Reformation CPR
My Goodness
Theme: The Principle of Faith
Goal: That the hearer experiences the joy of knowing that the goodness God demands, he gives by grace through faith.
Rev. Scott C. Sailer, pastor, Faith Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, South Dakota
Liturgical Setting
The celebration of the Reformation is the celebration of God’s grace. Psalm 46 celebrates God as our dependable refuge, strength, help and fortress. The Old Testament Reading shows us that God writes his Law on the hearts of his people. In divine goodness, he “forgive[s] their wickedness” and “remember[s] their sins no more” (v 34b). Jesus, in the Gospel, announces the freedom from sin and from self-righteousness, which he alone can give as we trust him and hold to his teaching. The worshipers will rejoice in God’s goodness this day, as they see reflected in these pericopes and in the Epistle this principle: Scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone!
Textual Notes
V 19 contains the picture of a defendant in a court of law who, given the opportunity to speak in his own defense, is speechless because of the weight of evidence that has been brought against him.
V 20: Here, the purpose for God giving his Law is that it would show us our sin. The Law was never intended by God to serve as the basis for one to prove his own righteous standing before God.
V 21: nuni; dev (“but now”) are small but mighty words! They introduce the transition between our total inability to keep the Law and the good news that grace is the sole basis for our righteous standing before God.
Yet this is not “news.” The “Law and the Prophets,” here shorthand for all of the Old Testament Scriptures, have testified to the grace/faith principle as well.
V 22 contains an objective genitive: “through faith, which has Jesus Christ as its object.”
V 23: uJsterevw, “lack.” When we sin, the glory of God is lacking in us. Glory is a visible manifestation of the holiness of God. Glory emanates from his presence (Is 6:3). Like the moon reflects the sun’s light, we are to reflect God’s “light.” In Rom 1:21–23 wicked humanity exchanged the glory of God the Creator for the glory of created things. This deadly exchange results in the perverse worship of “things.”
V 25: iJlasthvrion, “sacrifice of atonement.” This word carries with it the image of the Old Testament mercy seat and recalls the blood sacrifices of the old covenant (Lev 17:11). The grace of God permitted the life of the slain victim to be substituted for the life of the sinner. Christ is the one who pays for the guilt of sin and also performs the sacrifice. This is reflected in our hymnody: “himself the victim and himself the priest” (LW 240:3).
Vv 27–28: The principle of faith is pressed upon the reader as the exclusive way of one’s right standing before God. No compromise is possible between faith and works-righteousness.
Sermon Outline
The Reformation Rediscovered God’s Goodness in Place of My Goodness.
I. The “My Goodness” principle is alive and well today.
II. Christ’s goodness has always been God’s answer to my (lack of) goodness.
III. We’re declared to have God’s goodness, through faith.
IV. God’s goodness even reforms our works.
Sermon
Introduction: People often say, “My goodness!” as an exclamation. And often without thinking, people assume they have some innate goodness of their own. The Reformation was an attack on the “My Goodness” principle. The date was October 31, 1517. The place: the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The action: a priest by the name of Martin Luther nailed a sheet of ninety-five theses to the door of the Castle Church.
The Ninety-five Theses were written in reaction to the arrival of a Roman Catholic monk named John Tetzel. In Rome Pope Leo X wanted to finish the remarkable St. Peter’s Cathedral. To raise money for the project, he sent Tetzel throughout Germany to sell indulgences. Indulgences were supposed to spare people from the punishment after death in an imaginary place called purgatory. Members of the congregation where Luther was preaching bought these indulgences. As they did so, they were buying into the “My Goodness” principle. The members of the congregation believed that in buying indulgences they were actually buying forgiveness of sins. This was a very good situation, they thought. I buy these indulgences. They help my standing before God! My goodness!
Luther, the good pastor, was very concerned. He wrote ninety-five propositions—theses—on the question of forgiveness through indulgences. Printers reproduced them, and copies spread from person to person, village to village. The Reformation had begun! The principle rediscovered by the reformer Luther? Salvation by faith alone, a free gift of God’s grace. My goodness? No. God’s goodness, his undeserved goodness shown us in Christ Jesus!
The Reformation Rediscovered God’s Goodness in Place of My Goodness.
I
The “My Goodness” principle lives on today. The sign that it lives? Guilt.
Bill was the father of two children who attended a Lutheran school. Bill and his wife, Susan, were not Lutherans, but they thought highly of the school, so they decided to send their children there. Bill and Susan were having marital problems. Bill went to his pastor, who said that if Bill’s faith were stronger, he would not be having these problems. If you have enough faith, your problems will go away, and you will do the right things, he was told. Bill felt guilty for not spending more time with his wife. And now he felt guilty because he didn’t have enough faith. He spent more time and money on the children. He tried to have more faith in Jesus, but the guilt remained.
St. Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, notes that this is the way it will be and must be, according to the “My Goodness” principle. Earlier in ch 3, Paul writes, “There is no one righteous, not even one” (v 10). “There is no one who does good” (v 12). No more “My Goodness” principle. It just doesn’t work. What do we do? What does work?
II
What we learn and experience is what Martin Luther learned and experienced on the basis of the Word of God and what he wanted his parishioners to learn and experience too. St. Paul introduces God’s principle of grace in v 21 with two of the mightiest little words in the entire Bible: “but now.”
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.” (vv 21–25a, author’s emphasis)
Not my goodness, but Christ’s goodness.
We return to the story of Bill. He decided to visit the pastor at the Lutheran church that operated his children’s school. Maybe this pastor would have some answers for him, some hope. Bill recounted his struggles in his marriage and family life, with his finances, with his faith. “Pastor, I try, but I can’t seem to get rid of this load of guilt. And my family life is getting no better, even though I’m trying to do the right things. What’s God doing? Where is he in my life?”
The pastor led Bill to this word in Romans and to the central teaching of God’s Word. This same teaching became central in the teaching of Martin Luther and of the entire Reformation. This teaching, this Good News, brought reformation—that is, faith and life reformed and renewed—to Bill. It brings reformation and renewal to our lives again and again. What teaching is this? It is the principle of Christ’s goodness and his good work for us.
The pastor explained to Bill that we are commanded to be good, but we cannot because of the sin in us. We need help, God’s help. His help is this: we are justified by grace through faith. This means that Christ, who was without sin, set things right between us and God by his good and sufficient sacrifice on the cross. He died for us and then rose from the dead to prove that we are forgiven and that we are right with God. It’s not about our goodness, but Christ’s goodness. “Bill, do you believe this?” the pastor asked. Bill felt as though a tremendous weight had been lifted. He responded, “So, it’s not about me, but about what Jesus has done for me?”
“It’s not about you; it’s about Jesus.”
“I’ve never heard it explained like that before. Yes, I believe it!”
III
The Reformation continues as we, like Bill, trust that we are righteous in God’s sight because of the saving work of Jesus Christ. Oh, we know full well that our innocence is not really our own, but Christ’s. It has been credited to us by God through faith. What Christ did, God counts as though we have done it. What he suffered on the cross, God counts as though we have suffered it. As we believe that Christ took our place on the cross to suffer the eternal condemnation we deserve, God hands down a sentence we do not deserve. “Not guilty!” he declares. “Forgiveness and life and salvation are yours.”
This is grace, undeserved love! There is no room for boasting, for citing the “My Goodness” principle here. God gets all the credit and thanks. St. Paul put it this way: “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (vv 27–28). The good news here is that God declares you good, in fact, totally eligible for heaven, because of Jesus and his good work for you!
IV
Such a faith has a powerful impact on our living. Martin Luther, in his introduction to his commentary on the Book of Romans (1552) wrote:
Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times over. This knowledge of and confidence in God’s grace makes man glad and bold and happy in dealing with God and with all creatures. And this is the work which the Holy Spirit performs in faith. Because of it, without compulsion, a person is ready and glad to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything, out of love and praise to God who has shown him this grace. Thus it is impossible to separate works from faith, quite as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire. (LW 35:370)
And what about Bill? He left the pastor’s office free from guilt. The burden was lifted. Christ had borne his burden of sin on the cross. He was forgiven. Because of Christ’s death and resurrection Bill knew where he stood with God. God still loved him. This gave him peace and hope, even boldness.
Bill also knew that his renewed relationship with God did not remove the difficulties of his life. There was much work to do in improving his relationships with his wife and children. He left the pastor’s office knowing that he would need God’s strength, given through his powerful Word and Spirit, to help him work things out in his family. This, too, gave him peace and hope and boldness. He was not left to his own devices. He had God’s help.
Conclusion: And that’s the way it is for you. You have God’s help. Leave the “My Goodness” principle behind. Trust another principle—God’s principle: the principle of faith centered on Christ’s goodness for you, on his grace alone.