December 18, 2011
Dear friends in Christ.
Charles Colson, former White House counsel to president
Richard Nixon and founder of Prison Fellowship ministry, tells a remarkable
story of a doxology in an unusual place and for an unusual reason. It seems
that a young man named Fred, a convicted thief and heroin addict, had been led
to Christ in prison by the family of one of his robbery victims. They visited
him and showed the love of Christ so consistently to him that he was won to the
Lord. The impact of his conversion on his conscience was so dramatic that, at a
parole hearing, Fred confessed to other robberies for which he had not been
caught or convicted. As a Christian, he felt that it was his obligation to be
completely honest about his sins.
Because Fred’s original conviction was overturned
based on a legality he was released from prison. He joined a church, got
involved in an ex-prisoners’ fellowship group, and continued to grow in Christ.
At his retrial for the crimes he was originally accused of, he again confessed,
this time to the trial judge, to the additional wrongs he had committed. He
told the judge he was willing to accept whatever punishment was appropriate. An
awkward silence ensued while the judge considered what to do with Fred and his
previously-known and newly-confessed crimes. When the judge announced the
sentence, it reflected a wisdom that gave Fred back his life: ten years for
each robbery—suspended (no jail time)—and restitution to his victims for their
losses with 50 percent interest.
For a moment no one in the courtroom moved. Then
Fred’s pastor jumped to his feet and shouted, “Let’s sing it!” and proceeded to
lead the entire packed courtroom in the singing of the doxology. The Seattle
Times newspaper captured the scene: “Everyone stood up, little old ladies in
spring dresses, ex-cons, girls in jeans, men in business suits, a biker with
his motorcycle jacket and helmet, prison guards—and they began to sing: ‘Praise
God from whom all blessings flow.…’ ” Officials later said that it was the
first time a Seattle Superior Court case had ever closed with the Doxology
(cited by Hughes, pp. 313–315).[1]
Fred and all his friends had great reason to burst
forth with praise to God, for it was the Lord who had greatly blessed Fred
through the wisdom of the judge. Well,
just as Fred had every reason to burst forth in praise, so also the Apostle
Paul broke praised the God from whom all blessings flow in our lesson
today. You see, Paul had just finished
writing his longest and most detailed letter of the New Testament, and now,
overwhelmed by the wisdom and the blessings of the Lord God he burst forth in
praise, saying: “Now to him who is able to establish you by my gospel and the
proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery hidden
for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings
by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations might believe and obey
him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen."
(Romans 16:25–27, NIV84)
It was the Lord who, in his wisdom, confronted Paul
on the road to Damascus, even as Paul was traveling to persecute Christians, it
was the Lord who blessed Paul by appearing to him and calling him to
faith. It was the Lord who blessed Paul
by using him to reveal the beautiful message of the Gospel—a message that had
been hidden for long ages past—in the Old Testament Prophecies, but was now
clearly revealed in Jesus who was the salvation of the world. It was the Lord who had blessed Paul as he
commissioned Paul as a Missionary to the Gentiles; a missionary who would go to
the ends of the earth, so to speak, to proclaim the message of salvation to
nation after nation so that they, too, might know the salvation that was theirs
through faith in Jesus the Savior.
These are just a few of the reasons that Paul
praised the Lord God who had blessed him in every way, and as he wrote he
reminds us of the many ways the Lord our God has blessed us as well! Just think about all the blessings that Paul
covered in his letter and all the reasons why each and every one of us would
have every reason to give praise to the Lord our God from whom each and every
one of our blessings continually flow!
Even though Paul had spent the first three chapters of his letter laying
out exactly why no one would ever be
declared righteous in God’s sight be observing the Lord, Paul continued by
assuring us that the Lord himself had revealed a righteousness that was ours
through faith. Even though it is
painfully clear that each and every one of us has sinned and fallen short of
God’s glory, it is the Lord our God who blesses us by justifying us (declaring
us not guilty of our sins) by faith in Jesus Christ our Savior. (See Romans 3:19-26) Now, because we have been justified through
faith, we are at peace with God. We have
gained access to the Lord our God through the grace that our God has revealed
in our lives. We are able to rejoice in
the hope of the glory of God that has been revealed in us through faith in
Jesus. We are even able to rejoice when
things aren’t going so well, whether we are facing hardships, frustrations, or
even persecutions, because we know that these things are designed to help us
grow in our faith. (Romans 5:1-8) But
not only are we able to rejoice in all these situations, we also know that our
God is always at work, working all things for the good of those who love
him. We know that through faith in Jesus
we are more than conquerors and we have the absolute sure and certain hope that
there is nothing in all creation that can ever separate us from the love of our
God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. (Romans 8:18-37) Is there any wonder why Paul bursts forth in
a doxology of praise, saying: “Now to him who is able to establish you by my
gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the
mystery hidden for long ages past, 26 but now revealed and made known through
the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all nations
might believe and obey him— 27 to the only wise God be glory forever through
Jesus Christ! Amen." (Romans 16:25–27, NIV84)
But what about us?
Are we any different? Do we have
any fewer reasons to praise our God from whom all our blessings flow? Like Paul, we have every reason to praise our
God for all his blessings. After all, it
is the Lord who chose us to be his own, even before the creation of the
world. It is the Lord who determined the
exact time in history when we would come to be, the exact place where we would
be born, who our parents would be, and where and how we would grow up. It was the Lord God who blessed us by seeing
to it that we were called to faith through the waters of Baptism. It was the Lord who saw to it that we were
taught the precious truths of salvation, and that we continued to grow in our
faith day after day. It was even the
Lord our God who brought us safely to this new day, and now, as we have
gathered on this last Sunday in Advent, it is the Lord who is filling our
hearts with joy as we prepare ourselves one more time to celebrate our Savior’s
birth in less than a week.
Yes, just as the Lord blessed the Apostle Paul, so
also the Lord our God has blessed each and every one of us. Just as the Apostle Paul had every reason to
raise his voice in a doxology of praise, so also we have every reason to raise
our voices in a doxology of praise. For
this morning, as we have gathered to give praise to the Lord from whom all our
blessings flow, we know that it is the Lord our God who has established us in
our faith through the gospel proclamation of Jesus Christ. It is the Lord our God who revealed the
mysteries of the prophecies of the coming of the Savior in the appearing of
Jesus in the stable in Bethlehem. It is
the Lord our God who revealed the wisdom of his salvation through the birth and
the life, the death and the resurrection of his Son, our Savior, Jesus
Christ. It is the Lord our God, the only
wise God, to whom we give praise and glory and honor today because he is the
one who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
Yes, today we have every reason to give praise to
the Lord our God from whom all of our blessings continually flow. Today, we have every reason to join our
hearts and voices with the Apostle Paul, with Fred, and all the people who were
in that Seattle courtroom. So I invite
you, as we close this sermon today, I invite you to join me in singing the
Common Doxology; Praise God from whom all blessings flow. I invite you to open your hymnals to hymn 334
and join me in singing these words of praise as we conclude this message
today. Hymn 334. We will join in singing this hymn together,
without accompaniment. We will sing it
with the Amen.
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise
him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heav'nly host; Praise
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost! Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
[1] Kenneth Boa and William Kruidenier, vol. 6,
Romans, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference, 464-65 (Nashville,
TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000).
Some of the following paragraphs have been adapted from this article.
