The life of Martin Luther reads like an action-adventure novel where the hero faces one trial after another. There is the lightning storm that so frightened a young Luther that he cried out, “Help me St Anne! And I’ll become a monk.” There is his pilgrimage through the Swiss Alps from a monastery in Germany to the holy city of Rome where he became disillusioned with relics. There is his tower experience where (possibly while sitting on a porcelain throne) Luther started to understand salvation by grace alone. There is of course the nailing of the 95 theses to the castle church door in Wittenberg which started the reformation of the Christian church. There is the burning of the papal bull that declared Luther a heretic. Perhaps the most dramatic event (at least how we like to imagine it) is the one that happened in the city of Worms where before emperor, princes, and priests Luther defiantly declared “Since then your Majesty and your Lordships seek a simple answer, I will give it in this manner, neither horned nor toothed. Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen." I could keep going. I could tell you how Luther, now as an enemy of the state, escaped the city using misdirection and subterfuge or about his secret hideout where he translated the Bible into the language of the people while disguised as a knight, or how he smuggled his future wife out of a cloister in a pickle barrel, but I trust you now know what I mean when I say the life of Martin Luther reads like an action-adventure novel.
The Life of Martin Luther was full of one trial after another, but somehow there was still a serenity about him. There is an old quote that is often attributed to Martin Luther. As the legend goes Luther was once asked what he would do if he knew he was going to die the next day. Luther allegedly replied, “Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.” Even if we are not sure this quote came from Luther, I like to think of the embattled reformer standing in his garden, unconcerned about the persecution of an emperor or the condemnation of a pope, peacefully planting an apple tree.
Whether or not Luther actually planted that tree in his garden, it is not inaccurate to imagine him this way. At about the same time Luther is debating with the indulgence dealing Tetzel and defending himself before Cardinal Cajetan the heretic hunter, Luther writes a series of sermons on the Lord’s Prayer. In this sermon series Luther doesn’t mention or even allude to the series of trials he is facing. Instead, his sermons focused his people on the serenity of prayer. Very specifically the serenity that is expressed by the little word “Amen”.
In that sermon series Luther said every petition we pray depends on the word “Amen”. Luther preached, “Therefore, the wise man declares that the end of a prayer is better than its beginning.” He preached, without “Amen” “neither the beginning nor the middle of the prayer serves any purpose.”[1]
To help us understand the importance of the little word “Amen” Luther points us to James 1:6-8. But before we take another look at those verses it is important note the context of the first two verses because they help us understand the occasion for the petition that proceeds the “Amen”. In verse 1 James tells us he is writing “To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations”; scattered for various reasons but first and foremost among those reasons was persecution. After the stoning of Stephen such a violent persecution broke out that Jerusalem was almost emptied of Christians. In verse 2 James recognizes those Christians “face trials of many kinds”. Life as a Jew was not easy, even more so for a Jew living outside of Jerusalem. Jewish customs made it difficult for them to assimilate into other cultures. As a result, Jewish people were often used as the punchline in a joke. It seems the only thing worse than being a Jew living outside of Jerusalem was being a Jew living outside of Jerusalem who had also converted to Christianity. The kinds of trials those people faced included, among other things, being fed to lions or burned at the stake.
As a student of reformation history, preaching on Reformation Sunday it is hard to read about “trials of many kinds” and not think of some of the trials Martin Luther endured. However, as a pastor of God’s people, it is impossible for me to read about “trials of many kinds” and not think of you. These days it is actually easier for Christians to live scattered among the nations far away from Jerusalem and the Gaza strip. However, as long as you are living outside the New Jerusalem, as long as you are living on this side of heaven, you face trials of many kinds. Pornography poisons the relationship between a husband and wife. A child’s bad choice keeps a mother and father awake all night. Uncertainty at work triggers an old anxiety. A spot on the lungs forces a family to face mortality. Old age makes one feel isolated and alone. These are but a few of the trials faced by God’s people this last week, a few of the many trials that were shared with me. Which is why when I read about trials of many kinds, I think of you.
Which means I worry about you. I have noticed trials of many kinds tend to make people desperate. They say things they wouldn’t normally say, and they do things they wouldn’t normally do. This desperation affects the way people pray. It causes people to treat prayer like a game at a carnival. Deep down they suspect the game is rigged but still they desperately throw a few rings at the bottle hoping for a miracle, but all the while knowing it’s a waste of their time and there is no way they are going to win that giant pink panda.
Dear friends, prayer is not a rigged carnival game; God is not a crooked carnie trying to cheat you out of a pink panda. If you can’t see that, the problem isn’t with prayer, the problem is with you. James says you are “double-minded” and “unstable”. You can’t make up your mind about God; you can’t decide if He is a loving Father who wants to give good gifts to His children or if He is a stingy old man screaming for you to get off His lawn. James says you are “a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” Your prayers are chaotic and confusing, they are impulsive and irregular, they are unpredictable and erratic, and so as a result you end up puking random petitions at God’s feet.
If, in your desperation to deal with the trials that come your way, you keep treating prayer like a rigged carnival game; if you persist in your view of God as a crooked carnie, then James says you “7 should not think he [you] will receive anything from the Lord.” Just imagine how you would like it if someone asked you for a favor and they acknowledged you had the ability and resources to grant that favor, but at the same time they accused you of being too uncaring or callous to grant that favor. How would you respond? Would you not be insulted? Would you grant the favor to the person who so shamelessly mocked you? If you are facing a trial of any kind and you are wondering why God isn’t answering your prayer, you should know the problem isn’t with prayer, the problem is with you.
Instead of seeing God as a crooked carnie, let us see Him as He actually is. Let us see Him as James sees Him, as the one who “5… gives generously to all”. Your God is a generous giver of good gifts. The extent of His generosity is displayed in His Son Jesus. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son to save you and that one and only Son so loved you that He gave up His last breath to deliver you from death. Your God has already generously given you life and salvation. Is there a gift that can be given that is more generous than that? Recognizing that God had already generously given us such good gifts, saint Paul once asked, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”[2] How will the one who has already been so generous with the gifts of life and salvation suddenly become stingy when it comes to your marriage, your children, your job, your health, or your relationships?
Your God is a generous giver of good gifts. If you want something from Him all you need to do is, ask, in fact He wants you to ask. “But”, James writes, “6 when he [you] asks he [you] must believe and not doubt”. You must end your prayer to the generous giver of good gifts with the little word “Amen”. “believe and not doubt” is what “Amen” means. “Amen” does not mean “the end” as I fear so many people falsely assume. “Amen” means “yes, it shall be so”. “Amen” expresses both a confidence in God’s generosity and a conviction that God will give you good gifts. Therefore, pray dear friends; pray with confidence and conviction. Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, remove the poison of pornography from my marriage. Amen! Dear Heavenly Father, guide my child to make good choices. Amen! Dear Heavenly Father, give me the strength to deal with my anxiety. Amen! Dear Heavenly Father, cause me to see every breath as a gift of your grace. Amen! Dear Heavenly Father, send me some company. Amen! When you find yourself facing trials of many kinds and you turn to God in prayer there is no reason for you to feel like you are playing a carnival game. You can pray with the confidence and conviction that comes from knowing your God is the generous giver of good gifts, which means you can end your prayer with the little word “Amen”.
When you study the life of Martin Luther it is easy to believe you must be an action-adventure hero in order to call yourself Lutheran. But the truth is, it is not your ability to overcome a series of trials that makes you Lutheran, it’s your ability to face trails of many kinds with a serenity that has an “Amen” both on your lips and in your hearts. Therefore, we pray, “Dear Heavenly Father, as we face trials of many kinds fill us with confidence and conviction that you will generously give us what we need to overcome or endure them. In Jesus name I pray, and all the Lutherans say, Amen.”
[1] Luther, M., 1999. Luther’s works, vol. 42: Devotional Writings I J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, eds., Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
[2] Romans 8:32