The Lutheran Reformation: A Matter of Life & Death
[Jesus said:] “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.” “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Matthew 11:12–15).
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for giving us your precious Word, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. As John pointed to Christ, and Luther to the Word, may we keep our eyes ever on your Word of truth which points us to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. May your Word endure all attacks from within and without, and the message of salvation by grace alone continue to be boldly proclaimed for the comfort of every troubled sinner. In Jesus name. Amen!
I.N.I.
Justification by grace alone through faith is a matter of life and death.
David says, “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge” (Psalm 51:4).
Justification by grace through faith is a matter of life and death. David confesses in Psalm 51, that the sins that we commit are against a holy God. Our sins are evil in his sight. God is right and just in his judgement of our sin. So, what are we to do? We, who deserve God’s judgment? All Christians, along with David sing, “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.”
Justification by grace alone through faith is a matter of life and death. David knew he could not save himself. He knew his life could not live up to the requirement of God’s holy law. David put his life in God’s hands. He put his hope in God’s promise! “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ And You forgave the iniquity of my sin” (Psalm 32:5).
The Lutheran Reformation was a matter of life and death. At the heart and center of the Reformation was the question: How does a sinner become a saint? How can I be justified before God? This important question—a matter of life and death—will be the topic of our sermon this morning.
At first thought, this seems like a peculiar lesson for Reformation Sunday. And in some respects, it is. Why not have a passage from John 8, Ephesians 2, or something in Romans? In our lesson, Jesus speaks about the kingdom of heaven and how John the Baptizer is the Elijah who is to come. Elijah was a faithful prophet. He preached the truth at the cost of political disfavor and the risk of his own life. Elijah upset the theological establishment because he condemned their false religion and convicted them of their own sin. They knew that Elijah preached God’s Word. That’s why they hated him. That’s why they sought his life. He hid in a cave afraid for his life.
John the Baptizer, like Elijah, was a faithful prophet. He preached the truth. He did not bend to the whims of society. He was God’s messenger. He preached the truth whether with was to the religious elite or the king. He called king Herod to repentance for committing adultery with his brother’s wife. That’s why Herod had John thrown in prison. Now John sat in prison, waiting to be beheaded by Herod.
From Malachi to John God sent no prophets. 400 years of spiritual draught. When John began to preach God’s Word, which was so different from what they had been hearing, people listened. Luther was much the same. He was a preacher of truth at a time when the truth of God’s Word was so abused. And for this reason, when the early Lutherans began to observe Reformation as a festival in the church, they chose this Gospel lesson. Luther was another Elijah. He was another John the Baptizer. He preached God’s Word regardless of the risk of his own life.
The beginning of the Reformation is familiar to many, but it is worth retelling. On October 31st, 1517, Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. In these statements, he voiced his concern over the misuse of papal indulgences, which are pieces of paper that supposedly set souls free from purgatory. People bought indulgences for their loved ones who they had been taught to believe were trapped in purgatory. John Tetzel, an indulgence salesman made this promise to those who bought his indulgences: “As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.” Indulgences confused the preaching of Christ crucified for us and misdirected peoples’ trust away from Jesus to their own works.
At the core of this issue was repentance and faith. The church had substituted its traditions for the gospel. It taught people to trust in superstitious works rather than Christ and his forgiveness. What began with the nailing of the 95 theses became what we know today as the Reformation.
At the heart and center of the Reformation was the most important question that can be asked: how does a sinner become a saint? On what basis, will God let me into heaven? The Medieval Catholic church taught that if you do the best you can do, God will give you grace to do better, and by cooperating with God’s grace, you will become good enough for God. However, if you do not become good enough for God in this lifetime, you would go to purgatory when you die and would there complete the process of becoming a saint through penance.
This false teaching of salvation is based on works. It emphasizes what you do for God, rather than what God has done for you. It causes doubt and despair. Am I good enough? Have I done enough? This is exactly the effect it had on Martin Luther. He was a devoted monk in the monastery. He fervently prayed and studied the word. But he was distressed! The more he tried to live according to God’s Law, the more he realized his inability to keep it. This caused Luther great anxiety and uncertainty regarding his salvation. Luther struggled because he recognized his sin and his inability to keep the Law.
Through his study of the Bible, Luther learned that God justifies sinners, he declares them righteous, not by anything we do, but only on account of what Jesus did for us. As Paul says in Romans 3,
“Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith . . . that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. . . . Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
When Luther understood that the righteousness that God demands is given us in Christ, he said, it was as if he had entered paradise itself! God freely gives us the forgiveness of sins. We can’t buy, sell, or earn it. Jesus paid the price in full with his death on the cross. Jesus was exactly what John the Baptizer proclaimed him to be, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world!”
In our text, Jesus says, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” This may seem like an unusual way to describe Christ’s humble believers—to say that they are violent and take the kingdom of heaven by force. But this is exactly the nature of true faith. Saving faith must be active and busy clinging to Christ alone in the face of its enemies, or it is lost. When people don’t trust the Gospel or realize the treasure they have and the comfort it brings, they lose it all.
But where there is true faith, living faith in our living Lord Jesus, who died to redeem us and who lives forever to protect and save us, then there is confidence in forgiveness and the inheritance of eternal life. The faithful, cling to the Gospel with their life—because they know it is a matter of life and death. Even if a Christian is offered the world they wouldn’t let go of the Gospel—because they know that in Jesus, they have everything!
But how does such a tenacious faith come to a person? How is it that we come to believe and trust in our Savior? Jesus said in our lesson, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” The faith that takes the kingdom of heaven by force and clings to the merits of Jesus, doesn’t happen by chance nor is it obtained by our own will and effort. Rather, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation because the Gospel has the power to create faith in the Gospel. When our Lord speaks forgiveness to us and commands us to believe it, he also works in us the faith to believe it. We believe, but it is the work of God. And that work, is a wonderful thing.
For this saving faith in Christ produces joy, peace, and courage. God worked in Luther the faith to stand on the Word of God before Charles V, the most powerful man in the world, and say, “If, then, I am not convinced by proof from Holy Scripture, or by cogent reasons… I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand; I cannot do otherwise; God help me! Amen.”
The Lutheran Reformation was a matter of life and death. Luther stood before kings and emperors and was willing to lose his life, because he would not give up the forgiveness he had in Christ. He would not give up the biblical teaching that we are justified by grace. That God—outside of our works and person—has declared us righteous on Christ’s behalf. As Paul clearly teaches, “But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness” (Romans 4:5).
Every generation must learn the importance of standing on God’s Word. As one sainted ELS pastor said, earthly treasurers are easily passed from one generation to the next, but the treasure we have in the Gospel can easily be lost. At a time when Christianity is in decline, Christians are tempted more than ever to ignore differences in teaching and doctrine and come together. They say we are splitting hairs when we say there are differences in teaching. But theological error is like the course of a ship—a little variance in the direction of the ship can have great effects on the final trajectory toward the destination. Any deviation from God’s Word will lead the ship off course and into stormy waters.
Therefore, dear Christians, stand on the Word of God. The Word of God that proclaims forgiveness and peace in Christ alone. It is a matter of life and death. Scripture teaches us to rely on Jesus, who came into this world to save sinners. He gave his life so we wouldn’t have to. He rose again from the dead, conquering death, and giving us our future hope of eternal life with God in heaven. God grant us faith to cling to the Gospel truth, boldly proclaim it, and share it as a comfort to other sinners in need: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8–9). For then, if our ship is guided on the Word of God with Christ alone as our banner, we are safely headed for the harbor of heaven. Amen!
S.D.G.