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Rev. Cary M. Richert

Reformation Sunday (C)

October 28, 2007

CLINGING TO CHRIST AND HIS WORD

John 8:31-32

          He wouldn’t let go.  He couldn’t let go.  To let go would mean he was unfaithful, not to his church, but to his Lord Jesus.  His name was Martin Luther.  And what he couldn’t let go of was the powerful truth of God’s holy Word.  The church Luther grew up in … the church which schooled him as an Augustinian monk and ordained him as a priest (1507) … taught him that, he had to work together with God to achieve his salvation.

          But the Word of God, that Luther couldn’t let go of, taught him something entirely different.  It taught him that, God saves sinners by His grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ.  It taught Luther that, his earthly good works contributed absolutely nothing at all to his eternal salvation.  It taught him that, Christ alone was the sole source of his salvation … and of his hope for eternity.

          As Luther began to understand the implications of this scriptural truth in the daily life and worship of God’s people … he felt compelled to try and help the church of his day understand it as well.  Her leaders wouldn’t listen.  They wanted him to recant his teaching and his writing … and leave well-enough alone.  But, Luther couldn’t and wouldn’t let go of the truth.  Which gave rise to the 16^th century Reformation, and ultimately brought into existence the Protestant church that we’re now part of.

          Jesus teaches you and me today that we can’t let go either:  If you hold to my teaching, Jesus says in our text, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. [John 8:31-32]   You want to be My disciple?  Don’t let go of my teaching!  You want to know eternal truth?  Don’t let go of my teaching!  You want to be truly free? Don’t let go of my teaching!

          How easily fooled we can be by the prevailing wisdom of the age … its shifting sands of morality … its changing winds of modesty … its ever-evolving notion of self-determined truth.  Centuries of spiritual erosion had gutted the Church of Luther’s day.  It no longer preached and practiced the eternal truths of Scripture.  It had let go of the core of its very existence:  the pure Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The same temptation still exists.  Satan would do anything to undermine the Lord’s work through His Church.

          Luther tried to bring the Church back to her roots.  She resisted … to the point that, in her official response to the Reformation at the Council of Trent (1545) the church declared:

If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing (other) than trust in divine mercy, which (forgives) sins for Christ’s sake, or that it is this trust alone by which we are justified, let him be (condemned). ¹

          What the official church condemned in 1545 – a condemnation that, to this day, has never been retracted – is precisely what we believe!  It’s the truth taught in Holy Scripture.  It’s the truth that sets us free!  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. [Romans 3:28]   We know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. [Galatians 2:16]

          Salvation is pure gift … freely given by God’s grace alone … and received by faith alone in Jesus Christ.  It’s your most precious gift of all.  It’s also the Lord’s gift to His Church, a gift we strive to share with others in our worship … through our study of Holy Scripture … and through the wide variety of outreach ministries conducted at our beloved Redeemer – ministries described in the booklet you received recently by mail with your pledge materials.

          Today is Pledge Sunday.  Sharing the gifts of God’s love, forgiveness and salvation with others invites each of us to pledge the support of our prayers and our God-given blessings of … time … talents … and earthly treasures.  Luther reminds us that, our giving isn’t an act of compulsion … or a good work that moves God to grant us His favor and acceptance; rather, it’s an act of love and faith.  He noted that:

God is pleased when I worship and honor Him with all my heart.  Abel’s offering [Genesis 4:4] was pleasing and acceptable to God because he offered it in the fear of God and in faith … and because he strove to show his grateful heart by his gift.  For when the heart is offered, this is indeed a gift that is very gratifying to God. ²

          Why we give has much to do with what we give … and what we give says much about our relationship with the Lord.  Remember the poor widow that Jesus commended, as she brought her last two coins and placed them in the treasury box at the temple? [Mark 12:41-44]   Jesus commended her for the faith and trust in her heart, which moved her to give everything she had – 100%.  And we grumble at a tithe?!!

          God desires an offering from us:  Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows (your pledges) to the Most High. [Psalm 50:14]   As an act of faith and thanksgiving, we bring Him our tithes and offerings because we’re grateful for all He’s done for us and given to us in Christ Jesus.  We give trusting His promise:  Seek first My kingdom and My righteousness, and all these (earthly needs) will be given to you as well. [Matthew 6:33] ³

          Throughout this past month our Stewardship emphasis has focused on the theme: Don’t Let Go.  Every time I typed this theme my stubby little fingers typed: Don’t Let God … and I’ve had to delete the “d.”  And every time I deleted the “d,” I wondered if … in letting go of God and His Church, we don’t let God minister to us through His Word and through the gift of His body and blood, especially when our need for Him, His gifts and each other is greatest!

In this sacred place you're brought so close to Christ's saving work on the cross for your sins, you can feel and taste Christ's body and blood in the bread and wine of Holy Communion.  So close, you can hear our Lord speaking His words of life on the mountain and by the sea ... crying out His words of forgiveness from the cross ... sharing His words of hope and promise in the upper room.

It’s through this sacred place that, as Paul writes, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, (moves and equips us) so that we (in turn) can comfort those in any trouble with the (comforting message of God’s love and forgiveness) we ourselves have received from Him. [2 Corinthians 1:3-4]   The work we faithfully and sacrificially support with our pledges, our prayers, and our participation … is the work of Christ’s Holy Spirit carried out through His Church here at Redeemer in Birmingham.

          By His grace alone at work in Holy Baptism, our Lord called you to be His disciple.  In His Word alone He gives you the only truth that sets you free from the judgment and condemnation you deserve because of your sin.  God lays hold of you in a way that, nothing in all creation will be able to separate (you) from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Romans 8:38-39

          As His faithful disciple … will you, like Luther and our Lord’s disciples, cling tenaciously to Christ alone and His Word of forgiveness and salvation? Don’t Let Go.  HE DOESN’T!  AMEN.

NOTES:

1        Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, v.1 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1971) 460-461.

2        Ewald Plass, ed. What Luther Says, v. 1 (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959) 534-535.