{"id":10849,"date":"2025-07-22T03:58:35","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:58:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10849"},"modified":"2025-07-22T03:58:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T10:58:36","slug":"the-eleventh-commandment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10849","title":{"rendered":"The Eleventh Commandment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Select here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genesis 18:20-32; Luke 11:1-13<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been talking this summer about how our faith works with feet on the ground. What are the practical consequences of Christian faith for how we think and live on a day-to-day basis? We\u2019ve talked about private property and stealing, government, and today we take up prayer. It\u2019s a work, like other works, and has more in common with other works than you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the texts for today, we have fascinating accounts of prayer. First, in Genesis 18 Abraham negotiates with the Lord about how many righteous people in a city it takes before the Lord will spare the city rather than destroy it. First, how about if there are 50 righteous ones? Then 45, 40, 20, 10 and you wait . . . then, maybe 5, maybe just one?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s Jewish humor! It\u2019s parallel to the account we have in Luke 18 about the importunate widow. The widow was poor and had no clout. And here is this judge, and the only way he ever did anything was through a bribe. She didn\u2019t have the money to bribe him, but she kept pounding on his door. Finally, just to get rid of her, he gives in. He gives her justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the same thing, in a different way in the text in Luke 11 for today. Unexpectedly, late at night you have guests, your friends come! But you don\u2019t have any bread. So you go to your neighbor, knock, and say: \u201cHey friend, please lend me three loaves, I have unexpected company.\u201d Remember in those days there were no street lights. Everyone locked their door and didn\u2019t go out after dark. It was dangerous. Out there in the dark your neighbor could only recognize someone at the door by his voice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the text says (paraphrase): Your neighbor will eventually open his door and lend you some bread, not because he is your friend, but because he won\u2019t get any sleep otherwise!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then comes the point of the parable. At the end of all of these accounts, it\u2019s implied: Much more! How much more will your heavenly Father hear you and give you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are reminded how Paul ends Romans 8 in verses 31-32: \u201cWhat shall we say to all this? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all [good] things with him?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The answer is: Yes. Of course he will! Of course, he does. Here we come to this matter of how prayer works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the conclusion people draw from the importunate widow is: When we\u2019re praying, we\u2019ve got to be importunate, like the importunate widow or the importunate neighbor with expected guests. Like them we have to be persistent, earnest, sincere, really plead our case. We\u2019ve got to pray from the heart. Have you heard the term \u201cpopcorn prayers\u201d?  That\u2019s prayers that are spontaneous, from the heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then it\u2019s said we should have prayer vigils. Prayer retreats. Three days of prayer. How frequent? In Islam prayers are made five times a day; no question about it. There\u2019s that difficult place in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, which says: \u201cPray without ceasing.\u201d \u201cPray constantly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then what about the voltage of our prayers? There\u2019s the matter of group chains and group prayers which give the impression that if we really care, what we need to do is increase the voltage by getting more people to pray for a particular case or cause. It\u2019s like the importunate widow question of pounding at the door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A website on prayer has this announcement: A congregation can register at this site, and when the congregation sends a prayer request, then everybody on that prayer network will pray for that person for 30 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hummmm, why not 31 days? Why not 25?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to these problems, how do we know when our prayers are answered?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another website on prayer says: \u201cIs it not a sign if you perceive it to be a sign? The answer is yes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It reminds me of Gideon, who put a fleece out at night and one morning it is dry and another morning it is wet. It\u2019s a way of testing God. It\u2019s also Jewish humor, kind of laughing at the idea that you can play these games with God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How do we pray? All of these things about being earnest and prayer chains are ways of \u201cgrabbing the stick from the wrong end,\u201d as the saying goes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The evil one loves to get us tangled in these questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Preface to the Large Catechism, Luther writes about prayer (Tappert 420-25; Kolb\/Wengert 440-45). What he says in effect is that prayer is the Eleventh Commandment. Prayer is a command. A work. Something we\u2019re called upon to do. It\u2019s not spiritual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few weeks ago, we talked about stealing and the Seventh Commandment\u2014”Thou shall not steal.\u201d The Eleventh Commandment on prayer is no more spiritual than the Seventh Commandment on stealing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How should we pray? We have a whole book in the Bible\u2014Psalms\u2014which are songs, but they\u2019re also prayers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there are not just \u201cnice thoughts\u201d in those prayers. For example, consider one verse, Psalm 137:9: \u201cHappy shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!\u201d Horrors. That\u2019s awful. A psalm of cursing and vengeance, called an imprecatory psalm. There are all kinds of prayers in the Book of Psalms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are called upon to bring everything to the Lord in prayer. Not just good thoughts, but everything. All our concerns, all our problems. And if you want to, even pounding on the door and cursing, as in Psalm 137.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many other things. I would mention a couple of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 103:11-12: \u201cFor as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Psalm 4:8: \u201cIn peace I will lie both down and sleep; for thou, O Lord, makest me dwell in safety.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are to bring everything to the Lord, and if you have any questions about how to do it, there\u2019s the Lord\u2019s Prayer as in our text today, as well as in Matthew 6. Just pray that prayer. As Luther says in his Large Catechism, you don\u2019t know how to pray? There it is. The Lord\u2019s Prayer gives us enough to pray for a whole lifetime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s turn to what it\u2019s about in terms of our Christian faith. Three things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is effectively described in Psalm 73 which deals with the problem that I pray, and it doesn\u2019t seem to work out the way I think it should.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the Psalmist named Asaph. He says: \u201cI was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For they have no pangs; their bodies are sound and sleek.\u201d In other words, the evil ones prosper. Then it goes in verse 16: \u201cBut when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of the God; then I perceived their end. Truly thou dost set them in slippery places; thou dost make them fall to ruin.\u201d It goes on then to verse 23: \u201cNevertheless I am continually with thee; thou dost hold my right hand . . . My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever\u201d (26).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is really the same as Lamentations 3:22-24: \u201cThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness. \u2018The Lord is my portion,\u2019 says my soul, therefore I will hope in him.\u201d That is really the same thing as Psalm 73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or for that matter, what we have in Romans 8:38-39: \u201cFor I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, mor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, not anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s what it\u2019s about. It\u2019s basically saying that the Lord is what it\u2019s about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the second thing about prayer is spelled out in Romans 8 again, verses 26-27, where it says: \u201cThe Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a difficult passage to translate. What it means is that the Lord takes our babbling, our complaints, our prayers, our failures, and translates it all through the Holy Spirit so that it is for the Lord what it needs to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, in the third place, as we have said: Prayer is the Eleventh Commandment. All the Commandments are summed up in the First Commandment, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about: \u201cYou shall have no other Gods before me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What we\u2019re doing when we\u2019re praying, is we\u2019re having our Lord as Lord. Let God be God. We are then his creatures who can depend on him. We are, of course, his children, but we\u2019re not really able to walk yet. As he helps us and cares for us, we know that we can lift everything up before him. He is the one who cares for us infinitely. He who did spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all good things with him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Genesis 18:20-32; Luke 11:1-13<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve been talking this summer about how our faith works with feet on the ground. What are the practical consequences of Christian faith for how we think and live on a day-to-day basis? We\u2019ve talked about private property and stealing, government, and today we take up prayer. It\u2019s a work, like other works, and has more in common with other works than you might think. <\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or select here<\/a> for a pdf version.<\/p>\n

\u201d>here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10849"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10849\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10854,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10849\/revisions\/10854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}