John 8:31-38
500th Anniversary of the Reformation
Reformation Sunday (Observed)
October 28, 2017
Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID
This Tuesday, October 31, 2017 marks the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the Reformation. Especially for us Lutherans, this is a big deal. Our namesake, Martin Luther, nailed the 95 Theses on the castle church door in Wittenberg that sparked something unintended and unexpected.
We could spend a long time talking about Luther, his life and legacy; about Lutheranism across the ages and the world; and give ourselves a nice pat on the back for being the heirs of the Reformation. But I’m not going to do that. Luther would not have wanted any of this to be about him. So I’m not going to talk about Luther much. The Reformation is, has always been, and will always be about Jesus Christ and Him crucified for the forgiveness of sins. Christ who sets free from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil. It is about the freedom we have in the Gospel, a freedom from sin, death, and the devil that Jesus speaks about in our Gospel reading today.
“Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, ‘If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’” Some of the Jews took offense to this claiming that they have not ever been slaves. Which is really quite funny. Did they just happen to forget one of, if not the, defining event of their past: their exodus out of slavery to the Egyptians? That’s not to mention the real slavery, which is the enslavement due to your sinfulness. Make no mistake, your sin, both original sin and actual sin, condemns you to a life of slavery with a destination of hell. Denial of the truth does not negate the truth. Sin really is that bad, and it really is that serious. And there is nothing you can do to fix it or to free yourself. Freedom comes from outside of you, your deliverance comes from on high, and the real exodus is the delivery out of the bondage to sin.
All of the Jews’ past, all of their history, all of our history, leads up to and centers upon the freedom that Jesus wins upon the cross, and that this freedom is delivered to people by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. This is the truth that sets free. Now, this isn’t a subjective truth based upon popular opinion or what might feel good at the moment. This is an objective reality truth based upon the way that the Creator has made and works through and for His creation. This is a freeing truth not because it informs the mind of the way things really are, but because it frees both the body and the soul from the bondage of sin, death, and the devil. In other words, to know the truth is to know Christ, and to know Christ is to know the truth. For our Lord says elsewhere in the Gospel according to St. John, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.”
Such freedom in the Gospel does not lead to laziness. For the sake of our neighbor, we struggle against sin and the devil to love our neighbor. It is a freedom now to do the works of the Law, not in order that God might love us or that we might be “better” people, but because we are already free. Truly, we are freed from a perfection established through works, whether it be thought in this life or the condemning falsehood of purgatory. We await fulfillment in faith, where through daily dying to sin and rising to new life through faith in Christ we will be conformed to Christ. Human nature needs liberation, freedom, not self-perfection. Free will does not make one free, it only expresses the desires of the self. It is “self will.” Only Christ makes one free. Insisting on maintaining free will is not freeing, it is bondage to one’s sinful passions and desires. The Gospel is not a self-help program, it is the good News of our salvation, of our freedom from sin, from death, and from the devil, earned by Jesus upon the Cross. It is human fulfillment is outside of human hands. It is in the nailed scared hands of Jesus.
This is the theme of the Reformation. It is about Jesus, it is about the freedom of His Gospel, it is about His Word. Though the namesake of our denomination is Martin Luther, we are not disciples of Martin Luther. We are disciples of Jesus Christ. We trust in Jesus and in His Word, and we trust in much of the Reformation because it appeals to, rests its foundation upon, and proclaims God’s Word. The power of the Reformation isn’t in Luther, it isn’t in the 95 Theses, it is in the Word of God. Luther himself once stated, " In short, I will preach it, teach it, write it, but I will constrain no man by force, for faith must come freely without compulsion. Take myself as an example. I opposed indulgences and all the papists, but never with force. I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word; otherwise I did nothing. And while I slept [cf. Mark 4:26–29], or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf,6 the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses upon it. I did nothing; the Word did everything.” (LW 51:77)
As we celebrate a great Reformation anniversary this year, we cannot forget that In broader terms, 500 years is really not that long. It’s the same Gospel that has always been present, going all the way back to the Garden of Eden after the Fall. It’s the same Gospel Just as our past was, so our future will be built only upon the rock of Christ and Him crucified, and upon His Word of truth that sets free. The Word of the Lord endures forever, as we have spent so much time and prayer as we celebrate our 100th year at Zion Lutheran Church. The Word does not return to the Lord empty handed but accomplishes His purpose in sending it. The Word was made flesh and we have beheld its glory, glory in Jesus Christ. Faith comes by hearing the Word. That Word is the good news that has been proclaimed to you. You are justified solely on the basis of Christ. His righteousness is yours by virtue of faith.