Reformation Sunday
(Year C) October
27, 2019
John 8:31-36 Romans
3:19-28 Panzer Liturgical Service
This sermon has a
little bit of something for everyone… a little history, biblical
interpretation, application, and a discipleship challenge… yeah! I’ll try not
to make your head spin too much…
I hated Western
Civilization history class when I was in school. What did that have to do with
me? It wasn’t until I was in seminary that I got why all of this history stuff
matters. And I think it will surprise you, as it did me, that my church history
books are just as important as my bible commentaries when it comes to preaching
and teaching in the church.
Two years ago, we
celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, and I was able
to study of 31 key leaders in the Protestant Reformation – which actually
started two centuries before Martin Luther came on the scene. Peter Waldo (13th
C), John Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and Girolamo Savonrola (14 C)[i] each expressed the same
concerns as published in Luther’s 95 Theses. These four, in particular, have
something in common. Each was excommunicated from the Catholic Church, and
three of the four were sentenced to death by the church for heresy. The Church
hoped that with their ouster, their followers would get back in line, accepting
Catholic doctrine as correct and infallible. In the end, it didn’t work. The
seed had already been sown.
Martin Luther, while still a rebel,
stood on the shoulders of these resisters who preceded him. This “protest” reformation
of Christianity began because good, faithful people saw how far the Church had
strayed from the teachings of Jesus. They wanted to read the Bible themselves instead
of relying on a priest for interpretation. Even before Luther, John Wycliffe in
England and Jan Hus in the current Czech Republic had translated the scripture
into their vernacular languages and paid the price with their lives. Apparently,
an educated laity was a threat to the Church.
So, what makes
Luther successful when others were not? There were a few things that Luther
had going for him that those who came before him did not.
1) Right time,
right place… The pace of the world was rapidly changing during the 16th
century. The University in Wittenberg had begun teaching the new Renaissance
curriculum alongside the classics, and other theologians were great influences
on Luther, among them Philip Melanchthon, who is buried across the aisle from
Luther in the Schloss Church. The political climate was also in flux. Luther’s
patron, Frederick the Wise, Duke of Saxony, protected Luther from the reach of
the Catholic proceedings, which sought to removed Luther permanently as a voice
for change within the Church and society.
2) The printing
press… Guttenberg’s press made quick distribution of information possible. Best
known for printing the first German bibles, he was also the largest printer of
indulgences (the church’s version of “get out of purgatory at great cost to
your loved ones”) which Luther railed against in his writings and sermons. In
reality, Luther may or may not have posted them on the church door. But he did
send them in a letter to his bishop, and by January 2018 had them printed and
distributed to anyone who would take them. It wasn’t Facebook, but very
momentous for the time.
3) He was a great
writer, scholar, teacher, and preacher. It was both his gift and calling. But
he didn’t see himself as better than others. Everyone is called to serve God in
some way. Luther wrote,
“God’s callings are mostly quite ordinary—everyday relationships in the family, workplace, church, and community—in which Christians live out their faith in love and service to their neighbors. But God sometimes works in extraordinary ways as well, and when He does, He works by means of vocation; that is, through human instruments.[ii]
In a sense, Luther
was releasing people to their live out an authentic faith, not just follow a
set of rules designed to steer people to the heavenly gates. And no matter what
Protestant tradition that any of us come from, we are a product of Luther’s
work and the ones who came before and after.
Luther wrote
volumes on doctrines described in the scripture. He is best known for his writings
on salvation by faith alone – His Preface to the Letter to the Romans
influenced many, including my own John Wesley. But he also wrote about the role
faith has in the lives of Christian believers. It was not enough to confess and
believe. Genuine faith is evidenced in everyday living.
In the reading
from John, Jesus addresses the age-old (and contemporary) problem of what it
means to be free… in the language of faith - of what it means to be saved. Is
freedom or salvation about the religion of following the rules? That’s
certainly where Jesus and the Pharisees came into conflict, over and over
again.
I think it’s what often
trips us up, too. Luther asks: Is faith about orthodoxy – right doctrine – or
is it about orthopraxy – right living?[iii] Is it about checking off
all the right boxes or how we treat our neighbors? Is it about saying we are Christian or living so that people know it without
our speaking a word?
Life in Christ is
not just about a personal relationship with Jesus or understanding Christian
doctrine. It’s also about living out Jesus’ teachings, applying them to how we
live out that faith. Ultimately, Luther looked at the way the Church was asking
people to live – by following rules and regulations, often ones not addressed
in scripture or church history, reminding us that faith is only truly fulfilled
living it day to day.
That’s why Luther’s
insistence that people be able to read the Bible for themselves is important even
to us. And yet, let’s be honest, are we faithful about picking up the bible and
reading it for ourselves? I’d say that many of us, including me, are not. I’ll
admit that on the weeks when I am preparing to teach or preach, I am immersed in
the Word. But many days, I am content to reflect on a verse or two as contained
in a small devotional, willing to check that box as “done.”
If that sounds a
little familiar, here’s a challenge for you. The New Testament book of Mark was
the first gospel written and is only about 660 verses. It can easily be read
from beginning to end in much less time than watching a college football game. If
you’re not up for reading it all in one day, ready it over a week, noting the
details that emerge as the story progresses. And if you’re really intrigued, go
on and read the gospels of Matthew and Luke – they are a little longer, but not
too much. Notice the ways they reflect the book of Mark and the ways that they
are different. See which themes run consistently throughout these three books,
and see if you can figure out what themes are different. Get a good study bible
and the possibilities are endless.
In the passage
from Romans, we see Paul connect the idea of faith with justice and
righteousness.[iv]
The church in Rome was a mixture of Jewish and Gentile Christians, trying to live
as one unified community, in spite of their different theological beginnings.
By sharing meals and ministry together, they became a new family called The Way
– which we call Church – even though the world around them didn’t understand
how they could live in harmony. Today we have some of the same concerns. It’s
easy to wall ourselves off into separate enclaves defined by gender, race,
nationality and theological beliefs. Instead, God asks us to scale those
barriers, trusting that God has called us and will be with us in the midst of
our brave new lives.
I don’t know about
you, but I go back and forth between obsessing over the news of the day and
wanting to bury my head in the sand. This means that at any time, I am likely
to be swamped with feelings of sadness, rage, panic, and fear. But even though
it’s not always evident, there is a solution to the problems of the day, one
which counts on their being a light at the end of the tunnel. And when I
started drilling down on one message we could take away with us today, I saw
that Jesus, Paul, and Martin Luther take us to the same place.
And here is where that is: That “we” is stronger than the “me.” A life of faith is the hardest work that any of us
will ever do - to acknowledge and then overcome the differences between us, but
if we allow it, the things that separate us can be our strengths instead of our
downfall. All of us bring something valuable to the table. All of us have gifts
– God-given gifts to share. And our biggest successes will come when we put our
trust in God to heal the wounds between us and make us whole again, working
from our individual strengths, contributing to the common good with a common
love for Christ.
People often ask
me why a liturgical worship service means so much to me. After all, we are
worshiping each Sunday with a liturgy that goes back over 1000 years. They ask,
“Don’t you get tired of praying the same prayers, and knowing exactly what’s
going to come next?” Time and again, I am able to say that those are exactly
the things that make the experience so meaningful for me. Just because we sing
the same hymns often or pray the same words every week, it doesn’t mean they
get old. The Spirit breathes life into them over and over, making them new
again and again.
The world is in a
lot of turmoil these days, and I think we’re all looking for a sense that we’re
not fighting an unwinnable battle. Reformation comes when we gather our courage
and step out in faith that God speaks truth to us all, often replacing the certainty of the known and the comfortable, for trusting God in the middle of the
unfamiliar, unafraid to face the future which looks different, but in a good
way.
Reformation
doesn’t mean dumping out everything old from the Church in an effort to take on
new things just for the sake of change. Reformation means being willing to be
re-formed… to be made new… and trusting that with God beside us, freedom and
righteousness are ours to claim and use for growing the Kingdom of God.
David Lose,
Lutheran pastor and former president of Lutheran Theological Seminary in
Philadelphia sums it up this way:
Perhaps the best way to celebrate the Reformation is not to celebrate it at all, but rather to repeat it. To remember both halves of Paul’s mighty words, first the difficult truth that “all have sinned and fallen short” in order to hear the blessed news that “all are now justified by God’s grace as a gift.” For here, indeed, is a truth that sets you free. And it is a truth that still has the capacity to change lives, the church, and indeed the whole world. [v]
May God send us into the
world to be a reformation people. Amen.
Peace, Deb
(c) Deb Luther Teagan 2019
(c) Deb Luther Teagan 2019
[iii]
Samuel Cruz, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3451
[iv]
Jane Patterson, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3448
(Good church history resource –
www.christianhistoryinstitute.org)
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