We gather here this morning to celebrate not only the Lord’s Day as we do every week but this week, we celebrate also a special church holiday, Reformation Sunday. Now, based on the fact that this is a Lutheran Church I will go ahead and assume that the majority of you have at least somewhat of an idea as to what the Reformation was. But let’s say you didn’t, or maybe you just need a refresher. What was the Reformation? The common way to answer this is to talk about Martin Luther, to talk about the historic corruption of the Established institution of the church in his context, and to talk about his fight against that corruption. But that would all grossly miss the whole point of the question my friends, would it not? For, the question, asked in this context today is not a question aimed at what the thing itself is, the reformation, but what its relation to us is. What are we doing here on reformation Sunday, why are we even referring to today as reformation Sunday instead of just Sunday? And why is this so important? So, lets answer it this way: the essence of the reformation was, is, and always will be the gospel… and it will never and can never be anything but this.
The Gospel. That’s what you’re saying the reformation was about? Yes. It really is that simple. When you pull back all the historical context, the contextual nuances, and the mythologized characters such as our own dear Martin Luther, we find nothing else but the Gospel. But I don’t mean this in the vague sense of “the Gospel.” I mean, we find the Gospel in full and overwhelming clarity and purity. And that is exactly what were going to put together piece by piece today, and to do that well be turning back to Romans 3.
But before we do that we need to go back even further, because this isn’t just any good news. He’s telling us of the good news of salvation. Salvation from what? Why do we need to be saved? Genesis 2, God creates man. He creates him good, perfect, in His image. He places him in the garden of Eden, in His presence and He says ok dwell here with me, you can eat of everything in this garden, except one thing, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. From that one single tree, that one only, don’t eat. For when you eat of that tree you will surely die. Genesis 3, Adam eats from that tree. From that one, single, forbidden tree, and why was it forbidden? Because from eating of that tree he would surely die. Why is a child forbidden to touch a hot stove? The child will burn their hand. So, what do we do? we stamp it down on that stove. And because why? Because we don’t believe our parents. Something in us believes deep down that they’re lying to us, that they don’t have our best interests at heart. That is exactly what happened. The serpent enters the scene, he turns to Eve when she’s alone. “Hey Eve… why did God tell you not to eat of that tree?” “Because if we eat of that tree well die,” she said. “Well,” said the serpent, “you don’t actually think that was true, do you? That’s ridiculous. Not only will you not die, but you’ll become like God, knowing good and evil.” Your father said don’t touch the stove. Why? Because he wants to hide from you the pleasure of touching the stove? Can you honestly tell me that that is not exactly what we as children were thinking, are perhaps thinking if we currently are children? No, no. Such a deluded thought perfectly fits into the pattern of our behaviour, there’s no other reason a child would touch that stove, there’s no other reason a child would want to touch that stove. A Second thought, are you Eve, or are you the snake? Who is coming to the table with these questions, “did God really say?” “Are God’s laws really given with my best interests at heart?” Are you falling victim to temptations or are you the one conjuring them up?
Exodus 20, I am the Lord your God who has redeemed you from slavery to the enemy, you shall have no other Gods, you shall not misuse my name, you shall keep the Sabbath day holy, you shall honor your parents, you shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, lie, or covet. Easy? Try it. This law is bookended with two inseparably joined executioners that are just waiting for us to push them to drop the axe of judgement down on our necks. Have no other Gods. What does this mean? You shall fear, love, and trust God above all things. Not satisfied with Luther’s exposition? You think God is easier? No. Deut 6:5, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” You think you do this? If you did this you would have never sinned. John 14:15, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” And just why is it, friends, that you don’t keep His commandments? “Because that thing that I didn’t have looked nice and I wanted it.” Because you coveted what was not yours, because you feared not having that thing, because you loved the idea of having it as yours, because you trusted in it to give you peace and rest. “You may eat of anything in this garden except this one tree, for when you eat of this one single tree, you will surely die.” Don’t touch the stove. “Don’t covet.” Don’t touch the stove. “Don’t lie.” Why is it that we break these laws? Why do we sin? We do not fear, love, and trust God above all things. How do I know that? Because Eve would never have eaten that fruit if she did. Because you, and because I, would never lie, cheat, steal, or hate our neighbour if we did. Fear, love, and trust in God above all things, for the day that you trust the serpent over the saviour you will surely die.
Back to Romans 3, all are under the Law, all have sinned against the law, all are condemned before the Law. Not only will you not justify yourself by your works, but you will earn nothing by your works except more sin, more death, and more Hell than you’ve already got on your plate. Trust me, you have enough. But, God was not content to let sin, death, and the devil have the last word in the matter. For there is another righteousness that has been revealed to us. This is a righteousness apart from the Law. This is the very righteousness of God. The righteousness that transcends and exceeds the demands of the Law. The commands of the Law reflect the goodness and holiness of God’s moral character. The Law says, be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. But this righteousness, this one, this is the righteousness of God Himself. This righteousness is revealed to us through Christ, through God becoming man for you, to live for you, to die for you, to rise for you, and to give Himself wholly to you, that you may now eat, drink, hear, and feel His presence with you and for you, that you may taste and see that the Lord is good. The Law says be holy, for the Lord your God is holy. The Gospel says you are holy, for Christ your Lord has made you holy. He has made you holy, in Him you are Holy. In His death you have died and in His resurrection you now live. In Him your sins are forgiven and the Law is fulfilled. In Him we find our life. And through Him we love. Through Him we love, why? We love because He first loved us. We love because we have been loved to the point that there is nothing left for us to do but love. We don’t do good works out of a fear of going to hell, nor do we look to them for our salvation. In Christ we have received salvation through His blood. This is the crux of the reformation. We are justified, we are saved, completely and wholly, by Christ’s work in His life, in His death, and in His resurrection. And the works that we now do, we do freely, out of the same voluntary love that Christ loved us with. We freely love others because Christ freely loved us. In so doing, we fulfill what Paul said of us in Ephesians 2; that we are God’s workmanship created in Christ Jesus to do good works. Created by love, to love. Under the waters of Baptism Christ handed to you all that you needed, and not you, but Christ now lives in you, to live for others. To be to others, as Christ has been to you, and above all, to tell them of what Christ has done for them. Sin, death, and the devil may have had the first word in your life, but Christ has had the last.
I would like to give an illustration here, to wrap up this sermon by putting it in characterized form. That would be excellent. To say, the Gospel is like… But that’s difficult for me to do. And its not becomes I’m young and my life is short on experiences to pull from. It certainly isn’t because I’m not reading enough literature. It’s because nothing is like the gospel. Nothing is like the gospel. From the beginning of time there is an unbroken line, an unbroken line. A timeline if you will. Stretching from the forbidden fruit and its being eaten by Adam and Eve, through the sins of the OT patriarchs, through the disobedience of Israel, through to you, and your sins, to your eating of that fruit, to your disobedience. But as big and wide as this thread of is, say you 6 billion years, or 6 thousand, the climax of this timeline is fit within 33 years of Jesus Christ walking toward Jerusalem to die on Mt. Calvary for you and for your salvation. And that 33 years spans that whole timeline, it redeems that whole timeline. Every sin, every sinner, drowned in the redeeming blood of Christ, set free from sin, and adopted in Him, coheirs. Co-heirs with Christ Jesus. Of what? Of all things. That’s insane. That God would become a man. A man! That God, as man, would subject Himself to His own law? His own Law. That this God as man, would innocent of His own law, take our sins and die with them, for us and for our salvation? For us, and for our salvation. And He gives you salvation, through the Supper. This is the New Testament in my blood. I don’t know how long you’ve been a Christian. But there’s a good chance that I can say of all of you today, that blood has been in your mouth. In Baptism. I can bet, for most of you, that water has been poured out over you. The blood is in your mouth you know this is for you, you see it, its in your mouth. We talk about the how, how is this bread and wine the body and blood how is this water going to save, how? Forget about the how lets talk about the why. Why why why? Why all of this? Why is this bread and wine the body and blood why is this baby having water sprinkled over them or poured? Just why? Its for you. Its so that you know, its so that you know that those 33 years were for you, for you and for your salvation and for your assurance in it. A gospel illustration. Yes, and God has given us a gospel illustration. How did God illustrate the thing that is the most unlike anything else, EVER? By something even more unlike anything else. You say, Connors, it makes no sense. Yes. It makes no sense. It is a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the gentiles. But to those who believe it is the power unto salvation, the Gospel of God!
Are you too righteous for the righteousness of God? Are you too sinful for it? Do you not appreciate it enough? It is for you. Irrespective of your answer to these questions, it is for you. Let’s say there’s three folks. Each need extra money but they’re bent to the brink, working and toiling, and suffering. But each come up short on rent. If they don’t pay they’ll be evicted. They receive money in the mail. An anonymous cheque with their name on it. More than enough. The first man, he sees the money and says, well, I don’t deserve the money, see, I’m 15 hundred dollars short on my 15 hundred dollar rent because I gambled it all away. Not only do I not deserve that money, I should never be trusted with money again. The second man. He says well, this is nice and all, but I can’t take it, I barely even feel thankful for this money. Could you imagine taking 5 thousand dollars ungratefully? This is several months rent, no way! The third man, he sees the money. He cries. Why would someone? Why? Just why? What’s stopping you friends? You don’t deserve it? You aren’t grateful enough? What did you think was being atoned for in the first place?!
A personal example. An old friend once gave me a Christmas gift. And he says to me, this gift is for you. So I take the gift right, I take it and I go home. But when I get home I look at the gift, and its a nice gift and all but there’s a problem with the gift. It has the wrong name on it. So I call him and i tell him the problem. But of course he says, no no it IS for you. I know, because I handed it to you on purpose, I knew what name it had on it. Today we’re going to witness a Baptism. And in this baptism. A child is going to receive a gift. It’s going to be the gift of Christ and His righteousness. It will come, with Christ’s name on it. This gift will read “the righteousness of Christ.” But it will be given to this child. And when this child comes to a point of despair which all of us come to often, monthly, weekly, daily, hourly, I don’t know how often, but I know it will come. When this despair comes, this despair that says, but this righteousness isn’t mine, its Christs. What did I do to deserve this righteousness? There must be a mistake, I have no righteousness, this is for someone else. We can stand here as witnesses and testify to this moment, saying, no. This righteousness is for you. Yes it has Christ’s name on it. In fact, it has three names on it. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Triune name. The Triune name of the God who gave you this gift. The Triune name of God who’s righteousness you now have.
This, brothers and sisters, this is the heart and soul of the Reformation. It was a public grasping of the Gospel of Christ Jesus in a Faith given to us by God Himself. The good news of a salvation freely given to undeserving sinners given by grace, received through faith, accomplished in Christ, to the glory of God, as proclaimed in the Scriptures, in spite of our lack of works, the weakness of our faith, and the enumerable voices which contest this God-given gospel. The gospel is for you its not by you! We gather here every year on this day not to celebrate the old renaissance era, great as it might be. We gather in defiance of Satan himself, to declare victory over Him in and through Christ Jesus our Lord. There are serpents in this garden! So we rally together as we do every Sunday to focus ourselves again on the centre of the Christian faith, Christ and His promises. Satan’s question to the church was “did God really say.” Our answer was the reformation, and it began with the same sound that signified the end of Satan’s rule over your soul, the echoing of hammer driving nail through wood. Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again. Alleluia.
