All Alone: Reformation Sunday Homily

All Alone

Twenty-first after Trinity

Reformation Sunday

October 26, 2015

Collect for the Day: Grant, we beseech thee, merciful Lord, to thy faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins an, and serve the with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect for the Church: O gracious Father, we humbly beseech thee for thy holy Catholic Church; that thou wouldest be pleased to fill it with all truth, in all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of him who died and rose again, and ever liveth to make intercession for us, Jesus Christ, thy Son, our Lord. Amen.

Text: "Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it."

Today is Reformation Sunday. On October 31, 1517, the monk and priest Martin Luther nailed to the church door in Wittenburg a document inviting debate on 95 statements about the teachings and practices of the Church of Rome. Two other priest-reformers, John Calvin in Switzerland and Thomas Cranmer in England, followed Luther. All three wanted to reform not destroy the Church.

What was the Reformation about? There are five statements that capture the significance. Each begins with the Latin word, “sola” which means, “alone” or “only.”

1. Scripture Alone

Martin Luther had his back against the wall. The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles V, ordered him to appear at a meeting in Worms where he would be questioned by theologian John Eck. Eck laid Luther’s writings on a table and asked if he were going to stand by them or submit to the church and retract his erroneous teachings. Luther answered:

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Scriptures or by clear reason (for I do not trust either in the pope or in councils alone, since it is well known that they have often erred and contradicted themselves), I am bound by the Scriptures I have quoted, and my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, since it is neither safe nor right to go against conscience. May God help me. Amen.

Many believe Luther struck a blow for individual freedom and the supremacy of the conscience over all authority. “Whatever I feel the Bible says to me is what it means. Whatever I believe is true is true for me.” But Luther intended no such thing. Luther’s dilemma was, “What do you do when the teaching or practice of the church is clearly contradictory to Scripture?” His answer was, “Scripture is the Word of God, and God’s Word is the final authority.”

Luther asserted the supremacy of Scripture for the church. It is not the Bible and church traditions or church declarations, but the Bible alone that has ultimate authority in the church. The Bible is not a book about medicine, or physics, or politics. What is it about?  St. Paul wrote to Timothy:

...from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (3:15-17)

This supremacy of Scripture is not a theory to talk about. The Bible is first a book to know. Today, there is a great ignorance of the Bible, even in the church. One of Archbishop Cranmer’s great concerns was for the English people to hear the Scriptures, and more to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them.” The Bible is second a book to believe and obey. The Bible, not our opinions or societal trends, tells us what to believe and how to live.  

2. Christ Alone

How can we know God who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man can see or ever has seen? How can we approach God who is holy, whose eyes are too pure to look in iniquity?

The Reformers said we know God only in Christ who is the eternal Son made flesh. He is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3).

We can approach God only through Christ. “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all…”(1 Timothy 2:5,6). St. Peter declared, “...there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

One challenge the Reformers confronted was belief that the priest is your mediator. The priest represents you before God and represents God to you. He offers Christ on the altar as a sacrifice for your sins. But the Reformers saw the Presbyter as a preacher and administrator - a preacher of Christ’s Word who administers his Sacraments. The only Mediator is Christ.

The challenge we face today is the view that Christ is not the only way to God. We can approach God any way that works for us. But Christ is the only One who reveals God to us and saves us. Jesus spoke unambiguously: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). We know and approach God through Christ alone.

3. Grace Alone

There are two questions we need to ask ourselves in light of the reality of sin: 1) What do I deserve? 2) What can I do?

What do I deserve? Many of our contemporaries say, “I’m not perfect, but I’m a good person. I do good things. I deserve good from God.” But some may sense that that sin is a bigger problem than some imperfections that we will have to answer to God and face judgment. Then what? Well, we believe in self-help so we may swing into action to fix our problem. How can we save ourselves? The natural response is to try harder to be better and do better. Follow the example of Jesus. Perhaps we can make up for the bad with good. Or, maybe God will accept our sincere effort in place of perfection.

In the Middle Ages no one believed we could save ourselves by self-effort. We need help. That’s where Christ comes in. What does Christ do? How much does he do? How much do we do? We need his merits, but what about our merits? Is salvation partly Christ’s work and partly our works? What he did for us? What must we do for ourselves? Is salvation God doing his part and we doing our parts? The Roman Catholic answer was that God’s grace in Christ does most for our salvation, but we must cooperate and do our part.

Our strong tendency is to want to do something to contribute to our salvation. Suppose I invite you to dinner. You say, “What can I bring?” I say, “Nothing.” You say, “How about a dessert?” “No.” “How about salad?” “No.” “Well, how the bread?” “No, I am providing everything; don’t bring anything.” What do you do? Accept the gift of a dinner I provide? Or refuse since you can’t bring a little something?

The Reformers learned from Scripture that God provides the whole of our salvation in Christ. We don’t contribute anything. We can’t. Christ does it all. It is grace, all grace, and grace alone. The Apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2:8,9).   

4. Faith Alone

Martin Luther had a theological and personal problem he could not resolve. God is righteous. He requires us to be righteous. But we are not righteous. Luther found that no matter how hard he worked to do good works, no matter how faithfully he observed the disciplines and rituals of the church, he could not achieve righteousness with God. He was frustrated with himself and angry with God. He could not provide the righteousness God requires.

The breakthrough came when Luther saw that righteousness is not about being righteous or doing righteousness but about God’s verdict that you are righteous. This is called justification. You do not attain righteousness by works - whether those works are obedience to moral demands of the law or works that mark you as belonging to God’s people. God justifies you. He declares that he does not count your sins against you but considers you righteous in his sight. He does this on the basis of Christ’s work. Christ gains the forgiveness of your sins by suffering the law’s penalty; he gains for you a righteous standing by keeping God’s law for you. Your righteousness is not grounded in what you do or might do, but in what Christ did for you.

But how can you get this verdict of not guilty, but righteous? How are can you be justified? Paul says it is by faith: “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works” (Rom. 3:28). As salvation is not partly by God’s grace and partly by our merit, so justification is not partly by Christ’s work for us and partly by our works. We receive what Christ did for by entrusting ourselves to Christ and what he did for us. As Article XI puts it, “We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith, and not for our own works or deservings.” We are right with God by faith in Christ and his merits, or we are not right with God at all. The Gospel is that Jesus did it all, and we receive it all by faith alone.

5. The Glory of God Alone

What is the meaning and purpose of life? What the point God’s plan and work of salvation? What is the reason for the church? It is all for the glory of God alone. When the great Lutheran composer J.S. Bach came to the end of a composition he wrote the words, “Soli Deo Gloria” - to God alone the glory. We are not the center of the universe. We are not what life is all about. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36).