1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. As we observe the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation this weekend, we celebrate that it always has been, and always will
be, all about Jesus! The message today
is taken from Romans 3:19-28 and is entitled, “No Boasting, Except in Jesus,” dear brothers and sisters in
Christ.
2.
For years
Germany has been gearing up for the 500th-anniversary celebration of the
Reformation. They’re getting ready to
celebrate the fellow who nailed his 95 debating points to the church door in
Wittenberg, the fellow who had to have a Diet of Worms. And, no, kids, Luther
didn't really have a diet of earthworms; he just had to go and defend himself
to some important people in the German city of Worms. For a lot of folk, I
think this anniversary is a big deal.
3.
Still, if you do
a search for "Martin Luther" on Google, before you get to anything on
the reformer, you will have to wade through a whole bunch of articles on
"Martin Luther King." Just for the record, last century's MLK was
named that because his father was so impressed by the theologian of 500 years
ago.
4.
So, the question
is was Martin Luther really that big a deal?
A few years ago, the TV series Biography had a
countdown of the 100 most influential people of the past 1,000 years. Do you
know who was first? No, it wasn't Luther. It was the movable-type German
printer, Gutenberg. But do you know who was second? No, it wasn't Luther. It
was Sir Isaac Newton who contributed to physics, math, and the far reaches of
the universe.
5.
Do you know who
was third? Yes! Luther. The guy who wasn't a scientist, who never led an army,
ruled a country, or painted a masterpiece. But there's more. You should know
the folks on Biography weren't alone in their feelings about
Luther. TIME Magazine put Luther in the second position of 100
most influential individuals of the last millennium.
6.
Now that may
seem like a pretty lofty position for a fellow who wrote some debating points
and went to a debate or two. And if that is all Luther did, it would be a lot.
But Luther did more, much more. He gave people the Bible in their own language,
promoted education, wrote music, and did things to touch almost every aspect of
religious and secular life.
7.
Still, there is
one thing Luther did not do. He did not want people to call themselves
"Lutheran." In 1522, Luther,
in his own colorful way, wrote, "I
ask that men make no reference to my name and call themselves not Lutherans but
Christians. What is Luther? St. Paul would not allow Christians to call
themselves Pauline or Petrine. How then should I, a poor evil-smelling maggot
sack have men give to the children of Christ my worthless name?" (Luther
had a way with words, didn't he?)
8.
Luther took that
position because, above and beyond everything else, he used the Bible to point
people to the grace of God which is found only in Jesus Christ, God's Son, the
world's Savior. Luther pointed out that the Bible wanted lost and sinful souls
to realize that when the Holy Spirit gives them faith in the Savior, there is
forgiveness and life eternal.
9.
The
problem in our own day is that many people assume they have some innate
goodness of their own, they don’t feel that they need the forgiveness of sins
or even a Savior in Jesus Christ. The Reformation was an attack on the “My Goodness” principle. The date was
October 31, 1517. The place: the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The
action: a priest by the name of Martin Luther nailed a sheet of ninety-five
theses to the door of the Castle Church.
10.
The
95 Theses were written in reaction to the arrival of a Roman Catholic monk
named John Tetzel. In Rome Pope Leo X wanted to finish the remarkable St.
Peter’s Cathedral. To raise money for the project, he sent Tetzel throughout
Germany to sell indulgences. Indulgences were supposed to spare people from the
punishment after death in an imaginary place called purgatory. Members of the
congregation where Luther was preaching bought these indulgences. As they did
so, they were buying into the “My Goodness” principle. The members of the
congregation believed that in buying indulgences they were actually buying
forgiveness of sins. This was a very good situation, they thought. I buy these
indulgences. They help my standing before God!
11.
Martin
Luther, the good pastor, was very concerned. He wrote 95 propositions—theses—on
the question of forgiveness through indulgences. Printers reproduced them, and
copies spread from village to village. The Reformation had begun! The principle
rediscovered by the reformer Luther? Salvation by faith alone, a free gift of
God’s grace. My goodness? No. God’s goodness, his undeserved
goodness shown us in Christ Jesus! There’s
no boasting in ourselves or our own works, except in Jesus!
12.
Bill
was the father of two children who attended a Lutheran school. Bill and his
wife, Susan, were not Lutherans, but they thought highly of the school, so they
decided to send their children there. Bill and Susan were having marital
problems. Bill went to his pastor, who said that if Bill’s faith were stronger,
he would not be having these problems. If you have enough faith, your problems
will go away, and you will do the right things, he was told. Bill felt guilty
for not spending more time with his wife. And now he felt guilty because he
didn’t have enough faith. He spent more time and money on the children. He
tried to have more faith in Jesus, but the guilt remained.
13.
St.
Paul, in his Letter to the Romans, notes that this is the way it will be and
must be, according to the “My Goodness” principle. Earlier in ch 3, Paul writes,
“There is no one righteous, not even one”
(v 10). “There is no one who does good” (v 12). No more “My Goodness” principle. It just doesn’t work. What do we do? What does
work?
14.
What
we learn and experience is what Martin Luther learned and experienced on the
basis of the Word of God. St. Paul introduces God’s principle of grace in
Romans 3:21-25 with two of the mightiest little words in the entire Bible: “but
now.”
But now a righteousness
from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the
Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall
short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of
atonement, through faith in his blood.” Not
my goodness, but Christ’s goodness. There’s no boasting in ourselves, except in
Jesus and His work for us!
15.
We
return to the story of Bill. He decided to visit the pastor at the Lutheran
church that operated his children’s school. Maybe this pastor would have some
answers for him, some hope. Bill recounted his struggles in his marriage and
family life, with his finances, with his faith. “Pastor, I try, but I can’t seem to get rid of this load of guilt. And
my family life is getting no better, even though I’m trying to do the right
things. What’s God doing? Where is he in my life?”
16.
The
pastor led Bill to this word in Romans and to the central teaching of God’s
Word. This same teaching became central in the teaching of Martin Luther and of
the entire Reformation. This teaching, this Good News, brought reformation—that
is, faith and life reformed and renewed—to Bill. It brings reformation to our
lives again and again. What teaching is this? It is the principle of Christ’s
goodness and his good work for us.
17.
The
pastor explained to Bill that we are commanded to be good, but we cannot
because of the sin in us. We need help, God’s help. His help is this: we are
justified by grace through faith. This means that Christ, who was without sin,
set things right between us and God by his sacrifice on the cross. He died for
us and then rose from the dead to prove that we are forgiven and that we are
right with God. It’s not about our goodness, but Christ’s goodness. “Bill, do you believe this?” the pastor
asked. Bill felt as though a tremendous weight had been lifted. He responded, “So, it’s not about me, but about what Jesus
has done for me?” “It’s not about you;
it’s about Jesus.” “I’ve never heard it explained like that
before. Yes, I believe it!”
18.
The
Reformation continues as we, like Bill, trust that we are righteous in God’s
sight because of the saving work of Jesus Christ. Oh, we know full well that
our innocence isn’t really our own, but Christ’s. It has been credited to us by
God through faith. What Christ did, God counts as though we have done it. What
he suffered on the cross, God counts as though we have suffered it. As we
believe that Christ took our place on the cross to suffer the eternal
condemnation we deserve, God hands down a sentence we don’t deserve. “Not
guilty!” he declares. “Forgiveness and life and salvation are yours.”
19.
This
is grace! There’s no room for boasting the “My Goodness” principle here. God
gets all the credit and thanks. St. Paul put it this way in Romans 3:27-28: “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.
On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For
we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law”
(vv 27–28). The good news here is that God declares you good, totally eligible
for heaven, because of Jesus and his good work for you!
20.
And
what about Bill? He left the pastor’s office free from guilt. Christ had borne
his burden of sin on the cross. He was forgiven. Because of Christ’s death and
resurrection Bill knew where he stood with God. God still loved him. This gave
him peace and hope, even boldness. Bill
also knew that his renewed relationship with God didn’t remove the difficulties
of his life. There was much work to do in improving his relationships with his
wife and children. He left the pastor’s office knowing that he would need God’s
strength, given through his powerful Word and Spirit, to help him work things
out in his family. This, too, gave him peace and hope and boldness. He was not
left to his own devices. He had God’s help.
And that’s the way it is for you. You have God’s help. Leave the “My
Goodness” principle behind. Trust another principle: the principle of faith
centered on Christ’s goodness for you, on his grace alone. There’s no boasting in our own works, except
in Jesus work for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment