a small example of His love for us. If we want the best things – imagine the “best things” that He has planned and created for us!
But if reason number IV, is true, then look at number V.
V. Likewise, that our mediator, Christ, has bound Himself with the firm promise that He would be present when we pray (Mt 18:20) and as our advocate and High Priest Himself bring our supplications to the Father, and intercede for us, and ask the Father together with us.
Remember Matthew 18:20 (TEV) 20 For where two or three come together in my name, I am there with them.”
Jesus has promised to be here – where we pray, the Father has promised to answer our prayers. Not because of some incantation or form, or because we are holier than the people praying down the street, or on the other side of the world.
He answers our prayers because He loves us, because He is here, because we are His.
So Let Prayer Arise from within
On the prayer list, along with the quote from Melancthon, is a description of a type of prayer and devotion that is indeed ancient. It is called Lectio Divina. The quote is from one of Chris’ mentors. The man who is the reason he is the Rev. Dr. Chris Gillette. It’s a great way of doing devotions – one Luther used as well. Look at the part I underlined:
Let the word touch your heart (prayer, Oratio). In Oratio, the Word of God goes deeper into the self and becomes the prayer of the heart. In this prayer, open your heart so that his light may enter. The goal is like that of St. Augustine, who cried, “O God, our hearts are made for thee, and they shall be restless until they rest in thee.” There emerges within the heart a holy desire, a longing for the text, the Word of God, to be concretized in reality.
Enter into contemplation (Contemplatio). Contemplatio shifts praying the Scripture into a new language (silence). This silence does not ask us to do anything, it is a call to being. Thomas Merton says, “The best way to pray is: Stop. Let prayer pray within you, whether you know it or not.”17
This concept is especially true, as we work through the Lord’s prayer, or even the Old Testament account where Abraham learned to pray for those who were lost. As we know these words, they well up within us, they become part of our life, because God makes them live in us, even as He quickens life in us.
The words ingrain is us these promises – they cause us to desire to pray even more. They bring the words to life in us, when nothing else brings comfort – a message from God. When thought through… they cause us to realize this important thing..
Why does God answer our prayers…
Because He is our father… because He loves us… because He is with us….
Use His name, not in vain my brothers and sisters…but as He encourages us to, to talk to Him – to know Him as our Father… to know His love and mercy…for us.
AMEN!
English: Lectio Divina Português: Leitura Orante ou Lectio Divina Latina: Lectio Divina (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
17 Thomas Merton, Seeds, ed. Robert Inchausti (Boston: Shambhala, 2002).
Related articles
- Some wise words to encourage us to pray (justifiedandsinner.com)
The Compassion of God
Isaiah 66:10-14
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace of God of Father and our Lord Jesus Christ bring you comfort and strength, as we journey through this life… in the presence of the Holy Spirit!
An Uncomfortable Reading?
Every week I face a choice, which of the three readings should I use as the basis of the sermon. As I pick which to preach on, one of the things I look for is the biggest “gulp factor.” That is, which of the passages will be the hardest to preach on, because that is where the best message may be. The passage that causes you to “gulp” as you read it, that makes you uncomfortable as you read it… can have the lesson you need, but will struggle to hear.
It is… odd…funny…perhaps, but as I studied the passage – what became the gulp factor wasn’t that God was portrayed as being a compassionate mother… or the frequent descriptions of female anatomy and nursing. Those are awkward at best… but the gulp factor is…more challenging.
What is more challenging is this description of God being so compassionate, so comforting, so caring, for His people….
So much so, that instead of using a father as an illustration, God chooses to use one of the most intuitively intimate descriptions that we know of in life.
The question that faces us today is, are we able to be the infant in that picture? Can we be that completely dependent on God, not just for the sustenance that will give us life, but for the comfort, that will overpower our anxieties, our inabilities.
So – let’s all take a big gulp – and see how deep the love and compassion of God is for us.
Are We Willing to Be Comforted?
If I am to take this passage seriously, I have to come to grips with this picture of God. He is the God who provides for us that which is necessary for life, but also, even as He does, He brings comfort to His children, to His people. With such care, such tenderness that the picture of a mom nursing her baby… is what describes His love best!
It seems to me that we shouldn’t ever outgrow this “phase”, as infants eventually grow into toddlers, then children, the teens and into adulthood. But maturing as a believer isn’t about becoming more independent of God, even though we might like to define it that way!
That’s counter-intuitive, and even more counter-cultural. Our world tells us we should become stronger, more self-sufficient, more driven, that we should grow and that means we should need less. Our culture dreads the loss of independence. Most of us dread the days we will have to depend on someone else completely. Yet, Israel – even after the height of growth, would come to need God more – yes for sustenance, but even more for comfort.
Perhaps this is why we struggle with this so much – if you asked us if we are willing to be comforted by God, most of us would have the same answer we would to having to depend on anyone else.
“Not today – I think I’ve got it handled”
“Let me try and fix it one more time… then I’ll pray about it and ask God for help.”
I think that is why God pictures us here as infants, not as toddlers or preschoolers!
There is something in us, that finds trusting in God difficult, because we want to make it a decision, a choice, rather than the intuitive relationship, like that that exists between a mother and a newborn.
We’d rather do it on our own, to not be known as those needy for God’s presence and provision. If we were asked, most of us were to stubborn to take what God brings to us, we would rather starve and die than eat of His heavenly nourishment. That’ why Jesus says we must have faith like and infant.
It’s my prayer that the church everywhere, and especially here, embrace God’s provision and comfort, as easily as a newborn babe. That we would be so overjoyed in God’s presence – that we just relax in His arms, and as ecstatic as an infant on his mom’s lap.
Rejoice, Be Glad, Rejoice
You see, that’s what this is all about – a relationship that we have with God, that goes beyond our ability to explain – one that we pour the energy of our voices into in song, in our praises as we realize His presence.
I want you to notice, that it’s not the infant that Isaiah describes rejoicing – even though the joy and peace is evident. The contentment of a nursing infant is incredible – even for dads who took the late night feeding. The mother’s joy is also incredible, as life flows from one to the other, and so it is for God, as He nourishes us. Isaiah asks others to witness the joy, to share in the joy as well – to be glad (remember – that’s to dance!) for the people of God who have been comforted, who drink deeply of God’s provision, who know little to put to words, but turn easily to Him, and His love.
Verse 14 talks of witnessing this – and our hearts rejoicing – and our lives grow like the grasses that shoot up in the desert after a rain. Much as we rejoice when God claims another here at the baptismal font, much as we rejoice when we come to the altar – and are fed by Christ… as we are fed through His word and through prayer.
I mentioned a little bit ago, that for the infant – it isn’t a matter of thinking and deliberation when it turns to his momma, or when it cries for her attention. It is instead an intuitive action, as it is for the mom to go to her child. That my friend is how we need to react with God, we turn to Him because we know He will answer our need – even if we can’t put words to it. I love how Luther put it as he explains the First Commandment in the Large Catechism:
“You shall have no other gods.”
1 That is, you shall regard me alone as your God. What does this mean, and how is it to be understood? What is to have a god? What is God?
2 Answer: 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 and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol.
I always wondered why a newborn knows the difference between the females that hold him or her. How does it know the difference between mom, and auntie, and grammy or cousin? For that matter, why does the baby scream when some guy picks him up?
The infant just knows, the same way we know God is God. He provides what we need, there is a desire to bring us peace and comfort, to provide what is needed. There is a joy that is beyond description as He feeds us, as He strengthens us, as He comforts us.
Which is why growing in Christ is not about growing in freedom from God, but recognizing our need for His interaction in our life. We grow to depend on His nourishment, and His comfort, for it is through that we grow to adore Him more and more.
For in bringing us comfort, it pours out on us as His peace, the peace that passes all understanding, and in which we are kept safe, our hearts and minds – by Christ…
AMEN
