Why Protestant?

1. Introduction

Well friends, what went wrong? The Church, we all started at the same place, but we’ve all ended up looking very different. For example, how is it the Catholics don’t allow bishops priests and nuns to get married? The orthodox don’t allow bishops to marry, and the protestants – well we allow anyone, a man, and a woman to get married. How can the church that started at the same place, end up so different?

We’re in our second week in our summer series: exploring the faith. Last week we learnt that we are Christians. Pretty obvious statement right.

This week, we’re zooming in a little. We are protestant Christians. Someone once said to me: Mormons, Catholics, Protestants, 7th day Adventists, you’re all Christians, it’s all the same.

That’s simply not true. Friends, blood sweat tears was spilt over this issue.

it’s in the word protestant - to protest

2. Where did the term ‘Protestant’ come from?

so where did the word come from?

Martin Luther protested against the abuses of the Catholic church.

What was the problem?

Luther saw that the Catholic church – sold indulgences. you pay your hard-earned cash for an indulgence. If you buy an indulgence, we’ll slash time off that you will suffer in purgatory. Purgatory is a place you go to suffer before you make it to heaven. It was a get out of jail free card if you could afford it. But it was corrupt. it was a man made tradition. it was a tradition not found in the Bible, ruining lives.

So in 1517 He nailed his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in Germany Against indulgences. And one of the big events happened at the Imperial Diet of Worms (think formal assembly) in 1521. All the power of the Western world – the new emperor, the princes of Germany, the representatives of the Pope. renounce your criticism, submit to the pope. but Luther said “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me.” What brave words.

Luther stood for truth, no matter the cost.

3. Why is it important? (7:1-23)

This protest sparked the Reformation, the church would change forever. If you want to please God, submit to his word, not man made traditions. Bible alone, one of the catch phrases of the reformation. Grace alone, Christ alone faith alone, to the glory of god alone.

in fact, Jesus faced this same issues. Do we cling to the Bible alone or man made traditions?

So I want to anchor the rest of this talk in the Bible. We’re in Mark 7. I want to show you why that being a protestant is the only way to know God.

Now notice in our passage, the Jews are treating the traditions of man like they are the words of God. They come to Jesus to put him in his place.

Mark 7:5 ESV

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

Friends, hasn’t COVID changed our think about cleanliness? Since COVID, I see hand sanitisers are everywhere. I was at play centre. every trestle table had a huge bottle of hand sanitiser. Never seen a cleaner clean the crumbs off the floor so quickly. One minute I’m looking at the crumbs, I turn away turn back it’s gone. We understand cleanliness. But eating here is not about hygiene. It’s not about bacteria. It’s about being spiritual clean before God. But the problem is, like indulgences, these traditions are not from God. They thought washing cups and pots and copper vessels and even dining couches makes them spiritually clean. You have heard of cleanliness is next to godliness, here its cleanliness is godliness.

So they ask Jesus, what’s going on? Why don’t your disciples wash before they eat?

Jesus says to them very directly verse 9

Mark 7:9 ESV

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

No one likes to have words put in their mouths. No one likes to be misrepresented. That’s what the Pharisees – these are supposed to be teachers of God’s law – they get it wrong. The have misrepresented God. They put words in his mouth. And they’ve been making up traditions for a long time. Cyprian said this in 3rd century. He was a famous theologian. He said, a tradition – means that which is passed on. A tradition may be an error in its old age.

Just because 20 generations believe a lie taught by the church for 1500 years, it doesn’t make it any more true. Even if I keep telling you coffee stunts your growth, it’s not true by the way, it’s passed down, written in books, gets sold all over the world. It doesn’t matter how many copies of my book is reproduced. Doesn’t matter if its 1500 years down the track. If its not true its not true.

So Jesus makes his point clear. he gives an example of how a man-made tradition cancels out the word of God. verse 9 again

Mark 7:9–13 (ESV)

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

You can get lost in the details. But it’s a simple idea. Jesus quotes the old testament. it’s the 5th commandment. Exodus 20:12

Exodus 20:12 (ESV)

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

He then quotes Exodus 21:17

Exodus 21:17 ESV

“Whoever curses his father or his mother shall be put to death.

Aren’t you glad we live in the New Testament right? dishonor your parents – death penalty!

Instead of submitting to the commandment, the Jews come up with a loophole. What is it? Well, you can ignore your financial responsibilities if somehow you devote yourself to God. Maybe set aside the money in your will, so you don’t need to take care of your parents or hand over the money while you are alive. It’s a win win for you. That’s a man-made tradition. God’s Word is clear. irrefutable. Take care of your parents, but you make something up that sounds spiritual but you neglect your parents.

this story gets played out over and over again.

Man-made traditions.

We don’t pray to Mary. She’s a godly woman. But it’s not hail Mary full of grace. That cancels out how Jesus taught us to pray.

Matthew 6:9 (ESV)

Pray then like this:

“Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

It’s a tradition that cancels out what Jesus says. that’s not how you worship God.

And it’s not a new problem.

The traditions – stuff that gets passed on from generations to generations. We hear it all over in our society now.

All faiths lead to God - Jesus says i am the way the truth and the life

Or People are inherently good - there is no one good not even one

Or Love is love, who are you to stop who someone loves? - God has taught us marriage is between a man and a woman.

This is the problem of man-made traditions. It’s not God’s Word. it may have elements of truth, but its not true. And its not new then. Not new now.

Back in the prophet Isaiah’s time, he had to deal with this man made traditions.

Mark 7:6. Jesus is not polite. It’s not about being rude it’s about the truth. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about these hypocrites

Mark 7:6–8 ESV

And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

You worship me in vain. Hear God’s heart. It’s a complete waste of time. Stop it

Friends, Jesus is the first protestant. Jesus is protesting the same issues Christians in the reformation were doing in that time. It was a protest against man made traditions and letting go of God’s word.

We don’t pray to the saints. That’s a tradition. We don’t do it. why?

1 Timothy 2:5–6 ESV

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

Jesus the mediator, he’s the go to between us and God.

Or don’t hold onto the tradition that says priests can’t get married. The Bible tells us a pastor, elder is to be a husband of but one wife - 1 Tim 3:2

Again, Mary, though godly, was not sinless. The words of Jesus says no one is good, including his own mother Mary.

If you hold onto tradition, you let go of God’s word. we don’t tell God how he is to be worshipped. he tells us.

That’s why the Westminster confession first chapter – of Holy Scripture

I really like this

Bit of old English.

IV. The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man or Church, but wholly upon God, (who is truth itself,) the author thereof; and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God.

The bible alone that’s our definitive yardstick. This is why we say open you bibles as you hear me preach. Is what we say what the Bible says? Read it. test it.

Friends, we believe the Bible alone above reason, traditions, experience. We test all things against the Word of God. Yes, those things can be good, but they are under the bible.

You are never compelled to believe, trust, or obey anything that’s not found in the Bible. If I were to preach anything you can’t find here, don’t bind your conscience to it. if i’m wrong, well, i need to repent and work hard to understand God’s word.

Sit under the bible alone. It changes everything.

This means for you:

Are you holding onto traditions rather than what’s found in the scriptures?

I remember at my old church, if you do things up front you must be dressed in a certain way. Suit and tie. it must be that way.

But where is it found in the scriptures? I can understand if its being mindful of outsiders, loving others depending on the context you serve, but is it more a tradition that drives you than the word of God?

Friends, what’s interesting is moment you have traditions to have equal footing with the bible, what comes second best? It’s the Bible. Why? Traditions are easy. Don’t eat this, don’t touch that. We loves rules. Hasn’t COVID shown us how much we love rules? We love telling people what to do. don’t eat this don’t touch that. That’s easy.

But God says I don’t care about that.

The fact is, Jesus is clear it’s not what goes into a person that makes a person unclean. Eat pork don’t eat meat, I don’t care. The disciples listen to this parable but don’t get it. verse 18

Mark 7:18–19 ESV

And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

You can eat meat on Friday. You can eat pork, it’s all good. You can eat insects with many legs. Don’t know why you would, but go for it.

Jesus declares all foods clean. No other religions do this. Muslims and Jews don’t eat pork, Catholics don’t eat meat on Fridays, Hindus – I was chatting to a bloke in the taxi – seikh guy he says yeah Hindus are vegetarian. Jesus is the only one who says all food is clean.

See what Jesus is doing here? First, Jesus makes himself equal with God. There was a time God’s people had food restrictions. For a time. There was a time when you had a stricter diet. Jesus says restrictions are over. He makes himself equal with God.

And second, the problem is not what goes in. it just makes its way out anyway. the problem is much worse than we can imagine. It’s not about washing your hands or eating this not eating that. It’s not what’s outside. It’s what’s inside. It’s the heart. That’s the problem. look at verse 20

Mark 7:20–23 ESV

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

You’ve heard it before; The heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. GK Chesterton famous writer he responses to an article in the papers… what’s wrong with the world? Dear sir, what’s wrong the world? I am. I’m the problem. It’s me. It’s you.

The core problem is not the society, race, the royal family, the Devil. It’s me. I’m the problem. You’re the problem.

And in our world that loves to set up victims and antagonists – Jesus says none of us are victims. We are all antagonists towards God. we’re all sinners.

God is grieved by what comes from our heart.

It’s sin – we’re sinners, we’ve rejected God.

You know when you think about sin. you might think it’s just like a messy room. I look at my house sometimes, and I just feel out of control. Just overwhelming. Mess everywhere. So I just shove things in boxes in cupboards to make it look neat and tidy. Maybe that’s how you see your heart. Just needs a bit of tidying. Just need to be a bit more patient, a bit less greedy. be a better person.

But sin is far worse than that. Your heart by nature is more like your green bin, food scraps, leaves, branches, all in there. It gets emptied but food gets trapped in there with the mulch. It sits there for weeks and weeks. And then you go to take the green bin in the lids open, you take a whiff and its just FOUL. That’s sin. That’s our heart.

You want to worship God, you need to know what your heart is like.

The Bible says our hearts so corrupt. We can’t buy our way to God. we can’t do good to earn our way to a holy God.

We are total depraved. This is not saying we are as bad as we could be. But we are saying every part of your being is stained by sin.

Every inclination of the human heart is evil. We’re not talking about the person next to you, we’re talking about you. about me. Pastor Brian the sinner. Some of you hold me as a venerable person. I’m not. I’m the same as you. a sinner.

No man made traditions, washing, cleaning, fasting can get us to God. This a holy God. We are sinners. Friends, we need a doctor. A specialist. The Lord Jesus.

We are by nature very very sick. We are so sick. What we need is complete forgiveness, a heart transplant.

if the problem is worse than we can imagine, the solution is so profound. This is why we are protestants. this is so wonderful. this is why we can be utterly confident God has forgiven us.

Jesus took our sins. This is why being a protestant is so mind blowing. See the list there. Theft arrogance, lies, deceit, sexual immorality. Jesus take our sins upon himself. He saves us. He dies for us. In our place, for our sins. Christ alone. He rose again. He gives us new life. And it’s grace alone. A gift from God. what a gift. And it’s by faith alone. God gives us faith. We trust Jesus’ completed work for our sins.

Why be a protestant? It’s so liberating. So freeing, we’re saved from sin in Christ alone.

Friends, Martin Luther understood this. He really understood sin. he had an extremely disturbed conscience. He thought. How can he be right with God when he was such a sinner? He was crushed by weight of sin, even angry at God. He could never met God’s standard. So as he meditated on God’s word day and night, he reflected on Romans 1:17 (in it = the Gospel)

Romans 1:17 ESV

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

As he was thinking and thinking, wrestling with it all…It finally dawned on him. The righteousness of God, what does it mean? We are made right with God by his mercy. It’s grace it’s a gift. By faith in Jesus. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Luther came to understand he is passive when it comes to righteousness. That is He can’t do anything to be righteous. Jesus alone is righteous. By trusting in Jesus he can be right with a holy and righteous God. he is justified. Just as if he never sinned, because of Christ. Luther says, “Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.”

Friends, why are we protestants? Why is it so important?

It’s taking God as He has revealed himself. His God’s has supreme authority, not our traditions. And in the Bible, God diagnoses our real problem; sin. Sinners deserving God’s judgment. Yet Christ alone, through grace alone, by faith alone saves us completely. A protestant Christian has a relationship with our Maker. That’s why its so important.

4. Conclusion:

Come to Jesus: Friends if you don’t know Jesus, you are sick. You face eternal death. you can’t do anything to cure yourself. None of us like going to the doctors. I rather pretend nothing’s wrong. I’m good at that. We don’t like to go because we fear there’s a bad diagnosis. You are sick. you are fatally sick.

Jesus says I’ve got the cure. Come. I’ve dealt with the problem. I’ve come for the unrighteous. I’ve come for you. I’ve come to heal you once and for all. Come. Pray to ask to ask for forgiveness.

Second: Be thankful - the Gospel is so beautiful. It is. We are justified by faith alone, through grace alone, in Jesus Christ alone, in the Bible alone, all to the glory of God alone. These wonderful truths. We got to dwell on them. I worry that some of you hold onto tradition, you’re missing the fact that Christ died for your sins, he loves you. be thankful, humble for all that Christ has done for you.

Third: Be teachable - one of the catch phrases from the reformation era was once reforming always reforming. we submit to God’s word. be willing to sit with others and open the word and let your thinking be changed. Rather than grumble, do the hard work. be teachable, be able to disagree in God’s Word together. Let God’s word shape your mind. be always reforming - according to God’s Word.

Let’s pray.