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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Again being here at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Longview to preach on this actual Reformation Day is my privilege, especially after Pilgrim hosted the service with Pastor Bragdon preaching the past two years in a row, and this year I have the additional privilege of conducting the liturgy here, thanks to Pastor Bragdon’s “conveniently” scheduling his knee‑replacement surgery for this past Monday. Over the course of my service in Christ’s ministry, I have lost track how many Reformation Days I have preached, including many times on the John 8 Gospel Reading, but, on those occasions, this Reformation Day, and always, the John 8 Gospel Reading, as all of Holy Scripture, remains timeless truth, relevant to, directly connected with and important to, our lives. Thus, our theme tonight is “Relevant Truth for all times”.
The Gospel Reading, unique to St. John’s, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s favorite, Gospel account, is part of a longer discourse between Jesus and, as the Divinely‑inspired St. John calls them, “the Jews who had believed in” Jesus. For example, the discussion about the Jews’ descent from Abraham and Jesus’s own descent continues in the verses after the Gospel Reading. Central to our Reading, however, is Jesus’s statement that those believers who abide in His Word (His whole teaching) are truly His disciples, who will know and be freed by the Truth, which is essentially the same both as His Word (confer John 17:17) and as the Son, Jesus (take v.31 with v.32), Who later in St. John’s account even says He Himself is the Truth (John 14:6; cf. 1:17).
Although already later in St. John’s Gospel account Pontius Pilate asked “What is truth?”, especially in our time, “truth” seems to be taking a beating. In our society, there are those who claim that one cannot know truth, and there are those who claim that absolute truth does not exist. (I usually ask such people if they think that 2 + 2 equals anything other than four.) Even in our congregations, there are those who, because of such things as shrinking membership and other such problems, doubt the power of the Truth of God’s Word incarnate in Jesus Christ. And, there are those who think the Truth of God’s Word is no longer relevant to, directly connected with and important to, their lives. People try to free themselves from the Truth of God’s Word instead of letting the Truth of God’s Word free them from their enslavement to sin. And, people even deny that they commit sin and so that they are enslaved to sin (without a truly free will), as Jesus tells the Jews in the Gospel Reading that they are.
Of course, we all commit sin and are enslaved to sin. The Epistle Reading appointed for Reformation Day (Romans 3:19‑28), which we heard a few moments ago, makes clear that God’s law stops every mouth and holds accountable to God the whole world, regardless of age, discernment or assent. The Divinely‑inspired St. Paul further writes that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Sin is not limited to those things said, done, and thought against the Law of God, but, apart from God, our entire natures are informed by sin (Gonzalez, III:55). And, the First Reading appointed for Reformation Day (Revelation 14:6‑7), which we also heard a few moments ago, makes clear that the hour of God’s judgment on both our sin and our sinful natures has come. We either repent and believe in Jesus or we stand condemned already, because we have not believed in the Name of the only Son of God (John 3:18).
The sixteenth‑century Reformation that began in Germany has been called the “greatest revolution in the history of the Christian church” (Walker, et al., 421). Rev. Dr. Martin Luther is generally seen as beginning that movement to restore the Church to its original purity in doctrine and life, 498 years ago today, with his 95 Theses Against the Preachers of Indulgences, sent to his “ecclesiastical supervisor” and nailed to the door (the bulletin board, as it were) of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. Today on YouTube Luther may be portrayed as a cartoon character, or on the big screen as a dashing hero, but we must not miss that at the core he was a repentant sinner seeking certainty that his sins were forgiven. Luther found that certainty in the Truth of God’s Word incarnate in Jesus Christ. Luther’s teaching is said to be so closely bound up with his life “that one cannot understand one apart from the other” (Gonzalez, III:29). The first of Luther’s 95 Theses declares truly that Jesus wills “the entire life of believers to be one of repentance” (AE 31:25), and, through the Lutheran Confessions, we today still declare truly that faith arises in, has its existence in, and grows continually in repentance (Ap IV:142, 350, 353). When we turn in sorrow from our sin, trust God to forgive our sin, and want to do better than to keep on sinning, then we, like Luther, have our sins forgiven and can be certain of it—all for the sake of the God‑man Jesus Christ.
In the Gospel Reading, Jesus says that if the Son sets us free, we will be free indeed. Jesus Himself is the Son—the Son of God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and the Son of man, born of the Virgin Mary. With His suffering and death on the cross, that same Jesus redeemed us lost and condemned creatures, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil: not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. As the Epistle Reading said, all are justified by God’s grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Even the Old Testament bears witness to the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, for all who believe. As we sang earlier in the appointed Introit for Reformation Day (Psalm 34:1-2, 11, 22; antiphon: Psalm 119:46), “The Lord redeems the life of His servants; none of those who take refuge in Him will be condemned.” Thus, God’s Word incarnate in Jesus Christ is truly relevant for all times.
To be sure, the Holy Spirit guides us into the “Relevant Truth for all times” (John 16:13). Yet, we should not expect the Holy Spirit to work apart from means. The Rev. Dr. Luther went so far as to say that “Whatever is attributed to the Spirit apart from [the] Word and Sacraments is of the devil” (Smalcald Articles, III:viii:10). In Holy Baptism, God’s true Word combines with water to send the Spirit into our hearts and so turn us from slaves to sin to children of God (Romans 6:6-7; Galatians 4:6-7). If we are not so born from above by water and the Spirit we cannot enter, much less remain in, the House or Kingdom of God forever. Those who are baptized seek out individual Holy Absolution, confessing to their pastor privately the sins they know and feel in their hearts. In his Large Catechism, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther writes that Christians should be glad to run more than a hundred miles for confession (LC “VI”:30)—not for the sake of confessing, but for the sake of receiving forgiveness from the pastor as from God Himself. And, those who are so baptized and so absolved are admitted to the Holy Communion, where they receive bread that is Christ’s Body and wine that is Christ’s blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of sins, and so also for life and salvation. Whether or not the “feast” is offered, we hunger for it, for Jesus says that whoever so feeds on His flesh and drinks His blood abides in Him (John 6:56). We so abide in Him through His Word in all its forms, and so we are truly His disciples, knowing and being set free by His “Relevant Truth for all times”. Despite shrinking membership and other such problems, we do not doubt the power of the Truth of God’s Word incarnate in Jesus Christ. We recognize the timeless relevance of that Truth for our lives, and, we, as today’s Gradual said (Psalm 48:1a, 12-14a), tell the next generation that this is God, our God forever and ever. Together we live in the forgiveness of sins—that we receive from God and extend to one another.
In a few moments we will close the service with the singing of “Lord, Keep us Steadfast in Your Word” (Lutheran Service Book 655). The hymn was apparently written by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther in the early 15-40s, when the Roman Catholic Pope and the Islamic Turks appeared to be allied against the Church of the Reformation. Originally, the hymn’s second line called on the Lord to “Restrain the murderous Pope and Turk”, but over time that line became a more‑general petition for protection from all opponents of God’s Word (Precht, 352-353). Nevertheless, we should still consider the Pope a threat. In 20‑17, on the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, Pope Francis is reportedly planning to issue a document that declares the Reformation to be over, the breach with the Lutherans and Protestants to be healed, the Gospel the groups declare to be the same. Nothing could be further from the truth, and no such document from the Pope can by itself change that. Those who abide in Jesus’s Word are truly His disciples and so know and are set free by His “Relevant Truth for all times”. United and sanctified in that Truth (John 17:17), there should be no divisions (Pieper, I:22, 107; confer I:168), but, sadly, all do not abide in His Word of Truth, and so all are not so united and sanctified. The divisions that result from their not abiding in His Word of Truth are necessary, St. Paul writes, so that those who are genuine may be recognized (1 Corinthians 11:19). May God always grant that we remain genuine, made so by His “Relevant Truth for all times”.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +