Reformation Sunday

Twenty-second Sunday a. Pentecost

John 8:31-36

October 27, 2007

“Reformation – God’s Work In Us”

Martin Luther

             Martin Luther, before and after becoming a Roman Catholic Priest, was tormented by the idea of how a sinful person could stand before a righteous He understood that God must punish sin with wrath. Luther could not understand the mercy of God or His grace. He found himself enslaved and mastered by sin from which He could not escape. He was tormented by the law of God that demanded perfection. Under this crushing weight Luther did everything the church prescribed in order to be worthy and receive God’s grace. It is important to note here that the focus was on everything he did to receive grace. He became a priest. He fasted and prayed and worshiped. He took the sacraments. He confessed his sins, over and over and over again. The trouble was -  how could he know when he had done enough?  How could he know when he had confessed all his sins?  How could he be certain that he was sorry enough and had done enough to merit even a little of God’s favor?  Worse yet, he knew that he wasn’t sorry enough or could do enough to deserve God’s mercy and pardon. Luther wrote, “Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that He was placated by my satisfactions. I did not love, yes, I [even] hated the righteous God who punishes sinners…Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience.”  Martin Luther was a slave to sin that mastered him. And his inability to stand before a holy God.

            In our Gospel lesson Jesus said, “If you abide in My Word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free…most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave to sin…If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

God’s Righteous Demand – The Bondage of Sin

Martin Luther, at the direction of the Roman church, tried to earn freedom and God’s favor through his own actions. To find freedom he tried to fulfill God’s righteous demands. What did he find? Instead of finding freedom he found himself totally trapped and repulsed by a God he could not satisfy. This left him miserably uncertain about his own salvation. When the focus of religion is on what we do and not on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ, we are held captive. Sin ties us up like prisoners on death row with no way out. There is nothing that we can do or not do that contributes to or takes away from what God has done to save us. When it comes to the matter of salvation, we cannot pray enough. We cannot pray too little.  We cannot go to church enough. We cannot go too little. We cannot give enough money or give too little. None of us are sorry enough for our sins. Everything we do is like dirty rags as Isaiah said, “You are indeed angry, for we have sinned -- In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved. But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

God’s Righteous Decree – The Freedom of Son-ship

Our Lord Jesus said, “if you abide in my word you will know the truth and it will set you free.”  These are reformation words. They are life-changing words. Christ says abide in my word. Abiding in Christ’s word is not merely a reverence for the Bible. Jesus Christ invites us to abide in the true Word of God that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Word of God in which we abide is the truth that sin does enslave us and takes us captive and leads to an eternal grave. We abide in Christ’s word when we understand our own sin and how Christ made it His own on the cross.  

            There is a true story about a British government official. He said that he first became involved in sexual immorality when he went to Europe to study, leaving his trusting wife behind. When he returned home he continued his double life. The innocent trust of his wife stabbed him like a knife until he could bear the guilt no longer. He made up his mind to make a full confession to her but he was afraid that it would break up their marriage. But one day he decided to face it and told her the whole wretched story. As she realized what he was saying, she turned pale, staggered against the wall, and wept. Watching her, he saw his sin crucifying his wife. Her love was being tortured on the cross of his sin. "That moment," he said, "I saw the meaning of the cross of Christ. I saw from her lesser cross the meaning of the greater cross of him who bore the sins of the world. And when she said through her tears that she would not leave me but would help me back to a new life, I felt the offer of a new beginning made by the crucified Christ. From that moment I was a changed man." He was a man set free.

            The Word of God in which we abide is His promise, “If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. He has made us free by His bloody sacrifice on the cross where, in our place, He took the wrath of God that we deserved. He suffered our pain, torment and shame.

            As Christ takes away our sin, He gives us His own righteousness. We have been called to be children of God, chosen to believe in His Son, even before the world was created. This gift of God, His mercy and grace, is totally unmerited, undeserved and unearned by us. The word of God and the truth that sets us free is that we receive God’s favor and Christ’s righteousness by faith. Faith alone gives us the hands to receive this precious treasure. And faith is a gift from God.  

            As Christians, because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross, we are truly free. We are liberated from everything that threatens us. Even though we will have troubles in this world. God will overcome our troubles. Though we will suffer and die in the body, by faith in Christ, we will live. In Christ we have the freedom found in God’s promise of the resurrection. As Christians we have freedom to live without fear, safe and secure in God’s love for us. As Christians we are free from the wrath of God. We are free from the consequences of our sin. We are free from the coercion of the law that demands us to do what we can not do – please God. We are free from guilt and God’s condemnation. “If the Son make you free, you shall be free indeed.”

            Martin Luther underwent a reformation of faith. Through God’s precious Word he understood that it was the work of God in him. He no longer depended on his own works. Instead, by His God given faith, trusting in Jesus, he was sure of his salvation. He understood his new freedom. Luther wrote, “At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of God’s word, namely, ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.’  There I began to understand the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates…

Conclusion:  Reformation Day isn’t just the celebration of a historical break from a corrupt Roman church. It is a celebration of the gospel. It is a reminder for all of us that God is acting in our lives. By His Holy Spirit, through God’s Word and the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, God is reforming our lives. We celebrate God’s work in us. It is embodied in Christ’s words, “Abide in my Word…you shall know the truth…and…if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”  His words are echoed in the rallying cry of the Reformation where our life in Christ is based on sola scriptura, solo gracia and solo fidei - scripture alone, grace alone, and faith alone. These are summed up in the words Jesus Christ alone and His cross alone. For there is only one Mediator between God and man, only one bridge between heaven and earth, only one connection between our mortal life and life eternal - the crucified and risen Christ. He alone is the glory of the Reformation and of His Church.  

            The good news in Christ is that in the Cross we see that God suffered for us. Here we are saved. This is not our doing; it is God’s action. We understand as the Apostle Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). Our lives are now in God’s hands. Whether we live or die is not the point. We belong to God - that is all that matters. Life is centered on Jesus Christ and life is in Christ.

            The Reformation has achieved its purpose when you and I can say with Luther: "Jesus Christ is my Lord who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, delivered me from all sins, from death, and the power of the devil ... in order that I might be his own, live under him in his kingdom, and serve him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness - even as he is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true." Amen!