LutheranLectionary.org

Reflections on Scripture with Dr. Leins

Time Stamp	Transcript
0:00	[Music]
0:12	hello
0:13	today let’s talk about when the law
0:17	becomes a
0:19	prayer the text before us is Exodus
0:23	chapter 20 veres 1-1 17 this is the
0:27	passage in which God gives us us his 10
0:33	Commandments in the year
0:36	1535 Martin Luther was asked a question
0:39	by his Barber Peter Bendorf could Pastor
0:42	Luther help him to improve his prayer
0:46	life good question at the age of 52
0:50	Luther had been an augustinian monk a
0:52	university Professor a husband and
0:54	father a parish pastor and a churchwide
0:57	reformer he was singular ly prepared to
1:01	answer that question in fact history
1:04	records that Luther spent some 3 to4
1:08	hours a day in
1:11	prayer he was one of the most dedicated
1:14	men of Prayer in the entire history of
1:16	the
1:17	church Luther’s response to his Barber
1:21	was a 35 page booklet it was titled a
1:26	simple way to pray it was so popular
1:29	that four editions of the text were
1:31	printed that very first year today you
1:35	can easily find a simple way to Pray by
1:38	Martin Luther as a free PDF on the
1:42	internet it may come as a surprise that
1:46	Luther used the Ten Commandments as a
1:49	foundation for his teaching on prayer
1:52	you might have thought that Luther would
1:53	use the Lord’s Prayer or even the Creed
1:56	as a prayer guide and he did but surp
2:00	surprisingly the booklet the bulk of it
2:03	shows how the Ten Commandments may be
2:06	used as an exemplary guide to your
2:09	prayer life of
2:11	Faith frankly I don’t think that there
2:14	are many of us who would have chosen the
2:16	Ten Commandments as a guide for prayer I
2:19	suspect that most of us think of The
2:21	Commandments simply as God’s rules for
2:24	judgment but part of Luther’s genius was
2:29	to to see the Ten Commandments as a
2:31	means of teaching us not only about
2:33	God’s law but also about God’s mercy and
2:38	Grace Point one praying The Ten
2:45	Commandments Pastor Luther explained
2:47	that around each commandment may be
2:50	woven what he called a Garland of four
2:55	strands they are a teaching a
2:58	Thanksgiving a confession
3:00	and a
3:01	petition again they become a Garland of
3:05	four strands and a structure for your
3:08	prayer life we receive each commandment
3:12	as a teaching a Thanksgiving a
3:17	confession and a
3:19	petition today we will look at only one
3:21	of The Commandments but you’ll easily
3:23	get the idea here is Luther on the first
3:28	commandment I am the Lord your God you
3:31	shall have no other gods before me and
3:35	now Luther and his four
3:38	strands here I earnestly consider that
3:42	God teaches me to trust him sincerely in
3:48	all things and that it is his purpose
3:51	most earnestly to be my
3:55	God I must think of him in this way at
3:59	the risk of losing Eternal salvation my
4:01	heart must not build upon anything else
4:05	to trust any other thing be it wealth
4:10	Prestige wisdom might piety or anything
4:14	else second I give thanks for his
4:19	infinite compassion by which he has come
4:21	to me in such a fatherly way and unasked
4:25	unbidden unmar has offered to be be my
4:30	God to care for me and to be my comfort
4:34	and guardian my help and strength in
4:36	every time of need we poor Mortals have
4:40	sought so many gods and would have to
4:42	seek them still if he did not enable us
4:45	to hear him openly tell us in our own
4:49	language that he intends to be our
4:53	God how could we ever in all eternity
4:57	thank him enough
5:00	third I confess and acknowledge my great
5:04	sin and ingratitude for having so
5:07	shamefully despised such Sublime
5:10	teachings and such a precious gift
5:13	throughout my whole life and for having
5:15	fearfully provoked his wrath by
5:17	countless acts of
5:19	idolatry I Repent of these and I ask for
5:24	his
5:25	grace
5:27	fourth I pray and say oh my God and Lord
5:31	help me by thy Grace to learn and
5:34	understand thy Commandments more fully
5:37	every day and to live by them in sincere
5:42	confidence preserve my heart so that I
5:44	shall never again become forgetful and
5:47	ungrateful that I may never seek after
5:49	other gods or other consolation on Earth
5:53	or in any creature but cling truly and
5:56	solely to thee my own only God Amen dear
6:02	Lord God and Father
6:05	amen you get the idea Luther teaches us
6:09	to pray all Ten Commandments using these
6:12	four strands as a teaching a
6:16	Thanksgiving a confession and a petition
6:20	and do you see how quickly this method
6:22	opens us to the very Heart Of God
6:25	showing us his true love for us and also
6:28	showing us our failures and sins before
6:31	him thank you
6:34	Lord second free from the
6:39	Commandments but some of you who have
6:42	read a bit of St Paul in the New
6:44	Testament and some of Martin Luther’s
6:46	Reformation will be wiggling in your
6:48	seats saying wait a minute here lines
6:51	don’t you know that we have been set
6:52	free from the law we are no longer bound
6:55	to the Ten
6:57	Commandments and then you will take me
6:59	to the holy Apostle and show me Romans
7:03	7: 5 and 6 they read for while we were
7:09	in the flesh the sinful passions which
7:12	were aroused by the law were at work in
7:16	the members of our body to bear fruit
7:18	for death but now we have been released
7:22	from the law having died to that by
7:25	which we were bound so that we serve in
7:29	newness of the spirit and not an oldness
7:32	of the
7:34	letter yes true by our baptism into
7:39	Christ we died and were buried with him
7:42	we died to the law and we were raised up
7:47	to newness of Life by The Power of his
7:49	resurrection at work in us through our
7:53	baptism in that you are absolutely right
7:57	we are dead to the law and thank God we
8:00	are because the law cannot save us the
8:04	law was never intended to save us nor to
8:07	make us righteous we are righteous and
8:10	Justified before God Only by grace
8:15	through faith this is completely apart
8:18	from the
8:19	law no one is saved by keeping the law
8:23	because no one can keep the law no one
8:27	but Jesus Christ of course
8:29	the Savior has kept the law for us and
8:32	thereby set us free from keeping the law
8:36	for the sake of our
8:37	Salvation however some of you who have
8:40	read St Paul a bit more and know the
8:43	bigger truth of Luther’s Reformation
8:45	will remind me now that we have
8:49	salvation the law still serves God’s
8:52	purpose in our lives the law is the will
8:57	and the word of God we do not neglect it
9:00	or reject it even after our Salvation
9:04	Has Come To Us by grace through faith we
9:07	continue to ask God to do his perfect
9:10	will in us not only do we seek to pray
9:13	God’s Commandments but we ask that he
9:15	would assist us to do his Commandments
9:18	not for our salvation but for his glory
9:22	and for the love of one
9:25	another point
9:27	three the command ments still guide
9:32	me God has given us his holy
9:35	Commandments for our good and for our
9:38	blessing first they serve as a curb the
9:42	Commandments serve to train up the whole
9:45	world in the will of God they serve to
9:48	curb the world from its sin and
9:51	selfishness for every land and culture
9:53	regardless of their religion every one
9:56	of them knows that they must must not
9:59	kill or steal or lie or covet they must
10:03	keep these laws or their entire Society
10:05	will destroy itself also they must keep
10:09	laws of sexual morality or marriage and
10:12	home will be
10:13	destroyed second the Commandments serve
10:16	as a mirror showing all persons who they
10:20	truly are before God and before one
10:22	another the mirror of The Commandments
10:25	shows the inescapable truth of our
10:28	personal sin and shame and our desperate
10:32	need for our Lord’s forgiveness which is
10:36	given so freely to us on the cross of
10:38	Jesus
10:40	Christ and third the Commandments serve
10:44	as a guide for all those who already
10:47	have salvation by grace through faith
10:51	even though we’ve been set free from the
10:53	condemnation of the law we still know
10:55	and love the truth of God’s law because
10:58	the law of God has now been written on
11:01	our hearts so we are even more Earnest
11:05	in our desire to keep
11:07	it though we want to keep his
11:11	Commandments God forgive us we still do
11:14	not in fact we cannot there is only one
11:18	who righteously fulfills all of God’s
11:21	holy commands Our Savior Jesus in every
11:24	regard he succeeds when we fail when we
11:28	are weak he is strong when we are sinful
11:30	he is righteous when we are selfish and
11:33	shameful he is merciful and
11:38	forgiving we love the Commandments we
11:41	want to keep them they are written by
11:43	God’s grace on our hearts still we
11:46	saintly Sinners do not keep them as we
11:50	ought but when we are joined to Christ
11:54	we are counted as righteous by grace
11:56	through faith and Jesus places is his
11:59	holy spirit within us to keep us in this
12:02	one true Faith these gifts of faith and
12:06	righteousness and the Holy Spirit are
12:09	not so that we may ignore the
12:11	Commandments on the contrary they are
12:14	given to us so that we may Delight in
12:18	loving the Commandments and in doing
12:20	them this is not for your salvation you
12:24	are saved already by grace through faith
12:28	but now you love those Commandments and
12:30	do them for God’s glory and for the love
12:33	of
12:35	others
12:37	conclusion Luther once
12:40	wrote when I feel that I have become
12:43	cool and joyless in my prayers because
12:47	of other tasks or thoughts for the Flesh
12:50	and the devil always impede and obstruct
12:52	prayer then I take my little salt or
12:55	hurry to my room or if it be the day or
12:57	hour for it to the Church where the
12:59	congregation is assembled and as time
13:02	permits I say quietly to myself and word
13:05	for word The Ten Commandments the Creed
13:09	and if I have time some words of Christ
13:12	or of Paul or of some Psalms just as a
13:16	child would
13:18	do beloved these words are good advice
13:24	for
13:24	us however there are at least two
13:27	problems with them
13:30	first often we do not respond to
13:33	spiritual coolness in the way that
13:35	Luther
13:36	does instead sometimes we consider that
13:39	it’s God who is at fault or we simply
13:42	say that our day is too busy to take
13:45	time to be with
13:47	God and
13:49	second many of us simply cannot repeat
13:52	the Ten Commandments or the Creed by
13:55	heart may God forgive us for being so in
13:58	attentive to our spiritual health and so
14:01	undisciplined in our spiritual lives
14:04	that in all of the years of Our Lives we
14:06	have not memorized the Ten Commandments
14:10	or the Apostles
14:12	Creed the Creed is the story of God’s
14:16	Gift of our Salvation through the work
14:19	of the Father Son and Holy Spirit given
14:21	to us by grace through
14:23	faith and the Ten Commandments are God’s
14:27	statement of Grace
14:29	explaining the way for you to live that
14:31	will be best for you for the glory of
14:34	God and for the love of all those around
14:37	you so to finish for
14:40	today let’s pray
14:43	together in the name of the father and
14:45	of the son and of the holy spirit
14:48	amen holy
14:51	God whose word is both law and
14:55	gospel thank you for giving me your Ten
14:58	Commandments
15:00	please call your Commandments to my mind
15:04	to my memory when I’m lying down to bed
15:07	rising to face a new day or riding in my
15:09	car or working in my vocations remind me
15:13	Lord of your
15:14	Commandments teaching them to me and
15:17	calling me to
15:19	Thanksgiving
15:21	confession and
15:22	petition above all through your
15:25	Commandments teach me the perfect
15:28	obedience and Undying Love of My Savior
15:31	Jesus who not only teaches me your holy
15:34	law but gives me your saving
15:38	gospel by grace through faith in him who
15:42	lives and reigns with you and the Holy
15:44	Spirit one God now and forever
15:57	amen
16:07	[Music]