Reformation Sunday
Preaching
Lectionary Preaching Workbook
Series VII, Cycle A
Object:
Seasonal Theme
See theme for this day.
Theme For The Day
We have freedom from sin by what God has done for us, though we are undeserving, on the cross of Christ.
Old Testament Lesson
Jeremiah 31:31-34
God Forgives
Here the writer promises a restoration of the covenant between God and Israel. Jesus used this which is also found in Ezekiel 36:24-28 to say that there is a new covenant this time with humankind rather than Israel. In this renewed covenant Jeremiah claims we will do the right thing not so much because it is the law, but rather, because of an inner conviction and desire. Verse 33b is the heart of the matter, what's on our hearts, and God is our God. Then the marvelous promise of 34b: "I will forgive their sins and forget the evil things they have done." A promise to celebrate for, while not perfect, we are forgiven.
New Testament Lesson
Romans 3:19-28
Acceptable To God
Paul is laying out his theology for the church at Rome which he has not met yet. This passage is entirely about how a person becomes acceptable to God. It is not by keeping the law. It is by having faith in Jesus Christ. We all fall way short of keeping the law. Our acceptability to God is entirely dependent on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We are treated much better than we deserve. The Christ sets us free from our sins and accepts us because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, not our being good people. Three metaphors Paul uses are worth noting:
1. From the legal system (diakioun) we often translate justification. Verse 22 is translated in the Contemporary English Version as "God treats us better than we deserve." The treat here is to reckon or to account someone as something. So we are "treated" as if we are good people.
2. The metaphor from sacrifice (hilasterion). It is a verb which has to do with sacrifice. The person who broke the law had to bring a sacrifice. Jesus Christ did that sacrifice for all us.
3. A metaphor from slavery (apolutrosis), a ransoming or liberating. We were in the power of sin and Jesus liberated us from it.
So we have the conclusion, as Luther claimed later in the sixteenth century reformation, that there is nothing we do to gain our freedom from sin, but accept what God has done for us to make us acceptable to God.
The Gospel
John 8:31-36
Being A Disciple
The Jews insisted that their status as descendants of Abraham would see them through the final resurrection. Jesus rejected that as his cousin John had earlier (Matthew 3:7-10; Luke 3:7-9). Salvation comes only to those who believe in the Christ. This is the truth that sets us free.
Here we have a passage which really lays out what it means to be a disciple: There must be faith in him; obedience to what he teaches; being well grounded in the scripture; having a growing awareness of truth; and a freedom from sin. The slavery of sin is broken and we are free to reach our full created potential (v. 36).
Preaching Possibilities
A. Of course, a theme of freedom runs through these passages. Jeremiah 31:31-34 speaks of freedom from the consequences of breaking the law in Romans 3:19-28; there is a freedom about whether we are acceptable to God. If we believe we are acceptable. And John 8:31-36 claims we are saved by knowing the truth that God saves us and we are to be Christ's disciples. Knowing that truth gives us a certain freedom to be the disciples we ought to be.
B. The Romans passage is an opportunity to speak of the main Reformation passage that deals with how we are saved. It influenced Martin Luther in the sixteenth century to place the 95 Thesis on the Wittenberg Castle Church door on October 31, 1517 (Halloween). This text lends itself to use while telling the story of the Reformation and the theology which reshaped much of the Christian Church.
1. We are saved by grace alone.
2. Our authority is the scripture alone.
3. Everyone is a priest in God's sight.
C. The truths Luther held set us free to be disciples and children of God not in slavery to anyone or to sin itself. That's really free! What Luther pointed to in Romans, the prophet Jeremiah had already promised years before (Jeremiah 31:34b).
You could begin with that prophecy of Jeremiah and tell how what Jeremiah promised had come true according to Paul in Romans and what Jesus pointed out in John's Gospel makes us really free.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
1. Begin with some history of Martin Luther's religious experience, guilt, and discovery of God's grace for salvation as mentioned in the Romans passage.
2. Now tell how others had made the same discovery long before Luther:
a. The prophet Jeremiah was sure of the coming of a new deal with God much more than keeping the Law (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and Ezekiel agreed (Ezekiel 36:24-28).
b. Now move to the Romans 3 passage and tell of Paul's introducing himself and his theology to the Roman Christians whom he hoped to visit soon. Saul converted from a Jew to a Christian and discovered freedom from guilt of sin and trying to keep the law.
c. Now move to the words of Jesus recorded by John and tell of what those words of freedom meant to the disciples who heard them.
d. Then return to Luther and how that newly discovered freedom affected him and "Lutherans" who came after him.
e. Now close by telling what you believe this freedom means to your congregation today.
3. What should we celebrate, try to do better, and begin anew because we are freed children of the Reformation?
Prayer Of The Day
We celebrate your messengers today who have given us the word we are free: people like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Paul, John, the disciples, Jesus, and even Wittenberg's Martin Luther. Inspire us to continue the good news that we are saved by what you did for us on the cross and so we are free people. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.
Possible Stories
November 11 is Saint Martin's Day, when Martin Luther was baptized at the age of one day in Saints Peter and Paul Church in Eisleben, Germany. A swan stands in his birth house nearby to remind us of Jan Hus, who was 100 years ahead of Luther and said, before being burned at the stake for heresy, "You can cook this old goose, but a gander will come you cannot silence." In many places in the world (like South America), the swan is a symbol of Lutheranism.
In 1719 the king offered what was called an "Act of Grace" to all pirates in the Caribbean. Calico Jack, one of the most notorious, took the offer. If they would give up their pirate's life, the king would give them amnesty and some land to settle on. It is an offer Jesus works on God's behalf from the cross.
Ralph Klein told the Senior Pastors Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, that the custom of raising the hand as a pledge we are free came from the practice of raising arms to show there are no tattoos on the arms which would signal we are slaves. See Ezekiel 37:12. In Christ there is a freedom.
The Chinese symbols for a Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Hong Kong are three: faith, justification, and meeting. So their church is a meeting of those justified by faith.
See theme for this day.
Theme For The Day
We have freedom from sin by what God has done for us, though we are undeserving, on the cross of Christ.
Old Testament Lesson
Jeremiah 31:31-34
God Forgives
Here the writer promises a restoration of the covenant between God and Israel. Jesus used this which is also found in Ezekiel 36:24-28 to say that there is a new covenant this time with humankind rather than Israel. In this renewed covenant Jeremiah claims we will do the right thing not so much because it is the law, but rather, because of an inner conviction and desire. Verse 33b is the heart of the matter, what's on our hearts, and God is our God. Then the marvelous promise of 34b: "I will forgive their sins and forget the evil things they have done." A promise to celebrate for, while not perfect, we are forgiven.
New Testament Lesson
Romans 3:19-28
Acceptable To God
Paul is laying out his theology for the church at Rome which he has not met yet. This passage is entirely about how a person becomes acceptable to God. It is not by keeping the law. It is by having faith in Jesus Christ. We all fall way short of keeping the law. Our acceptability to God is entirely dependent on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. We are treated much better than we deserve. The Christ sets us free from our sins and accepts us because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross, not our being good people. Three metaphors Paul uses are worth noting:
1. From the legal system (diakioun) we often translate justification. Verse 22 is translated in the Contemporary English Version as "God treats us better than we deserve." The treat here is to reckon or to account someone as something. So we are "treated" as if we are good people.
2. The metaphor from sacrifice (hilasterion). It is a verb which has to do with sacrifice. The person who broke the law had to bring a sacrifice. Jesus Christ did that sacrifice for all us.
3. A metaphor from slavery (apolutrosis), a ransoming or liberating. We were in the power of sin and Jesus liberated us from it.
So we have the conclusion, as Luther claimed later in the sixteenth century reformation, that there is nothing we do to gain our freedom from sin, but accept what God has done for us to make us acceptable to God.
The Gospel
John 8:31-36
Being A Disciple
The Jews insisted that their status as descendants of Abraham would see them through the final resurrection. Jesus rejected that as his cousin John had earlier (Matthew 3:7-10; Luke 3:7-9). Salvation comes only to those who believe in the Christ. This is the truth that sets us free.
Here we have a passage which really lays out what it means to be a disciple: There must be faith in him; obedience to what he teaches; being well grounded in the scripture; having a growing awareness of truth; and a freedom from sin. The slavery of sin is broken and we are free to reach our full created potential (v. 36).
Preaching Possibilities
A. Of course, a theme of freedom runs through these passages. Jeremiah 31:31-34 speaks of freedom from the consequences of breaking the law in Romans 3:19-28; there is a freedom about whether we are acceptable to God. If we believe we are acceptable. And John 8:31-36 claims we are saved by knowing the truth that God saves us and we are to be Christ's disciples. Knowing that truth gives us a certain freedom to be the disciples we ought to be.
B. The Romans passage is an opportunity to speak of the main Reformation passage that deals with how we are saved. It influenced Martin Luther in the sixteenth century to place the 95 Thesis on the Wittenberg Castle Church door on October 31, 1517 (Halloween). This text lends itself to use while telling the story of the Reformation and the theology which reshaped much of the Christian Church.
1. We are saved by grace alone.
2. Our authority is the scripture alone.
3. Everyone is a priest in God's sight.
C. The truths Luther held set us free to be disciples and children of God not in slavery to anyone or to sin itself. That's really free! What Luther pointed to in Romans, the prophet Jeremiah had already promised years before (Jeremiah 31:34b).
You could begin with that prophecy of Jeremiah and tell how what Jeremiah promised had come true according to Paul in Romans and what Jesus pointed out in John's Gospel makes us really free.
Possible Outline Of Sermon Moves
1. Begin with some history of Martin Luther's religious experience, guilt, and discovery of God's grace for salvation as mentioned in the Romans passage.
2. Now tell how others had made the same discovery long before Luther:
a. The prophet Jeremiah was sure of the coming of a new deal with God much more than keeping the Law (Jeremiah 31:31-34) and Ezekiel agreed (Ezekiel 36:24-28).
b. Now move to the Romans 3 passage and tell of Paul's introducing himself and his theology to the Roman Christians whom he hoped to visit soon. Saul converted from a Jew to a Christian and discovered freedom from guilt of sin and trying to keep the law.
c. Now move to the words of Jesus recorded by John and tell of what those words of freedom meant to the disciples who heard them.
d. Then return to Luther and how that newly discovered freedom affected him and "Lutherans" who came after him.
e. Now close by telling what you believe this freedom means to your congregation today.
3. What should we celebrate, try to do better, and begin anew because we are freed children of the Reformation?
Prayer Of The Day
We celebrate your messengers today who have given us the word we are free: people like Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Paul, John, the disciples, Jesus, and even Wittenberg's Martin Luther. Inspire us to continue the good news that we are saved by what you did for us on the cross and so we are free people. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.
Possible Stories
November 11 is Saint Martin's Day, when Martin Luther was baptized at the age of one day in Saints Peter and Paul Church in Eisleben, Germany. A swan stands in his birth house nearby to remind us of Jan Hus, who was 100 years ahead of Luther and said, before being burned at the stake for heresy, "You can cook this old goose, but a gander will come you cannot silence." In many places in the world (like South America), the swan is a symbol of Lutheranism.
In 1719 the king offered what was called an "Act of Grace" to all pirates in the Caribbean. Calico Jack, one of the most notorious, took the offer. If they would give up their pirate's life, the king would give them amnesty and some land to settle on. It is an offer Jesus works on God's behalf from the cross.
Ralph Klein told the Senior Pastors Conference in Scottsdale, Arizona, that the custom of raising the hand as a pledge we are free came from the practice of raising arms to show there are no tattoos on the arms which would signal we are slaves. See Ezekiel 37:12. In Christ there is a freedom.
The Chinese symbols for a Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Hong Kong are three: faith, justification, and meeting. So their church is a meeting of those justified by faith.
