During the 11 am service the congregation rejoiced at the Baptism of Hannah Burdett.
First of all, that
is, of greatest importance: pray for Hannah. Not because nothing has
happened in her baptism, but because something has happened. Pray
for her because Christ has given her the gift of Holy Baptism. Do it
because she has a great enemy in the devil, but do it because she has
an even greater friend in Jesus and his Baptism rescues from death
and the devil, as well as works the forgiveness of sins and gives
eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises
of God declare. And since the words and promises of God declare
this, pray that she may grow up, as Paul says, “in faith and truth”
according to those words and promises. And that, just like praying
for the government, is a big thing.
To
pray for big things is to believe the Gospel.
That's
how Paul begins this chapter to young Pastor Timothy: “First of
all” - and uses four different words for prayer - “supplications,
prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings”
are to be made for all people, and that includes kings and all who
are in high positions. And he does that because Paul knows that
refusal to pray for all, especially the government, is to deny the
Gospel.
Wait, what?
What
does the government has to do with the Gospel? It seems like a case
of “that is that, and this is this”. Praying for the government
and denying the Gospel seem to have nothing to do with one another.
And yet . . . if you turn it around – the Christian Church that has
received the Gospel does have a responsibility to the government:
prayer! (And not just prayer but honor, taxes, etc.) That's why
Martin Luther can say, concerning this text, “It
is the duty of Christians to see whose fault it is that nothing
happens in [to apply it to today, we'll use the word parliament]. We
must pray that God would instill a good spirit so that they consider
all good and salutary things.”
That's a very interesting statement, and very different from saying
“it's the government's fault that nothing gets done.”
Appearances can be deceiving.
And the same thing goes for praying for little baptized people.
What does praying for them have to do with denying the Gospel? It's
not like when the disciples prevented parents from bringing the
little children to Jesus that they were insulting Jesus; it's the
little children they thought were an insult to Jesus. And yet who
does Jesus rebuke? The disciples. They had really denied Jesus when
they had prevented those little children from coming to him. And how
is that different from refusing to bring the needs of the little
baptized before Jesus in prayer?
I'll
tell you a story. Poor young students living away from home depend
on whatever little helps they can get. And Martin Luther was no
different, because as a schoolboy he would go in a group of students
singing door to door for whatever the homeowners could give. That's
why he could look back and say, “It is a shame to pray to God for a
mere pittance.
From
the very greatness of the gifts the confidence to ask for great
things grows. He gave His Son. Our petitions— peace in the world,
wisdom for [rulers]—are far inferior to a prayer for eternal life
and remission of sins. Let everyone then expand his heart and pray
not to a simple little God but to the God of the heaven and earth He
created.” He understood, as Scripture teaches here and elsewhere,
that the type of prayer shows what kind of God you have. God is not
like someone who can only donate a little. A little prayer shows you
have a simple little God. Prayer for just a little shows you have a
God who can only give just a little. But is that the one true God,
or the tiny god your heart made up? But to pray for something as big
as the government, or something as big as the needs of little
baptized people, is to believe that the biggest gift given is Christ
Jesus crucified for you.
When
you pray the Lord's Prayer, by the way, you do just that. The first
thing you pray for is nothing less than God's kingdom. And then you
start to see the connection between praying for the government and
believing the Gospel. Who are you to pray for, as Paul says? “For
all”, including the big shots. And what does Paul say of Jesus?
That he “gave
himself as a ransom for all”
As many people as Christ died for is as many people as you pray for.
You pray for the government, not because it's small, but because
there is someone over the government; and not just someone, but the
One Mediator and the one ransom – Jesus. He is the One Mediator
between God and man. What's a mediator but someone who stands
between two unreconciled parties (so who is a good example of a
mediator? A parent who has multiple children.) So who stands
between you and your sin, and the holiness of the Father who created
heaven and earth and all that is in them? The man Christ Jesus. And
how can he stand there and mediate? Because he is true God along
with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and because he is true man, has
flesh and blood as you do, yet without sin. There is no way you can
stand before God without this Mediator, and what a Mediator he is!
He
is the Mediator because he is the ransom. And again, what is a
ransom but a price to buy someone back. So the way Jesus mediates is
the same way that he is the ransom: his cross stands between you and
what your sin has deserved from the Father almighty, because that
cross and that cross alone, is the price to pay for your sins. So of
course Paul has to put it so beautifully: “For
there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the
man Christ Jesus, 6
who gave himself as a ransom for all”
And when he uses the words Mediator and ransom, these are both cross
words, these are both words of Jesus' blood and death for you.
And that is the Gospel.
But because there is only one Gospel, and because the Gospel is the
Gospel, Christians not only pray for the government and babies, but
they pray for the Church and remaining in the truth of your Baptism!
It
doesn't seem like ignoring prayer (of all things) attacks the Gospel,
but it does because it doesn't serve faith and truth (and remember,
Paul affirms that he is “a
teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth”).
It doesn't serve faith and truth because it denies that the biggest
gift we have received is the forgiveness won by Christ Jesus, and
every other gift is small in comparison. It doesn't serve faith and
truth to ignore praying for the government, because that leads to
using the peace and protection the government provides as an excuse
to get away with whatever you can. And it doesn't serve faith and
truth because it leads away from knowledge of the truth (which is
faith). Don't forget that Paul says that God our Savior “desires
all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
And
this truth must be preached as Gospel. Christ Jesus died for all,
but it's just for this reason that Paul then immediately adds that
Christ's cross “is
the testimony given at the proper time. 7
For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the
truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and
truth.”
This is the only Gospel, and it's meant to be preached because it's
meant to be believed, and the Word of God is how that happens.
So yes, praying for the government is a big thing, but the
government supports something even bigger: the Church! And it
doesn't do that with money, because the Church isn't a department of
the government. The government supports the Church by doing a good
job of being the government: by providing peace and protection for
all citizens. When God provides these things through the government,
this serves the life of the Church. It's hard to disagree, because
you will notice you didn't have to worry about driving through a war
zone to get to church here this morning.
Now, to be sure, the world misuses this peace, and the government
doesn't exist for that reason, but the Church receives this peace, as
Paul says, “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life”. The
Church receives the gifts of good government in quietness to “be
able to discuss the Word, extend the faith, and bring up our children
in spiritual, corporal, and moral discipline—in Christian
discipline.” - as Luther says.
And believe me, babies are a big thing to pray for, but the biggest
reason why is Baptism. That a baptized person is preserved in the
faith by God is no little thing. It's a big petition to take up and
pray to your merciful God (in whose name all the baptized are
baptized). Why? Because what a person receives in Baptism is no
little thing. In Baptism you receive the one true God to whom you
can pray, but you also receive the one Mediator between God and man,
and you are washed into the one ransom for sin, washed into the the
family of God by that Baptism. All that is in Baptism for you!
Every day! And as often as your Baptism is good, is as often as you
pray for the baptized. That's only a true statement of what faith
does – the faith delivered to you in your Baptism.
Conclusion:
What's “first of all” is always what God has done. The first of
all is always the work of Christ our Savior, “who
desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth. 5
For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men,
the man Christ Jesus, 6
who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at
the proper time.”
To believe this is to pray for all, especially for those in high
positions, even those who have been placed so high as to be baptized
into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus our Lord. To him be the glory. Amen.
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