Homily for Reformation Day (Observed) - 2020

"Free Indeed"

John 8:31-36

 

Jesus says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

Talk of freedom resonates with us Americans; our ears perk up. We love our liberty. Freedom is our national middle name, our country’s heart and soul, our very DNA. Everything from the year 1776 to the Fourth of July every year to freedom of speech and religious liberty proclaims our love for liberty. But when we talk of freedom, we must ask two crucial questions: 1) Free from what? and 2) Free for what?

In our national experience, our love of liberty is rooted in freedom from government tyranny—that is, from government presuming it knows better than you how to run your life for you. Think King George, Great Britain, and burdensome taxes and regulations in the late 1700s. Building on the notion that all people are created equal, our American founders built a governing system “of the people, by the people, for the people,” as Abraham Lincoln would say a century later. Think freedom for living by the God-given rights of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” which means keeping your property.

In our Gospel, we hear of a different, deeper freedom. Jesus  teaches some Jews who had believed Him. They’ve heard His teaching and they believe that He is God’s promised Messiah. Exactly what they understood that to mean may be up for debate. So Jesus begins His sermon: “If you abide in My word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” At that all ears perked up. “Will set you free?” These good Jewish believers thought they were already free. We good Americans think that we are already free. What does Jesus mean by “free”? Free from what?

The Jewish believers who listened to Jesus could not stomach being told they were slaves. They pushed back: “We…have never been enslaved to anyone.” On the surface we might say, “Oh yeah?” Had they conveniently forgotten their forefathers who lived in Egyptian slavery  for 400 years? What of their ancestors who lived in Babylonian exile for 70 years? Must have slipped their minds. Did they have blinders on to the Roman Empire occupying their backwater little country even as they spoke?

Or they may have been thinking of something else. Even when they were enslaved in Egypt, they could claim they still belonged only to the God of Israel. Even when they were exiled in Babylon, they still belonged to and served Yahweh. Even as they lived under Roman rule, their self-proclaimed allegiance was to the true God.

Either way, Jesus had to redirect their focus. They were forgetting one undeniable truth—slavery to sin. We also conveniently forget that we are, in fact, slaves to sin. As Jesus says, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” We all commit our sins—insensitive words or deeds, uncaring, spiteful thoughts and feelings, neglecting to care for family or friends, gossip, greed, and so on. Jesus wants us to “abide in His word,” His word of truth. But we succumb to the slavery of our society and question if there is such a thing as absolute truth. We say with our fellow slaves in society, “What’s true for you is not true for me.”

Jesus wants us to abide in His Word. He wants us to remain in His truth. He wants us to dwell in His message of the liberated life. But all we need to do is examine our daily routines and priorities. Daily routines of work and school tend to crowd out time spent dwelling in Jesus’ Word. Our slavery to our schedules drives us to say, “I don’t have time for worship, for Bible study, for family prayer.” We are slaves to thinking we are in control of all things in life. We are slaves to our calendars, our commitments, and our self-imposed goals and priorities. We are slaves to the very computers, devices, and smart phones that are supposed to make life more free. We are slaves to ourselves—to imagining that we must control everything in life, even God Himself.

So Jesus says, “the slave does not remain in the house forever.” No slave—no sinner—gets to dwell in God’s house—that is, no sinner-slave who is not freed by Christ Himself. Our sins hang around our necks and weigh us down. Our guilt for putting ourselves in the place of God shackles us down. We cannot move. We need help. We need Someone to liberate us.

So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Jesus Christ, true Son of God in the flesh, comes to set you free. How so? By taking the chains of your sin and your guilt off of you and putting them on Himself. And He takes not only your chains, but also the chains of the people around you, the chains of all people of all times and all places. These chains of sin shackled Jesus to the cross. And bound there by His eternal love for you and for all people, He was crushed under the burden. But then He rose from the dead. And you are free. Free from what? Free from sin, free from a guilty conscience.

Now we can ask: Free for what? Luther and the Reformation give us a great blessing: the Church always refocusing on God’s unshackled grace in Christ Jesus. In Christ we have all of God’s boundless mercy and love. In Christ Jesus we have freedom from sin, death, and hell. Now what? Now that we no longer have to impress God, butter Him up, or buy Him off, how do we go about life? For what are we free?

It’s sad but true that in our liberty-loving land of America, freedom has come to mean “free to do whatever I want.” Many in our land love freedom so much that they trash and defame the very country that gives them freedom. It’s even sadder that we Christians do the same with God’s rich, sweet, life-giving mercy. How often do we use the freedom of our Lord’s forgiveness to slip back into our sinful ways? What of the times when we either think or act as though hearing our Lord’s Word and receiving His Body and Blood were somehow optional, rather than necessary for life?

St. Paul captured this dilemma. “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!” (Rom. 6:1-2) Shall we use our freedom from sin to sin all the more? Of course not! St. Paul goes on: “Having been set free from sin, you become slaves of righteousness.” (Rom. 6:18). Yes, you are freed from sin for living a better life, a different kind of life. You are freed from service to self so that you may live as God designed you to live.

Luther expressed it this way during the Reformation: “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” Here’s the paradox of our freedom in Christ. We are free before God—free from sin, guilt, and eternal death. We are completely free to relax in God’s presence. At the same time, we are also free for living as God’s servants. We are completely free to practice the kind of humanity that God designed for us. That means trusting God above all things and serving our neighbors in love.

For what has Christ set you free? He has set you free for service to other people. You are free to serve one another. Parents, you are free to serve your children, especially by teaching them God’s life-giving Word. Children, you are free to serve your parents by honoring and obeying them. Workers and students, you are free to put your best efforts into your work. Supervisors and managers, you are free to take care of your workers. As Christians—God’s free forgiven people—you are free to be slaves—slaves to people around you, free for service.

By God’s grace, may it be so for you—free from sin before God, free for service to your neighbor. If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. Amen.

 

Homily for Reformation Day (Observed) - 2019

"Pressing Forward Forcefully"
Matthew 11:12-19

When God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, it was like a commander-in-chief ordering the Navy Seals to make a first strike. When that first strike comes, you can be sure of two things. First, the battle is engaged. Second, the enemy will fight back.

Perhaps this mental picture can help us grasp Jesus’ perplexing words in our Gospel: “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”

Jesus has just selected His twelve apostles. He has given them “authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction” (Mt. 10:1). Then Jesus sent those twelve apostles out to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Their mission? “Proclaim…, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons’” (Mt. 10:7-8). Their promise from the Lord? “Everyone who acknowledges Me before men, I also will acknowledge before My Father who is in heaven” (Mt. 10:32). Jesus even tied their mission to His divine incursion: “Whoever receives you receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent me” (Mt. 10:40). Now, you know the enemy—Satan and his minions—doesn’t much like such incursions into its tyrannical domain.

After instructing His twelve disciples, Jesus Himself went on preaching and teaching. He was continuing His divine first strike of invading enemy-held territory. After all, He came to rescue and restore it. Then comes the question from John the Baptist. It’s the story we hear in Advent. As John sits in prison and awaits his execution, he wonders if Jesus is in fact the Coming One—the Divine Invader—who comes to rescue all humanity, or if we should look for another. Keep your ears, your heart, and your mind focused on Jesus’ answer: “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Mt. 11:4-6). And you know the enemy doesn’t much like that!

Jesus then asks the crowds about John. What did they go out to see? Someone who swayed with the shifting winds of public opinion? Nope. Some softie dressed in nice clothes walking the halls of power? Nope. Instead, when John came, they saw none other than God’s own messenger sent to prepare the way for the Lord—for the Divine First-Strike Team in the flesh. “Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than [John]” (Mt. 11:11).

This is what leads us to Jesus’ perplexing words about the kingdom “suffering violence.” What in the world is He talking about?!

When Jesus comes into the world, the world, the devil, and even our sinful flesh don’t like it much. Yet He still comes. And when He comes, the kingdom comes. Jesus, the kingdom of heaven incarnate, presses forward forcefully into this world—a world enslaved by sin, death, and devil. When He does, you know the battle is engaged…and you know the enemy fights back.

John the Baptist experienced violence for preparing the way of the Lord. Arrest. Prison. Even execution by losing his head. Jesus Himself experienced violent opposition. Repeated challenges to His preaching, teaching, and healing. False accusations. Kangaroo courts. Beatings and flogging. Betrayals by friends. Even the worst kind of capital punishment—being nailed to a tree and suffocating to death. And Jesus’ disciples could also expect violent opposition. How many of them later faced prisons and beatings and various forms of execution simply for preaching salvation by Christ alone?

But God’s kingdom—enfleshed in Jesus the Christ—keeps pressing forward forcefully. You see, Jesus Himself not only suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, but He also descended into hell in victory. Then the third day He rose again from the dead. Then He ascended into heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. He came to redeem us lost and condemned persons, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with silver and gold, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. To what end? That you and I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.

Mission accomplished! First strike successful!

Ever since the New Testament and through all these centuries, the kingdom continues pressing forward forcefully. And the enemy keeps on fighting against it. Now we come to the part about the violent taking it by force. Those violently opposed to Jesus and His saving, forgiving ways do indeed attack the Church. But this line can also be translated, “and forceful people snatch it.” (cf. Lenski)

It’s why the Church must always be reformed. She must always be called back to the saving work of Jesus. You see, the Church is really a heavenly city invading the earthly city. Conflict is inevitable. The earthly city always seeks to re-make the Church in its own image. “Don’t call out sin. Don’t judge. Don’t live by God’s Word. Instead, seek power. Instead, go along to get along.” It’s what Luther faced in his day. A Church that needed to be brought back to the saving work of Jesus. It’s what we face in our day. It’s what the Church faces in every age.

Here’s what we joyfully celebrate this Reformation Day. Jesus rescues us from sin and death by His grace alone. “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (Jn. 8:36). We receive this forgiveness of sins and new life through faith alone. “We hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). The source of this emancipation proclamation is Scripture alone. “If you abide in My word,” Jesus said, “you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31-32).

So how will you embrace—how will you snatch up—this Good News of your liberation from sin, death, and devil? Will it be with apathy and indifference? Or will it be with zest and eagerness? You see, Jesus—kingdom in the flesh—presses forward forcefully for and in you. He confronts you with your sin so that He may liberate you with His forgiveness. When you think you are the one who matters most, He disabuses you of that notion through repentance. When you are dead in your trespasses and sins, He gives you rebirth and new life in your Baptism. When you sin in thought, word, and deed, He powerfully grants you His cross-won Absolution through humble words. When you are weak and faint, He strengthens you with His very Body and Blood actually, truly and really present under bread and wine, actually, truly and really delivering His forgiveness and life to you.

That’s how forcefully your Lord presses forward to claim you and keep you as His own. He overcomes whatever doubts you may have. He liberates you from whatever mental, rational reservations you may have about His washing, His absolving, and His Meal. His kingdom with all its gifts, all its blessings and all its treasures gives you power and courage to snatch it, grab it, and cling to it all—to all the forgiveness, life, and salvation that He has achieved for you. You may zealously hold on for dear life. You may powerfully bear witness to this same Jesus who has freed you from sin, death and devil.

In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated for holding onto the powerful Gospel of Jesus Christ, rather than submitting to the violent opposition against it. Later that same year he appeared before the Diet of Worms and refused to recant his position of standing on Scripture alone. Then he was whisked away into hiding at the Wartburg Castle. When troubles arose in Wittenberg in early 1522, Luther came out of hiding to preach a series of sermons at the beginning of Lent. They’re called the “Invocavit Sermons.” In the second of these sermons Luther spoke of the power of God’s Word. What he said illustrates how the kingdom of Jesus powerfully presses forward:

“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, or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, 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. (Second Invocavit Sermon, 1522; AE 51:77)

The kingdom of heaven presses forward forcefully, and those liberated and enlivened by Him eagerly snatch up His treasures. Amen.

Right Worship of God

Sermon for "Reformation Day (Observed)," Sunday, October 27, 2013. This time I focused on the First Reading, Revelation 14:6-7.

In our first reading, St. John says: “Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.” In 1522 the monk, and later pastor, Michael Stifel saw this angel as a prophecy fulfilled in Martin Luther. In 1546 Pastor Johannes Bugenhagen said the same thing in his sermon at Martin Luther’s funeral. And in 1887, C. F. W. Walther, first president of the Missouri Synod, had this to say: “Luther is the only theologian who is prophesied in the Holy Scriptures. He is without any doubt the angel of whom Revelation 14:6 spoke.” Well, we may have to wait until eternity to ask St. John and the Holy Spirit whether they had Luther in mind when they gave us this angel and his eternal Gospel.

But one thing is sure: God’s great gift to His Church IS the eternal Gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone, won for us by Christ alone. So, whoever the messenger--Martin Luther or any other preacher--this eternal Gospel gives us God’s own Word on how Christians worship Him: “And [the messenger] said with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come, and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” We worship God rightly when we do three things: 1) when we fear Him; 2) when we glorify Him; and 3) when we worship Him where He wants--in Christ Jesus.

First, we worship God rightly when we fear Him. Remember what Luther teaches us on the First Commandment: “We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things.” Does that mean we should be afraid of God? Well, yes and no. Yes, that fear of God can be a healthy “afraid of God,” because, after all, God is bigger and more powerful than you. Not only that, but you know you “have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Just look in the mirror of His commandments. You have not trusted Him as you should; you have not loved your neighbor as you should. Pretty simple.

And yet the answer is also “No, you need not be afraid of God,” as though He’s constantly out to get you. The book of Revelation pictures and describes the power of the enemy in the dragon and the beasts. They induce the unfounded fear that God is out to get you. And it’s that fear that leads us sinful creatures to do our own thing. But that’s just plain stupid and unwise. No, you do not need to be afraid of God, because He is not out to get you. Your life is in His hands and He cares for you. After all, He has made you and all creatures; He gives you your body and soul and all your members; He provides for you and protects you.

We worship God rightly when we fear Him, because, as Scripture says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge … [and] wisdom” (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). When parents “fear for” their children, they actually care for their well-being. So, to fear God really means to care about Him. And since He is God, we care about Him--what He says, what He thinks, how He esteems us--more than anything else. So, fearing God is really all about loving and trusting Him … and thus having no other gods before Him.

And this fear of God is not servile or oppressive. Not only is He your Creator, but He’s also your Redeemer. Not only is He bigger and more powerful than you, but He also forgives you. Psalm 130(:4) says, “With You [O Lord] there is forgiveness, that You may be feared.” Your God has provided the Lamb that was slain; He has shown you His great love.

This great love is what gives people courage and strength to stand on the eternal Gospel. The Reformation shows us heroes of the faith as they relied on God’s Word and cross-won mercy. This same great love leads us also to make grand and weighty promises, as we do in our confirmation vows: “Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?… Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? I do, by the grace of God.” Yes, we worship God rightly when we fear Him.

Second, we also worship God rightly when we glorify Him. You see, fake worship happens when we give glory to ourselves, or to other false gods. Fake worship happens when we put ourselves or other false gods up on a pedestal. What could those false gods be? Money and possessions. Great learning and skill. Lofty fame or the bottom of the bottle. Martin Luther said, “A god means that from which we are to expect all good and in which we are to take refuge in all distress” (LC I:2). Fake worship happens when we look to ourselves or other false gods for all good and refuge.

No, we worship God rightly when we glorify Him. We truly give God glory when we acknowledge and praise Him for what He has done, and for what He will do. He has created you. He has redeemed you in His Son Jesus Christ. He has made you holy through the Holy Spirit, and He promises to keep making you holy as you hear His Word and receive His Sacraments.

And what will God do? He will come to judge the earth. All people will be accountable to Him. Now, we can either deny this fact, or we can praise Him for His promised return and judgment. We can deny that He will come. We can try to shield ourselves the best we can from His scrutiny and prying eye. We can try to hold up all our good works as our own, home-made shield and fortress. But that won’t do. Our home-made defenses for the soul amount to nothing but duct tape and bailing wire. Actually, St. Paul said it better: “By works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” We call that “works-righteousness.”

No, God will come, and He will judge. But we can praise Him--give Him glory--nonetheless. You see, the eternal Gospel tells you that God has already judged you in Jesus Christ. The eternal Gospel tells you that you have already been judged, the verdict is in, and it’s “Not guilty.” Yes, you have already been declared “not guilty,” judged as righteous, all because of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, and His glorious resurrection. You “are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation--as a means of forgiveness--by His blood, to be received by faith.”  We worship God rightly when we glorify Him for what He has done, and will do, in Jesus Christ.

And the third way we worship God rightly is when we worship Him where He wants to be worshiped. Now, that may sound easy, but don’t forget the Israelites. They fell into that whole worship the golden calf thing. And that was right after God had revealed His eternal Gospel by delivering them from slavery in Egypt. Not only that, but the Israelites also worshiped at the high places, sacrificing to fertility gods called Baals and Asherah. They had a continuous battle against false worship and false gods.

Also, don’t forget the world around you today. People worship all sorts of man-made gods--power, pleasure, money, you name it. They even worship according to their own thoughts: “My God is bigger than that.” “I don’t think God is that way.” “God would want me to be happy.” And you and I are not immune to those thoughts of false worship.

You and I especially do not worship God rightly when we despise His Word--when we do not gladly hear it and learn it. How so? When we base our worship on our feelings, wishes, and hunches, rather than on God and what He says in His Word. How else? When we tolerate false worship and false teaching.

So how and where does God want to be worshiped? In Christ Jesus. You see, God has sent His only-begotten Son to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life by His death on the cross. Jesus is the very temple of God--the dwelling place of  God--who was torn down on the cross and raised up on the third day. So, we worship God rightly when we gather to listen to His words and believe them. After all, they proclaim Christ Himself. And this right worship also includes trusting Jesus’ work in your Baptism and His work in the Supper. In these you receive life and salvation itself. That’s the eternal Gospel at work.

One of the fruits of the Reformation is the Apology of the Augsburg Confession in 1531. This document defends the Augsburg Confession, from 1530. The Apology says this about true worship: “Faith is the divine service that receives the benefits offered by God…. God wants to be worshiped through faith so that we receive from Him those things He promises and offers.” (Ap. IV, 49; Concordia, 89) You and I worship God rightly when we receive--when we receive in faith all the gifts that Jesus Christ achieved by His cross. So, right worship is depending on the gifts of God in Jesus. And those gifts bring forth our praise and our good works in all of life.

So, the angel flies overhead and brings that “eternal Gospel.” And that eternal Gospel has a goal: the repentance and salvation of all people through the message of forgiveness in Jesus Christ. How can we not worship Him? As Dr. Louis Brighton, a current day messenger with the eternal Gospel, says, “For the end purpose of God’s redemption is the restoration of his creatures so that they recognize and worship him as their God and Creator.” (Revelation, 382) That, dear friends, is what the Reformation was all about: the eternal Gospel and the right worship of God. Amen.

"Sola Gratia" Audio - from "Studio A"

Here's the audio of Monday's discussion on the Reformation slogan "Sola Gratia" on KFUO's "Studio A" with host Roland Lettner.

"Sola Gratia" on "Studio A"

This afternoon at 5:30-6:00 p.m. (CT) we'll discuss "Sola Gratia" on "Studio A" with host Roland Lettner. Be sure to tune in to KFUO (AM 850 or kfuo.org).

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Homily for Reformation Day (Observed)

What better theme to proclaim on Reformation Day than "Truly Catholic"? (Yes, you read that correctly...and yes, there are other great themes, to be sure.) Instead of trying to figure out and exclaim that things are "too Catholic," whatever that may mean, the Reformation celebration draws us back to what is "truly catholic"--that is, universal or according to the whole--because, "Wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the catholic Church." Thank you, Irenaeus, for that great quote! And thank you, Dr. Nagel, for a great sermon from 1963 which much of this homily paraphrases.

To listen to "Truly Catholic," click here and download the audio file.

Homily for Reformation Day

On Reformation Day we hear the great news that the Son of God sets us free from sin, death, and hell. Today's homily was based on John 8:31-36 and titled "Free from What? Free for What?"

To listen to the audio file, click on this link, download the file and listen away.