Only In Christ

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October 25th, 2009

Rev. Dr. Craig A. Wagner

Introduction      I want to thank Dr. Luther and his wife, Katherine von Bora, for being with us this morning and for presenting some significant facts from their lives as reformers of the church. Today is the day we set aside each year as Reformation Sunday to celebrate Luther’s faithfulness to the gospel and his courage to stand firm against false teaching of the church of his day.     Today we remember the nailing of the 95 Theses on the castle church door in the city of Wittenberg, Germany in 1517.      Yet, for all of our celebrations and our esteem for Martin Luther, I suggest that in my opinion Luther and the whole protestant reformation was a great big MINUS in church history. Sorry Martin – that’s just the way I feel! Wittenberg: 1517     By way of explanation, let’s think a moment about what was happening in 1517 – those thrilling days of yesteryear. According to legend, Luther, who was professor of Bible at the University of Wittenberg, had printed 95 Theses dealing with abuses and problems of the Roman Catholic Church at that time.      The Theses were taken to the castle church in Wittenberg and nailed to the door. The door functioned as a bulletin board and with the posting of the Theses, Luther sought to debate the issues with theologians, faculty, students, anyone who wished to engage in this sort of theological debate.      He had posted the Theses on October 31^st. This was the Hallowed Evening (Halloween) before All Saints’ Day when worshippers would be gathering for worship. They would see the Theses and hopefully, would be willing to debate the issues. Although we are not entirely sure that they were actually posted in this manner, we do know that a printer had obtained a copy, printed them and distributed them widely, thus beginning the reformation of the church.     The Theses did attack the misuse of the indulgence system in use by the church in 1517. The indulgence system allowed a person to pay a certain amount of money and your sins would be forgiven. The major contention of the Theses is that one’s whole life should be one of repentance and that there was no way that money could buy forgiveness.     Also, there was a special indulgence that was referred to as a plenary indulgence. This was one where you could buy forgiveness for the sins you had committed and ones that you would commit in the future! Of course, this was one that was very expensive. Also, a person could buy indulgences for dead relatives or friends…the indulgences would eliminate some time the deceased would have to spend in purgatory. This was a very lucrative business for the church.     This attack by Luther led to more attacks against the laws and rules of the church. The attacks by Luther stemmed from his study of scripture. The church had added many laws and rules that were man made. Luther drove them back to scripture and to the truth that is found there. Luther continued his relentless attack on anyone who added human laws of scriptural truth. He freed the people of God from corrupt practices and in so doing took away, subtracted things that were contrary to the freedom of the gospel. Symbolically, he was a minus in this respect.     Scripture itself moves us away from adiaphora to the truth of the gospel that really sets us free to be the people God wants us to be. In scripture we have the story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain. Remember, James, John and Peter went up the mountain with Jesus and there appeared before them Moses and Elijah with Jesus. But in the end the disciples saw no one other than Jesus. Jesus alone is the Christ. He is the Word of God – other people were additions but in the end it is only Jesus.     Or remember the people in Rome wanted to base salvation on faith plus works? Paul writing his letter to Rome takes away works and leaves faith alone as the source of life and salvation. And in the city of Galatia, the early Christian community understood they were living by grace, but they enacted all sorts of laws that would govern a person’s behavior and would lead them to admire certain individuals. Grace plus law was their mantra. Paul again takes away the law and leaves them living grace-filled lives. Luther falls well into being a great minus in the history of the church – he takes away that which is not needed or useful or hurtful and leaves us with the Word alone, Grace alone, Faith alone…. These are the tenants of the reformation. The pluses in our lives     When we boil down all the scripture, all the church history, all the theological enterprises, we are left with the three elements: Word alone, Faith alone, Grace alone, all by God’s initiative and all focusing on Jesus encompassing his central message and his whole life. The question on this Reformation Sunday; is there something in our lives that has obscured the message of Christ and the truth that will make us free? What have we added in our life that keeps us from focusing intently on Jesus and allowing us the freedom to live as God’s loved people?     Perhaps we have felt that we certainly believe in God’s grace and yet we feel there needs to be more. We feel that God’s grace in Christ is for us and yet we make laws and rules that govern church behavior and feel if we fail to keep them we are unloved and unforgiven. Where are we legalistic in our attitude and judgment? You’ve got to do it this way – my way – or it’s not right!     Even in our understanding of faith – we often think unwisely that faith comes from ourselves, it is something that we accomplish and something we create in our lives. Some even get to the point of being proud of their faith, yet it is the Spirit that brings us faith, plants faith within us and allows us to respond to his presence. It is all about God, not us! Works may be the result of faith, but faith through grace brings us life and salvation.       If we have done anything to obscure Christ, if we have added anything to gospel message, today is the day to pull it down, get rid of it and look to Christ only. This doesn’t mean that what we do is necessarily wrong. Many people do good things with good intentions: volunteer story in the Herald last week. Others donate time and talents to all sorts of projects in the neighborhood and around the world. But only in Christ is their life and salvation; is there the freedom of living in the grace-filled, love of God. May that be our primary endeavor!  The truth will free us     There were some Jews in our passage who had believed in Jesus. At the point of the story, they were already plotting to kill him. Jesus reminds them that if they continue in his word they are truly his disciples… everything else must be discarded for the truth. The truth will make them free. But of course they didn’t realize they were enslaved to anything, but they were and Jesus knew it. If we are enslaved to anything, Jesus is there to provide new life; a new life found in him. It is through Christ that we become free forever.     Luther rediscovered the truth of the gospel message; word alone, faith alone, grace alone. He ran into obstacles and people wanted him dead. Jesus ran into obstacles and people killed him…faith in Christ is not for the faint hearted, but does bring us more than the world can deliver. This insight changed Luther’s life forever and the truth of the gospel changes our lives.     Today we are pushed back to the very essence of the gospel and we find a gracious God in Christ who has given his life for us. Let’s not let the voices of the world dilute the message, or obscure Jesus; let’s not allow message that seek to put other lords in our life have voice – even if they sound so good. Do more good works, bask in the pride of your faith, you gotta do this to be accepted and love by God…. And so on.     Just yesterday, I was riding my bicycle around the neighborhood and saw a sign at one of the local parks. The sign read: Community Halloween Party, Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (Guess I better leave now!!!) Imagine the words and the events all around us that pull us from the truth of the gospel. Many things seek to enslave us and turn us from true freedom that we find in Christ Jesus.     Let’s subtract those things and focus more intently this fall on Word, Faith and Grace so that we find true freedom in Christ who is the way, the truth and the life. We need to be vigilant. Conclusion      Luther was vigilant. He took the additions to the gospel away and we are left with the truth that makes us free, Jesus Christ…and only in Christ is there true freedom and abundant life….back to the basic. Thank you Dr. Luther for being a big minus in church history! Amen.