“The Cost of Discipleship” Luke 14.25-35, Pent. 13C, Sept. ‘22

 

 

1.                Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we observe the 13^th Sunday after Pentecost is taken from Luke 14:25-35. Today, Jesus teaches us that our affections for personal pursuits or family members can replace the great compassion that He has for us. But, Jesus’ gracious words, life, death, and resurrection draw us away from our affections so we are filled with his compassion. The message is entitled, “The Cost of Discipleship,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                We may know of or have heard of people who have dedicated their lives to one pursuit— the Olympic athlete, the statesman, the young entrepreneur, the artist. These show man’s capability to narrow his focus to accomplish his goals. In the face of deteriorating family values today, people are vulnerable to putting family members first. But, how would Jesus handle such intense personal commitments and family commitments? In the Gospel from Luke 14 we see Jesus, full of grace and truth, daring enough to confront adults who had come to love intensely their family members. He does it by the use of a hyperbole. “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father or mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple” (Lk 14:26).

3.                In the Old Testament, God was refining his people’s devotion to him by calling into question their love for their family members. Long before Jesus came from heaven to live among us as a loving servant, God challenged Abraham, the man promised to be the father of many nations, to take his long-awaited son Isaac and sacrifice him. I’ve often wondered what Abraham thought as he and Isaac made their way up the very slopes to the mountain on which Jesus would someday be crucified. But the account in Genesis 22 is direct. “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” (Gen. 22:2)

4.                I would anticipate at this point that there would be some questioning on Abraham’s part. But there isn’t. The next verse simply says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.” (Gen. 22:3) Abraham takes two servants and travels for three days, and when they reach the right place, Abraham says, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Gen. 22:5) What an odd form of worship Abraham had in mind that entailed the sacrifice of his son! But it’s the type of worship God and Jesus in the Gospel are looking for from us. He wants a worship of him that has stripped away all other “loves” we have, even the love we have for our children. C. S. Lewis says in his book “The Four Loves,” “it is not that we don’t love enough, it is that we love too much. C. S. Lewis’ English word for love of a family member is “affection”; his word for the love Jesus looks for from us is “charity” (C. S. Lewis, The Four Loves [New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.] 167). In fact, this entire book could serve as a commentary on this passage from Luke 14. He cites St. Augustine (Confessions IV, 10) when Augustine describes the desolation into which the death of his friend Nebridius plunged him. Augustine says, “this is what comes of giving one’s heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for God, who will never pass away. He wants from us a worship of him that is single-minded in purpose, never loving anything or anyone above him, for the love of another, including family members, can destroy us.” As John Donne, the English poet and preacher prayed, “That our affections kill us not, nor Dye.” (Quoted by Lewis as a subtitle of this book (ibid.).

5.                The story of Abraham attempting to sacrifice Isaac comes as a preparation for the challenge Jesus sets forth to the crowd that listened to him in the Gospel from Luke 14. Although Abraham did leave his idols (Joshua 24) and his idol-worshiping family members in the city of Ur when God called him to go to the Promised Land, he wasn’t without his moments of loving his own plan above God’s. Remember, he passed off his beautiful wife Sarah as his sister when he encountered the mighty Pharaoh of Egypt (Genesis 12). Remember how he took Hagar as his substitute wife when he and Sarah felt that God’s promise of a descendant wouldn’t be fulfilled. But now, after the promised son had come and after he’d been through many of life’s trials, Abraham responded to God’s testings in a mature, faith-filled manner. The text simply says, “Early the next morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey” (Gen 22:3). It’s the reason the Book of Romans states, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Rom 4:3).

6.                During this season of Pentecost, Jesus raises the standards of discipleship. The word that catches our attention is the word hate. It’s difficult to use this word without evoking an emotional response. We can use the words dislike or unfavorably disposed, but hate is an emotionally charged word. It seems to be the opposite of some of Jesus’ other statements, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you: Bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. . . . If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? . . . But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back” (Lk 6:27). Again, C. S. Lewis is helpful, “But how are we to understand the word hate? That Love Himself should be commanding what we ordinarily mean by hatred—commanding us to cherish resentment, to gloat over another’s misery, to delight in injuring him—is almost a contradiction in terms. I think [what] our Lord [means is] to hate is to reject, to set one’s face against, to make no concessions to . . . the suggestions of the Devil.”  (Ibid., 171).

7.                The Greek word misei doesn’t soften the English. “Hate” is a pretty good translation. Enemies are enemies because, for whatever reason, a mood of hate exists between the two parties. We may say, “This will not preach,” especially in a day when the divorce rate is rising, when more and more family members live at a distance from each other, and many don’t want to have anything to do with each other. Should we not love more? Are we not our brother’s (sister’s, mother’s, father’s) keeper (Gen 4:9)?” Or is it exactly what we need to straighten out our misdirected focus on family members? We come away with a better grasp on what Jesus means if we go to the end of the Gospel and find another word that tempers Jesus’ word hate. It comes after Jesus has used two illustrations from the military to make his point. One about a builder of a tower and the other about a military leader who is making plans to fight a battle. I say two military illustrations because the Greek word for tower, purgos, originally meant “fortress” or “refuge.” Can the builder or the leader fulfill his goal if he doesn’t plan ahead? Can one be a disciple of Jesus if one loves one’s son or daughter, father or mother more than Jesus? As families grow and as children are exposed to the allurements of the adult world, a family member committed to our Lord often has to make a choice. Does she love and relate to the family member and give up on her Lord, or does she “love” the family member less and cling to her Lord above all else? For the best spiritual success in such a conflict, it is good to have a plan: put the remembrance of Jesus’ first.

8.                The best results will take spiritual prioritizing. The tower won’t get built unless those building have done their planning, which means that money has been set aside, blueprints have been drawn up, the right supplies have been secured, and the workers schooled and trained in building it. The military attack won’t end in victory unless healthy troops are recruited and trained, the latest weapons have been secured, and a battle plan, as well as alternative plans, has been conceived.

9.                And that brings us to the key word of this entire Gospel. It’s found in v 33. The NIV translates the Greek word apotassetaias “give up.” I don’t think this is a good translation. How can “giving up” be related to “hating” one’s father or mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters? My Greek lexicon offered other definitions. It can also mean “to renounce” or “to turn from” or “full separation from.” We’re back to C. S. Lewis’ interpretation of the passage, “to turn from the suggestions of the Devil.” Could it be that our noblest intentions could turn back on us and destroy our relationship with our Lord? Now taking that key word and looking back on that emotionally charged word hate, we can see that what Jesus is really doing isn’t fostering hate but challenging people—if they want to be his disciples—to prioritize what they love. Discipleship begins and ends with the disciple receiving the amazing compassion of Christ.

10.             Jesus is telling us, “Set your priorities. Organize your life to include my love for you.” It’s too bad none of us were there when he said these words, because I believe that if we had heard him speak, we would have heard a deep tone of compassion in his voice, maybe even a pleading for us to get our priorities straight, for he, Jesus, is the personification of God’s covenantal compassion for his people. He is filled with this love for us and is intent on flooding all aspects of our lives with it.

11.             I like the image found in the Hebrew word for “compassion,” rachem. It contains the same three consonants used in the Hebrew word for a woman’s womb. Ps 103:8, 13 says, “8 The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love… 13 As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.” The implication of this psalm is that, if God gives all in forgiving us all our sins, we ought to respond with all that we are too (Psalm 103:1-5). As far as I know, once the labor pains begin a woman doesn’t think about anything else but the birth of her child. And Jesus, in his great compassion for us, isn’t thinking about anything else than leading us to live in his love as his children. Follow him as he does his ministry among us. He has no other purpose than to flood us with his love, whether it’s to perform a miracle or to speak a parable or to challenge our commitments to whatever we find important. Jesus wasn’t thinking about anything else either when, in love for us, he laid down his life on the cross and when he was raised from the tomb. His death on the cross was the final fulfillment of what he had been doing for us all throughout his life. Anything that was a distraction from what he intended from us could be called into question. The love of father or mother, of wife or children, of brothers or sisters can get in the way of Jesus’ deep love for us. We are to be as tenacious about putting him first as focused as the builder of a tower, as tenacious as the military leader planning for battle. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen. 

 

 

“A Lesson in Humility” Luke 14.1-14 Aug. ’22 Pent12C

 

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word today is taken from Luke 14:1-14. Today in our Gospel reading Jesus says, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Pride, self-exaltation over God Himself, the original sin, has broken everything. But the brokenness has been restored by Christ’s humiliation. The message today is entitled, “A Lesson in Humility,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Maybe this has happened to you while you were traveling on an international flight. You were boarding the aircraft, and your line loaded at the front of the plane, at the back of first class. Beautiful flight attendants had trays with champagne and chocolate. You looked at one with a smile on your face, but your ticket reminded you, “Not for you. Keep moving.” You turned to the right and entered the business-class section. The seats were wide. There was plenty of legroom. Each station had its own TV monitor. In the back, in the corner, there was a snack bar. People were having their glasses filled with wine and grabbing some crackers and cheese. You hesitated. As if knowing your thoughts, another flight attendant looked at your ticket, and her expression politely but clearly said, “Keep moving.” You passed through a curtain and suddenly it was a whole different airplane! Gone were the drinks, the snacks, the wide seats, and the legroom. You entered what felt like the cattle car of the airline industry. It was noisy, the seats looked way past prime, and you had to make yourself skinny between fellow passengers as you muscled your carry-on into the cramped overhead compartment. Yes, you were riding coach. At that moment, you knew your station, and you didn’t like it.

3.                While our culture doesn’t spend a great deal of time on the topic of stations in life, we still evaluate ourselves in light of the people around us and determine where we fit in at work, home, school, and even church. We are consumed with the drive to advance our station in life. As our thoughts focus on ways to promote, take care of, and protect ourselves, we discover that we’ve fallen into the pit of self-exaltation. Our theme verse for today is Lk 14:11. Jesus said, “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

4.                Self-exaltation shouldn’t be surprising to us. It was part of the original sin. The serpent said to Eve, “You will become like God” (Gen 3:5). As good as Adam and Eve had it in that perfect garden, they wanted more. They took the fruit and ate it, and all hell broke loose. No longer did they walk with God. They ran from God. They hid in shame. Once they knew how to speak only words of truth to God. Now they spoke lies and deception. Eve’s temptation, her sin, inspired by a desire to exalt self, broke everything. It broke their relationship with God. It broke their relationship with the world around them. It broke their relationship with each other.

5.                The pain of that broken relationship can be felt as Adam, who just a few verses earlier said those tender words of love, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh,” now says, “It’s that woman you gave me! She did this!” (Gen. 2:23; Gen. 3:12) We’ve been using other people to leverage ourselves to a better station in life ever since. Luke 14 contains three teaching moments that describe the depth of the brokenness caused by self-exaltation. Christ came to restore our relationship with God and our relationship with one another. Through this encounter with the Pharisees and the two parables, Jesus not only demonstrates the impact of self-exaltation on our lives, but he also demonstrates our desperate need for healing.

6.                Luke 14 begins by saying, one Sabbath, Jesus is invited to eat at the house of a prominent Pharisee. The text says, “They were watching him carefully.” The “they” were Jesus’ enemies, later called out as Pharisees and teachers of the law. The text says that Jesus was walking, and they were watching, waiting for the trap to close around Jesus. What was the trap? Luke 14:2 says, “Behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy.” A man suffering with dropsy. Dropsy refers to someone who has an excess of fluid that builds up in one part of the body. It’s possible that this person had just shown up, but I’d bet that he was part of a trap. You see, it’s the Sabbath. It’s illegal to work on the Sabbath. So, Jesus is walking into the room, the Pharisees are staring, and the crowds are anticipating. It all stops when Jesus looks at the man in need. “And Jesus responded to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ‘Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?’ But they remained silent,” Luke 14:3–4a says.

7.                The Pharisees thought they could see everything so clearly, but in truth, they were blind. They didn’t see a man in need. They saw a trap for Jesus. First, will he heal on the Sabbath? Second, will he heal someone who is obviously suffering because of his sin and guilt? Self-exaltation had blinded them. Their zeal to be better became their downfall. Jesus saw a man for what he was: a child of God in need, suffering in the misery and the shame of his disease. Luke 14:4-6 says, “Then Jesus took him and healed him and sent him away. And he said to them, ‘Which of you, having a son or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?’ And they could not reply to these things.” In compassion for this broken man, Jesus spoke the words of life and healing. To be healed must have been amazing for that man, but to be seen as a possession of God would be divine. Our drive to exalt self-blinds us to the needs of others. It breaks our sense of community as we cease to notice and care for others.

8.                The second event in our text comes in the form of a parable. In this parable, you are the main character: “Now [Jesus] told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ‘When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, “Give your place to this person,” and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. . . . For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled’ ” (Luke 14:7–9, 11a).

9.                When we exalt ourselves, we lose the ability to see ourselves for who we are. The lack of perspective sets us up to be humiliated. You know what I’m talking about. You’ve seen this kind of person in action, maybe at school or at work. They are quick to take credit for things they didn’t do. The thing is that everyone sees through the self-promoting efforts, but the person thinks he gets away with it. Until one day when something happens and the sum total of the efforts at self-promotion collapses because someone who sees him for what he is speaks a painful word of truth. The person in this parable took a seat of honor because he didn’t realize his own imperfections. Sadly, by taking the best seat, he missed an opportunity to be honored with the better seat. Isn’t it true, that when we try to make ourselves look better than we are in the eyes of others, we end up looking worse? Self-exaltation results in brokenness—brokenness in our identity.

10.             Jesus uses another parable to describe the third brokenness of self-exaltation. Again, we are the center character. The parable is simple, and its message is profound. Jesus challenges us here in Luke 14:12: “When you give a feast, don’t invite your friends for dinner, knowing they will repay you. Invite someone that cannot repay you.” Notice this is a celebration that Jesus is talking about. Maybe it’s a job promotion. Maybe it’s a wedding. Maybe it’s the birth of a child or a grandchild. You want to celebrate, and you want people to join in your celebration. But whom do you invite? You might choose to invite your boss. There’s no better way to get brownie points. You might invite your family and friends. They may not help you advance in your status, but it will demonstrate to them just how successful you already are. The fact that they’ll feel obligated to repay you is an added bonus. You gain prestige but risk few resources.

11.             While we can recognize the need to notice people and the dangers of self-exaltation, we struggle with this parable. I find it disturbing in myself that my view of hospitality is so broken that the very thing Jesus says not to do seems normal, and the thing he tells me to do seems crazy. Self-exaltation is nothing less than idolatry. It’s an idolatry that has broken our relationship with our God, with our community, with our identity, and with true hospitality.

12.             “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled,” but “he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 14:11). Humility begins with the realization that we are wrong in our thinking and rebellious in our practice. The separation of self-exaltation is defeated by Christ. Jesus humbled himself. He didn’t come to be a passenger in first class, business class, or even coach. He came to be a servant of all the passengers, that through his perfect sacrifice on the cross, the brokenness of the sin of the First Adam might be done away. With his blood, Jesus has healed the brokenness that separated us from God and from one another. In addition, he has given us freedom from the very thing that drives us to self-exaltation: fear. Listen to 1 Pet 5:6–7: “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” Notice that it is our anxiety that fights against humility. We strive to exalt ourselves because we are afraid of others looking down on us. We are afraid of being weak. We are afraid of missing out. In place of fear that leads to brokenness and separation, God gives us faith and his perfect love. 1 Jn 4:18: “Perfect love casts out all fear.” Never again need we fear being overlooked and unloved, for by his death and resurrection Christ has honored us with every good thing.

13.             My prayer is that, as you leave today in God’s perfect love and promised provision for life, you will embrace the newfound community we have in Christ. You will embrace your newfound community as you notice people, their needs and hopes. You will embrace your newfound community as you walk in the new identity you have in Christ. You will embrace your newfound community as you strive to practice a radical hospitality that reflects the Father’s unconditional love. This is the new we. We can lift up those in need, because Christ has said to us who were buried in coach on the airplane, “Friend, move up higher.” Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.

 

“Using the Gift of Prayer” Heb. 13.15; Matt. 6.8; Ps 5.3; Ps. 55.17 & Ps. 141.1-2, Aug. ’22 Pent11C

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. As I give you advice on how to pray today, I want to make sure you approach what I’m about to say in a spirit of freedom. It is, after all, for freedom that Christ has set you free (Gal. 5:1). But, so much literature on prayer seems to place a yoke on your back, turning the gift into a burden, or worse, a scheduled appointment. I don’t want you to miss the joy we have in our freedom to pray. The message today, as we conclude our sermon series on The Lord’s Prayer, is taken from Heb. 13, Matt. 6, and Psalms 5, 55, and 141. It’s entitled, “Using the Gift of Prayer,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                I know that many people want to pray, but really struggle with how to do it. Do I sit or kneel? Do I pray silently or aloud to myself? Must my prayers be spontaneous or written? Can I pray for what I want, or must I only pray the text? What if I get distracted? Is that a sin? (It is not!) Such questions also demonstrate a lack of freedom. They come from people who want to enjoy the gift of prayer but can’t conceive of it apart from a mere demand.

3.                A few years ago, our church body, the LC-MS, asked the pastors what were some of the most pressing questions their parishioners asked. A large number of people said they wanted to have a faithful prayer life, but didn’t know how. So, in this sermon, I want to try and offer some helpful advice. I do believe there is some sanctified wisdom here and pray that it would prove helpful for you.

4.                GO TO CHURCH. The first thing I want you to know is that prayer isn’t something you engage in alone. As we’ve learned already in this sermon series, Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit pray for us and with us. But there’s more. It is a gift Jesus has given you, but you’re not the only one to receive this gift. This is a gift Jesus gives to his church. It’s a gift to be used by the church as we gather together with each other. The majority of psalms were used in the worship service. The Lord’s Prayer is not addressed to “my” Father, but to “our” Father. Jesus gives us no “me” petitions. To be sure, there is a time and place for the individual to be in prayer. But, we would do well to recognize that prayer begins within the communion of saints.

5.                When we attend the worship service, our entire engagement with God is saturated in prayer. He comes to us in Word and sacrament, and we respond with prayer and praise. The Lutheran church designates this pattern of worship as “sacrament” (what God gives to us) and sacrifice (how we respond to God). Do not be misled by the language of sacrifice. We do not believe we are offering a sacrifice of atonement for our sins, but rather, we respond to God’s giving of gifts with “sacrifices” of praise and thanksgiving (Heb. 13:15). So, we don’t pray in the service to earn God’s favor, but because he’s already given it so freely. Having received the promises of his grace and favor through our Lord Jesus, we present our petitions to God, trusting his promises to answer in our favor. Our communal prayers are just as important as our individual prayers. God delights in them just as much.

6.                The prayers of the church also inform us of the needs of God’s people. We not only pray them together in the Divine Service, but we can take them home with us and pray for all God’s people according to their needs in our individual prayer time. In this way, we continue to pray with the church throughout the week.

7.                TIME AND PLACE. Now we move to the time and place for prayer. Jesus teaches us to go to our room, shut the door, and get to the point in our prayers. God isn’t impressed by long, wordy speeches, incoherent babbling, or even elaborate prayer liturgies(!). Long prayers, which look so impressive to us, may actually lack faith as they seek to persuade God, as though He hasn’t already promised to hear and answer: Jesus says, “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (Matt. 6:8).

8.                Just as you have time set aside in your week to attend worship, it is a useful practice to set up a specific time of day to attend to your daily prayers. There is no law in the Scriptures that commands you to do it at any given time. The key is consistency. “O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch” (Ps. 5:3). As I’ve gotten older, I have found waking up an hour earlier for a time of prayer and meditation on God’s word is much more beneficial. I’ve found that beginning my day with Scripture and prayer, even as I am on my exercise bike, has helped me remain more consistent in my prayers than when I saved my most focused prayer time for the evening.

9.                “Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!” (Ps. 141:2). When I was younger, I was more of a night owl and said my prayers before bed. This is a practice I still do in my home as our family prayer time is before we put the kids to bed. In the evening, we are all at home with the business of the day behind us. It’s the ideal time for my family to process through the day together with the Lord. We then go to sleep trusting that our Father will “through the night watch over our beds.” (“Now Rest Beneath Night’s Shadow” by Paul Gerhardt in The Lutheran Service Book: Pew Edition (St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 2006). 880).

10.             “Evening, morning and noon I cry out in distress, and he hears my voice” (Ps. 55:17). It may be that morning and evening are difficult for you to pray. You could take your lunch break at work to spend time in prayer. But, as this psalm points out, our time of prayer need not be limited to one fixed point in the day. The Lord always stands ready to hear our prayers. Though your most focused time of prayer may be in the morning, it is still a great blessing to pray before each meal and at the close of the day to read a psalm and sing a hymn of peace as you close your eyes for a blessed sleep. Again, it is consistency that is key. With set times of prayer, you will find that spontaneous prayers begin to come more naturally.

11.             Let me also suggest you find a location that is quiet and where you will be able to focus. A number of people tell me that they have their prayer time while they drive to work. Maybe you are able to focus on God while at the same time focusing on the road. I, however, can’t. So, for the sake of my prayers and my neighbor in the car in front of me, I separate my time so I can keep my eyes fixed on Jesus in my prayers and fixed on the road while I drive. A place free of distraction where you can focus on the Scriptures and prayer is ideal.

12.             ORDER YOUR TIME. To help prevent distraction, it will prove helpful to have what I call a personal prayer liturgy. That is, a set routine to help guide you through your prayers. I have some prayer liturgies in the back of the narthex available for you today to do that. Our Lutheran Service Book offers a few brief services of prayer to use individually or with your family. It also offers suggested themes for your prayers throughout the week. You might also order your prayers for each day of the week according to seven petitions of the Lord’s Prayer. So, on Sunday, when you pray for God’s name to be hallowed, your prayers could focus on that theme. Pray for your pastor, your congregation, the mission of the church, that God would send faithful laborers into the harvest, and the like.

13.             PRAY THE SCRIPTURES. Martin Luther was once asked by his barber, Peter Beskendorf, for advice on how to pray. As a result, Luther produced a delightful little book, “A Simple Way to Pray,” where he showed Peter how to prayerfully approach the catechism and allow it to guide his prayers. He said he took up a “garland of four strands” when he would, for example, approach the Ten Commandments. He considered what they commanded, gave thanks for what was spoken and given in the commandment, confessed his sin in light of it, and finally, prayed for divine help in obeying it.

14.             Luther’s advice sounds much like the ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) format of prayer. Both models prove helpful for praying, not just the Ten Commandments, but all of Scripture. Your time in the word should never be separated from prayer, and your prayers should be informed by God’s word. This simple format from Luther will help you meditate on the Bible more deeply and prayerfully. There’s no need to be overwhelmed with having to order your time. In his Small Catechism, Luther offers another way to pray. When you wake up in the morning, you make the sign of the cross in order to remember your baptism, then, kneeling or standing, say the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer, say another prayer (Luther offers his morning prayer as a suggestion), and then go about your day singing a hymn. He also suggests you repeat something similar before bed.

15.             If you are struggling to find time to pray, start with this short order from the Small Catechism. Then, as you get more comfortable, add a psalm or a Scripture reading. Recognize that by just following this simple format, you’ll do more damage to the devil’s kingdom in just over a minute than the devil can do to you all day.

16.             CONCLUSION. As you consider these suggestions, remember that you are free. Your prayers may falter, but Jesus’s will not. It is the Holy Spirit who groans for you when you don’t know what to say. So, if none of this works for you and you only find yourself frustrated, take heart. God hears your prayers and frustrations on account of his Son Jesus and promise that your sins are forgiven on account of Christ’s death on the cross for you. When such frustration arises, I am encouraged by Gretchen Ronnevik’s wonderful reminder, “There are many methods of prayer, but what astonishes me more than any of them is that the Holy Spirit interprets my groans. I can groan, and God not only hears me, but understands me. When we talk about the level of intimacy God is offering us through prayer, I think that’s a good place to start. Please don’t ask me the correct way to groan.” Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.