Getting Back Into Shape
Sermon
Sermons on the Gospel Readings
Series III, Cycle C
Object:
Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, 'You will be made free'?"
Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
-- John 8:31-36
It is Reformation Day. Today we mark the anniversary of the day, October 31, 1517, that the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther -- monk, priest, and college professor, posted an invitation to a scholarly debate on the door of a church in northeastern Germany. It doesn't sound like a very big deal, and it's doubtful that Luther himself ever imagined it would be a big deal. But the debate Luther hoped to schedule was on the subject of the selling of indulgences, a practice that boiled down to some people saying you could buy your way into heaven for cold, hard cash, and other people going into hawk to come up with the money. Luther's sixteenth-century Post-it® Note became such a big deal because it was the church itself that was behind this ludicrous and harmful scam.
This minutely detailed piece of scholastic babble, known forever after as the 95 Theses, the 95 points of argument, raised huge, important questions about the authority of the pope, the role of the church, how we are saved, what Jesus does for us, and what it means to be a Christian. In short, everything about it mattered. The debate never happened. Some clever, unnamed printer, with a nose for what would sell to the public, took the notice down, translated it from academic Latin into everyday German, and printed off copies as fast as he could. It was like a bomb went off. Within two weeks, the sale of indulgences in Germany, once a steady stream of income, fell off to a trickle. It is the questions raised by the 95 theses, about the power of the church, about the mercy of God, about how we are made right with God that we celebrate this Reformation Day.
You get something like Reformation Day, the Fourth of July, a birthday, or anything that marks an anniversary, and it begs the question, "Is this about something that happened a long time ago, or about what's happening now?" Does the Fourth of July just remember the founding of the country, or does it celebrate the existence of the country? Does a birthday party mark only the day of a person's birth or is it a way of celebrating that person's life?
If Reformation Day is just about what happened long ago, then what's the big deal? Put the date in the encyclopedia and on the calendars and be done with it. If it's just about what's happening now, then why are we counting off the years, remembering Luther, and singing hymns written by Luther? This day, like any anniversary is, of course, about then and now.
Today we remember what Martin Luther did centuries ago -- how he questioned the practices and teaching of the medieval church and refuted the claim to authority made by the pope and the hierarchy of Christendom. Recalling how Luther and his followers got kicked out of the church for their insistence that we are saved through grace alone, through faith alone, trusting the authority of scripture alone, helps us to remember who we are and what our purpose is.
But reformation is not a once and for all deal. What God did through Luther and his followers was not the end all, but instead a rather dramatic and painful step in the ongoing process of reformation. Reformation simply means reforming -- putting back into shape again. Throughout the Old Testament God is constantly whipping Israel back into shape, using prophets and foreign armies and whatever it takes. In the New Testament, our risen Lord promises that he will be with us always, until the very end, and that the Holy Spirit will guide us, to keep us from getting bent out of shape, twisted, and perverted.
The church of Christ has people in it, and they're sinful people because that's the only kind there is. For God to choose to make his holy church out of sinful people, who wear their holiness like a bad suit, would be like someone choosing to make the Statue of Liberty out of mashed potatoes. You could never let go. You'd have to hold it together every second. And you'd forever have to be working like a maniac, constantly putting it back into shape. It would need to be reformed constantly.
"Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free' " (vv. 31-32). This is the truth of the gospel: Our salvation is free. We can't buy it with money or perfect church attendance or good deeds or good intentions or anything else. The death and resurrection of Jesus is our only hope. We can rely on Jesus Christ alone, even if we may want to rely on ourselves, our own efforts, our own will, and our own good character.
Reformation Day is not a celebration of the joys of being Lutheran. It's not an excuse for patting ourselves on the back and saying, "Look how right we are, too bad everybody else is wrong" or "Thank God we're Lutheran, 'cause we've got God all figured out." Self-congratulations might make us feel good, but it's arrogant and sinful. It limits the Holy Spirit for one thing, assuming the we have cornered the market on God, and that God speaks only to the likes of us. For another thing it assumes that Lutheranism has all the answers when in fact, probably the greatest strength of the Lutheran approach to Christianity is that it knows when to say, "I don't know." It knows it needs God's help. No, Reformation Day is not a time for Lutherans to gloat over their accomplishments and insights. Instead, Reformation Day is a joyful reminder that God holds us together every second. God constantly reforms and reshapes us. God never lets go.
Reformation Day is a day to remember that we who are God's people, if left to our own devices, will drift away from the truth. It is a day to rejoice in the fact that we are not left to our own devices. God re-forms his people. God calls us back to the truth.
The Holy Spirit came to Martin Luther in northeastern Germany to bring the gospel to light against the darkness of that age. The darkness of 1517 was the lie that you could buy your way into heaven; that you had to earn God's favor. Through Martin Luther and countless others, God called the church back to the truth.
The Holy Spirit comes to us now, sending us out into the world to bring the light of the gospel to bear against the darkness of this age. Our age, like any age, has many darknesses, but chief among these is this: We are an age that does not expect resurrection. We are an age fixated with, and terrified of death. An age where we are afraid of growing older, afraid of reaching the end of life, because we are an age that thinks that death is the end of us. We are in an age that stockpiles treasure on earth, a greedy age, that doesn't know to look for greater treasure in the world to come. We are an age without hope. We are an age that is afraid. We are an age that desperately needs to hear the good news. Ours is a world that needs reformed.
Reformation Day isn't just an anniversary or just a remembrance of what God has done in the past. It is a reminder that God is working among us now, in the present; that God is calling us forward into the future. God is reforming us now, beckoning us back to the truth, back to hope and life and forgiveness we can never earn. God is sending us out to live and speak life. Through Jesus Christ, God forgives and re-forms you and calls you to be his body, his church. Through the Holy Spirit, God reforms and holds the church. And through the church, God announces the good news and reforms the world. Amen.
Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed."
-- John 8:31-36
It is Reformation Day. Today we mark the anniversary of the day, October 31, 1517, that the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther -- monk, priest, and college professor, posted an invitation to a scholarly debate on the door of a church in northeastern Germany. It doesn't sound like a very big deal, and it's doubtful that Luther himself ever imagined it would be a big deal. But the debate Luther hoped to schedule was on the subject of the selling of indulgences, a practice that boiled down to some people saying you could buy your way into heaven for cold, hard cash, and other people going into hawk to come up with the money. Luther's sixteenth-century Post-it® Note became such a big deal because it was the church itself that was behind this ludicrous and harmful scam.
This minutely detailed piece of scholastic babble, known forever after as the 95 Theses, the 95 points of argument, raised huge, important questions about the authority of the pope, the role of the church, how we are saved, what Jesus does for us, and what it means to be a Christian. In short, everything about it mattered. The debate never happened. Some clever, unnamed printer, with a nose for what would sell to the public, took the notice down, translated it from academic Latin into everyday German, and printed off copies as fast as he could. It was like a bomb went off. Within two weeks, the sale of indulgences in Germany, once a steady stream of income, fell off to a trickle. It is the questions raised by the 95 theses, about the power of the church, about the mercy of God, about how we are made right with God that we celebrate this Reformation Day.
You get something like Reformation Day, the Fourth of July, a birthday, or anything that marks an anniversary, and it begs the question, "Is this about something that happened a long time ago, or about what's happening now?" Does the Fourth of July just remember the founding of the country, or does it celebrate the existence of the country? Does a birthday party mark only the day of a person's birth or is it a way of celebrating that person's life?
If Reformation Day is just about what happened long ago, then what's the big deal? Put the date in the encyclopedia and on the calendars and be done with it. If it's just about what's happening now, then why are we counting off the years, remembering Luther, and singing hymns written by Luther? This day, like any anniversary is, of course, about then and now.
Today we remember what Martin Luther did centuries ago -- how he questioned the practices and teaching of the medieval church and refuted the claim to authority made by the pope and the hierarchy of Christendom. Recalling how Luther and his followers got kicked out of the church for their insistence that we are saved through grace alone, through faith alone, trusting the authority of scripture alone, helps us to remember who we are and what our purpose is.
But reformation is not a once and for all deal. What God did through Luther and his followers was not the end all, but instead a rather dramatic and painful step in the ongoing process of reformation. Reformation simply means reforming -- putting back into shape again. Throughout the Old Testament God is constantly whipping Israel back into shape, using prophets and foreign armies and whatever it takes. In the New Testament, our risen Lord promises that he will be with us always, until the very end, and that the Holy Spirit will guide us, to keep us from getting bent out of shape, twisted, and perverted.
The church of Christ has people in it, and they're sinful people because that's the only kind there is. For God to choose to make his holy church out of sinful people, who wear their holiness like a bad suit, would be like someone choosing to make the Statue of Liberty out of mashed potatoes. You could never let go. You'd have to hold it together every second. And you'd forever have to be working like a maniac, constantly putting it back into shape. It would need to be reformed constantly.
"Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free' " (vv. 31-32). This is the truth of the gospel: Our salvation is free. We can't buy it with money or perfect church attendance or good deeds or good intentions or anything else. The death and resurrection of Jesus is our only hope. We can rely on Jesus Christ alone, even if we may want to rely on ourselves, our own efforts, our own will, and our own good character.
Reformation Day is not a celebration of the joys of being Lutheran. It's not an excuse for patting ourselves on the back and saying, "Look how right we are, too bad everybody else is wrong" or "Thank God we're Lutheran, 'cause we've got God all figured out." Self-congratulations might make us feel good, but it's arrogant and sinful. It limits the Holy Spirit for one thing, assuming the we have cornered the market on God, and that God speaks only to the likes of us. For another thing it assumes that Lutheranism has all the answers when in fact, probably the greatest strength of the Lutheran approach to Christianity is that it knows when to say, "I don't know." It knows it needs God's help. No, Reformation Day is not a time for Lutherans to gloat over their accomplishments and insights. Instead, Reformation Day is a joyful reminder that God holds us together every second. God constantly reforms and reshapes us. God never lets go.
Reformation Day is a day to remember that we who are God's people, if left to our own devices, will drift away from the truth. It is a day to rejoice in the fact that we are not left to our own devices. God re-forms his people. God calls us back to the truth.
The Holy Spirit came to Martin Luther in northeastern Germany to bring the gospel to light against the darkness of that age. The darkness of 1517 was the lie that you could buy your way into heaven; that you had to earn God's favor. Through Martin Luther and countless others, God called the church back to the truth.
The Holy Spirit comes to us now, sending us out into the world to bring the light of the gospel to bear against the darkness of this age. Our age, like any age, has many darknesses, but chief among these is this: We are an age that does not expect resurrection. We are an age fixated with, and terrified of death. An age where we are afraid of growing older, afraid of reaching the end of life, because we are an age that thinks that death is the end of us. We are in an age that stockpiles treasure on earth, a greedy age, that doesn't know to look for greater treasure in the world to come. We are an age without hope. We are an age that is afraid. We are an age that desperately needs to hear the good news. Ours is a world that needs reformed.
Reformation Day isn't just an anniversary or just a remembrance of what God has done in the past. It is a reminder that God is working among us now, in the present; that God is calling us forward into the future. God is reforming us now, beckoning us back to the truth, back to hope and life and forgiveness we can never earn. God is sending us out to live and speak life. Through Jesus Christ, God forgives and re-forms you and calls you to be his body, his church. Through the Holy Spirit, God reforms and holds the church. And through the church, God announces the good news and reforms the world. Amen.
