Through Christ                                                                                   3/11/45

 

Scripture:  Romans 5: 1-11

 

In the various forms of benediction there frequently occur the words “through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”  Often prayers are closed with the same phrase.  In many parts of New Testament Scripture, there occur the same words - “through Christ our Lord.”  Is it just a vague expression that seems to be a part of religious lingo - or does it really have some significance?

 

Many centuries ago - approximately 19, to be exact - a Hebrew boy studied his sacred Scriptures as did other Hebrew boys.  Only this boy was destined to become an advanced student.  Struggling through the sentences, picking out one by one the ancient characters, he was supervised by his father.  When he came to a certain word, he began to sound out the letters - Je  ho  vah - as a young boy will.  “No,” his father would say, “do not say that.  That word is not said.  Say ‘Adonai’ whenever you come to that word.”  “Adonai” means “the Lord.”  And the faithful Hebrew always used it, when speaking, in place of the word for God, which was considered too sacred for utterance.  For centuries, the Jews had never repeated the name of the deity, but always said, instead, “the Lord”   -  “Adonai.”

 

This Hebrew lad grew up.  He studied to be a rabbi.  While he was an advanced student, there grew up in Jerusalem a new religious sect - a sect in many ways revolutionary.  Its members were followers of a certain man named Jesus who came from up north in the town of Nazareth.  It seems that the man had been taken by the authorities after 3 years or so of teaching and stirring up trouble for the authorities; that he had been condemned to death and executed by crucifixion.  Evidently that had not ended the matter, though, for the followers of the man now claimed that he was risen from the dead and still alive.  Growth of the sect was so persistent that the authorities were having trouble with it.  The young rabbinical student, whose name was Saul, decided that it must be stamped out - and, youthfully aggressive, he would do it.

 

But persecutions were not as successful as he had hoped they would be.  The followers of Jesus seemed neither to flare into hatred that would fight back, nor to have their fanatical faith dampened.  Saul saw one of them stoned to death - a young fellow named Stephen, who as he was being hit by the rocks thrown at him lifted up his eyes in almost a smile, saying, “I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.”

 

Saul hated it with a seething passion.  At the same time, he was haunted by it.  What secret had Jesus possessed which gave his followers such peace and joy even in the midst of pain and death?

 

The fascination of it hounded Saul endlessly.  At length it caught up with him while he was on a trip to the city of Damascus.  He became a changed man.  He had started the trip with the announced purpose of stamping out a group of these Christians, reported over in Damascus.  Instead of carrying out his purpose, he gave himself to the will of Christ and, from a hater of Jesus, became a follower of the Christ.  His name was even changed, from Saul to Paul.  [Acts 9: 1-19].

 

Now it became Paul’s turn to be hounded and persecuted.  His family turned from him in sorrow.  A long series of trials and sufferings came to him.  But out of all his harrowing experiences, a powerful conviction was formed in his mind that, at last, One had come who was worthy to bear the name of the Lord - that name which was too sacred for him to pronounce, as a Jew.  And Paul’s letters came to be filled with reference to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

In the 1900 years which have passed since then, the world has continued to wear an enigmatic face - a face full of sinful ugliness and of courageous beauty.  It has been a world of tears and laughter; of sordidness and stars; of contradictions and fulfillment.

 

Out of the confusing sequence of history, centuries of seasoned thought have selected one incomparable section as the key to understanding the whole book of life.  It is the brief biography of Jesus, that strange man on a cross, who has so ruled the hearts of people that they say, like Paul, “the Lord Jesus Christ.”  In his character, we see the finest that we know or can imagine.  We believe that in beholding him, we see the Father also.  We see in his love the most heavenly reflection of life’s possibilities.  We conclude that God must be like him.  And we speak of “Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our Lord.”  We frequently conclude our prayers with the words, “through Jesus Christ, our Lord.”

 

What, further, does it mean to pray “through Jesus Christ our Lord?”  Ralph Sockman points out at least 3 things that it means to him.

 

1)  First, when we pray “through Jesus Christ our Lord,” the words give us an invitation to pray.  Do you ever think of prayer as a rather presumptuous thing on our part?  God has the affairs of a whole world on his hand.  That involves not only such things as oceans; mountains; myriads of fish, birds, and animals; forests - the list could be endless, but it involves some two billion souls of people with all their hopes, fears, loyalties, struggles, sufferings, ambitions, loves, hatreds, triumphs and tragedies.  And those who look through telescopes tell us that this whole world is only a dot in the universe!

 

With all that on his hands, why should I presume to bother God with my problems, pet peeves, hopes and little joys?  Perhaps we feel like the little boy who observed that “God is like my father; he’s too busy to listen to me!”

 

And, anyway, isn’t it a sign of weakness on my part to be bothering God with my desires and affairs?  Here I am, an adult person; shouldn’t I stand up to my own affairs and handle them competently rather than carry them off to God for his help?  A lot of us act as if we liked to think so.

 

Some time ago a minister remarked that it seemed as though the only person in his community who could talk about God, without causing something of a sensation, was the preacher!  If, for instance, the director’s meeting of a downtown business were to be opened by a president who were to say, “Let us ask God’s guidance,” the suspicion might spread that the business was heading for the rocks.  For us to stop and pray in the midst of a social gathering might create a mild sensation - or at least an awkward pause.  Some blush to be caught at prayer.  To many it seems presumptuous or weak of simply pious.

 

But not when we pray “through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  For Christ invites us to pray.  He makes it as natural as a trustful child turning to a father.  What if a father is busy - he finds some time to listen.  And of course the Heavenly Father is away beyond the mere earthly father in that respect.

 

Jesus teaches us to say “Our Father.”

 

Dale Carnegie says that one reason we do not better remember the names of people we meet is that we are more interested in ourselves than in the strangers.  Possibly there may be something to Carnegie’s thought.  At any rate, may not the same be true of us when we pray to God?  Do we think primarily of ourselves when we pray to God?  But Christ taught us when we say “Our Father” to think not of ourselves but of God.

 

Not only do we think of God as “Father,” but we have come to think of Jesus himself when we think of God because he has showed us the Father.  It was he that taught us that we are of enough worth before God so that the very hairs of our head are numbered.

 

Moreover, God is a Father who believes in you and me.  In that novel by A. J. Cronin - “The Keys of the Kingdom” - a young Scottish physician in China lay dying of the plague which raged there.  A Catholic priest was there with whom the doctor had had many discussions.  But the young doctor had remained agnostic.  As the end of his life neared, he breathed out, “I still can’t believe in God.”  “Does it matter now?” asked the priest.  “He believes in you.”

 

Christ makes prayer inviting.

 

2)  Furthermore, we have a test for our praying “through Jesus  Christ our Lord.”

 

A pastor told how he had helped business men, tense and troubled, to get God’s help.  He told them to eat a good lunch, then lie down, stretch out to full length, relax every muscle, and say, “Now God, this is your problem, too.  Help me to solve it.”

 

Well, I feel better after a good meal, too, especially if I can relax a bit - though I’m far more apt to sleep than to pray in that condition.  I’m not sure that God is altogether in the process.  Does he have to hang around, for instance, until I get the lunch over and get ready to receive him; and then come in to help me as if I had sent the office boy after him?

 

Jesus seemed to pray in different fashion.  We read of Jesus’ fasting in the wilderness, of praying during sleepless nights, of drops of sweat like blood over his brow in Gethsemane.  The body needs relaxation.  But prayer is more than that.  It means saying “Not my will, but thine be done.”  Prayer is more than just tuning in on God as one may tune in the radio to gather out of the ether what is there.

 

When we pray “through Christ our Lord” we cannot just ask for any fancy or even any hearts desire.  Jesus said “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do.”  [John 14: 13].  I can pray for help in my business problems “through Jesus Christ our Lord” provided my business is designed to further the good of men and the program of Christ on earth.  I can pray for my health “through Christ our Lord” provided I do not merely seek to prolong my own self-indulgence, but to serve my fellow man.  I can pray for victory “through Jesus Christ our Lord” provided I believe victory on our side will further the reign of righteousness and good will on earth.  I can pray “through Jesus Christ our Lord” for the safety of my loved one at the front provided I am not thinking just of my own family happiness, but of the welfare of other parents’ sons and daughters.

 

Prayer through Christ “lifts our sights” to that unattainable state embodied in his command - “Be ye perfect as your Father is perfect.”  [Matthew 5: 48].  Of course we are not perfect, and we seem unable to be perfect.  But we are to be satisfied with nothing less, because a high aim is the only thing that will keep us coming toward the Kingdom.

 

Prayer “through Jesus Christ our Lord” gives us a test for our praying.

 

3)  Once again, when we pray “through Jesus Christ our Lord” we get power in our praying.  We get the strength which comes from confidence in the righteousness of Christ.

 

Have you ever been dependent on a guide in some region where you would be lost without him?  [e.g. Wind Cave]

 

A generation ago Neitzsche persuaded German folks that to follow Christ would make a generation of slaves out of any nation.  So many German people repudiated the principles of Christ.  And what happened?  Germany turned to militarism, Neitzsche died in a madhouse, the world wallows in its own blood.  Every generation that has called Christ a “dreamer” has wakened woefully to find that it had been dreaming while Christ spoke the truth!

 

Christ gives us power through his own righteousness.  More than that, he imparts a faith that we too can reach toward righteousness.

 

[Harold Blake Walker of Oklahoma City - piano recital, “Moonlight on the Waters.”  Miserable effort.  Afterward his father said, “Son, I know you can play ‘Moonlight on the Waters’ and as long as you and I know it, what do we care about anything else?”]

 

Christ interprets God as saying something like that to us.  God knows what we can do, and makes us feel that if He and we know, that is the most important part of it.

 

When we pray “through Jesus Christ our Lord” we feel his invitation to pray; we have a standard of the right attitude in prayer; and we have his power.  With him we face living together and we can win over all its evils.  Jesus Christ our Lord says this to us at this Lenten season.

 

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Dates and places delivered:

 

            Wisconsin Rapids, March 11, 1945.