Sermon for 10/28/07

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Sermon for 10/28/07
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REFORMATION SUNDAY: Alone Again!

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

Main Theme: This is Reformation Sunday. Today we take a walk down memory lane to remember how God reformed the church through Martin Luther. In his early years Martin seemed alone with his worries and fears concerning his sinful nature and God’s wrath. He seemed unable to But through several spiritual awakenings Martin found freedom as he studied God’s Word. So he began to write to share his ideas to reform the church. He told us that IF we believed in Scripture alone, in Grace alone, in faith alone, and in Christ alone – we would never be… alone again! That transformation continues today in the church and in each of us when we believed in Scripture alone, in Grace alone, in faith alone, and in Christ alone.

1) MARTIN ALONE! In 1483, Martin Luther was born in what is today Eastern Germany. His father, having risen from peasant stock, owned a copper mine and longed for his son to become a lawyer. A bright student, Martin got his bachelor’s degree in one year, his Masters three years later, and was enrolled in law school until one fateful night. Coming home from school he got caught in a horrific thunder storm! After one lightening bolt almost killed him, he cried out to St. Anne for help, pledging that if she saved him, he would become a monk. Spared of his life, and regretting his words, Luther kept his bargain, dropped out of law school and entered the monastery. There he also hoped to find spiritual assurance, for he was haunted by insecurity about his salvation! If Luther was anything – it was honest. And the more he tried to please God, the more he realized he could not. In despair, he feared the day he would stand before God to be judged for his sins – of which there many! Martin was afflicted by guilt, and felt very much alone!

2) THE CHURCH! Now in the world Martin grew up in – the church was corrupted; traditions and relics had more importance than scripture. Sins could be “washed away” …for a price. The church sold “indulgences”, as they were called, to finance the building of huge cathedrals, like St. Peters. These indulgences promised to help you avoid sin’s painful consequences, and free your departed loved ones from having to suffer in purgatory! Martin studied the church altar piece, showing a boat sailing to heaven. In it were the pope, cardinals, and other clergy casting ropes to the common laymen who were drowning. Clearly the laity was dependant on the Roman Catholic clergy for their salvation! Only those declared saved by a priest were truly saved! Luther also watched as Prince William of Anhalt became a monk and begged the streets for alms. Martin wrote about how ashamed he was of his own life when he observed the man who had been worn down to skin and bone in an attempt to renounce the world and assure his own salvation. Every Sunday, the stain-glass windows of the church revealed the unsmiling face of Jesus, bringing him the idea that God was a stern judge who demanded righteousness and was so far removed from humanity that He could only be approached thru Mary or the saints. It was because of the church that Martin anguished in spiritual despair.

3) PEACE? In the monastery, Luther struggled to find peace with God. He dedicated himself to doing good works, long hours of praying, fasting, and constant confession. But the more he tried to do for God, the more aware he became of his sinfulness. Luther confessed so hard and so often that his superior got tired of it and ordered Luther to stop confessing until he had some sin worth confessing! Though he dedicated himself to the monastic life, he could find no peace! His supervisor felt that Luther needed a distraction and sent him back to school to study theology. He told Luther to trust in Christ – in the righteousness of Jesus’ life – in the atonement of His death and resurrection. With the “seed” planted in Luther’s brain, Martin was sent to study scripture. And the Holy Spirit, through that scripture, began to slowly transform Luther’s heart, set him free, and bring him peace with God.

4) THE BIBLE! You must remember that in Luther’s day, bibles were rare, written in Latin, Hebrew or Greek, and belonged solely to the educated clergy and priests. As a theology major, Luther was no longer dependant upon a priest for God’s Word, he could read scripture for himself! And when he did, he discovered that what the church was teaching did not line up with what the Bible said. And one night, the light went on, as he discovered that our imperfect actions and works would never get us to heaven, but receiving a faith in Jesus would! Suddenly Luther’s anxious efforts at achieving perfection were interrupted by the voice of a smiling Savior who graciously accepted him, embraced him, and wanted him to do no more than sit still and listen to the divine words, “I love you!” It didn’t happen all over night, but as he studied, and later became a priest and teacher – his encounters with the bible dramatically changed his life, and impacted the church in tremendous ways!

5) SCRIPTURE ALONE! Here’s one of the things the Lord said to Luther that gave him such hope: “Martin, I want you to understand that I have called you to preach that SCRIPTURE ALONE is to guide my church!” It was with this conviction that Luther nailed his famous 95 Thesis to the door of the church, (the equivalent to the town bulletin board in his day). Scripture alone, he declared, is what should guide the church! Not tradition! Not the prevailing culture! Not any other source! And so a lot of what he wrote focused on the errors and mistakes of the church that were not backed up by scripture! Unbeknownst to him, his ideas were copied down and reprinted on a new invention – the printing press, and sent everywhere! You can imagine the horror of the church leaders as they read how the evil indulgences of the pope and church leaders were exposed as unbiblical. When the church led by ignoring scripture, they did so without representing the Lord Almighty! Luther did not write to break away from the church, but simply to reform the unholy behavior of distorting the Gospel so as to keep its members in spiritual bondage. We should not be making a single decision based on anything but the Word of God, said Luther. The church should be lead by “Scripture alone!”

6) RECANT! Luther once said, “A simple layman armed with Scripture is to be believed above the pope or a cardinal without it.” Needless to say, Luther was called before the court and asked to recant his writings at what we call today, “The Diet of Worms”. Asking for 24 hours to think about his answer, he returned the next day to say, “So long as Christ is merciful, I will not recant a single jot or title. Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning, then I cannot and will not recant, because it is neither safe or wise to act against conscience.” Then he added “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me!” Branded a heretic, Luther would have been burned at the stake, had not a powerful royal supporter, Frederick the Great, kidnapped him and hid him in a nearby castle. But even while he was in hiding he began to translate the bible into the language of the common people, so that they themselves could study God’s Word. He wanted them to experience what he had experienced – A living and loving God! Recant? Never! For he wanted all people to use SCRIPTURE ALONE to guide their lives!

7) READ IT! Today the number one best seller is the Bible! So you would think we would eagerly read it to learn the great spiritual truths. And yet it is also the most neglected book of all time! According to statistics, less than one out of 4 professing Christians read it on a daily basis. (22%) Many years ago I asked a church council of 12 people how many of them read their bibles daily. I was shocked to discover not one of them did! Later one of those members declared it was unfair that I was always basing my opinions on scriptures. After all, he told me, he didn’t have a seminary degree and didn’t know how to dispute me, but he assured me that his opposing opinion was a valid one. Really? Based on what? Luther would have cried! ..because unless our conclusions are based on SCRIPTURE ALONE, we are keeping God out of the conversation! How many of us have the bible at our finger tips, but never read it? Without it, the 15^th century church went awry! And in the 21^st century, we too will go awry if we do not understand that the scriptures are the ONLY safe and sure guide to follow in our lives! God’s Word is trustworthy and true! “Martin,” God said, “I want you to understand that I have called you to preach that SCRIPTURE ALONE is to guide my church!” And today He says to you, “Child of mine, I want you to understand that SCRIPTURE ALONE is to guide your life!” We ought to read it!

8) GRACE ALONE! The 2nd thing the Lord spoke to Luther about was the truth of GRACE ALONE! “Martin, tell the oppressed people that it’s all about Grace. Grace alone is what opens up a new and life-giving relationship between me and my people!” Imagine how Luther had tortured himself with guilt and shame as he tried unsuccessfully to “earn his way” to heaven through his works! Imagine the freedom that he felt as Grace released him from the condemnation he had lived under because of a corrupted church! God’s grace is an awesome thing! It’s responsible for the Word being a Gospel of Freedom and not a teaching of bondage! 2^nd Corinthians (3:17) tells us, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” Imagine Luther’s excitement as he stumbles upon Ephesians 2:6-9 “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Luther’s God went from being a cold hearted bully to being the source of all love! From being a calculating judge to a compassionate Savior! From being distant observer, to an embracing and merciful Father! Any faith based on anything else but GRACE ALONE is not from God!

9) THIS GRACE… Chuck Swindoll defines this Grace like this; “To show Grace is to extend favor or kindness to someone who does not deserve it and can never repay it!” You’ve heard my favorite definition many times before… “Grace is knowing that there is nothing you can do to make God love you more, and nothing you can do to make God love you less. He just loves you!” This Grace has also been defined this way:

G = God’s

R = Riches

A = At

C = Christ’s

E = Expense

The Apostle Paul filled his writings with constant declarations of this grace. He encouraged Timothy to join him by the power of God, “…who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus…”(2 Tim 1:9)

10) OBSESSED! Luther and Paul were obsessed with Grace! Let me ask, “Are you?” God wants us to know Grace, live Grace, experience Grace, breathe Grace, show Grace, act on Grace, and focus on Grace! He wants us to be free from any religion that would lead to bondage and not freedom in Christ! God didn’t just make salvation possible for us, He accomplished it for us in Christ’s death and resurrection! Jesus paid the price for our sins, and credits His righteousness and perfection to our account. “Martin,” God said, “tell the oppressed people that it’s all about Grace. Grace alone is what opens up a new and life-giving relationship between me and my people!” And so He says to you, “Child of mine, I want you to understand that my Grace alone is what opens up a life-giving relationship between me and you!” Are we obsessed with Grace?

11) FAITH ALONE! The 3rd item the Lord spoke to Luther about was the truth of FAITH ALONE! “Martin, tell my people it is by faith alone they are saved.” Sometimes the Word of God is offensive to us, because our culture tells us that everything good must be earned! Those who work the hardest get the.. good grades, or rewards of success. When we apply our experience to religion, we attempt to justify ourselves through our good works and religious actions. We forget one great truth – sin (any sin – big or small) separates us from God! God doesn’t “grade on a scale”, where those who manage 9 out of 10 commandments get the “A”, 8 out of 10 gets a “B”, 7 out of 10 gets a “C” and so forth! No – God works on a “Pass/Fail” scale. Those who are perfect are worthy to get to heaven, those who are not perfect – are not worthy. But none of us are perfect, and all fall short of God’s will! So, like Luther, we are initially left wondering about the assurance of salvation. Since nothing is free in our world, we assume we too must earn our salvation. FAITH ALONE makes no sense to us in the beginning!

12) FAITH! But sooner or later we face what Luther did. No matter what we try, or how hard we worked – we cannot stop sinning! On one dark night in despair, he was reading Romans and he ran across these words, (1:16-17) “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” And further along in the 3rd chapter he read (3:22, 27-28) “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe… Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the "law" that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Imagine Luther’s troubled heart, leaping suddenly for joy as this truth began to sink in! There is nothing that we can do to earn God’s unmerited forgiving love! It comes to us free! And we receive it through faith!

13) CHRIST’S! Because of Christ’s sacrificial and redemptive actions on the cross, Luther, Paul, you, me… we no longer live in fear. We have only to live in faith! It is a gift we do not deserve, but it comes to us from the very heart of God! It is in experiencing this great love of God that leads to the renewing of our hearts and minds! No, it is not our perfection that saves us, but Christ’s! And what connects us to a new life in Christ is the simple gift of faith! God does the justifying – not us! If there are any works involved – they are Christ’s! And you and I are saved by the faithfulness of Christ! We cannot make ourselves “holy”! But Jesus can and did! And faith is simply having a mind that is persuaded by the Holy Spirit to believe that statement is true! Faith is basically a matter of trusting in God’s Word! “Martin,” said God, “tell my people it is by faith alone they are saved.” And today, he says the same to you and I, “Blessed child, receive the gift of faith and know it is by nothing else but FAITH ALONE that you are saved!” Faith in Christ’s gift!

14) Christ alone! Naturally, the 4^th truth God revealed to Martin Luther was… it’s all about Christ alone! “Martin, proclaim to the church that it’s because of CHRIST ALONE that the church is saved and that it exists!” In Martin’s day Jesus had been pushed out of His rightful position. Religious relics were treasured more. As were religious figures! After reading the scriptures, Luther would never again pray to Mary or any of the saints for help – only Jesus! It wasn’t Mary who died for our sins on the cross! It wasn’t the saints who brought us salvation. It was not a religious relic that would wash away our sins – it was Jesus! Luther no doubt “ticked off” the church leadership when he attacked the church’s idol worship and saint worship and cried out for CHRIST ALONE! But… it is all because of Jesus that you and I have a loving relationship with God!

15) SELF? CHRIST! Now while 15^th century relics and saints still remain to distract us, our previous sermon series pointed out we have a greater danger - of believing in self! Most of us are constantly distracted today by worldly idols, like money, or material possessions, success, fame, or entertainment. But that’s only because we have been tempted to replace Christ on the throne of our hearts with “self”. But “self” cannot provide salvation, inner peace, joy, or contentment – only Christ can! NO ONE can do what Christ has done! Our true happiness lies in the hands of CHRIST ALONE! “Tell them Martin,” says God, “Proclaim to the church that it’s because of CHRIST ALONE that the church is saved and that it exists!” And even today, the Spirit tells us through the words of the Apostle Paul (2^nd Timothy 1:10) “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus… who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” It is because of CHRIST ALONE that you and I have received hope, faith, love and the grace of God!

16) YOU ALONE? Friends, just as hearts in the church needed to reformed in Luther’s time, so do they today! Each of us is born with a hole in our hearts that is missing what only God can provide. What we seek in life, (that brings us true inner peace, joy, and contentment) is found in SCRIPTURE ALONE, in GRACE ALONE, in FAITH ALONE, and in CHRIST ALONE! Every good thing that God gave to Martin Luther as He freed him from fear and replaced it with faith – God offers to you and I… today! Let us now receive the power of the Holy Spirit to 1) help us focus daily on God’s truth found in the scriptures, 2) free us from our efforts to earn God’s love through our works, 3) receive the blessings of God through the gift of faith, and 4) keep our chins up, always looking up, to focus solely on Jesus Christ! As Christ told Martin Luther, He now tell you; He has come to walk with you, protect you, and strengthen you that you may journey securely through this broken world, and one day confidently to the gates of heaven with the assurance of salvation - where He will embrace you, perfect you, and welcome you home! Ironically, as believers in SCRIPTURE ALONE, GRACE ALONE, FAITH ALONE, and CHRIST ALONE… you will never ever be alone! Praise God! AMEN!

Sermon/Confessional Prayer:

Dear Heavenly Father, we confess that we are always in need of reformation - for we have not loved You and others as we should, and we are so easily distracted by the busyness and worldly things around us. We have allowed ourselves to be guided by selfish thoughts or the voices of others, instead of turning to your Word daily. Forgive us and motivate us to hunger for your Holy Word daily, that we may rely on Scripture Alone.

Lord, too often your awesome gift of Grace is forgotten or taken for granted, or just plain ignored as we attempt to foolishly earn your love through what we do. Sometimes we may even doubt or question our salvation because we have a hard time believing it comes through faith alone. But worst of all, we find self, or things, or human desires sitting on the throne of our hearts where only Christ should be. Forgive us Lord and empower us to focus our whole lives on You, Your Love, and Your Will for our lives!

And now Lord, although you know us better than we know ourselves, listen as we share in a moment of silence, those other parts of our lives that need to be forgiven, washed clean, healed, and recommitted to you! (made anew.)

(Silence)

Lord, thank you for helping us see that true happiness, inner peace, joy, and contentment come to us when we believe in Scripture Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone, and Christ Alone! As you transformed and freed the heart of Martin Luther, so now do the same to us! It is in your Name We Pray. AMEN

Assurance of Forgiveness:

Friends, listen to the good news: The Lord, who is the author of every heart’s reformation, …that Lord has mercifully heard your confession and eagerly forgives you all your sins. Go now, and open your hearts to the truth – believing in Scripture Alone, Faith Alone, Grace Alone, and Christ Alone – and you never will be Alone – ever again! Praise God! AMEN

Opening prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, we come this morning to be reminded on this Reformation Sunday, that Your awesome love for us means You will always be breaking into our lives to correct, transform, and guide us back into the light of your truth! Remind us this morning that all love, all blessings, and all the good in this world finds its source in You! As You embrace us with Holy Arms, mend our bruised and wounded hearts. As You touch our broken bodies, minds, and spirits, heal us as only You can! As You come upon our unclean thoughts, and sinful ways, wash us clean again in the waters of our Baptism. But do not let us walk away unchanged. Let your Holy Spirit loose in our souls that we may become more Christ-like each and every day. Come and help us surrender all we are and have to You. As we lift our voices up to praise You, may our humble gifts of prayer, song, and worship make You smile! Draw us closer to You now, and come live within us… that we may abide in You and You in us! In Jesus name we pray, AMEN!

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