{"id":9582,"date":"2003-10-07T19:49:53","date_gmt":"2003-10-07T17:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=9582"},"modified":"2025-05-09T09:37:36","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T07:37:36","slug":"john-831-32","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/john-831-32\/","title":{"rendered":"John 8:31-32"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reformation Sunday | 31st October 2003 | John 8:31-32 | Walter W. Harms |<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Free or Slave?<\/p>\n

I have good news for you. God, before whom all of us stand constantly,\u00a0loves you unconditionally and accepts you just as you are. Now he does\u00a0this, not because we are such good people (we have doubts about that),\u00a0nor because he just has to love poor cusses like us, but because of the\u00a0life, death and resurrection of this person, we call Jesus. Jesus is\u00a0the Lord of all and our Savior. He is the only person of whom we need\u00a0fear, respect or stand in awe. But that fear is mitigated because he\u00a0is also the Savior, the One who has lifted us out of all that would destroy\u00a0life, bring it to a miserable condition, and finally destroy it in this\u00a0world or the next. That is what his life, the cross, and the resurrection\u00a0are all about.<\/p>\n

I want you to believe this, because this is what gives joy and peace\u00a0to your life. Not happiness, which is eating the first chocolate chip\u00a0cookie, but gagging on the 3rd or 4th. No, joy is the sense, the inner\u00a0core that trusts God intends good for you and will accomplish that in\u00a0your life. Peace is not smooth sailing. Peace is knowing that in the\u00a0storms of life, you are going to make it safely to the shore–you will\u00a0make it home to be with your Creator, your Savior, your Father, the Spirit\u00a0who has lead you and all who trust in this Jesus forever.<\/p>\n

Here you are on this Sunday, called Reformation Sunday. Some of you\u00a0may be here because you have seen the new movie, Luther, and wonder if\u00a0the Lutheran Church has any of that vibrancy and fire today as it had\u00a0at its beginning. Some of you didn’t know this was Reformation Sunday,\u00a0but are sure you get smeared with another dosage of „why the Lutheran\u00a0Church is what it is and how it got this way.“ Some of you love\u00a0worship and are here regardless of what Sunday it is. Still others of\u00a0you really have no idea what Reformation might be all about (but are\u00a0soon to find out) and maybe don’t even care!<\/p>\n

Whatever Reformation Sunday is, I supposes all of us believe we would\u00a0be better if there was a little reformation in our life. You know, a\u00a0little change here and there to make us more attractive, more personable,\u00a0easier to live with. „If I could only get rid of my zitzes,“ says\u00a0the teenager, „I would be a lot better.“<\/p>\n

A little tummy tuck here, a little Botox there, more exercise, cut\u00a0down the fats we eat (or whatever seems to be the way to lose weight\u00a0right now)–these changes- „reforms“–we could see might be\u00a0helpful to us.<\/p>\n

„Any encouragement you can give us, reverend, in any of these\u00a0areas would be most appreciated!“ So the church has become a place\u00a0to „reform“ ourselves. It has become a place to improve ourselves,\u00a0a place to make changes in ourselves, a place, maybe, to smack down our\u00a0worse desire and habits so that our world (my world?) is a better place\u00a0to live and I can feel better about myself and get along better.<\/p>\n

Now not everybody believes that a little „reformation“ of\u00a0the self is good or constantly necessary. I heard one person who belonged\u00a0to a church make the comment to his pastor that went something like this: „Change,\u00a0change! They always want me to change. Why can’t I ever hear that I’m\u00a0fine just the way I am.“<\/p>\n

I suppose that man is fine just the way he is, but you know the church:\u00a0get with the program! Either to please God, to be a better person, to\u00a0improve society, to be a Christian, or whatever you call yourself.<\/p>\n

And the church itself! Does it need reforming? „A church not being\u00a0reformed constantly is not the real church,“ someone said many years\u00a0ago, (or something like that).<\/p>\n

With all that in mind, I am sure it might help to understand what reformation\u00a0is all about, by hearing what the Gospel someone said should be read\u00a0on Reformation Sundays in the church. Let’s see what this says about\u00a0reforming the church and ourselves, as this person Jesus talks to us\u00a0in this story.<\/p>\n

He is talking to people who believed in him. Not a group of schleps\u00a0who are not interested, but people in the church or at least calling\u00a0themselves believers. You know, people like you who are here.<\/p>\n

He tells them, these concerned believing persons: „You know what?\u00a0If you stay true to my teaching, you’re really my disciples. Then you’ll\u00a0know the truth, and that truth will free you!“<\/p>\n

True to his teachings? Shades of thick dusty volumes of dogma or slim\u00a0books called Catechisms. Who can know all of them? Not even the preachers\u00a0know that much, and if they do, are probably going to argue with each\u00a0other about what he really said and meant.<\/p>\n

„Really his disciples.“ So much is said about following Jesus,\u00a0it is hard for any of us to understand what being his disciple really\u00a0means. Believing? Believing what? Acting how? „Letting the walk,\u00a0follow the talk“?<\/p>\n

Truth? What is he talking about? Truth changes every 10 years or more,\u00a0doesn’t it? What was bad yesterday is good today; what offered hope 5\u00a0years ago is now to be avoided. A simple example is hormone replacement\u00a0therapy, and the Atkins Diet. Is there any truth at all in this world,\u00a0except that which I accept as truth and what is good for me?<\/p>\n

All this will make us free! Free? Political freedom we understand. Free?\u00a0Are we slaves to anything, any idea, anything at all? Were we ever slaves\u00a0to anything?<\/p>\n

So many questions, so few answers. \u00a0„Anyone who sins is a slave to sin.“ say Jesus. There’s that word „sin.\u00a0Such a pious church word. Sin, sin, sin–what is it?<\/p>\n

It is that which enslaves you, from which you cannot free yourself,\u00a0which offers no manumission of any kind. It is like being chained to\u00a0the seat in one of those Roman galleys from which you can only escape–by\u00a0death, and to death.<\/p>\n

We hate being chained to the pious stuff the Christian church wants.\u00a0What is common complaint? „All that church stuff takes away all\u00a0the fun in life.“ You’ve heard yourself say that, haven’t you? At\u00a0least in your mind? Yes, but at least you may not have acted on that\u00a0impulse. (Is that the reason so many Christians appear to be grumpy,\u00a0because they can’t have any „fun“ as Christians?)<\/p>\n

I saw the opening show on TV for Two and a Half Men. The ten year old,\u00a0the half man, wakes his uncle up who has a splitting headache from drinking\u00a0too much wine the night before. The 10 year old asks: why he drinks too\u00a0much when he knows what it will do. The uncle’s reply is some weird gesture\u00a0which simply says, „Half a man wouldn’t understand.“ But it\u00a0was fun while it lasted, wasn’t it? Sin is that fun stuff which we can’t\u00a0explain why we did it.<\/p>\n

Lots of that kind of stuff has been going on for a long, long time.\u00a0Not just now.<\/p>\n

It was back that way at Dr. Martin Luther’s time back in the fifteen\u00a0hundreds. Lots of German beer then (and now). Back then people waking\u00a0up and not knowing why they did what they did that is now causing them\u00a0so much pain.<\/p>\n

When the first Reformation took place some years ago in 1517, Dr. Martin\u00a0Luther saw people chained to an economy in the church which, simply stated\u00a0said, pay some money and God will forgive that sin and you will be free.\u00a0You could even get advance forgiveness for sins you were going to commit.\u00a0Think of that! You could get forgiveness for that future affair, or that\u00a0drinking too much you were going to do this next weekend!\u00a0Luther said, „You don’t have to pay. It’s been paid! Jesus through his\u00a0death has paid the penalty for your sins completely. You are free from sin,\u00a0from death, from the power of the devil through what Jesus has done for you.“<\/p>\n

That was revolutionary. It changed the one holy catholic and apostolic\u00a0church! It changed the entire landscape of the political, economic, and\u00a0church world.<\/p>\n

If you are one of those regular church going persons, you still probably\u00a0pay a lot. We call it giving–offerings, tithes, or whatever. But not\u00a0to get rid of sins. None of that stuff anymore. \u00a0We give out of grateful thanks to God for what he has done for us through what\u00a0Jesus did. The money given pays salaries, church expenses, to help needy folks\u00a0and missions. Notice, carefully, that we decide what to give or not to give.\u00a0Not tied to anything–free! No particular „spiritual“ benefit from\u00a0giving that God is going to give you for your generosity.<\/p>\n

This goes for whatever takes place in the church. No sins removed by\u00a0any kind of church stuff. No relatives having their sentence in purgatory\u00a0shortened by giving. I hope you all know that!<\/p>\n

That economic system in the church was broken somewhat by the first\u00a0Reformation. I still know people who only come to church when they have\u00a0really done something sinful, or they have a problem and feel a little „gift\u00a0on the altar,“ will probably lead to better things in their life.\u00a0For the most part, however, we feel free–free from sin and its consequences,\u00a0free to do as we want. We don’t have to appease any gods, because there\u00a0is no God but our God. So we control what we want to do, say, think,\u00a0feel or act out. We do as we please in or outside the church<\/p>\n

More and more we make the decisions. Very subtly, we have become in\u00a0charge. I decide what is right. I will do as I please. I will be nice,\u00a0if I want to be, nasty if I want to be. I will buy what I want, live\u00a0how I want, and be what I want to be. Very subtly we have become chained\u00a0to our wills. Neither God, hell or the devil make any difference. Isn’t\u00a0that what the Reformation long ago tells us and what it was all about?<\/p>\n

In a greater or lesser extent, we do see „holding“ onto the\u00a0teaching of Jesus as setting us free, free to trust ourselves to know\u00a0what to be and do.<\/p>\n

Sure, this Jesus has destroyed all other gods. There is nothing we\u00a0can offer him. He’s got it all. He has freed us from hell, from death,\u00a0from an eternity of separation from God. He has given us life, he has\u00a0made us his children, he has placed us in a position of inheriting\u00a0heaven itself. That’s what Jesus was about–his life, his suffering\u00a0and death on the cross, and most importantly his resurrection from\u00a0the dead. Man, humans, you and I have been liberated.<\/p>\n

How boring living that kind of life can become. As Ivan Karamazov’s\u00a0Grand Inquisitor tells Christ, that the freedom that the gospel brings\u00a0is too terrible to be borne indefinitely. With no evil gods to fight,\u00a0with no „real“ enemies, we slink back into the darkness of\u00a0trusting our own will to lead us<\/p>\n

Our failure, the failure of Christians to live up to the victory over\u00a0the old gods vanquished by Christ has allowed the dark power that once\u00a0hid behind all the false gods to step forward. This new rough beast that\u00a0holds our fascination is arising to control us. The beast-god is in our\u00a0ever coarser, crueler, more inarticulate, more vacuous popular culture.\u00a0That new slave owner’s world, cloaked in its anesthetizing stupidity,\u00a0is our world becoming increasing devoid of merit, wit, kindness, imagination\u00a0and charity. In that world, there is no comfort, no piety, no rest, no\u00a0hope, no peace.<\/p>\n

Only by the power of the cross of Jesus can it be destroyed, can we\u00a0be reformed, reshaped again and again, into the image of God, into\u00a0children of God, sons and daughters of the household of God. Only by\u00a0the power of Jesus, the only Son of God can we become children of God,\u00a0stay children of God and be free. Only through the guidance of God’s\u00a0Good Spirit coming into us constantly, can this world of nothingness\u00a0be seen, can we be changed, can we be reformed, can we wake up in the\u00a0mornings of our life without that stupid hangover of self determined\u00a0pleasure. The power of Jesus is that Good News that we are right with\u00a0God because of Jesus and its exploding permeation into our heart, our\u00a0minds, our will and our actions.<\/p>\n

Slave or free? The beast of this age seems to be powerful, but it is\u00a0only an illusion. We live in a world that loves illusions–TV, movies,\u00a0Las Vegas, world domination. We will be lured by them, deceived by them,\u00a0and man-handled by them.<\/p>\n

God is always present with you. He shows you that this twisting, fascinating\u00a0snake is dead, and you are alive in Christ. If the Son of God sets you\u00a0free, you will be free indeed. You are free!<\/p>\n

Don’t offer incense to this beast because he has nothing to offer you\u00a0but the void of nothingness. Stand free. Stand reformed. Stand as what\u00a0you are: free children of God! That means that we shall permit God the\u00a0Holy Spirit to lead us and help us in all the decision we make, to the\u00a0glory of the only God and Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Yes, free at last. Thank God, we are free at last and for always!<\/p>\n

\n

Rev. Walter W. Harms, Pastor (retired)
\nAustin, Texas
\nwaltpast@AOL.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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