PRAYER FOR A GODLY LIFE!

August 04, 2019

Rev. Mark F. Bartels

Epistle Lesson; Colossians 1:1-14

Gospel Lesson; Luke 10:25-37

Sermon Text; Psalm 25:1-11

This summer I have been preaching on what is called, The Assigned Psalms for the Day. So the assigned psalm for today in the church year is Psalm 25. We are going to look at the first eleven verses of Psalm 25. This is in our Savior's name.

To you, O Lord, I will lift up my soul. In you I have trusted, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame. Do not let my enemies triumph over me. All who hope in you will never be put to shame, but those who are treacherous for no reason will be put to shame. Make known to me your ways, O Lord. Teach me your paths. Make me walk in your truth and teach me, because you are the God who saves me. In you I hope all day long. Remember, O Lord, your compassion and your mercy, for they are from eternity. Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways. According to your mercy remember me, because of your goodness, O Lord. Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore, He instructs sinners in the right way. He directs the humble to what is just, and He teaches the humble His way. All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. For the sake of your name, O Lord, you forgive my guilt, although it is great.

These are your words, Heavenly Father. Lead us in the way of truth. Your Word is truth.

Amen

All right, I am guessing the vast majority of us here have been baptized. And, probably most of you, if you are baptized, have somebody who is, or was your godmother, or godfather. Sometimes, we call them our sponsors, or witnesses. Do you know who your godparents are? I’m sure lots of you do.

Some of you are godparents. Maybe your brother, or sister, or a good friend asked you to stand up as the godparent, or sponsor at their child's baptism.

The Bible never talks about godparents. It is a Christian tradition. It is a great tradition.

When you become a godparent, you are basically making a promise that you understand you are going to take a special, spiritual responsibility toward that child, and you will strive to help keep that child in their faith.

I want to tell you about one of my sponsors, one of my godparents. I had two of them. One was the aunt on my mom's side. The other was the uncle on my dad's side.

On my dad's side, Uncle Lavern, was just a good, old, 'down to earth', carpenter. He had a great sense of humor. And, he was a good, Christian man. I really looked up to my uncle, Lavern.

Every year, when I was a kid, on my birthday, and at Christmas, my uncle Lavern would always send me a card. There usually wasn't anything in it, so I was always a little disappointed, because there wasn't anything in it. But, it was a card that reminded me of the importance of my Christian faith.

Then, the week before my Confirmation this package came in the mail. It was a package from Uncle Lavern. I thought to myself, “Oh! He sent me a Confirmation present!” I opened it up, and it was a little, red book, called, “The Lutheran Book of Prayers.” As a thirteen year old, a part of my heart went, “Aw, that is all it is, just a little prayer book.” But, it was from Uncle Lavern, and I really looked up to him, so I put it by the side of my bed, thinking maybe someday I would use that little, Lutheran Book of Prayers.

Being a thirteen year old, I was a typical thirteen year old. I loved Jesus. I believed in Jesus. I knew my sins were all forgiven. But, boy, did I mess up. There were so many times when I had such a guilty conscious. I would think to myself, “What in the world was I doing?” “Why did I say that?” “Why did I think that?” “I am a Christian, so why am I doing the things I am doing?”

I wanted to, even as a thirteen year old, I wanted to live a more godly life. I knew I was a Christian. I knew I believed in Jesus, so I wanted to live a more godly life. So, guess what I was drawn to? One day I started flipping through that book my uncle gave me, and I stumbled across two prayers. One of them was a prayer for a stronger faith. The other one was a prayer to live a holy life.

Those two prayers became so well used, during my teenage years, because I found myself going back to them over, and over, and over, again. I kept going back to them. I prayed them so many times, that even today, at my age, when I am struggling, and want to live a more sanctified life, I still remember some of the words of those two prayers. This always pops in to me head, right away, when I want to live a more godly life: “Lord, Strengthen thou my weak, and flickering faith…” which comes from one of those prayers.

Theodore Aaberg used to be president of our synod. During the 50^th Anniversary of our synod, he wrote a book about the history of our church body. In that book, at the very last page, he was characterizing our synod, our church body, and the members of our synod. He made this little statement that was such a powerful statement. Here is how he characterized the people of our church body, (and that would include the people of Holy Cross, too).

“There is much wrong with each one of us, and yet, we are characterized as a people who love Jesus, who cling to His Word, who want to walk in His ways.”
We are people who believe in Jesus. We love Him. And yet, there is a lot wrong with each one of us. We all, I pray, want to live a more godly life. So, Psalm 25, the first eleven verses, are a wonderful prayer for living a more godly life.

I want to walk through those phrases, a bit at a time. If you look at Psalm 25, which is a psalm of David, the very first words are, “Of David”, so this is a psalm David wrote. It is intended to be a prayer. It is a prayer for someone who realizes, “I know I am a Christian. I know my sins are forgiven. I know I am on my way to Heaven. But, man, did I blow it. I want to live a more godly life.”

So, look at how it starts out. It starts out this way, which is instructive. Remember in these psalms God is teaching us how to pray. So, you want a stronger walk with the Lord? The first thing he says is:

To you, O Lord,

I lift up my soul.

Now, that is the heart of somebody who runs to the Lord, and says, “Lord I want my soul to belong to you. I want my will uplifted to you. I want my will, my thoughts, my heart, my desires to be directed to you. So I lift it up to you. But, I also lift up my soul to you, because I need your help. I can't do that on my own. I have messed up so many times, in so many ways, so I am lifting up my soul to you.”

I want you to see the three things David teaches us to pray for, here, as we strive to live a more godly life. I am going to give them categories.

-The first one is, “What is my motivation?” “What motivates me to live a godly life?”

-Number two, there are things that would demotivate me to live a godly life. “What demotivates me, and how do I pray about that?”

-Thirdly, “How do I learn what a godly life is?”

So, let's talk about motivation, first of all. What can motivate me? Let's say I did something, and I know, “Man, did I blow it. I don't want to do that again. I want to live a more godly life.”

What can motivate me to want to change? Is it proper motivation to say, “Well, I want to change, because I hope I never get caught. I hope nobody ever catches me doing that.”?

That is not proper motivation. That is not a changed heart. That is just a change of outward behavior.

Would it be proper motivation for me to say, “I want to change, because I want people to think more highly of me.”?

That is not proper motivation. That is pride, and that just changes outward behavior. It doesn't change the heart.

The only thing that can truly motivate me is a change of heart. That is why Jesus, when He talked about the Bible, He said, “The Law, the prophets, Moses, and the psalms all talk about me.”

So, the question is, “Where do we find Jesus in each of the psalms, because Jesus is the only thing that can motivate me to live a god-pleasing life.”

I want to direct you, first of all, to some verses in today’s psalm that deal with the proper motivation. It is what we call, “The Gospel”.

Look at verse six, and then I will jump from there to verse eleven.

Remember, O Lord, your compassion and your mercy,

for they are from eternity.

Do not remember the sins of my youth,

and my rebellious ways.

According to your mercy remember me,

because of your goodness, O Lord.

And then, jump down to verse eleven

For the sake of your name, O Lord,

you forgive my guilt,

although it is great.

So now, one thing the psalmist does here, as we pray for a more godly life is it takes us right to the forgiveness of sin. The forgiveness of sins is the only thing that can motivate me to want to live for God.

You notice he talks about sins of youth, “the sins of my youth...”. Does that mean youth are more sinful than anybody else? No, it does not mean that. Sometimes the sins we committed in our youth may continue to haunt us all the rest of our lives. I remember talking to a lady on her deathbed who was in her eighties or nineties who was still troubled about something she had done when she was a teenager.

I heard a pastor say, “This psalm, “forgive the sins of my youth,” certainly applies to you no matter what age you are, because if you just look back a few years from where you are right now, you could call it your youth. If you are eighty, and you look back on your sixties, you can call that your youth.”

Forgive the sins of my youth.

I love what Jesus said. Remember when there was a woman who was caught in the sin of adultery? This group of people brought her to Jesus, and said, “Jesus, the Bible says we should stone her to death. What do you think?”

Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”
Do you know what happened, when Jesus said that? It says they all started to go away, one by one. But, do you know who left first? It says the older guys left first. So, even those old guys who were there thinking this woman should be stoned all of a sudden started looking back over their own lives, and realized, “You know, there is a lot wrong with me, too.” They started leaving one by one.

I love this phrase – “Do not remember the sins of my youth”.

It is going to ask God not to remember something, and then it is going to ask Him to remember something. So first of all, we ask God, “Don't remember the sins of my youth, or my transgressions”.
Let's imagine God has two pairs of glasses. He could look at me through either pair of glasses. Which pair of glasses would you want God to look at you, through? What if one of those pairs of glasses had all of your sins written right on the lenses, and God looked at you with that pair of glasses? That would be terrifying. If God looked at me with a pair of glasses that had all of my sins written right on those lenses, I would start running as fast as I could. I would be so ashamed. I would not want to be in His presence. I would know that I deserved to have the earth open up, and swallow me, and destroy me. That would terrify me.

So, David here teaches us to pray, “Remember not the sins of my youth, or my many, many transgressions.” In other words, “Lord when you look at me, don't look at me through my sins”.

So, he says, “Don't remember me that way”, but then he says, “Lord, remember, remember your mercy and compassion for they are from eternity, or from of old.”

That is saying, “God, when you look at me, I want you to take up a different 'pair of glasses'. It is 'the glasses' that identify your character, who you are, and what you are all about. God, you are a God of mercy and compassion. It is your character not to want to hurt sinners. It is your character to want to have compassion on sinners, and want to help sinners. God, you have been that way from of old, from eternity. As soon as Adam and Eve fell into sin, you promised those two sinners you were going to send a Savior. You are a God of mercy and compassion. Take up 'those glasses', and Lord...”

(and then it says)

“remember me according to your mercy.”

According to your mercy remember me.

“So, those are 'the glasses' I want you to put on, God. Your mercy. Look at me through 'those glasses'.”

Then, the very last verse says,

“For the sake of your name, O Lord,

you forgive my guilt...”

So, as God puts on 'these glasses', what does He see instead of our sin? Jesus is on 'those glasses'. He has made a promise to us. His reputation depends upon that promise. The promise is, “I don't see your sins. I don't see them, because Jesus washed them all away. I don't see your sins, because Jesus lived a perfect life. That is what I see in you.”

We are saying, “God, for the sake of your reputation keep that promise.”

The first part of the prayer is to live a godly life. That helps me with thanksgiving to God, because He would do that for me. The Bible says,

“We love,

because He first loved us.”

Knowing of His mercy and compassion is what motivates me to want to live a godly life. The Bible says,

“If God so loved us,

we ought to love one another.”

It is that forgiveness of sins that motivates me to say, “I want to live a godly life.”

Jesus said to that woman who had been caught in adultery, after everybody else left, “Is there no one left to condemn you?”

She said, “No Lord.”

And then He said, “Then, neither do I condemn you.”

So He forgave her.

Then He said, “Now go, and sin no more.”
That's motivation to live a godly life.

-First we pray to God, “Forgive my sins”, and cling to Jesus. Then that motivates me, and empowers me to want to live a godly life.

-Secondly, while that is what motivates me to want to live a godly life, there are things that can demotivate me to live a godly life. As soon as you start walking down the path of a godly life, what is going to happen?

-As soon as you start trying to live a godly life, and as soon as you start saying at work, “You know what? I am not going to join in that gossip anymore.”,

-or, in high school you say, “I am not going to go out drinking anymore.”,

-or when you are dating, and somebody wants to sleep with you, you say, “I am not going to do that. I know that is not God's Will for my life.”,

what happens? All of a sudden the world tries to demotivate you. The world tries to say, “Well, what do you think? Do you think you are better than I am?” “Are you a goodie, goodie?” “Are you Mr. Perfect, or Mrs. Perfect?” They try to shame you. The world will try to shame you, when you walk a godly life. Look at the prayer, here. Look at verse two.

“In you I have trusted, O my God.

Do not let me be put to shame.

Do not let my enemies triumph over me.

All who hope in you will never be put to shame,

but those who are treacherous for no reason

will be put to shame.”

So we are praying, “God, when I start to live that godly life, I know people are going to try to shame me for just wanting to be godly.”

Because, why? It is because their conscience is guilty. When they see you living a godly life, they want to pull you down, so they don't feel guilty anymore. “God don't let that demotivate me.”

I never thought I would talk about The Bachelorette in a sermon. But, the other day Sherri and I happened to be watching something on TV, and anyway, a commercial came on for The Bachelorette. It was about this young woman who was trying to pick which guy to marry. I noticed in this commercial a young guy was talking about his faith, and not wanting to be sexually active before marriage. And, I thought, “Wow!”

I dug a little deeper, and found out this young guy who was one of the contestants on The Bachelorette professed he had been living a pretty wild life, but he repented, came to faith in Jesus, was a dedicated Christian, and wanted to walk according to God's Will. The young woman who was the bachelorette also claimed to be a dedicated Christian.

So, at one point in this show this young guy is talking to this young lady. His name is Luke, and her name is Hanna. He tells her essentially this. “When I get married, I want to marry somebody who wants to walk a godly life, wants to save sex for marriage, and once we are in marriage, wants to keep sex just for marriage.”
That is a godly life

That young man, Luke, was belittled in this show. He was kicked off as a contestant, as somebody who was being judgmental, just for wanting to walk according to God's ways.

We understand that is going to happen. It can happen to us. And so, we pray, “God, when I live a godly life, remind me of this. You won't let me be put to shame. You won't. When I am faithful in my marriage, when I am careful with my words, when I am careful how I use my body, Lord I know somehow, some way, you will bless me. You won't let me be put to shame. Don't let the world detract me from living a godly life.”
-Then, the third thing David teaches us to pray is this. “OK, I want to live a godly life. How do I learn that?”

Look at the verses that talk about God being our instructor, or our teacher, and guiding us on the right path. Verse four says,

Make known to me your ways, O Lord.

Teach me your paths.

Make me walk in your truth and teach me,

because you are the God who saves me.

In you I hope all day long.

Then, go down to verse eight.

Good and upright is the Lord.

Therefore, He instructs sinners in the right way.

He directs the humble to what is just,

and He teaches the humble His way.

And so, when a Christian comes to the Lord, humbled, realizing, “I am a sinner. I certainly know my sins are forgiven. I want the Lord to teach me to live a more godly life.”, that is a humble heart. That is a teachable heart. We are praying, “God teach me, and instruct me. Lead me, and guide me. I want to walk on your paths. That is the way I want to go.”
When you are sick, and you ask God to heal you, how does He do it? Does He just snap His fingers, and bingo, you are healed? No. He gives you things like medicine, rest, water, nurses, and doctors. He works through those things to heal you.

When you ask the Lord to instruct you, and teach you, how does He do that? Does He just snap His fingers, and all of a sudden you know everything about God's Word, and His ways? No.

“Your Word is a lamp to my feet,

and a light to my path.”

His Word is what He uses to instruct us. And so, our prayer, then, as we pray God would instruct us is ultimately a prayer,

“Lord, help me to dive more deeply into your Word, because your Word will...”

What will it do?

-Number one, it will give me a more active conscience. It shows me what is right, and what is wrong. It shows me where I have sinned, and where I need to grow.

-Number two, The Word certainly will show me all kinds of examples of people, historically, who walked according to God's Will, and those who didn't, and what happened.

-Number three, The Scripture certainly will teach me more clearly what is truth, and what is not truth, so I know what God's Will is and how He wants me to walk. And especially, the Scripture keeps bringing me back to Christ, and showing me, “I have a Savior. My sins are forgiven. I want to live for Him”.

So, the more deeply we know The Word, the more clearly we can walk in that path that God leads us on. So, I encourage all of us, all of us, to continue to have a deep desire to be taught, and learn The Word.

-Certainly coming to church is super important.

-Bible studies are available, and if you are able to come, I would highly encourage you to do that.

-We want to grow in our Christian living. So, maybe you are able to have daily devotions. I have a little app on my phone from the ELS, Evangelical Lutheran Synod. Every day I get an email with a Bible verse, and a prayer. It is very short, but it reminds me of God's grace, and then a desire to live a godly life.

I am going to close with a prayer from the Lutheran Book of Prayer. It is a great prayer.

The title of it is, “To live a holy life.”

Lord Jesus,

By your precious blood, you redeemed me a lost, and condemned creature, and called me to be your very own, assembled with the saints. You, O Lord, know all things. You know that I love you. You know that my renewed heart desires to serve you in righteousness, and holiness, to cast aside the sin that so easily entangles me, and run with perseverance the race that is before me. I grieve, O Lord, that I have so often failed to do what you, my precious Savior, have asked me. So often I have refused to follow you, and your example, and instead choosing the paths of the world, the desires of my sinful flesh. In me there is no good thing The good I would do, I do not. And, the evil I would not do, that I do. I am so wretched. Who will deliver me from this body of death? To you, my Savior, and my loving friend, I flee. Uphold me with your willing spirit. You are the author, and perfecter of my faith, having delivered me from the guilt, and punishment of sin, and having redeemed me from its power, and dominion. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Purge every evil desire, and thought from my heart, and mind. Fill me with a pure love for you, and Your Will. Whether I live or die, may I be yours alone and forever.

Amen

May the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our hearts, and our minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord.