The Commemoration of the Reformation (observed) – October 27,
2024Psalm 34; Revelation 14:6-7; Romans 3:19-28St. John 8:31-36
In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“[Our churches] teach that men cannot
be justified before God by their own strength, merits, or works, but are freely
justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are
received into favor, and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who,
by His death, has made satisfaction for our sins. This faith God imputes for
righteousness in His sight.”[1]
The Commemoration of the Reformation is
primarily an occasion of giving thanks to God for working through an
insignificant Augustinian friar to return the Church to her first love – Christ
and His pure Word.[2]
It is meet, right, and salutary to learn about the history of our faith. The
Reformation was the most significant event in the western church since the
Second Council of Nicaea, and Martin Luther was the instrument, chosen by God,
to spark that Reformation. Luther was a theological genius. He was a prolific
writer. He knew how to strike out against the proud sinner and console the
suffering conscience.
But if we allow our minds to focus the
history of the Reformation on the person of Martin Luther, we are no better
than the Medieval Roman Catholic Church who worshiped the saints. If today we
sing the praises of Martin Luther as having worked to reform the Church by his
own means, then we may as well pray to St. Jude that all children who have
renounced the faith return home.
“If you abide in My word, you are
My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free.”[3] Our Lord
is speaking these words to the Jews who had believed in Him. These are the ones
who heard the Word of God and were amazed. Their intellects were intrigued by
the teaching of this One who taught not as the Pharisees but with authority.
They are standing in the place of the Medieval Church and Christians of all
time who hear preaching that pricks their consciences but do not yet
understand.
And yet these Jews could not help themselves but lie. “We have never been in bondage to anyone.”[4] They make this statement during the Festival of Booths, that occasion where the people of God recalled the deliverance from slavery in Egypt by the hand of God. They have not forgotten their own history. Rather, Christ’s admonition to abide in His word has pricked their consciences. The Law of God has struck their hearts. They have not abided in God’s Word. They have not familiarized themselves with the basic teachings of the Scriptures. They have not treated the Word of God as being spoken to them by the lips of their heavenly Father.
The immediate reaction of these Jews to
such an accusation of the Law is to lie. “We’ve never been enslaved – not in
our lifetime, nor our father’s, nor ever since the time of Abraham. We’ve never
been enslaved physically, nor spiritually enslaved to the worship of a false
God. Why would we need to be set free?” What’s more is that these Jews have
placed their salvation in being descended from Abraham. They have the right
blood in their veins and so they will be loved by God.
There is a temptation for Christians that
whatever occurred in the life of the church during the time most significant to
me is the purest form of the Church. For many of us, it might look like our
childhood. The way our childhood church was conducted is the height of
Lutheranism. Perhaps it was during our middle age, when we had a close group of
friends in the church – that was the height of Lutheranism. Perhaps we are
tempted by descriptions of history. The way Luther conducted the service, THAT
was the height of Lutheranism.
All are error and all are sin. They are
sinful because they rely on the actions of humans to determine the height of
the Truth of the Word of God. Christ is calling us to abide in His Word, and
this Word is Truth, and this Truth shall make you free. There is nothing new
under the sun. There were just as many erring pastors in the age of Martin
Luther as there are today. There were just as many sinners in the Church of the
fourth century as there are in the twenty-first. The ideal Church is not found
on earth, it is found in the worship of heaven. It is found in the Word of God.
It is easy on a day celebrating the
Reformation to claim, “We are Lutherans, sons and daughters of Pure Doctrine.
We’ve never been enslaved to anyone!” especially for those of us raised in the
church. Perhaps a slightly different claim is harbored in your heart: “I belong
to the right church, therefore I am saved! I have the Lutheran blood in my
veins therefore I am loved by God!” You probably can’t remember a time before
your Baptism. You can’t remember a time when you were a slave to sin who did
not know “Jesus Loves Me.” The memory of man is short and just as likely to lie
as remember anything at all. All men are conceived in iniquity and born in sin.
You were born as a child of wrath.
Jesus gently rebukes these Jews and
tells them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of
sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever.”[5]
To sin against the Word of God by ignoring it or preferring the desires of your
own flesh, wraps a chain of bondage around you. The more you struggle against
the Word of God, the more you give in to your flesh – be it neglecting the Word
of God, hating your neighbor, or lying against your conscience – the tighter
the chains become and the easier it is to sin. Sin becomes your habitus,
your way of life.
No matter the “purity” of your church, no matter the warm feelings your church family may give you, no matter how Christian you feel, no matter the claim of membership in the right Church or the claim of your family in the right church – sin makes you a slave. The slave of sin may dwell in the House of the Lord for a time. He may dwell in the House of the Lord his entire life on earth. But the slave of sin will not dwell in the House of the Lord for eternity. The slave of sin will be cast out into hell.
There is, however, an important
distinction to be made. Our Lord says, “whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.”
We are born slaves to sin, and all unbelievers are slaves still. They are
slaves by nature. “But a son abides forever.”[6]
The Christian is a son by nature. In Holy Baptism, you were adopted as a child
of the Heavenly Father, an heir of the Kingdom of God. You are a child of
heaven. Children of the Father remain in the House of the Lord forever!
The Christian is not a slave to sin by nature but to continue in sin, to commit sin returns you to a life of slavery. The chains of your bondage have been removed by the cleansing flood of Baptism and yet to return to sin, as a dog returns to vomit, is to once again pick up your chains and wrap them around your wrists. It is for this reason we, whose conscience has been made clean, must flee from sin. We must abhor sin. We must be disgusted by sin; by our own sin and by the sins of those around us. And when you find the steel links tightening their grip upon you, hardening your conscience and weighing down your soul, seek relief. Seek relief in repentance. Seek relief in the Word of God. Seek relief in confessing your sins. Seek relief in the Words of the Holy Absolution, proclaimed by the Pastor with his hands upon your head. Then, the chains will release their grip, climb the arms of your Pastor, sail past his shoulders and onto the shoulders of Christ.
“If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”[7] Jesus Christ, True God and True Man has set you free by his Blood. He who knew no sin, humbled himself to be bound with the chains you deserve. He wrapped himself in the chains of your sin and bore them to the cross. Those chains, your chains, weighed him down such that the torture of crucifixion, usually lasting hours, if not days, took only three hours to kill him. The weight of the sin of the world is great and it was born by Christ.
This same Christ rose from the dead to make you free. He bore the chains of your sin into the grave so that in his Resurrection, he could break the chains of your bondage. The Son has made you free in his death and Resurrection. This freedom was then delivered to you in your Holy Baptism. You have been made free indeed.
This freedom is not the freedom of this
world. Especially as Americans and descendants of the Enlightenment, we think
of freedom as freedom of opportunity, if not freedom of outcome. We think of
freedom to act as we please and then the freedom to endure the consequences, be
they positive or negative. This is not the freedom of God. American freedom is
freedom of the flesh and the flesh profits nothing.
The freedom won for you by Christ is
the freedom from sin such that you are free to serve God and neighbor. The
freedom won for you by Christ is the freedom to live as a child of God. You do
not need to obey the Law of God under the threat of losing your salvation. As a
child of God, you have the Law of God to teach you how to live in your freedom.
When you abuse that freedom, when you return to your flesh, then the Law once
again pierces your heart and accuses you of sin. On this side of glory, such will
always be the case.
Yet the New Man wrought within us by
the death of Christ longs to obey the Law, not out of threats, but out of love.
The New Man desires to be the ideal child of God. This is the man who has been
set free by the Son and is free indeed. He is free to submit himself to God, to
His Law, and to His Love.
This freedom of Christ is also a
freedom to recognize the work of the Holy Ghost within his saints. It is by
this freedom that we recognize what a miracle was wrought in Martin Luther.
Only by the working of God and the incredible, heroic faith bestowed upon that
lowly friar, was Luther able to accomplish any of what he did. Today, we reap
the benefits of what God did through Martin Luther and we give thanks that the
Lord saw fit to bless us in this way.
In + Jesus’
name. Amen.
