Forgiven–Come Boldly to the Throne of Grace

This coming Sunday in the Church Year, Pentecost 10, focuses the believer on the wonderful blessings of prayer. Although the preacher could easily spend the entire service walking through the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the main theme of the Sunday appears to be centered not on the what  or the how of prayer but on the why? Why can we approach “Our Father” boldly in prayer? Why do we continue to approach “Our Father” in prayer?

This week to help prepare us for Sunday worship we will be sharing a few simple thoughts on why we can and why we continue to come boldly to the throne of grace.

In the Gospel for Pentecost 10 from Luke 11:1-13, the disciples came to Jesus seeking guidance in learning to pray. Jesus responds with the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer and with several examples of the boldness with which our Father invites us to ask, seek, and knock. With a bold confidence we can come again and again before our Father’s throne of grace knowing that every good and perfect gift comes from our dear Father to his dear children–including the precious gift of forgiveness for which Jesus urges us to pray in the Fifth Petition.

In his detailed essay The Lord’s Prayer: Exegesis of Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4, Professor Joel Fredrich writes the following in regards to the Fifth Petition and our prayer for forgiveness.
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Jesus teaches us that the great drama of forgiveness does not stop when the sinner becomes his disciple and possesses forgiveness through faith. For forgiveness is not a physical object, like an admission ticket on which is printed Admit the Bearer of This Ticket to Heaven. If it were, you could put your ticket in your pocket and safely forget about it until you needed to present it at the door. Instead, possessing God’s forgiveness means that we have entered an intensely personal relationship with God. It is very much like marriage. The wife who possesses her husband’s love does not get tired of hearing him say, “I love you,” especially when she has done something to disappoint him. In the same way the Christian soul treasures the forgiving love with which God began to woo her and delights in hearing God say again, ‘I forgive you,’ especially in view of the way she keeps disappointing him. It may seem paradoxical to pray for forgiveness—after all, who but a believer in the gospel can really pray, and how can a believer in the gospel not possess forgiveness through faith? But the Christian knows this petition is not about collecting superfluous tickets. It is all about hanging on to and deepening the most important relationship imaginable.

That is how Jesus sees it. He does not prescribe the Fifth Petition as an occasional remedy to be used only when consciences are burning with fear and shame. He includes it in a daily prayer. And he does not think of it as psychological self-help (‘Get it off your chest and you will feel better’. He tells us to pray for forgiveness, and he knows that our Father will hear that prayer and respond.

Our Father responds by forgiving.” p. 20

Shortly thereafter under the same section on the Fifth Petition Fredrich writes:

When we pray for forgiveness, we are not trying to use our contrition to melt God’s heart and make him gracious. He is already gracious and well-disposed toward us in Christ. We ask rather that he renew the work of the gospel in us and cause us to appropriate it anew through faith. And God does this for us. He stirs up our memory of some gospel passage or paraphrase, or he sends a fellow Christian to say what we need to hear, or he lets us hear a sermon or hymn that makes an impact on us, or he admits us to his table for the Sacrament. Thus he forgives us and draws us closer to himself.” p.21

Forgiven, for forgiveness we come boldly to the throne of grace.

Read more of Professor Joel Fredrich’s great Exegesis of The Lord’s Prayer.