From Gift to Gift - Nov 2, 2014

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SERMON:

In 1524, the Elector of Saxony gave an abandoned monastery to Martin Luther, for him and his family to live in. Luther lived in that “house” for 22 years until his death in 1546.

The monastery had been called the “Black Cloister” because of the black robes the monks had worn when they lived there. But when Luther and his family lived there, the Black Cloister was anything but sinister to those who passed by its doors. For Luther was a generous man. Generous to a fault, his wife would say.

When students from the nearby Wittenberg University were in need of food, or a place to stay, the Black Cloister was always open. Many a traveling pastor found shelter there as well. It seems that the only people that Luther ever turned out of his house were open thieves. And even those he turned out with pity. He would have gladly given them what they sought to steal.

When Martin had no money to give, he gave his possessions to be pawned or sold. A wedding gift here, a warm coat there, and always food. Luther’s hands were so quick to give, that his wife Katherine took to hiding things away that she didn’t want to lose.

It wasn’t that the Luther family was rich, far from it. For Luther was wary of accepting monetary gifts from the rich and important. He was afraid that people would think he was peddling God’s Word for a profit.

Katy Luther pleaded with her husband to just accept some money from the printers who were distributing his writings. But Luther would only reply, “No. God will provide.”

And it wasn’t just his home, his money, and his possessions that Luther gave freely—he also volunteered his time and energy. When the plague struck Wittenberg, Martin and his wife filled the rooms of the Black Cloister with the sick and dying. Night and day they tended to the plague ridden people whom they had welcomed into their home. When a local doctor and his wife collapsed on Luther’s front step, Katy and Martin gave up their own beds for their ailing guests.

What was it that made Martin Luther so generous? That is the question we will ponder today, and answer.

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Luther had come from a poor family. And his childhood had been a harsh one. But Luther’s parents had seen promise in their young Martin. He had a good memory, and was a hard worker. And so when they had the means to do it, they sent Martin off to school to become a lawyer.

And that was where it all started. At school Martin studied hard, and became a model student. But his heart was full of fear. At church Martin had learned to see God as a fearful judge. A righteous judge who condemned sinners like Martin to hell. The church of Martin’s day had little to say about God’s love for sinners. And they had nothing to say about the gift of forgiveness that comes to sinners through faith in God’s Son.

When a close friend of Luther’s unexpectedly died, his fears became heightened. One day, on the way back to school from visiting his parents, Luther found himself in a violent thunderstorm. As the lightning stabbed at the ground close around him, Luther was overwhelmed with the sense that God was coming to judge him for his many sins. And so Martin did what he had been taught to do—he prayed. He prayed to Saint Anna to save him. And he promised that if she did, he would leave his life at the university, and become a monk for the rest of his days.

Luther didn’t die in that thunderstorm. And he was true to his promise. He gave away his possessions and took the vows of the Augustinian order of monks.

If Luther was looking for peace in his soul, he didn’t find it in the monastery. Even when he studied the Scriptures he didn’t find peace for his soul. Over and over he saw that the Bible talked about the “righteousness of God.”

He had been taught that phrase, the “righteousness of God” meant that God was perfectly sinless, and that the holy God would condemn sinners like himself.

Our sermon reading for today is a short one. It is one of the many passages of the Bible which speaks about the righteousness of God.

Romans 1:16-17 (NASB)

16       For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17       For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

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Like I said, Luther had been taught to see the righteousness of God as the wrath of God toward sinners. And as Luther pondered over passages like this one, Luther began to wish that God had never revealed the “Gospel” as he understood it, for who could love a God who was angry, and who only judged and condemned people? But Luther didn’t really understand what the Gospel was as of yet.

But that phrase stuck in Luther’s heart and mind, “The righteous shall live by faith.” And in time, the Holy Spirit led Martin to understand its true meaning. Martin came to understand that if the sinner was to have life and forgiveness, that life must come from faith.

It was the realization that spiritual life comes from faith, and not from ones own deeds, that opened the whole Bible to Martin Luther. Concerning this realization, Martin later wrote, “Then the entire Holy Scripture became clear to me, and heaven itself was opened to me. Now we see this brilliant light very clearly, and we are privileged to enjoy it abundantly.”

Isn’t it strange to think that people didn’t understand this in Martin’s day? I mean, listen to the passage again.

Romans 1:16-17 (NASB)

16       For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

17       For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

We can’t even read this passage without seeing that forgiveness and salvation is a gift from God, through faith in Christ. And it’s not like this is the only place in God’s Word that says so.

Galatians 3:11 (NASB)

¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

And yet, Luther had always been taught that in order to be righteous before God one had to do all sorts of good works to earn that righteousness. And indeed that was what troubled him so severely, for he knew what was in his own heart. He knew that he could spend a million years pent up in a monastery and still have a dirty, dark, sinful heart.

What happened to Luther was this: He found that God is just, and God does hate sin. And God does demand that we be perfect. But God also knows this is impossible. And so God gave his Son to suffer and die for our sins.

Through the sinless sacrifice of God’s own Son, God’s righteousness becomes ours. Through simple faith that this is true, Christ’s righteousness is laid over our whole ugly record of sins. And in the judgment, when we stand before God, those who trust in what Jesus has done shall not be condemned to eternal death. Because of Christ, we shall be declared innocent, and given eternal life.

It was this revelation that changed Martin Luther forever. No longer was he afraid of the God of the Bible, for through God’s own Word Martin now knew that God loves the sinner, and desires his salvation more than anything.

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This is why Martin was not afraid when the Pope declared him a heretic. This is why Martin was not afraid when the Emperor declared him an outlaw, whom anyone could kill. Martin knew that God was the real power in charge, and God had redeemed him from his sins, forever.

And this is why Martin was generous to a fault. God had given him peace. No matter what happened in life, Martin knew that in Christ his soul was safe and sound. He was righteous in the eyes of the eternal Creator, because of what Jesus had done for him. And the God who had given Martin this gift, would surely provide anything else that he truly had need of.

So sure, you can stay here. You need food? We’ve got food. You need warm clothes? Well, lets see what we can find. You’re sick? Let us care for you. And here, here’s some money to tide you over until things turn around. It’s okay, we’ll get along fine. Our Lord will provide.

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Many see the Lutheran Reformation as a time when the little man finally stood up to the powers that be. They see Luther as that peasant who stood up to princes, emperors, and Popes. As if the Reformation was about a rebellion. The Reformation was not about a rebellion. The Reformation was about a gift. God’s gift of forgiveness by faith in Christ’s cross. In the Reformation this glorious truth, the most important truth ever known by man, was unearthed from under centuries of hypocrisy and false doctrine, and restored to it’s rightful place. It was restored to the hearts of sinners like Martin, and today, us.

Is it such a strange thing that this grand gift would beget other smaller gifts in the lives of those it touched? No, it’s not strange at all. For the gospel is the power of God. It brings salvation to everyone who believes. It brings righteousness before God, and spiritual life to the sinner. 

May the Holy Spirit give us the same peace that Luther had, today, and every day that we think on what God has done for us through Christ. May the Holy Spirit help us to see everything in life in the light of this grand gift. And may God’s gift to us fill us with a generosity that matches the power of our God, and the grace we have received.

Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard  your hearts and your minds, in Christ Jesus.

The Persecuted Church - Oct 3, 2013

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SERMON:

When the first followers of Jesus gathered to his side, they didn’t really understand what they were getting themselves into. The church of Jesus’ day taught that when the Messiah finally arrived, he would establish a visible, powerful, glorious, governmental church—which would rule the earth.

And so, when Jesus appeared, and began to heal the sick, cast out demons, and do all sorts of miracles, the people flocked to him. They thought the new age of Jewish glory had finally arrived—and they wanted in on it.

And so it was hard for the disciples of Jesus to understand, and to believe him, when Jesus spoke of how he was destined to suffer a humiliating death.

When Jesus told his inner circle of apostles that they too would suffer persecution, and even martyrdom, his words fell on numb ears. How could this be? Didn’t the Old Testament speak of great glory for the followers of God? What were they missing? What didn’t they understand?

What they were missing was that the time of glory would not come on this earth, but only after the day of judgment. Only after the judgment, and the renewal of all things, would the followers of Christ get to stand by their Heavenly Father’s throne in glory. In this world, the followers of Christ should expect persecution, and even death, for faithfully proclaiming his message.

Author C.S. Lewis once put it like this…

“Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage” (Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis).

 

Soldiers in enemy territory don’t expect tea and crumpets. They expect to be uncomfortable. They expect to face violent opposition. But they know that one day the war will end, and things will be different.

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Today we’re going to continue our study of the seven letters that Jesus wrote to the churches in Asia Minor. Last Sunday we heard Jesus rebuke the Loveless Church. Today he changed his tone to encourage The Persecuted Church.

 

May the Holy Spirit cause us to understand, to be comforted, and to grow in our trust of Christ. Amen.

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Revelation 2:8-11 (NASB)

 

    8   “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:

    9   ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

  10   ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

  11   ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

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The city of Smyrna was located about 40 miles north of Ephesus. Like Ephesus, Smyrna was a sizable city, home to pagan temples. It also contained a Jewish synagogue.

We have no record of Paul or any other apostle visiting Smyrna. We assume that the church there was started by Ephesian Christians traveling north to share the Gospel. But we don’t really know for sure how this city first heard about Christ.

What we do know, is that the Christians in Smyrna were facing great pressure. That’s what the Greek word for “tribulation” means, “pressure”. This word can refer to anything that weighs on a person, but Christ’s words suggests that the pressure these Christians were feeling came upon them because they were faithfully sharing the message of grace and forgiveness from God, through his crucified and risen Son.

In addition to religious persecution, the Christians in Smyrna also faced the challenge of being poor. This was not a time of great social generosity. This was a time when unpaid debt could lead to legal slavery. There were no Food Stamps and Medicare for these people.

Besides these things, the Christians of Smyrna were being slandered by the local Synagogue. We’re not told exactly what was being said, so we can only guess. But we do know that in other places as Christianity spread, Christians were accused of things like cannibalism or sacrificing their own children.

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Jesus starts this letter of encouragement by reminding the Christians of Smyrna that he is “the first and the last”, that is, Jesus is the eternal God. Then he reminds them that he is the one “who was dead, and has come to life”. By describing himself in this way, Jesus is reinforcing the truth that he is both God and Man.

To a church that was facing persecution, this was a comforting message. Jesus, THE ETERNAL GOD, and was watching over their lives. He knew what they were facing. Jesus, the one who had RISEN FROM THE DEAD, had power over death still, and would raise his followers to life on the last day.

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These reminders were important for these Christians, because soon they would be facing greater suffering. Jesus warns them of this upcoming tribulation so that their faith won’t  be shaken when they are thrown in prison, or when they see their brothers and sisters in Christ thrown into prison for the faith.

The devil intended this persecution to shake their faith to the core, causing them to abandon Jesus. But Jesus would use this persecution to stoplight the faith of the Christians at Smyrna. Their trust in the Savior would shine, and perhaps draw more people to their Savior.

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I wonder what the reaction of the Christians in Smyrna was when they heard this letter read. Remember, we’re reading someone else’s mail here. This letter was written to real people. Imagine getting a letter directly from Jesus that says, “I’ve seen your hardships, now get ready for more. Some of you will be thrown in jail soon, and you’ll be under great pressure for ten days.”

But Jesus accompanies this revelation with a tender promise. He says, DON’T BE AFRAID about the suffering to come. I’m the eternal God. I’ve got power over death. Your time of tribulation will only last so long. Keep trusting in me, and I’ll give you the crown of eternal life. Hell won’t be able to touch you then.

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It’s fitting that we read Christ’s letter of comfort to the persecuted church on this Sunday, for today is Reformation Sunday. This is the Sunday of the year that we use to remember the Lutheran Reformation.

Almost 500 years ago, God used Martin Luther to restore the Gospel message to a world that had nearly lost it.  And through much of his life, Luther experienced the same things that the Christians at Smyrna did. If Martin Luther and the Christians at Smyrna could have met, they would have had a lot of similar stories to share.

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The Christians at Smyrna were poor. Luther too, was born into a poor family. Luther’s parents, Hans and Margareta, were peasants. Hans worked hard to provide for his family. He was a miner. Margareta worked at home, caring for their four sons and three daughters. Like those in Smyrna, this family didn’t have insurance. They didn’t have food stamps. They didn’t have an emergency room to run when sickness hit.

While the Christians at Smyrna were outwardly poor, Jesus tells us that they were actually RICH. That is, they had the Gospel message. They knew their sins were paid for by the Son of God. They knew that the Creator of the universe loved them dearly.

But Luther didn’t have this richness in his youth. His parents didn’t know the Gospel of forgiveness because the church wasn’t preaching that message anymore. Instead, they taught Luther that Jesus was a stern judge who expected him to be perfect, and to pay for each sin he committed. Through stern discipline at home, and at church, Luther learned to fear God in the worst way.

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While attending university, Luther’s fear of God only increased. A close friend of Luther’s died suddenly, and unexpectedly. And while traveling back to school from home one day Luther found himself in a violent lightning storm. He was so afraid that God was finally coming for him, that he vowed to give his life to God if God would just spare him from death in the storm. He vowed to become a monk.

Though Luther thought God was angry with him because of his sins, God was actually leading Luther on a path to learn about God’s free forgivness. As a monk, Luther’s superior told him to study the Bible. And as Luther began to study the Bible, he began to see that the God of the Bible was much different than the God the church had taught him to know.

Though the God of the Bible certainly hated sin, Luther discovered the God of the Bible had provided a way for sinners to escape judgment and hell. One particular verse stuck in Luther’s mind. Luther read…

“¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. ¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17 NKJV).

Luther came to understand that Christ Jesus was not just an angry judge. Christ suffered and died to erase the sinner’s sin. What kind of judge does something like that?! Not an angry, hateful judge, but a loving, compassionate one. Luther learned that forgiveness of sins and eternal life was a gift from God, given through faith in Jesus. When the Holy Spirit finally got through to Luther with this Gospel message, the spiritually bankrupt Luther became rich, just like the Christians at Smyrna.

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And it was then that Luther began to face tribulation, just like the Christians at Smyrna. After becoming a monk, Luther become a priest, then a professor, then a scholar, and then finally he was appointed to be the preacher at a church in the German city of Wittenberg.

As Luther continued to study God’s Word and to preach what he found there, the power of the Gospel began to take hold of him. One historian writes…

“The true Gospel of salvation by grace through Jesus Christ grew on him with increasing force as the great fountain of divine wisdom and knowledge was opened to him and the refreshing waters of life began to pour forth from him upon his hearers. He began to teach and preach that forgiveness of sin was obtained not by outward works of righteousness, but was bestowed freely by grace upon all who fully believed in Christ alone who had fulfilled all the demands of the Law and borne all our sins” (Sketches from the History of the Church, E. Hageman).

Amazingly, Luther didn’t start preaching against the church that had mislead him all his life. He still was convinced that the Pope was the rightful leader of God’s church and must simply not know what was being taught in his churches. He figured that if the Pope knew what was going on in Germany he would set things right and direct the people to trust in Christ alone for their forgiveness.

But this wasn’t the case. And when the leaders of Roman Church heard what Luther was teaching, they demanded that he stop teaching the Gospel and burn all his writings. Eventually the Pope excommunicated Luther from the church and convinced the Emperor of Europe to declare Luther an outlaw. Now, for simply preaching what the Bible said, Luther could be legally murdered by anyone who found him. Talk about pressure.

Friends of Luther had him kidnapped by vizored knights as he traveled home from the city of Worms. They took him to the castle of Wartburg to keep him safe from the Pope and the Emperor. Though he wasn’t imprisoned in the same way that the Christians at Smyrna were, Luther was entering into his own “tribulation for ten days”. For the last 25 years of his life, Luther would remain an enemy of the state, unable to travel openly.

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And just as the Christians at Smyrna faced slander from the unbelieving Jews of their city, Luther was also mercilessly slandered by the writers of the Catholic Church.

One historian records the following…

“Scarcely had it been published when a pamphlet from Italy came to hand, giving and account of Luther’s death. It related how Luther had died shortly after having received the sacrament and that his body had been placed on the altar. After the burial a terrific storm arose and the communion wafer was seen suspended in the air. During the next night there was a great noise at the grave which was found empty, emitting such stifling sulphurous fumes that none could approach it. In reply Luther republished the pamphlet, stating in a preface that it might be regarded as a huge joke, if it were not so sacrilegious” (Sketches from the History of the Church, E. Hageman).

Eventually, the real death of Luther took place, though it was not so sensational. Luther’s health had grown worse in recent years, and when he returned to Eisleben, where he had been born and baptized, he commented to his doctor that he believed he would soon die. Friends gathered around him there, and as Luther struggled to sleep amid his final pains, his friends became anxious. They woke the pained Luther and asked, “Reverend Father, are you ready to die in the faith of your Lord Jesus Christ and in the doctrine which you have preached in His name?” Luther’s reply was a simple and clear, “Yes.” And that night the Lord released Luther from his life of suffering and persecution.

“Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life,” the Lord Jesus told the Christians at Smyrna. “He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:10,11 NASB). We look forward to meeting Luther in person, when we gather with all the faithful beside our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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In the book of Second Timothy it says…

“¹² Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,” (2 Timothy 3:12 ESV).

 

As followers of Christ we should expect to face persecution, pressure, and discomfort in this world. The world, after all, does not want or accept the forgiveness of Christ that we offer. But as followers of Christ we have the promise that our time of tribulation will be nothing when compared to the glory to come. And we have this also as our comfort, our time in enemy-occupied territory can only last so long, but the Kingdom of Heaven will last forever.

 

Let us therefore be proud to be Lutherans today. Not because of the man Luther, but because of what being Lutheran originally meant. It meant to bow before Christ and hold him as the only Savior. It meant to refuse to put one’s hope in man, but to trust in Christ alone for salvation. It meant letting Christ’s words be your strength and hope no matter what persecutions may come in this life.

 

Prayer: Father in heaven, on this Reformation Day we thank you for sending Jesus to be our great Savior. We thank you also for graciously saving Martin Luther through the Gospel of Christ, and for using him to proclaim the message of your grace and love to the world of sinners. Help us also to bear up under whatever pressures we face in life, and to hold tightly to your promise of a most blessed future at your side. We own this promise because of your Son’s perfect offering in our place. Keep us in this faith through whatever trials the devil may bring. Amen.

Reformation Sunday, Oct 30, 2011

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SERMON:

Judges 2:10-11 (NIV)

“10 After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. 11 Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD and served the Baals.”

THE LORD FORGOTTEN

Martin Luther was born on November 10, 1483 into an exciting time in human history. During Luther’s lifetime, Michelangelo would paint his famous ceiling. Copernicus would show the world that the Sun is the center of our solar system instead of the earth. Columbus would discover America.

But Luther’s family knew little about the world beyond their local roads. They were poor peasants living in the rough country and climate of 15th century Germany. Food, clothing and shelter were not always easy to obtain. An unusually wet spring or a dry summer could double the price of grain, or worse.

Hunger wasn’t the only wolf that stalked the people of Luther’s day. The Plague was on the loose as well. In the German city of Strasbourg, the Plague killed 16,000 of the 25,000 inhabitants. That’s a death rate of 64%. When the Plague was finally done with Strasbourg, it left 300 surrounding villages deserted.
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Because so few people were educated (less than 10% of Europe could even read) this was also an age of superstition. Dr. James M. Kittelson writes…

“…[it was] an age of pilgrimages, saints and relics. The search for spiritual security colored everything. Christ was often pictured on a throne with a lily (resurrection) coming from one side of his head and a sword (damnation) coming from the other. The burning question was, “How can I avoid the sword and earn the lily?”

Luther was not raised to know Christ as a compassionate Savior, but rather as a terrifying judge. A judge that would only give you eternal life, if you had been good enough to earn it.

Of course, this idea that you can earn your own forgiveness is completely foreign to the Bible. But who could read? And even if you could, the Bible wasn’t available German.

In other words, the common people had to just take the priest’s word for it. And this young Martin did, for many years.
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In the book of Judges it says, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel” (Judges 2:10 NIV).

Well, that pretty much sums it up for Luther’s day too. Virtually nobody really knew the true God anymore, nor what God’s Son had done for sinners through His death on the cross.
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Romans 1:16-17 (NKJV)

“16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

AN ALIEN RIGHTEOUSNESS

Whether naturally, or through his parent’s strict discipline, Luther grew up with a sensitive conscience. He was acutely aware of the sins he committed daily against God and man.

So, he did what the church told him to – he confessed his sins to a priest. He did penance for his sins. He prayed to the saints. But nothing helped his troubled heart.

Luther felt that he was sinning even while he was confessing his sins. He knew that at the moment of confession he was at his most selfish. He wasn’t confessing his sins out of love for God, and to give God the glory. He was confessing his sins out of the most selfish desire to save his own skin.

His fear of God’s judgment eventually led Luther to become a monk. Perhaps if he gave up all his possessions and dedicated himself to serving God apart from the world he could find relief. But in the cloister he found that he was just as sinful, if not more. He punished his own body. He prayed for hours on end. He did what his church superiors told him to do. But still, his sins weighed heavy on his mind.
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Far from bringing relief, life as a monk made Luther increasingly angry at God. Later in life Luther wrote, “I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners”.

When Luther read, “…in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed…” (Romans 1:17) he thought, God is righteous, what comfort is that? I am still a sinner.

When Luther read on that, “…The righteous will live by faith”, that didn’t help either. He wasn’t righteous, he was a sinner. So, how could he “live by faith” if he wasn’t yet righteous?

But Luther misunderstood what this passage meant. Eventually he realized that this passage didn’t mean one had to become stop sinning in order to then obtain life. While studying this passage, the Holy Spirit finally got through to Luther showing him that the righteousness of God is GIVEN to those who trust in Jesus. Sinners are declared righteous BECAUSE they believe in God’s promised Savior. Faith in Jesus gives a person God's righteousness!

Later Luther wrote, “This immediately made me feel as though I had been born again, and as though I had entered through open gates into paradise itself. From that moment, I saw the whole face of Scripture in a new light. …And now, where I had once hated the phase, ‘the righteousness of God,’ I began to love and extol it as the sweetest of phrases, so that this passage in Paul became the very gate of paradise to me.”

This teaching, Justification by Faith, was the heart of the Lutheran Reformation. It is not our own righteousness that saves us, it is an alien righteousness. The righteousness of God given to us through faith in the Savior who died in our place.
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John 2:13-22 (NASB)

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; 16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME.”
18 The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
20 The Jews then said, “It took forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had spoken.

REFORMATION BY THE WORD OF GOD

By the time Martin Luther arrived on the scene, the church had degraded into a huge money making engine. Writer Paul Thigpen helps us to understand how bad things had gotten with his description of Pope Leo X, the reigning pope at the beginning of the Reformation.

Thigpen writes…

“Extravagant son of a notorious Renaissance family, Giovanni de’ Medici was made a cardinal at the age of 13 and became Pope Leo X at 38. He has been described as “a polished Renaissance prince,” and “a devious and double-tongued politician.” Pleasure-loving and easy-going, Leo went on a wild spending spree as soon as he ascended the papal throne.

Expenses for his coronation festivities alone cost 100,000 ducats—one seventh of the reserve Pope Julius had left in the papal treasury. Leo’s plans for rebuilding St. Peter’s Basilica were estimated to cost over a million ducats. Within two years as pope, Leo had squandered the fortune left by his predecessor and was in serious financial embarrassment.

To keep up with his expenditures, his officials created more than two thousand saleable church offices during his reign. The estimated total profits from such offices have been estimated at three million ducats—but still they were not enough for Leo.

The sale of indulgences provided the pope with yet another source of income. To pay for St. Peter’s, offset the costs of a war, and enable a young noble to pay for three offices to which Leo had appointed him, the pope issued an indulgence for special sale in Germany. A Dominican, Johann Tetzel, was given the task of promotion, Luther reacted with his theses, and the rest, as they say, is history” (Martin Luther’s Early Years: A Gallery of Friends and Enemies by Paul Thigpen).

Luther wasn’t the first to see that there were things that needed fixing in the church. Men like John Wyclif in England, and John Huss in Prague had previously spoken out about abuses in the church.

So, why hadn’t the church been reformed before Luther came along? Perhaps a big part of the reason was that others tried to reform the outward abuses of power, while Luther took aim at the source of these abuses – the false teachings which were accepted and taught by the church.

Starting with the core doctrine of Justification by Faith, Luther went on to call the people back to the simple Word of God as the authority in the church.

It was not Luther, the man, who set the Good News of sins forgiven through Jesus Christ back in it’s proper place in the church. It was Luther, the man of God. It was not Luther’s lone voice that called sinners back to Christ as their Savior, it was the Word of God spoken through Luther that did this.

In typical Luther fashion, “when his Wittenberg congregation admired him for his bold stance against pope and emperor in 1521, he told them that it was while he and Philipp Melanchthon were having a beer that the Word of God reformed the church” (The Unrefined Reformer by Dr. Eric W. Gritsch).
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Revelation 14:6-7 (NIV)

6 Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

LIGHTS OF THE REFORMATION

God gave the apostle John a vision while he was in exile on the island of Patmos. In this vision John saw an angel flying high in the air, out of the reach of everyone below. Somehow John could see that the angel had the “eternal gospel” to proclaim to the world. When I imagine this, I see the angel holding a lantern whose bright rays shine out to those on the dark earth below.

In this poetic way, our God assures us that the Good News of sins forgiven through Christ will continue to be proclaimed throughout the ages, until that same Jesus returns to collect his followers.

No powers of darkness will be able to extinguish that light of life and salvation. Whether those powers come from within the visible church, or from without.

I am quite certain, that if Martin Luther had never lived, the message of Christ would still have survived and spread throughout the world.
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Martin Luther died on February 18, 1546 at the age of 62. Like many before him, Luther was a sinner. His faults were many. Since friends an acquaintances were constantly jotting down the things Luther said in casual conversation, his misspoken words can be read to this day.

But also, like many before him, Luther was blessed by God. Chosen even though he was unworthy. Chosen to be redeemed by the blood of God’s Son. Saved through faith in the Christ. Chosen to be a messenger holding out the gift of God’s forgiveness to the world.

Do you remember what the word “angel” means? It means “messenger”. And that is what Luther was, a messenger sent by God.

And that is what you and I are today as well. By the grace of God, we too have come to know that because of Jesus our sins were paid for. Through faith we are declared righteous in God’s sight. And we hold the light of this message in our hearts, and if we can summon the courage to speak it, it will shine out to others.

Let us be lights of the Reformation shining on today. Saying, God’s grace alone saves us from sin’s punishment, not anything that we do. Saying, faith alone connects us to Christ’s forgiveness. Saying, Scripture alone is what we stand on and bow to.

And may the Holy Spirit work powerfully through His Word spoken by our mouths, so that it will be said, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who still knew the LORD and all that he had done for sinners, through Christ Jesus.”

Amen.

God's Gift of Righteousness - Oct 31, 2010

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Introduction:

What are we commemorating on Reformation Day?

A man? Martin Luther? Certainly not.

Luther himself didn’t seek to trumpet his own name, only the truths found in the Bible. He was even against anyone calling themselves “Lutheran”. He thought the followers of Christ ought to be called by Christ’s name, not his.

So then what ARE we commemorating? A split into two separate churches, the Roman Catholic and the Lutheran? Certainly not this either.

Though division is sometimes necessary and right, the split itself is never something to rejoice about.

On Reformation Day we commemorate and celebrate a restoration. We celebrate a rediscovery and a cherishing of the Bible’s most important teaching: salvation for sinners, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ.
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The two most important teachings found in the Bible are: law and gospel.

Through the law, God tells us what we ought to be, and how we have failed miserably. The law shows us that we have sinned against God and deserve nothing but punishment.

Through the gospel, God tells us we He has done to reclaim us from sin. The gospel shows us that God’s Son suffered and died in our place so that our sins stand forgiven.

Look for the gospel in our readings for today.
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Sermon:

Grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

We read from Romans 3, verse 19 and following.

Romans 3:19-20 (NIV)

19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
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Have you ever had a broken bone? Even if you haven’t, you know the drill. You hit your arm on something hard - and there’s pain. This isn’t just a bruise, even a deep bruise, you can tell that something else is wrong here. You think it’s broken. But you can’t be sure it’s broken until you get an x-ray.

So you go to the doctor and she takes some x-rays. Now you can see what’s causing all the pain. It’s not just a fracture, it’s clearly broken.

Now comes the fun part. Resetting the break so that it can heal properly. If the bones aren’t set right, they’ll grow together wrong. Then you might have pain, or limited use of your arm - for the rest of your life.

So, the doctor sends you back to the x-ray technician. She says, “Three x-rays daily for the next month or so, and those bones will set up perfect.”

You say, “Huh? Aren’t you going to move the bones into the right place and then put a cast on this?”

“Oh, no,” your doctor says, “X-rays will stitch those bones back together in no time”.

At this point you’re thinking, “I’m gonna need a second opinion on this”.

Obviously, x-rays don’t heal bones. They don’t move bones. They don’t ease pain. X-rays are only for diagnosis, not for healing. In fact, if you blast yourself with x-rays long enough, you’ll die from it.

That’s how God’s law works. When we use the Ten Commandments, or the other laws found in God’s book, we can see where the pain comes from. We can see what’s wrong inside of us. It’s called sin. The breaking of God’s law.

Now here’s the problem; many religious teachers are great at using the law to show people that they’re broken. But then they send them away with more things to do and laws to keep in order to heal them. And that just doesn’t work.

The law can’t heal, it only reveals.

Romans 3:20 is my favorite passage in the Bible about the law. It condenses the purpose of God’s law into one short little statement:

“20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20 NIV).

“Observing the law”, in the Greek, is literally “by works of the law”. In other words, sinners CAN NOT get God’s stamp of approval by doing what God’s law says. It’ll never happen because even if we get it right half the time, the rest of the time we DON’T. And God sets the bar as high as He is. Only the holy can be with Him. Only the sinless.
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The 21 year old Martin Luther was terrified of God. He had been taught that God expected him to make up for his sins. But even as he was trying to do this, Martin knew his own heart. He knew that he hated God for this requirement of holiness. How could his works EVER be pure enough to make up for his own sins?

Young Martin became a monk and dedicated his life to God. In the monastery he punished himself severely for his own sins. But in these things he found no peace. His sin still weighed heavily on him, and each day he added to that weight with more sin and guilt.

Eventually, Luther got to study the Bible for himself. There he found the healing which the law could never give. He found it in passage like our next section from Romans 3.

Romans 3:21-24 (NIV)

21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
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Our natural inclination is to think that we have to DO SOMETHING in order for God to be happy with us. We think, if I’m a sinner, that means I’ve got to do something to make God overlook that fact.

But God wants us to know that this is stupid. Our righteousness can’t come from inside. Jesus once said,

“19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19).

Is that where our righteousness is gonna come from?

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah described how God sees our ‘righteous acts’ when he wrote…

“all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;” (Isaiah 64:6 NIV).

Our righteousness can’t come from inside. If our righteousness is to 100% pure, it has to come from God.

Look at verse 21 again and answer this question: Is our righteousness from us or from God? Is our righteousness because of our doing works of the law?

It gets better. In verse 24, Paul says that we are “justified freely by [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”.

Our justification is free, because Jesus paid for it on the cross. Someone did have to pay for our sins, but it wasn’t use. We weren’t qualified or able. Jesus did it for us.
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But it can’t be that easy right? There’s gotta be something God wants us to do right? That’s what people always think.

Peter preached in Jerusalem on the first Pentecost, and when he stopped telling the people about how Jesus died on the cross, the people asked,blockquote>“Brothers, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37 NIV).When Paul stopped the jail keeper of Philippi from committing suicide, the man turned to him and asked,“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” (Acts 16:30 NIV)But the Gospel isn’t about what WE can do, it’s about what GOD has done for us in Christ. That’s where our righteousness comes from.

Look one more time at verses 21-24. It’s like the Holy Spirit KNOWS that we’re gonna somehow try to put redemption on our own to-do list. So He describes where our righteousness comes from thoroughly. Verse 21: It’s from God. It’s apart from the law. Verse 22: It’s through faith, not deeds. It’s freely given. Verse 24: It’s a graciously given gift. It comes to us because of Jesus Christ.

It was the denial of this central teaching that eventually drove Martin Luther to part ways with the Roman Catholic church. The official Catholic teaching concerning forgivness was put on paper around the same time that Martin Luther died. At the council of Trent, in the fourth session the following statement became official teaching…

“If any one should say that justifying faith is nothing else than trust in the divine compassion which forgives sins for Christ’s sake, or that we are justified alone by such trust, let him be accursed” (Council of Trent, Sess. IV, Can. 12).

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Let’s hear Paul’s final words about justification from our section.

Romans 3:25-28 (NIV)

25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
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In the Old Testament, God overlooked the sins of those who trusted in Him because He knew that His Son would one day pay the price for them in full.

Today, God remains just as patient. He does not strike people dead when we sin, but leads them to the foot of the cross to see their Savior, and to receive the gift of forgiveness that He earned for them through faith.

On this Reformation Day, we can’t boast. Everything we have has been given to us by God. From our possessions, to our friends, to our families, to the complete freedom from sin and punishment that we have in Christ, to our relationship with God. It’s all a GIFT, and you can’t brag about something you had no part in earning.
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Luther loved the book of Romans. Speaking about this book He once said…

“This epistle is really the chief part of the New Testament, and is truly the purest gospel. It is worthy not only that every Christian should know it word for word, by heart, but also that he should occupy himself with it every day, as the daily bread of the soul. We can never read it or ponder over it too much; for the more we deal with it, the more precious it becomes and the better it tastes” (Luther’s Works 35:365).

May God continue to be merciful to us, so that we will forever treasure the book of Romans, and the precious Gospel that permeates it. May we ever confess with Paul that we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Our righteousness is not our own, it is the gift of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

All glory be to God.

Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Reformation Sunday, Nov 1, 2009

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WORSHIP INTRODUCTION:

In Martin Luther’s time, the Catholic Church was the largest church. Martin’s parents were part of this church, because pretty much everyone was. But this wasn’t a good thing, because the Catholic Church was not teaching the Bible correctly.

As a little boy, Martin was taught lots of rules and commandments to follow. He was taught that if he obeyed God’s rules well enough God would be happy with him. But if he didn’t obey God’s rules than God would be very angry with him and would set him on fire in hell. Martin knew he sinned much, and was terrified of how God would punish him.

But the real God wasn’t like the God that Martin’s Church taught him. The true God loved Martin dearly, and had big plans for him. God would show Martin the greatest truth of the Bible.

God does expect us to follow His rules. God is angry with sinners. But the greatest truth that the Bible teaches is that, for some reason, God actually loves sinners and has provided a way for them to escape the punishment for sin.

God sent His own Son to be punished instead of us. The sinless Jesus suffered in our place when He died on the Cross. Because He did this, our sins are forgiven.

All have sinned against God and deserve horrible punishment, but through faith in Jesus God gives us life, forgiveness and a place in heaven.

Today we celebrate the Lutheran Reformation because through the events of the Reformation the precious message of Jesus was once again preached, taught and believed by grateful sinners the world over.

THE HEAD OF GOD’S CHURCH

Reformation Day falls on October 31st, because it was on that day that Martin Luther nailed up the 95 theses. The 95 theses were really an invitation to debate 95 statements. He nailed these on the door of the church in Wittenberg simply because that door was used as a sort of bulletin board.

Most identify the posting of the 95 theses as the beginning of the Reformation. In fact, the sign for “Luther” or “Lutheran” is making an “L” with your right hand and tapping it on the flat vertical palm of your left hand.

However, the 95 theses were not nearly as important as the next three documents that Luther published. Luther wrote “Address to the German Nobility”, “The Babylonian Captivity of the Church” and “The Freedom of a Christian”. One History book says the following about these three works,

“They were the trumpet calls by which he aroused the Church from her slumber, broke the yoke of papal tyranny, and reopened the fountain of God’s Word to all the people and directed them to Christ as their only Master and Mediator” (Sketches from the History of the Church, E. Hageman).

Today we’re going to examine a few of the important teachings expressed in these documents. Teachings which Luther had found in the Bible, but which were at odds with the Catholic Church. Turn to Matthew 16, verse 13.

13When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
21From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
23But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men” (Matthew 16:13-23 NKJV).

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In Luther’s day, the Catholic Church taught that Jesus made Peter the leader of the Christian church with this statement, “you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church”. The name “Peter” means “rock”.

The Catholic Church taught that this right to rule over the church like a king has been passed down throughout history in a line of Popes. This passing down of authority is not historically documented. It is not mentioned in the Bible. Nor does the Bible suggest that Peter had special supreme authority over his fellow Apostles and Christians. Peter was always prominent and outspoken among the apostles, but not pre-eminent.

Quite often Peter’s boldness was a curse and not a blessing. In the section of Matthew that we read just a moment ago, Peter is at one moment he is making a great confession of his faith in Jesus, and the next moment he’s telling Jesus not to go to the cross! Peter’s arrogance led him to believe that he knew better than Jesus, though Peter ended up claiming he didn’t even know Jesus when put on the spot after Jesus had been arrested.

Nor are these the only times when Peter failed. Much later in Peter’s ministry, he started to treat non-Jewish Christians poorly. He withdrew from their company as if they were not his fellow Christians until the Apostle Paul sharply rebuked Him for this hypocrisy.

The point is, Peter wasn’t infallible. He made mistakes like every other Christian. Sometimes he wasn’t such a solid “rock”. You see, the real “Rock” on which the church is built isn’t a man who makes mistakes and needs forgiveness for every day. The real “Rock” on which the church is built is the confession of Peter, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”.

Here’s the other thing. The Pope even went so far as to say that he was the stand in for the Son of God. The “Vicar” of Christ. Since Jesus ascended to heaven, the Pope took His place as the leader of God’s Church.

But do you remember what Jesus said to all His disciples before He ascended and took His visible presence from the earth? Turn to Matthew 28, verse 20.

“…surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b NIV).

In his treatise, “The Freedom of a Christian” Luther got it right. He said that the Apostles called themselves servants of a present Christ, not the vicars of an absent one” (On the Freedom of a Christian, Martin Luther).

The head of the Christian Church is, has always been, and will always be, Jesus Christ Himself.

TLH 370 verses 1-2

THE PRIESTHOOD OF ALL BELIEVERS

Turn to First Peter 2, verse 9. The Apostle Peter wrote this letter to churches scattered throughout Asia Minor. To Christians young and old, male and female, master and slave, to Jewish Christians and to Gentile Christians he wrote the following.

“9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:9-10 NIV).

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The Catholic Church of Luther’s day taught that as the “stand-in” or “vicar” of Christ, the Pope had supreme authority over all people. It was also taught that the Pope could transfer this authority to leaders in the church. To Cardinals, Bishops and Priests. In fact, you couldn’t be a priest unless you got your authority from the Pope’s church.

This was very important because a priest needed to have authority and power in order to do special things like change the bread and wine physically into the body and blood of Christ. Or so the Catholic Church taught.

The Pope could also give people authority to sell forgiveness. And this the Pope did from time to time in order to fund building projects in Rome. St. Peter’s basilica was funded by the selling “indulgences”. Which were just pieces of paper that said some or all of your sins were forgiven because you bought it this indulgence from the Pope’s Church.

A man named John Tetzel sold indulgences during Luther’s day. Tetzel’s selling of indulgences near Wittenberg was the reason why Luther wanted to debate indulgences. Tetzel was so bold, that he was selling the people forgiveness for sins not yet done. This way, they could indulge in sinful pleasures without the fear of God’s punishment.

But what does the Bible say about God’s priests? Must they wear black robes and backward collars? Must they speak in Latin and receive special powers from the Pope?

Peter, the supposed first Pope himself, wrote our reading above! He says that ALL believers in Christ are God’s priests! They are chosen to receive the mercy of God and to declare it to others.

Even though the Pope transferred his power to other leaders in his Church, he claimed that ONLY he could tell people what the Bible means. Since he was the stand-in for Jesus, his interpretation was the only right one.

But God’s Word is for every Christian man and woman to examine and study and understand. Not to interpret according to HIS or HER own whim, but to understand and interpret according to what the rest of the Bible says.

So, you might ask, “Why are you wearing the robe than? Why are you a pastor?” And the answer is simple. We can’t all preach at the same time. We can’t all teach at the same time.

I’m your brother in Christ. Brother Caleb. No more, no less. I have no magical powers. The only authority I wield is that which comes from the Word of God.

Turn to Ephesians 4, verse 11.

“11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Ephesians 4:11-16 NIV).

This is why Paul could rebuke Peter. He was his brother in Christ, not his Papal underling.

Amazing.

We are the spiritual brothers and sisters of Peter and Paul. We stand with them as the Priesthood of God. God grant that we carry His Name with honor and serve as His priests with care, enthusiasm and diligence.

WS 767 verses 1-2

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

16I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:16-17 NIV).

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The Reformation was a religious movement. It wasn’t primarily about cleaning up corruption in the church. It was about restoring right teaching. And of all the teachings that it restored, Justification by faith was the most important. Justification by faith alone in Christ alone, is the heart and soul of Christianity.

In Luther’s treatise, “The Freedom of a Christian” he asks the question, if sin enslaves a soul, that what frees it?

Health of the body can’t free the soul. The wicked can be strong and healthy in body, but poor and dead in soul.

Wealth cannot free the soul. What difference does it make to God how much money you have in the bank?

What about giving your life over to God. Becoming a servant to the church? Luther found out for himself that doing that cannot free the soul either.

What about meditation and prayer? Many think that these things can bring freedom from sin and closeness to God. But it is not true. All our efforts to understand God’s Word and to speak to Him can’t do a single thing to free us from sin and sin’s punishment.

How about the world’s recipe for a happy heart? Doing good things for other people. Taking food to the food pantry. Donating to a local charity. Surely kindness is good, and can set the soul free? Again, the wicked can do these things also, can’t they? Kindness is good, but it cannot free us from our past sins or win us a place in heaven. Just as putting on nicer clothes won’t heal the a cancer inside.

What about learning? Education leads easier lives doesn’t it? Maybe education can lead to freedom of the soul?

No outward action can free the inward soul. No good thing done can erase the record of an evil past. All efforts to free our souls from sin and death and hell, accomplish nothing.

One thing, and one alone, is necessary for the soul to be set free from sin. Faith alone. Faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus says…

“…I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25 NIV).

“…if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36 NIV).

Paul writes…

“…if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9 NIV).

“17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” (Romans 1:17 NIV).

Health, wealth, the public ministry, meditation, kindness, learning: they’re all good things. But none of these things free the soul from sin and punishment.

Hammers, screwdrivers and wrenches are great tools, but they don’t get your linens white. In the same way, human effort can never cleanse the soul and set it free. Faith alone frees the soul from sin, death and hell. Faith alone in Christ alone. By faith in Christ Jesus we are declared righteous before God.

This was the great change that the reformation brought about. It wasn’t about the little monk standing up to the big church. It wasn’t about letting the people actually sing in church. It wasn’t about getting a Bible in the people’s language so they could read it for themselves. MOST OF ALL it was about this ONE TEACHING, salvation comes by faith in Christ, by faith in Christ ALONE.

When it comes to the Christian life there is much more to learn, but when it comes to salvation, that’s IT.

TLH 371 verse 1-4

Only Christ's Gospel Gives Life - Nov 2, 2008

Thematic Introduction

On this Reformation Sunday, we’re going to take a look at some of the people that preceded Martin Luther. We might call these people, “forerunners” to the reformation. Through them the stage was set for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to break free from a cold and corrupt church, once again taking its rightful place at the center of Christian teaching.

FIRST LESSON

1 John 4:1 (NIV) “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”

JOHN WYCLIF (1320?-1384)

The message of preachers must ever be judged on the basis of what the Bible says. Those who preach Christ as Savior are from God. Those who don’t, aren’t. But what if we did not have the Bible with which to judge their message?

Un-biblical teaching consistently came from the church of Wyclif’s day. Since Bibles were unavailable in English, the English people had no reliable way of judging what they heard. False teachings went largely unchallenged.

Knowing Latin, John Wyclif was able to study the Bible extensively. Seeing that the teachings of the church did not mirror the teachings of God’s Word, he spent much of his life attempting to reform the church. He spoke out against un-biblical teachings and even challenged the authority of the Pope, preaching that the true church of God needed only one head - Christ (Ephesians 5:23).

Wylclif’s greatest gift to the world, however, was his translation of the Latin Bible into English. Corrupt church leaders greeted this first EVER English translation of the Bible with contempt, saying, “the jewel of the clergy has become the toy of the laity.”

Thirty-one years after Wyclif’s death, the church showed their appreciation for Wyclif’s work by excommunicating him. Twelve years later, Pope Martin V had Wyclif’s remains exhumed, burned and cast into the river Swift.

What Wyclif placed in the Englishman’s hand, let us place in our hearts. That is where God intends His Word to live. Then we will be ready to test the spirits with confidence.

SECOND LESSON

Mark 10:42-45 (NIV) “Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.’”

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA (1452-1498)

The church was corrupt. High ranking religious leaders godlessly abused their office to gain wealth and power.

But not all men of the church were so spiritually bankrupt. Martin Luther would later honor one such man, the Dominican Friar Girolamo Savonarola, by publishing his meditation on Psalm 51. And now the rest of the story.

When Savonarola spoke out against the immorality of Pope Alexander VI, he was commanded to cease preaching. When he refused, he was imprisoned. After six weeks of torture, in which the rack was used, Savonarola signed a confession with the arm his torturers had spared for this purpose. This would not be the last word from Savonarola’s hand.

Before being burned as a heretic, Savonarola wrote the meditation on Psalm 51 that Luther would publish in 1528. In it Savonarola pleads for God’s mercy for his weakness under torture, and expresses his hope for salvation:

“Who will take pity on me? To heaven I dare not lift up my eyes, for I have deeply sinned against it; on earth I find no refuge, for I have been an offence to it. What therefore shall I do? Shall I despair? Far from it. God is merciful, my Savior is loving. God alone therefore is my refuge…”

It is a humble service that Savonarola’s life and death provide to us, but such is the service that Christ gives His children to provide. Through Savonarola we see the depravity of the days preceding the Reformation, and the depth through which God’s love was willing to reach.

THIRD LESSON

1 Timothy 6:3-6 (NIV) “If anyone teaches false doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, he is conceited and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.”

JOHN HUSS (1369-1415)

In 1411 two Popes were claiming leadership in the church. Pope Gregory XII and Pope John XXIII. Today, the Catholic church only recognizes the first as a real pope.

In 1411, Pope John XXIII was at war with Naples, Italy. In order to raise money for this war, he authorized the selling of “plenary indulgences”. These slips of paper claimed that some of the “extra” good deeds done by previous Christians had been transmitted to your record and would therefore lessened your suffering in “purgatory”.

John Huss, a priest working in Prague, protested the selling of indulgences. So did many of the students of the University. Three students were detained and beheaded in secret because of their opposition to indulgences. These murders enraged the people, but their anger didn’t stop the Pope from excommunicating Huss and placing Prague under the “interdict”. This meant that no clergy of that city could perform the regular “sin cleansing acts” that supposedly absolved the people of their sins to that point.

Many religious leaders of our time still preach lies in order fill their bank accounts. But their false teachings cannot give true peace or forgiveness.

True forgiveness does not come with a price tag that we can pay with currency minted by man. Nor can forgiveness be secured with the imaginary currency of “un-required” good works done by Christians of the past.

Our forgiveness was purchased by Jesus’ sinless life and innocent death and made ours through faith. You see, the church does exists to make men rich – spiritually rich in Christ Jesus our Lord.

FOURTH LESSON

Luke 21:12 (NIV) “But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name. This will result in your being witnesses to them.”

DEATH OF JOHN HUSS († 1415)

Like Christ, His apostles would also be abused, arrested and falsely accused before secular authorities. But in the end, even the shameful treatment of God’s representatives would serve to bring the Gospel to more people.

After being excommunicated for opposing the church’s selling of salvation by way of indulgences, John Huss went into hiding. But Huss genuinely wanted the conflict to be healed and the truth of God’s Word to be taught.

Therefore, when Emperor Sigismund asked Huss to appear at the Council of Constance, Huss said he would be there. The emperor had convinced Pope John XXIII to call this council to end the Papal schism which had resulted in three popes now claiming authority in the church.

Huss traveled to Constance trusting the emperor’s promise of safe conduct to and from the city and hoping to speak to reasonable men. He would be disappointed in both points.

After arriving in Constance Huss was detained by representatives of the church and held in the dungeon of a Dominican monastery. Though the emperor was furious at how the church had ignored his promise of safe conduct, he chose not to act on Huss’ behalf, fearing that the council would break up and leave other issues unresolved.

After a false trial Huss was condemned as a heretic and burned at the stake.

Remarkably, Huss told his judges that he was willing to change if corrected using the Bible. Like the Apostles, Huss was blessed with the honor of proclaiming God’s truth before men of high authority.

Even in his death, Huss continued to proclaim the name of his Savior. Before the wind shifted and the flames enveloped him completely, Huss was heard repeating this prayer:

“O Christ, thou Son of God, have mercy on me.”

FIFTH LESSON

Revelation 14:6 (NIV) “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.”

PETER WALDO (?-1218)

Lutheranism has traditionally seen Martin Luther as a fulfillment of this angel. Of course, Martin is not the only fulfillment of this image. The vision of God’s messenger hovering out of harm’s way and continually proclaiming the Good News is fulfilled whenever the Gospel is spoken by God’s people.

Peter Waldo and his followers remind us that the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ will prevail, being preached and proclaimed in every age until we see our Savior’s face on the day of judgment and salvation.

Peter Waldo was a merchant who worked in Lyons, France. He learned of the Gospel and cherished its message greatly. He had the New Testament translated into the language of the people and began to distribute copies of the New Testament. He also began preaching the pure Gospel of Christ to his countrymen. He organized a society to further the Gospel and broaden the distribution of God’s Word.

Waldo’s mistake came when he asked the Pope to confirm the Bible society that he had established. In 1179 Pope Alexander III confirmed Waldo’s vow of poverty, but forbade him to preach. Needless to say, Waldo continued to proclaim the eternal Gospel of Christ.

Eventually Waldo and his followers were excommunicated from the church for their “heresy” and persecuted greatly. The blood of the Waldensians fell heavily on the ground as many thousands were burned or slaughtered for preaching salvation through Christ. But this only caused these “angels” of God to be scattered throughout Europe, bearing the eternal light of the Gospel wherever they went.

My fellow “angels”, by the grace of God, we bear that same light of Salvation through Christ. Let us cherish it as Waldo did, and gift its light to our neighbors also.

SERMON

“…prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21 NIV).

In our sermon meditation for today, we consider the Holy Spirit’s words as recorded for us in Galatians 1:1-12 (NIV):

1Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—2and all the brothers with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!
10Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
11I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. 12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

The movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” is a movie about a treasure hunt. But the treasure is more than just a pile of gold. In “The Last Crusade” the characters are trying to find a magical cup called the “Holy Grail” that has the power to give eternal life.

In the last scene of the movie Indiana Jones finally enters the room where the magical cup is kept. But there isn’t just one cup, there is a bunch of them of all different shapes and sizes. The guardian of the grail tells him that the only way to find the right one is to take a drink and see what happens. The true grail gives life, but the others take it away.

It is interesting how art imitates life. All around us there are people who want to tell us how to get to heaven. All the religions of the world claiming to know how to reach God are like the many cups that Indiana Jones saw: There’s only one among them that is true. Only Christ’s Gospel gives life, all the rest take it away.

“Only Christ’s Gospel Gives Life”
1. Apostle Paul Offers
2. What Christ Secured
3. And Satan Hates

You and I are disciples of Christ, but we are not apostles of Christ. Jesus had many disciples during his ministry, but only twelve apostles. The disciples were his followers, those who learned from Him. That’s what “disciple” means, “learner”. The twelve apostles on the other hand were selected from the large group of Jesus’ disciples. These twelve men would become Jesus’ closest friends. They would learn from Him in more intimate settings than the rest of the disciples would. When they were ready, Jesus would send out His apostles into the surrounding villages to speak His message, and later He would send them out into the world. That’s what “apostle” means, “one sent out”.

The apostle Paul was an unusual apostle. When the original twelve apostles were selected by Christ, Paul was not yet a Christian. When the first Christian was stoned to death for his faith, Paul was on the stoning team’s side. Paul wasn’t selected by Christ to be His apostle until after Christ’s death and resurrection.

Paul was on his way to Damascus to see if he could find some Christians to take back to Jerusalem in chains. Paul hated Christ’s people. He thought Christianity was a manmade cult that was leading good followers of God astray. But then our resurrected Lord appeared to Paul and told him that he would be carrying a new message soon. The true message. The Good News that sins can’t be forgiven because of good deeds that we do, but sins have already been paid for because of what Jesus did.

In his letter to the Christian churches of Galatia, Paul reminds them that he is a Christ appointed apostle right at the beginning. Paul does this because he wants them to know that what he had told them before, and what he was about to tell them again, was not some man-made counterfeit good news. It was the very Gospel that the resurrected Jesus had revealed to him on the Damascus road.

Paul wasn’t selling some man-made philosophies and logically constructed religious ideas. He was offering them the message he himself had been given from Son of God.

This is what made Martin Luther such a great preacher too. Luther wasn’t selling some religious ideas that he had come up with while passing time in a monastery. Martin offered the world what he himself had been given from the Son of God.

The resurrected Jesus did not visibly appear to Martin in his little monk’s cell. But as Martin struggled with his sin and guilt Christ came to Him through the words of the Bible.

The head of Martin’s order had assigned him to study the Bible. And as Martin meditated over the book of Romans, he found something that church had never taught him.

“17For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

Martin discovered that sinners cannot erase their own sins with good deeds. Martin discovered that God forgives our sins because Jesus Christ suffered the punishment for our sins. Through trust in Jesus, God covers the sinner with Christ’s righteousness!

Martin later explained to his friends that when he realized what Christ’s Gospel was saying, he felt like he had been born all over again.

What the Apostle Paul offered to the world in the first century, Martin Luther offered in the 16th century. Both Paul and Luther simply took what they had been given by Christ and offered it to others. May God loosen our hearts and minds and mouths that we might do the same today.
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Paul describes exactly what it is that Christ had secured for the people of Galatia in verses 3-5.

“3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever…” (Galatians 1:3-5 NIV).

Through Christ’s Gospel the Galatian Christians had received grace and peace.

The Greek word for “grace” is “charis”. It means a love which is not deserved. Through Christ Jesus sinners receive forgiveness for their sins, and an eternal place in heaven. These things are totally undeserved, but are given by God through faith in Christ Jesus.

Along with God’s undeserved love, Paul tells the Galatians and us that they also have peace. Paul wasn’t talking about peace with this world and the people in it. Christians will never have peace with this world and the unbelieving people in it. Paul was talking about peace with God because the punishment for sin has been paid by Christ.

Paul summarizes the Gospel right here for the Galatians: Undeserved love and peace with God are yours because Jesus gave himself for your sins. And because He did, you don’t have to fear this world, heaven is your destination. And why? Because God the Father wanted sinners saved.

Christ’s Gospel brings peace to us because it brings the forgiveness of sins. But it brings us peace for another reason too. The Gospel of Christ tells us that God the Father loved us before we ever loved Him. God the Father loved sinners even when we hated Him.

“4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—9not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:4-9 NIV).

Martin Luther knew what it was like to hate God. From his youth, Martin was taught that God lets us be born into the world sinners, and then demands that we be perfect. When that doesn’t happen He damns us to hell. Only through obeying the church and lots of suffering on earth could a person hope to avoid an eternity of pain.

This made Martin hate God. He thought God was unfair, before he discovered Christ’s Gospel. In Christ’s Gospel he discovered that God truly was unfair, but to the sinner’s advantage. God’s Son took all our punishment for sin, and gave us all His perfect righteousness. Talk about unfair! No wonder Martin felt like he had been born again, God’s grace and peace had been given to him free of charge! That same grace and peace have been given to us through Christ’s life giving Gospel.
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Satan hates Christ’s Gospel. It’s like a weed to him. When Satan thinks that he’s pulled up all the Christians in one place, in sweeps the wind of the Holy Spirit bringing more Christian seedlings to grow up and proclaim Christ’s Gospel.

When Satan cannot remove all the Christians from a place, he has learned to do what we do when we cannot pull all the weeds from our lawns: He poisons the Gospel. And when unwary Christians suck up the poisoned Gospel, they begin to die.

The Galatian Christians were being served a poisoned Gospel. We can tell what kind of poison was being offered to them by reading through the rest of Paul’s letter. It appears that some Jews were saying that Jesus was great and all, but that you also had to keep the Old Testament laws in order to be saved. In other words, faith in Christ was not enough.

Paul says,

“6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7 NIV).

God had sent Paul to offer the forgiveness that Christ had secured for sinners. But Satan had sent out his own apostles to preach a Gospel that would kill faith in Christ.

Paul understood right away, if you add your own works to Christ, then you’re trying to earn forgiveness again. That doesn’t work! It’s all Christ or it’s nothing!

Later in his letter Paul says,

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21 NIV).

Paul speaks so strongly about those who preaching a different Gospel because he knows that only Christ’s Gospel gives life, all the others take it away.

That’s also why Martin Luther put such a strong emphasis on sticking to the Word of God. If it isn’t from God, it’s from Satan. And every false teaching from Satan has one ultimate goal: kill Christ’s Gospel, and kill saving faith.

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s classic fantasy story, “The Lord of the Rings” one of the evil black riders carries a special dagger. This dagger is more dangerous than an ordinary knife because its blade breaks off when used. The detached blade causes infection an will eventually work its way to the heart of the victim if not treated.

That’s how every false teaching of Satan works. If it is left alone, it will infect other teachings as it works its way toward the heart of the Christian’ faith – Christ’s Gospel. The only solution is to remove Satan’s lies from our hearts and minds with the surgical steel of God’s Holy Word. To recognize false teaching before it grows strong, Christians need to know God’s Word well. Especially reviewing the Gospel and the other chief teachings found in God’s Word.

Satan hates Christ’s Gospel, because it gives fallen sinners life and salvation. But if there is a number two on Satan’s list of hated things, it’s Christians who won’t tolerate the poisoning of the Gospel. So, study the Word of God. Meditate on Christ’s Gospel. Read it, listen to it, talk about it. Be someone that Satan hates.
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In the movie, “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” Indy finally figures out which cup is the Holy Grail, the cup which will give a person eternal life if you drink water out of it. But in the exciting end of the movie the cup is lost down a deep crack in the earth, never to be seen again.

In the past there have been times when it seemed like Christ’s Gospel had disappeared for good. During the time of Martin Luther, the corrupt church was doing a pretty good job of hiding the source of eternal life from the people. But thankfully, Christ’s Gospel was restored by the power of the Word itself, translated into the people’s language so they could put it in their hearts.

Thank God for the Christ’s life giving Gospel. And thank God for the Reformation which put it back where it belongs. In the hands of the common man. In the hearts of the simple Christian. On the lips of the forgiven. Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.