Here's a general sermon for Reformation Sunday that may be useful at least
to the Lutherans on the list. If any others are preaching on the
Reformation, you will have to make some changes.

Dave Tietz
St. Paul Lutheran Church
Taylor, TX
d_tietz@compuserve.com


ROMANS 3:19-28 REFORMATION SUNDAY

483 years ago, on the eve of All Saints' Day (a day we know as Halloween),
October 31, 1517, a young Roman Catholic Priest by the name of Martin
Luther posted on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, a
list of 95 theses, or statements, and requested a meeting of the church
leaders to discuss and debate the substance of these 95 theses.

At the time, Martin Luther had no idea what drastic changes this simple act
would bring upon the church, but posting those 95 Theses began a chain
reaction that resulted in the events that we know today as the Protestant
Reformation

And we Lutherans celebrate and observe this last Sunday in October as
Reformation Sunday, the birthday of the Lutheran Church.

Who was Martin Luther?

Recently the Arts and Entertainment Network listed what they considered to
be the most influential people of the past millenium. They are:

1. Guttenberg, for his invention of the movable-type printing press that
made book readily available and afordable for the first time.

2. Isaac Newton for his work in science, physics, and astronomy.

3. Martin Luther, who brought religion and education to the common people,
and is credited for laying the foundation of democracy.

So, Martin Luther is a significant personality in our history. Who is he?

Well, what happened on that day 483 years ago when Luther posted the 95
Theses was simply the culmination of a long, personal struggle that had
been fermenting within Luther's soul and spirit for several years.

You see, Martin Luther grew up in a day and age when the church pictured
God as an angry, vindictive God, a God of wrath and punishment who

watched over us, anxiously waiting for us to make a mistake so that God

could then punish us with eternal suffering in hell.

The church taught people to fear God in the worst sense of the word.

And then the church used that fear to control the people, to get them to
submit to church and obey all the teachings and rules of the church.

And the church used that fear to amass tremendous wealth and power for the
Pope in Rome and for the Roman Catholic Church, which was the only church
in Europe at the time.

(Before I go any further, I want to emphasize that the Catholic Church of
Luther's day, and the Catholic Church today are very, very different.

Over the past 483 years, the Catholic Church has gone through it's own
reformation, so when I talk about the Church of Luther's day, I am in no
way comparing it to the Roman Catholic Church of today. I think it's
important that we understand that.

In fact, interestingly enough, last year on this very day, representatives
from the Lutheran and the Catholic churches got together to sign a document
or declaration on our common understanding of justification by grace, the
very thing that so strongly divided us at the time of the Reformation.)

Well, back to our story: As a young man, Luther decided early on that he
did not want to spend all of eternity in hell and suffering, so he set out
to make himself right and pleasing before God:

· He left a promising future in law school
· And took on the disciplines of becoming an Augustinian monk.
· He continued his schooling and was ordained as a priest in the Church.
· Later, he earned his Ph.D. in Bible and Theology.
· And eventually he became a professor at the University of Wittenberg in
Germany, one of the new and upcoming schools of the Church.

But through all of this, Luther did not find what he wanted the most, what
he longed for and searched for: peace with God and a sense of assurance and
rest for his troubled spirit.

It seemed no matter how hard he tried to be good and obedient to the
commands of God and the Church,
no matter how hard he strived to do everything that a Christian was
supposed to do, he realized that he was still a sinner.

And since God punishes sinners, he was taught, he could only see himself as
condemned before God.

He reasoned, "God is holy and just. I am a poor, miserable sinner, no
matter how hard I try. How can a holy God possibly love a sinner like me?"

In spite of doing everything the Church said a person should do to win the
mercy and love and forgiveness of God, for Luther, it was all to no avail.

I suppose that Luther was simply more honest with himself than most of us
are today. We tend to belittle and minimize our sins, as if they make no
difference to God, as if God doesn't care. Luther saw his sin for what it
really was - that which separated him from God.

Now remember, throughout all of this personal struggle, Luther was not a
basket case. On the contrary, he was developing quite a reputation for
himself as being one of the budding stars of the Church....

an extremely intelligent and gifted person and a great scholar and
professor at the university. He was highly regarded and respected.

Well, one day as Luther was preparing for a series of lectures on Paul's
letter to the Romans, he was reading and studying chapter 3, a portion of
Scripture that he had surely read many times before.

But this time as he read it, his eyes were opened, the light came on! As
Luther describes it, "It was as though the gates of heaven were opened to
me!"

Portions of Romans 3:19-28:

But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed...
since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; they are now
justified (put right with God) by God's grace as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus.... For we hold that a person is
justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law.

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus said, "You will know the truth, and the
truth will set you free!"

Suddenly Luther knew the truth of the Gospel, and suddenly Luther was set
free!

He was set free from trying to make himself worthy and acceptable before
God, something he could never achieve for himself, no matter how hard he
tried.

He was free to simply rest in the grace and favor and love of God, grace
and forgiveness freely given to us because of what Jesus Christ
accomplished for us on the cross of Calvary.

Luther rediscovered the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. It had been
there right in front of his eyes all along, but it had been hidden,
obscured, covered by centuries of misuse and tradition in the Church.

And the truth of that Gospel is: we are not saved, we are not put right
with God by
· being good
· or obeying the law
· or going through all the outward rituals of religion
· or anything else we may try to do to make ourselves worthy before God.

No, we are saved solely by the love and grace of God freely and generously
given to us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Salvation
comes to us as a free gift of God's grace.

All we have to do is respond to it. All we have to do is accept that gift
in faith.

Faith is simply saying, "Yes, Lord, I believe. Yes, Lord, I accept your
gift of love and forgiveness and acceptance. Thank you, Lord, for loving
and forgiving me."

With this new-found discovery of the Gospel, Luther was eager to share it
with the world. He thought that he would find a ready audience, but
instead he was met with resistance and persecution.

The power structure of the Church could see that if this man were left
alone to spread his teachings, they could end up losing their power and
control over the people, along with great a great deal of wealth.

And so the church leaders branded Luther as a heretic and outlaw and tried
everything they possible could to suppress his teaching.

If you're really interested in hearing the rest of the story, we have some
excellent books in our library as well as a full length video movie that
tells the whole story of the Reformation.

But for now, let it suffice that the church was not able to squelch Martin
Luther. He was the right man for the right time, empowered by the Holy
Spirit, and armed with the truth of the Gospel and the Word of God......
and there is no greater power than that.

His proclamation of the Gospel resulted in the Protestant Reformation and
the beginning of the Lutheran Church. And today, we as Lutherans,
celebrate our 483rd birthday. And as Lutherans, we have the distinction of
being the oldest and the largest Protestant denomination in the world
today.

But sad to say, there are still many Lutherans, as well as many other
Christians today, who continue to struggle and wrestle with many of the
same doubts and questions as did Luther so many years ago.

What was lacking, what was missing in Luther's life, and what he discovered
in the Scriptures, is the assurance of salvation, the certainty of the love
and grace of God through Jesus Christ, the pure joy and thrill that comes
in knowing, "I am a saved, loved, redeemed, child of God!"

Luther discovered the true and radical nature of God's grace. There are so
many portions of Scripture that makes this so clear: for example

John 3:16-17...For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him shall not perish, but has eternal life.
For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but to
save the world!"

Can it be any clearer that that? And yet today there are many, many
Christians in Lutheran Churches and in all kinds of other churches who
believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God raised him from death...

but still continue to doubt, to wonder if they really are saved, who think
that their salvation still depends on how good they are and how closely
they obey the law and live by all the rules.

Now, I'm not saying that God doesn't care how we live. Certainly God
desires very deeply that we stay close to God and that we live lives of
honesty, integrity, and obedience to God's will.

But how we live doesn't save us. Jesus Christ saves us! That's the
Gospel! That's the Good News that sets us free. We are saved by the grace
of God through faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

If you get anything from this sermon this morning, I hope it is this:

It's nice to know something about Martin Luther and the history of the
Reformation.

But I would much rather that when you leave church this morning, you will
leave with the knowledge and assurance and certainty
· that God loves you,
· that by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, you are forgiven and made
a child of God,
· that you might leave here truly knowing the joy of your salvation.

As Martin Luther read the Scriptures, he discovered the Gospel, and, as he
put it, the "gates of heaven" opened to him.

As children of the Reformation, may we know that same assurance of God's
love and grace, and may heaven be opened for us!

Thanks be to God! Amen.