John 8:31 - 38 Some Thoughts for Reformation Sunday

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

            The reformation of the church is a continuing process.  Numerous reformations took place in Old Testament times, when God chastened his people and brought them from spiritual wanderings to renewed appreciation for basic truths.  Jesus renewed the church during his earthly ministry when he called people away from stale human traditions to life and salvation through faith in him.  Reformation continues today, not in the experiments that we humans love to indulge in, but wherever people come to faith in Christ through receiving God’s Word. Reformation in the church always begins with a rediscovery always of basic truths.

            The specific Reformation the Lutheran church celebrates today was very dramatic, with far-reaching consequences for secular life as well as the church.  The Protestant Reformation began with Martin Luther, its first great figure and probably the most famous of all reformers.  Most people know about certain public events in his life, such as the time he nailed a list of 95 complaints to the door of his local church or when he stood up to defend himself before high authorities or when the pope excommunicated him.  But we need to know about the private side of Luther’s life, too, for his public actions took place only after a profound and sometimes painful inner spiritual journey.

            Even as a boy, Luther had a strong feeling for God and the church.  Although his father objected, he became a monk, and he was not satisfied with being your average monk.  He wanted to be the best monk possible.  He submitted himself to various exertions to win God’s favor, but a curious thing happened.  The more he tried to please God with prayers and fasting and numerous good works, the less certain he became of God’s favor toward him.  He knew that God demanded perfect righteousness and total obedience to his commandments, yet the more Luther pushed himself, the further away he seemed from righteousness.  It must have been an intensely frustrating experience.  A person who exerts himself above the call of duty expects to achieve results, but Luther felt driven to the point of despair.

            No one outside Luther’s monastery would have heard of him, though, if God hadn’t stepped in and directed him to a new understanding of Scripture.  Luther looked with new eyes on certain passages that discuss God’s requirement for righteousness.  One was Psalm 31: “In you, Lord, do I seek refuge; let me never be put to shame; in your righteousness, deliver me.”  He found similar words in Psalm 71: “In you, O Lord, do I take refuge; let me never be put to shame!  In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline your ear to me and save me!  Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress.”  The Holy Spirit comforted him also with a third passage, from the first chapter of Romans.  “In the gospel, the righteousness of God revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘He who is righteous through faith shall live.”

            Luther discovered that his own overheated exertions didn’t make him righteous before God. God demands perfection, and no one except Christ is perfect.  We’re in a hopeless situation if we try to stand alone before God.  We need an advocate, a mediator, a friend in court.  This friend is Jesus.  Not only did he fulfill God’s law completely so that he lived a perfectly righteous life but he took our sins upon him and died in our place.  He paid the price for our sins so that now because of our faith in Christ, which we receive as a gift, God sees us as perfectly righteous.  He gives us as a gift the righteousness God requires.  He calls us saints; he says we’re his adopted children; he clothes us in robes of righteousness that aren’t visible to us now, but our Heavenly Father sees them.

            This is the great discovery Luther made.  If you want a simple way of understanding the Reformation, here it is.  Where can we find a gracious and loving Heavenly Father?  Through faith in Christ.  That’s what the Reformation was about.  Hearts turned away from human effort and human traditions and structures and found certainty in Christ.  God is a refuge, a rock, a fortress for those who believe and trust in him.  Luther’s ferocious battle ended in peace; the outcome was certainty and joy in God.  Luther was a gifted communicator, and as he told others about the truth to which the Spirit had led him, his discovery resonated in the souls of millions of people.  Having learned the truth about our sins and Christ’s actions to deliver us, our hearts are able to dance in freedom before the Lord.

            This fundamental insight about the grace of God to sinners, the certainty of the kindness of the Heavenly Father, has several benefits for us right now.  First, the mercies of the cross bring relief to our consciences.  Guilt doesn’t haunt us; the memory of our sin doesn’t persecute us.  Instead, as we trust that God has declared us righteous for Jesus’ sake, we find that a burden has been lifted from our shoulders.  Our confidence grows.  As the Lord says, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

            In the second place, the grace of God empowers us to live more and more in line with what God expects.  Our righteousness becomes more visible the longer we live with God, not because we’re busy improving ourselves, but because the good Lord acts in us.  Earthly life offers few satisfactions.  There are many ambiguities and unfinished projects.  As one writer put it, every blessing on earth is a mixed blessing. But we Christians experience the deep satisfaction of knowing the Lord is remaking us.  He builds us up not so that we may pat ourselves on the back but to give him glory.  We rest in his ability to transform us, just as we rest in his ability to provide for us.  The faith that our Savior is at work on us makes us hopeful and brings us joy.  To paraphrase the words of Jesus, if the Son transforms us, we will be transformed indeed.

            Thirdly, the grace of God delivers us from the fear of death.  “Truly, truly,” Jesus said, “if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”  A 20^th century pastor wrote that although sin is a problem for us, death is an even greater trouble.  Our main problem, in fact.  Working against our fears, the resurrection of Christ is a sign to us that death is not a terrible end but the gateway to life in Paradise, where our souls will await in peace the second coming of our Lord.  Luther said that the whole purpose of the Bible is to deliver us from the fear of death.  Jesus frees us from the grip of our worst enemy; faith in his victory gives us boldness and courage now.  As our Lord says, “If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.”

            Relief for our consciences, increasingly visible righteousness, deliverance from the fear of death.  What wonderful blessings from our Lord, concerning which the reformers of the 16^th century sharpened our understanding.  Now, suppose we ask: what must we do to keep these gifts?

            Our Lord’s answer is to stay in his Word.  “If you continue in my Word,” he said, “you are truly my disciples.”  We hold onto Jesus and his blessings by staying in touch with his Word in public worship and reading the Bible regularly.  Luther found God’s grace in the Bible.  So do we.  The Bible is our guide to life and truth and salvation.

            The Lutheran reformers recovered two basic truths, then, that we find the grace of God though Christ and that Scripture is the source of our life with Him.  These principles govern the life of our church today.

            Some people say that it’s been many years since the reformers lived, and folks ask different questions nowadays.  Instead of wanting to know how to find a gracious God, for example, some ask where God is and even if he exists.  However we ask the question, the answer is the same as ever.  God is gracious and merciful, actively bringing millions of people to salvation through faith in his Son.  He reveals himself and the truth about him in Holy Scripture.

            These are the fundamental insights of every reformation in the church, which the reformers uncovered for us.  They are eternally valid, for they are the truth, and as our Lord says, “you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.  In his Name we rejoice. AMEN The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.  AMEN.

Mark 10:17-30 Jesus Meets a Rich Young Man

Grace and peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come,

            Sometimes we’re like the man in this morning’s parable – we’re seekers, willing to work and stretch our horizons, we’re not looking for simple answers or nice-sounding words. We want substance. We need the truth and we want to know what the truth means for us.

            This morning’s gospel text concerns seeking the truth about eternal life. The man who meets Jesus, whom Luke described as a rich ruler of the temple, says he wants to know what he needs to do to find a place in eternity. Jesus’ disciples are also seeking and they’ve traveled some distance toward grasping the truth about eternity.  Mark says that Jesus loved the man who sought him out, first because he’d done his best to follow the ten commandments and also because he wants to learn more than he already knows.  He wants to advance.  Both he and the disciples  learn that God is eager to give them as a gift the eternity they are looking for.

            What an astonishing facet of the truth.  Some very important things do actually come as gifts, not rewards or earnings, but gifts from someone who loves us.  Maybe a relative gave you a present one time you never expected or a door opened to a wonderful new opportunity.  I’m sure you’ve received the gift of love from another person and also given love to someone else.  Eternal life, salvation, the forgiveness of sins, new life – all these are gifts from our loving God that we couldn’t possibly earn on our own.   A person who seeks these blessings simply holds out his or her hand, so to speak, to receive God’s gracious gifts.  And after we seekers have found them – or to put it more precisely, once God has found us to put his gifts in our hands, he then teaches us how important eternal life is for us and moves our hearts to follow Jesus, as our Lord instructed the rich man who came to him to do.

            The problem is it’s hard for us to accept gifts.  We prefer doing things on our own. We like the feeling of self-satisfaction that comes with our achievements.  Sometimes, we’re too proud to receive.  We start thinking this way when we’re children and we hear that Santa Claus makes a distinction between those who are naughty and the ones who are nice.  We don’t like to think that anything is given to us.  The problem is not our culture or the ways of society or the Protestant life-style.  The problem is our human nature.  We like to earn what we have.

            The rich man in Jesus’ parable is a perfect example.  He had many things a lot of people covet – money, comfort, the respect of his neighbors.  He lived an outwardly righteous life, having broken none of the major commandments in a serious way.  He was pleased with himself; he believed that his prospects for the future were good.  He wanted to top things off by learning what he had to do to inherit eternal life.  He was sorry when he learned that God didn’t esteem the life-ways he valued.  The Lord wishes to give us as a gift what we can’t earn on our own.  When we go seeking, we sometimes find things we don’t like. It’s no surprise that the rich young man couldn’t absorb the lesson about dependence on God the first time he heard it.  We can hope that he went home to mull over what Jesus had told him, for the word of God is powerful and active, but for now he is a seeker outside the Christian flock.

            We note, as well, that even the disciples were pleased with their own achievements, for Peter boasted that they’d given up everything to follow him.  Even though the Lord brought them to complete devotion to him later on, at this point, admiration for riches still tainted their hearts.

            We’ll digress for a moment to about the relationship between a Christian and worldly wealth.  There’s nothing wrong with riches themselves.  Abraham , Isaac, and King David were quite well-to-do.  The question is – what importance do we attach to wealth?  We can take from rich people the impression that they are superior beings, while there’s something deeply flawed about the rest of us.  Sin touches everyone, but God sees value in all his creation.  He died to redeem everyone from sin.  Our good Lord hasn’t established a minimum income for salvation.  Emphasis on riches keeps people from doing their best.  A person who grubs for money or strives to keep up with his or her neighbors isn’t seeking very hard.  We’re at our best when we’re creative and independent and rejoicing with thankfulness for what God has given us. 

            Let’s take the case of Luke the evangelist as an example, since next Thursday is his day on the church calendar.  We don’t know if he was rich or poor, but we do know that the Lord gave him a full life.  He was a physician; he traveled widely; he was a friend of the apostle Paul; he expressed himself well and was a gifted student of history, and even secular scholars admire the Book of Acts, which Luke wrote as a companion piece to his Gospel.   And, of course, he was a devoted servant of the risen Lord.                

            Luke could have used his talents to build up his earthly standing, but he knew that life is a gift from God, who brought him to serve him.  Luke’s secret was the same as every Christian’s secret: he knew that he was a receiver, not an owner.  His received all good things from the Lord – his friends, his good life on earth, his zeal for seeking the truth, and his salvation.  Christianity changes all God’s people, and this transformation is one of the things that makes us a community of believers, living under one God, awaiting the return of our Lord.

            While waiting in faith, we share similar experiences.  First, the Holy Spirit shows us our sins and awakens our consciences.  Jesus held up God’s law to the rich man in our reading.  The man said he’d kept the Ten Commandments all his life.  This isn’t true, of course, because every heart wanders.  We don’t escape our flesh and the temptations of the devil as long as we live on the earth.  The rich man didn’t respond as a believer, and this, not his wealth, distinguishes him from you and me, for we are aware of our sinfulness.  We never boast that we’ve kept God’s law.  Instead, we confess our failures.  Our shortcomings are often before us.

            But that’s not the only experience we share in common.  We take hold of God’s pardon, which opens the door to salvation.   Forgiveness renews and changes us.  If we find that we’re guilty of coveting riches, for example, then instead of tormenting ourselves or fretting about our weakness, we take hold of forgiveness in Christ and lean back and rest in God, who helps us to live joyfully the days he has given us.  We’re receivers, as we said, not earners.  We receive life when we receive forgiveness.  Chastened and restored, we return to following the Lord and live in the glow of eternal life.   

            We don’t say, as Peter did, that we have sacrificed everything for Christ, but that the Lord has drawn us to appreciate the value of sacrifice.  What’s more, we don’t really make sacrifices in the sense that we permanently give something up, because the Lord replaces in his own way anything we may have lost.  One missionary I read about who spent a lot of time away from home said that he’d never made a single sacrifice in his whole life.  He experienced in a personal way what the Lord meant when he said that anyone who gave up home or relatives or lands for his sake would receive a hundred-fold from the Lord in return, along with persecution, of course, for we Christians often pay social penalties, but rather than complain about the unfairness of life, we praise God for his wonderful generosity toward us and the whole world.

            To digress again for a moment, some folks outside the church may say that Christian living is all denial and austerity on the margins of society and guilt-feelings about everything that’s enjoyable.  This isn’t the case at all, as the people of St. Peter’s can testify.  Christians are grateful receivers of God’s gifts.  We rejoice that all good things come from him and we give him back thanks and praise.

            Jesus’ list of possible sacrifices is a case in point.  He spoke of leaving a house or family or friends.  He used the word “or” not “and”.  Nobody is called to leave the whole list behind, just a part of it, and the Lord replaces what he takes away – and sometimes in a better form.

            So, to conclude, we remember that there are many good things for Christian pilgrims like ourselves to seek, especially a deeper faith through the forgiveness of our sins.  Times come, though, when the good Lord leads us to give up seeking and simply receive.  This is the key to our blessedness before God – not to think of ourselves as doers but receivers. Some of us may be tempted to seek earthly riches for their own sake – an unnecessary quest, dear friends, because the Lord sees us as kings and queens already, a high status we receive now by faith.  Why try to look further?  Our standing in God’s eyes will be perfectly visible to us later on in heaven. 

            The world and the devil will surely put many temptations before us, including the temptation to believe that we’re so wonderful that God will automatically reward us with eternal life.  The truth is that he is wonderful and calls us to live with him in faith and love.  Our lives testify to his generosity and our trust that it will go on and on even after we have received the fulfillment of his promise of eternal life.  In Jesus’ name we rejoice.  AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ 

Jesus. AMEN.

Hebrews 2:14 - 18 Sticking with Jesus

Grace and Peace to you from him who is and who was and who is to come,

            Nobody knows for sure who wrote the Letter to the Hebrews, but most experts think it was written around 70 AD and that the author was addressing Jewish converts to Christianity who  knew  the Old Testament and were tempted to go back to their old faith, or else make the Christian gospel conform to Jewish understanding of the law.  None of this applies to us, but Christians have loved and respected Hebrews for almost two thousand years because of the profound way it discusses the person and nature of Christ.  The author wrote that Jesus is sufficient and supreme as the one who reveals God and brings his grace to us.

            The verses we read a few minutes ago describe in a few sentences what it means for us that God himself took on our flesh and blood.  Hebrews offers powerful arguments and strong encouragement to stick with Christ.

            To help us think about this text, let’s suppose we’ve received a letter from a friend who has moved to a new city.  This friend writes first of all that their family hasn’t been going to church, because they haven’t found a warm and friendly congregation.  It’s obvious they haven’t stumbled on St. Peter’s yet.

            We reply in a cordial way that we may attend a certain congregation because we like the people there or because our family has roots there, but these aren’t the main reasons we go to church.  Jesus is, and His Heavenly Father calls us to spend time with him. He sets the example for us. He attended worship faithfully during the years of his ministry in Israel.  When we come to church, we meet our Lord.

            Our friend also writes that work has been going well, and the family is happy.  The church doesn’t seem necessary.  What’s more, some people at our friend’s new job make fun of folks who practice the Christian faith.  These people are highly intelligent.  Maybe they have a point.  There are, moreover, many approaches to faith.  Our friend wants to experiment.

            We reply that social pressure can be powerful, but we don’t have to give way to it.  Every Christian is tempted at times to drift from the faith.  What holds us is our understanding of who Jesus is.

            He is God, who became flesh and blood.  He made himself lower than the angels and took on our mortality.  He calls himself our brother.  He lived as we do, though in perfect obedience to his Heavenly Father and without sin.  He knows what makes us joyful and sad.  He knows the weaknesses and strengths of each one of us.  He understands what we want.  He knows what we’re afraid of and what we need.  He acted on behalf of humanity throughout his ministry, and especially when he died on a cross and took the sins of the whole world on his own shoulders and died to make the payment we owe.  He redeemed the whole world from sin; he defeated the devil; he calls everyone who trusts in him his sister or brother.  He makes balanced, steady, joyful, confident living possible for everyone who sticks with him.

            Our friend includes news of the day in the letter and tells us, with a touch of pride, that the children are enjoying school, they spent two weeks in the mountains to end their summer vacation.  Our friend is looking ahead to a promotion at work and even more money coming in and says again that they have a few good friends and work associates who will be offended if they attach themselves to the church.

            We think for moment before we respond to this part of the letter because we know we’re likely to turn our friend away from us with what we’re about to say, but we decide it’s important to be true to God’s Word.  We write that life in the world is like a roller coaster, up one day, down the next.  Not one of life’s material blessings comes with a guarantee of permanence.  Friends may come and go.  Institutions rise for a while and then drop down with a crash.  Wise people stick with Jesus, who carries us through the ups and downs.  He protects us from the influence of the devil, who rules the world.  Faith in him brings countless blessings.  He rewards folks who stay with him and who let the light of faith shine out, like the people at St. Peter’s.

            We mention, too, a subject we don’t often talk about – the reality of death, which comes to everyone.  The Bible teaches us that God created the human race to live in harmony with him forever.  But our first parents sinned when they surrendered to the serpent’s temptations, and everyone since then has fallen into sin, and God’s Word teaches us that the wages of sin is death.

            We say we’re glad that life is going well for our friend, but we hope the family aren’t trying to create a kind of earthly immortality by building up a pile of things to leave behind them.  That won’t solve the problem of death that frightens so many people and puts them in lifelong bondage, as the author of Hebrews says.  Jesus does solve the problem of death, however. He broke through the grave not just for himself but to bring the hope of eternal life to everyone who receives him.

            We point out to our friend that the fear of death crushes our souls and turns us into slaves, while Jesus makes us free.  He strengthens and enlarges our souls.  He gives our lives meaning.  He makes us brave.

            We finish our letter and send it off.  We aren’t surprised that a long time goes by – months and months – before we hear from our friend again.

            Then a letter arrives.  Our friend admits reading our letter quickly and putting it away, because it wasn’t what the family wanted to hear just then.  Life went along smoothly for a while, then they struck a rocky patch.  The company our friend worked for began to lose money and had to lay off workers.  “Then there’ve been illnesses,” our friend writes, “especially my mother-in-law, who’s come down with a heart disease and that news has hit us all hard.  I took out your letter and read it several times, especially where you reminded us that Jesus conquered the fear of death for us.  We started going back to church again for a while and reading the Bible.  I would have written sooner, but other things have come up.  One of our sons has got into trouble with the law. I haven’t been able to find work, and I’ve developed a cough that won’t go away.  I had a minor traffic accident yesterday.  I can’t imagine what will come next.  I don’t know how I can possibly cope with the troubles that have landed on my doorstep.  It isn’t right, but I’m starting to think that God has stopped protecting us.  Maybe he’s even picking on me.  I feel like giving up.  Can you help me?”

            This is exactly the sort of question we know how to answer, but we take a moment or two to think.  We don’t want to shoot from the hip.  We have another look at the passage from Hebrews.  We write to our friend that when Jesus shared our flesh and blood, he didn’t take on just the good side of human life.  He also took on our suffering.  He knows what it means to be alone, to be scorned, and to be hungry.  He also knows what it’s like to be tempted.  You recall that Satan tempted him in the wilderness and again in the Garden of Gethsemane, just before he was arrested and taken to trial.  “My soul is very sorrowful,” he said.  We remind our friend of the anguished prayer he offered.  “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.”  He is well-qualified to be our savior, because he suffered as we do, even in the temptation to turn away from living with God, and yet he overcame – by the strength of God that was in him.

            We tell our friend that he strengthens everyone who believes in him to overcome the temptation to drift away from the faith.  He will steady our friend and carry the family through this rough period.  He will refresh and strengthen their faith.  He will wipe away their sins and declares them to be clean and pure.  He will make them ready for his return.

            We close our letter by saying that we wish for our friend the salvation that God has prepared in the presence of all people and the peace that Jesus brought when he came to save mankind.  We invite our friend to trust that Jesus will grant our wish.  In his name we rejoice and give thanks.  AMEN.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge of Christ 
Jesus. AMEN.