Worship Resources
Reformation Sunday
October 29, 2000
* copyright by Rev. N. George Hacker
* Pastor, Wesley Grove United Methodist Church
Woodfield, Maryland
(please give credit if used)
* mailto:ngeorgeh@lancasterseminary.edu
* http://www.gbgm-umc.org/WesleyGrove/

BULLETIN PREFACE:

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther--described as "a poor, emaciated
monk"--nailed to the door of the castle church at Wittenberg, Germany
ninety-five Latin theses. These condemned "indulgences" (the selling of
pardons by the Catholic Church); made a plea for repentance; and invited
sinners to salvation by grace. Luther's theses were copied, translated,
and spread throughout Europe--and the Protestant Reformation was born,
lighting the way for John Wesley and us.

CALL TO WORSHIP (Adapted from Psalm 19)

Leader: The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
People: The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing our hearts.
Leader: The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
People: In keeping God's word, there is great reward.
Leader: Let us therefore bow down and worship our Maker,
People: Our Rock and our Redeemer. Alleluia! Amen.

*MORNING PRAYER

Jesus, Name above all names, we come before You today, thankful for all
that You are doing in our lives. Almighty Father, we confess to You that
we have been less than faithful. We have grieved our neighbors and
betrayed Your unfailing love. Holy Spirit, we ask your grace to repent
and believe the Good News. Lord, we pray for Your power to withstand the
enemy of our souls--both within and without. This we ask through Christ
our Savior. Amen.

*HYMNS:

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
O Word of God Incarnate (sung to tune: Ellacombe)
Forward Through the Ages
Wonderful Words of Life (verses 2 & 3)

THE SCRIPTURE LESSONS:

Hebrews 4:12-13
Matthew 5:17-19

SERMON: "The Sword of the Spirit"

CHRISTMAS IS COMING! Only 56 shopping days left! You parents and
grandparents know what that means--the latest computer software that has
to be installed; toys, games, sports equipment, bikes and other kiddie
things that will come marked "assembly required." Un-hunh! Have you ever
tried putting those things together without the instructions?

Now, my husband likes to save money. And those do-it-yourself jobs tend
to be more economical. But then again, he's not exactly the handiest guy.
I mean, piano fingers and hammers don't keep good company. Even so, by
following the manufacturer's instructions--VERY carefully--he's managed
to assemble a book shelf, a CD cabinet, a hutch that holds his organ
music, and some nifty laundry room shelves that got all the junk up off
our basement floor.

Getting things like toys and bookshelves together without instructions
is hard enough. Getting our lives together without instruction can be
disastrous. When you unpack a new appliance or hook up a computer, you
need to read the manufacturer's guidelines. Likewise, when we come into
this world of sin and moral chaos, we need to read--and know--OUR
manufacturer's instructions--the Bible. THIS [hold up] is our user's
manual for LIFE. One 19th century commentator [Mercersburg theologian,
Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church, Vol. VII] declared that
the Bible is "by far the best guide of instruction in holy living and
dying." Indeed!.

Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed"--that
means, inspired directly from God Himself--"and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of
God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."
But maybe you're like me. You don't like reading directions. They're
boring!. After all, I'm creative; I like to figure things out myself. And
I'm independent. I don't like to be told what to do--especially in
microscopic print, and in five foreign languages I don't know.
For many of us, that's our attitude toward the Bible, as well. "It's
old, it's hard to understand." I agree. It is old. It is hard to
understand. Others of us think, "Hey, I've got a brain. I went to school.
I have the knowledge to run my own life." And still others feel, "I'm a
good person. I don't need a set of do's and don'ts--and outdated
rules--running my life."

Yet Colossians 3:16 urges us to "Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly"--What a wonderful word, "dwell," meaning to live very intimately
and with stability. Just as traffic would be hopelessly snarled and
dangerous without rules, just as our military could not successfully
defend our country without regulations and discipline, we cannot run our
lives properly without God's laws. And we have no way of knowing God's
laws--or Christ's teachings about them--except through the Bible.

Yet for most of us, our Bibles get far less use than, say, our TVs. I
know I can be guilty of that! Moreover, many of us totally take for
granted what a privilege it is to even own a personal copy of God's Holy
word--and, to have it in our native tongue. We do, thanks to the
Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.

On the calendars of the Reformed Churches--of which the Methodist
communion was a kind of stepchild--today is Reformation Sunday.
Except in the Lutheran and Calvinist churches, you probably won't hear
many Reformation sermons preached today. Because in this day of global
peacemaking, it isn't politically correct to commemorate a religious war.
In the ecumenical, one-world-religion climate of the 21st century, it
isn't popular to assert Protestant doctrine.

But without the Protestant Reformation, you probably wouldn't be sitting
in this church today, and you most certainly would not have an
English-language Bible in every pew. It is thanks to the blood of the
martyrs that in our time you can own and read the Bible in peace and
freedom. Many of us today don't even know that in 1486 the Archbishop of
Mainz issued an edict threatening to excommunicate anyone who translated
or circulated the Bible. Or that in 1536 William Tyndale was burned at
the stake for translating the Scriptures into English.

You see, before the Protestant Reformation, the common people everywhere
were absolutely forbidden to read or interpret the Scriptures. In Greek
and Latin, these were not to be translated, and no one was permitted to
explain the Word of God except a priest. The Church was mired in
unscriptural tradition, and corruption reigned at all levels among the
clergy. The Church of Rome taught that salvation was through the
sacraments, good works, and indulgences. An indulgence was forgiveness
that could be bought from the Church. The Scriptural doctrine of
salvation by faith, through the grace of Jesus Christ alone, was ignored
or suppressed in the interests of power and money.

Then along came Martin Luther, whom one source [Philip Schaff] describes
as a "poor, emaciated" Roman Catholic monk. On October 31, 1517, Luther
posted on the door of the castle-church at Wittenberg, Germany,
ninety-five Latin theses on the subject of indulgences--those
cash-and-carry pardons.

In his statements, Luther called for repentance, asserted salvation by
grace, and pointed to the authority of Scripture. Wesley would later
agree with him, that Scripture is "the sufficient rule of faith and
practice."

Folks, this was an absolutely revolutionary idea, for its time! To put
the Bible in the hands of the common person gave men and women direct
access to God, bypassing the religious authorities!
Quickly, the movement to reform the Church spread from Germany and
Switzerland to all of Europe and eventually North America. Thanks to the
earlier invention of the printing press, Protestant Bible societies
circulated more Bibles in one year than had been hand-copied during the
*previous fifteen centuries*!

When all was said and done, the three fundamental principles of the
Protestant Reformation were:

* The supremacy of faith over works
* The supremacy of Christ's people over an exclusive priesthood
* The supremacy of Scripture over Church tradition

Jesus Himself recognized the vital importance of the Scriptures for
daily living. That was why He said in today's Gospel lesson, "Do not
think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets." By the Law,
He meant the books of Moses, or what we know as the first five books of
the Old Testament. "The Prophets" are our Old Testament prophets, from
Amos to Zechariah.

Jesus said He came to fulfill the Scriptures, and that God's word is so
valuable it will not pass away as long as Earth exists.

He says something we need to hear: "Whoever practices and teaches these
commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." James 1:22
reaffirms this, as it counsels us: "Be doers of the Word, and not hearers
only."

By emphasizing good deeds, are we back to salvation by works? No! Jesus
is calling us to practice God's law, which today's Psalm reminds us is
perfect, reviving our souls. To practice God's law will result in good
works, the outcome of our faith. But we can't know God's law unless we
know the Bible.

See this T-shirt with a picture of the Bible on it? For those of you who
might not be able to see it from where you are, the lettering says, "When
all else fails, read the instructions."

The religious wars of the 16th century may have ended long ago. But we
are still in a spiritual battle today. You may not know it, but you've
been drafted--into the army of Christ. No, I don't mean shaving your
head, putting on fatigues, moving to Montana, and joining some kind of
Christian militia. Ephesians 6 [10-17] is clear:
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world
and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil
comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done
everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled
around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and
with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of
peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which
you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the
helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of
God."

We need to arm ourselves against the powers of evil, the flaming arrows
of the evil one. How well Christ knew Satan's power to attack--when Jesus
was alone in the desert, trying to discern His call to ministry; when He
hung on the cross, crucified for crimes He did not commit, and bearing
the weight of the sins of the whole world on His shoulders.

The Bible refers to the devil as the enemy of our souls, the father of
lies, and the accuser of the brethren. He is that voice of condemnation
that drags our spirits down, whispering "you're not good enough, hope is
useless, give it up," Yet God's word promises, "there is no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus" [Romans 8:1]. Satan is the one who
seeks to destroy the harmony of our marriages, our relationships with our
children, and peace between neighbors. He is the one who murmurs to our
unarmed hearts and minds, telling us ever-so-subtly, how easy, how
convenient, how expedient, how reasonable, sin is . . .

But Scripture--the Scripture we now have in our own hands, in our own
language, thanks to Martin Luther, the Reformers, and John
Wesley--Scripture urges us to take up the sword of the Spirit. To arm
ourselves against the power of evil with the word of God.
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the desert, he answered back, "Man
does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of God" [Matthew 4:4]. The word of God is to be our spiritual food,
as well as our spiritual armor.

We can better withstand both the wiles of the devil, and the moral chaos
of our world, when we are armed with God's word. Things really do go
better when you read the instructions, are open to what's in them, and
FOLLOW THEM. If you don't have your very own [hold up Bible]
manufacturer's manual--or you don't have one in a modern translation you
can actually understand, Christmas is coming. Ask for one! Or buy one for
a friend or family member who doesn't have one.

And if you do have a Bible, and it hasn't been getting much use lately,
*dust it off*. Pick up a copy of "The Upper Room" or "Our Daily Bread,"
and start doing some daily lessons. Read a praise Psalm aloud at the
dinner table with your family, every evening. Get a copy of a Couples
Devotional Bible, and read it with your spouse. If you're too busy to
read, listen to Scripture tapes in your car or while you do things around
the house! And if you prefer fiction, there are lots of great,
inexpensive Scripture-based novels available at the Family Christian
Bookstore across from [the] Mall or from http://www.Christianbook.com
My dear ones, if you don't go away with anything else today, I hope you
will at least leave this service thankful that you even allowed to own a
Bible in a language you can read--something that, to this day, many
Christians in oppressed countries around the world are still forbidden to
do, and are tortured and killed if they dare to.

The blood of the Reformation martyrs is what enables us to affirm with
Luther, his Thesis #62: "The true treasure of the Church is the holy
Gospel . . . and the grace of God."

May that precious saving, teaching, guiding grace of God be yours this
day, and may Christ's call to obey God's commandments guide you to a
renewed love of God's word--the Sword of the Spirit, with which we can
win the battles of our lives. Amen!

[Followed by pastoral prayer for Christian martyrs and for today's Bible
translators working around the world to spread the Gospel of Jesus
Christ.]