Sermon - Reformation Day - John 8:31-36

 

“Reformation Truth”

A blessed and joyous Reformation Day to you.  This special Sunday is observed, particularly in Lutheran churches, because of the historical significance of October 31^st, 1517.  An Augustinian monk named Martin Luther posted 95 theses, or statements for debate on the castle church door in Wittenburg Germany.

And while it seems that something 500 years ago is far off and might be well forgotten, we give thanks to God not so much for a man named Luther, but what the Lord of the Church accomplished through him and the other reformers.

Oh sure there are many ways to look at the Reformation.  You could see it as a great story of standing up for what you believe in against powerful institutions.  Or a tale about the courage of one’s convictions.  Or the triumph of the individual over the giant faceless bureaucracy.  But that’s not really why we still set aside a whole Sunday for this.

You see Reformation Day is all about truth.  The Truth of the Gospel.  The same truth that we hear about in our reading from Revelation 14 – where an angel is depicted with an “eternal gospel”.  The truth of God good news for us in Jesus Christ, you see, never changes.  It’s the same truth Paul writes about in Romans 3 – that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works of the law.  It was true for Paul back then.  It was true for Abraham before him, saved by grace through faith.  And it’s true for us even now, even today.

It’s also the truth that Jesus talks about in John 8, our Gospel reading today.  The truth that sets you free.  Here’s one of those sayings that many people repeat and probably don’t know it comes from the Bible – or even that it’s Jesus who said it, “The truth will set you free!”

But Jesus isn’t talking about the truth in general.  Although we are certainly in favor of that.  We even teach truth as one of the core values at our classical school – truth, goodness and beauty – the overarching principles of classical education.  I think Jesus would be in favor of all that.

But what he’s talking about here is the truth with a capital T.  The truth of God’s word.  And that word really has two parts, two sides as a coin.

Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.  That’s the bad news.  It’s what we Lutherans call the law.  And it stops every mouth so that no one has an excuse.  All have sinned and fall short of God’s perfect law.  No one is righteous, not one.  No one can be justified by works of the law, because we all break the law every day in many ways.  Or as Jesus puts it, “anyone who sins is a slave to sin.” And “a slave has no permanent place in the house”.

This is part of the Reformation truth that Luther rediscovered.  That all the works and rituals and traditions of the church, all the penance performed and all the money donated, even the formal and flowery documents of indulgence issued on the authority of the pope himself – that all of it was rubbish.  Worthless.  None of it can save you.  We can never do enough good works to make up for our sins.  We can never stop sinning anyway, and so our debt is far too great for us to pay.  Our situation, on our own, before God, is without hope.  We are in bondage – slaves to sin.

But Paul didn’t leave us without hope.  And Luther finally rediscovered that hope.  And Jesus of course always held out that hope – the hope of the Gospel which is the very power of God for salvation.  The good news that even though you can’t save yourself, Jesus has done it all for you! 

Even though you are a slave to sin, he is the Son – the Son of God and the Son of Man – the one, the only one who can free you from sin and death and hell.  The only one who’s good works are good enough for God.  The only one who’s blood can cover sin.

This Jesus is the truth that sets you free.  And if you abide in his word, you know him. 

Abide.  There’s a funny word.  It means to live in it, remain in it, to sort of soak yourself thoroughly in his word.  So that the word of God is never far from you – but always in your ear, on your lips, in your heart.  This is why we rehearse it with our children – and teach it in our catechism.  So that they, too, will abide in the word of Christ, know the truth, and that truth will set them free. 

No, it doesn’t mean that we never sin again.  Christians still do.  Though rather than making a practice of sin, a lifestyle of sin, rather than running headlong into sin full steam ahead – the Christian is different. 

If we abide in the truth of the Gospel, we will begin to see sin as something alien to us – not a part of who God has made us in Christ to be.  And so we struggle against our sins.  We wrestle with them.  And we live in repentance – confessing our sins to Christ the Son who always stands ready with his forgiveness.  And so the first of Luther’s 95 theses got it right, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, ``Repent'' (Mt 4:17), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.”

Luther lived at a time when the church had largely forgotten all this.  They began to abide in other things than his word.  But God worked through this German monk with all his flaws and shortcomings, and the Gospel truth of Salvation by grace alone rang out clear once again.

Another important Reformation Day truth clarifies where we go for this truth.  The pope in Rome claimed to speak for Christ, and with him the Church claimed to speak for God – even over against Scripture.  Church tradition and customs usurped the clear and simple words of the Bible in many ways.  A course correction was long overdue.  And so the reformers rallied around the slogan, “Sola Scriptura”, that is “Scripture Alone”.  Scripture alone is our source of Christian teaching.  Scripture alone is infallible and finally trustworthy.  Popes and councils can and do go wrong.  But God’s word will never lead us astray. 

So when Jesus says “abide in my word and you will know the truth”, we hear an encouragement to read our bibles, trust God’s word, and know follow what he teaches us there – and not to hold blindly to the traditions and teachings of man. 

Of course this is also true for Martin Luther, too.  Much of what Luther taught and preached was good and right and true.  And for that we give thanks to God.  But some of what he said and did was frankly quite embarrassing.  We must remember, our faith is in Christ, not Luther.  Our trust is in Christ’s word, not Luther’s word.  When Luther agrees with Christ, we agree with Luther.  But when Luther departs and falls short, we stick with Jesus Christ.

Which brings us to another great truth of the reformation, “Solus Christus” or “Christ Alone”

A faith based on the Bible, a faith that is right and true, is a faith that trusts Christ alone, and knows salvation through Christ alone.

The truth is there is no salvation outside of Christ.  Certainly not in ourselves.  Not in any other god.  Not in any idea or philosophy or religion or ism.  Jesus says it himself, “I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father by through me”.

But it’s not Jesus “plus-something” either.  Jesus plus your good works.  Jesus plus your commitment. Jesus plus you agreeing to accept him into your heart.  Oh no.  Salvation by grace alone through faith alone is in Christ ALONE.  You can’t add anything to what Jesus has already done for you.  He has done it all.  His work is sufficient.  His sacrifice was perfect.  His blood atones for all your sin.

We thank God on this Reformation day for reforming and sustaining his church.  Luther faced his challenges.  We face our own.  In a day and age when truth itself is under fire, and some question if truth even exists – may we continue to abide in the word of Christ and rejoice in the truth.  Thanks be to God for salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone – the truth of the Gospel that sets us free!