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Reformation Sunday , 10/28/2018
Sermon on Romans 3:19-28, by Evan McClanahan
Jeremiah 31:31-34, Psalm 46, Romans 3:19-28, John 8:31-36
Whenever we think of the Reformation, our minds often go to two places: particular historical events and denominational differences. Both of those things are important and interesting, and frankly hard to ignore on a date that was specifically chosen because of a peculiar event: Martin Luther nailing those 95 Theses to that door in Wittenberg. The Reformation is a historical reality, a movement within Christ’s Church that is inescapably linked to specific people: Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Melanchthon, even Henry VIII and Pope Leo X. These were all key players at a time of great change, and, again, they are hard to ignore.
And then we think of what the Reformation is and we are inevitably drawn to differences or distinctions between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. We may also consider differences between the Reformed and the Anabaptists who, after all, were as much a scourge to Luther as Rome was and with whom we continue to have disagreements today. It is normal and natural that the following issues will arise in our mind on this day, for these are the points of contention that still define denominational distinctions: justification by grace or works, man’s free will, the existence of purgatory, praying to Saints, the nature of the Baptism, the nature of the Lord’s Supper, competing sources of authority (or put more simply the authority of the Bible), the nature of the priesthood and even the celibacy of priests.
The Reformation would be a good time to discuss any and all of those topics. It would be safe and comfortable and familiar. But that is not what I wish to discuss today. Nor do I think the serious men and women that worked so hard for Reformation would want us to. For this is not a day about us and our quirky denomination or heroes of the past or even first and foremost particular doctrines. Reformation Sunday and Reformation Day - the day some call “Halloween” - should be about the work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciples of Jesus Christ. This day is about the re-formation of our souls. It is about the way we are changed by God’s grace, not how one person a long time ago changed the course of history.
For before Luther ever became a man of history, before he ever became a volume in Will Durant’s The Story of Civilization, his heart burned for God. Before he wrote those 95 Theses, he wrote another 97 about the way medieval theology had missed the point, the way it focused on picayune details and had lost the heart of God. Those 97 were ignored, probably because unlike indulgences they had nothing to do with money. So before 1517, Luther was a man changed, a man broken, a man whose heart could not tolerate sin and bribery and debauchery and lying and manipulation anymore. He had grown to hate both the sin that lived deeply within him, so deep that no amount of confession could rid of it.
And he had come to hate the way the Church ignored or had no answer to that sin, the way the Church had ignored the work of Christ on His cross. His heart and mind burned to find answers - not to denominational squabbles - but to man’s chief problem: his rebellion against God which Christ took on when he perfectly lived and died. In short, it wasn’t the Church that was re-formed as much as it was people, Luther being a prime example. And not because he was a “great man of history.” But because he was a broken man. His heart was broken and his soul was on fire for truth, on fire for mercy, on fire for the work of the True Church, not the empty shell that bore the name of Jesus.
And you should know that the Reformation is not a success story. Luther himself was aghast by the state of the Church as he saw it in the 1520s, after the issues had been debated and the Reformation had begun. Ignorance remained. Superstition remained. Ignorance of the Bible was still the norm. Protestants soon fought with one another. And then fights turned into wars, wars in which millions died of battle or starvation or illness due to an inability to keep the state out of the Church and corruption at every level.
Well, shucks, I said I would not talk about history. And this is why. Because we whitewash it and we celebrate a movement that was true and right to be sure, but whose accomplishments can be flushed down the toilet if we don’t remember why we observe the Reformation. It shouldn’t merely be a reminder that institutions or nations or denominations need the occasional tune-up, but that Christiansen and women need constant reform, discipleship in the way of our Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
For re-formation should be a daily occurrence for the believer. After all, that is who the Reformation is for. Today is not a day to discuss stewardship or outreach or evangelism. It is not a day to discuss the Ecumenical Movement or the state of denominations. It is not even a day to discuss doctrine, save the doctrine of our justification by Christ in the wake of our broken hearts. Today is about our need to be re-formed into the image of Christ, so we can then serve Him more fully and more perfectly in every area of life.
Have you noticed that none of what I said is limited to the Lutheran Church? Indeed, if Reformation Day is some kind of “Atta boy” in the direction of Lutheranism, we have missed the point. The Church needs now, and always has and always will, need her people to emulate Luther in his moment of weakness, not idolize him as one who triumphed. For it was not Luther who ever triumphed in the first place, but Christ. And that is what Luther would want us to leave here today remembering: that in that scary moment of allowing our lives and souls to be re-formed, Christ will be there to build us back up.
No doubt Luther’s most terrifying years were 1515-1517, the years when he came to understand the depravity of his soul and the goodness of God. For he was first terrified of God, and then he found peace in the cross of Christ. Are you terrified? Have you ever been? Are you willing to face your sins, your limits, your fears, and hand them over to Christ? For it is only when you do that that you can be re-formed.
Then, you will be free. For you will be living in the truth. You will be living in spiritual truth. You will be living in historical truth. You will be living in moral truth. For you will have come face to face with both the sin that began in the Garden of Eden and the victory of that sin on a cross one day outside of Jerusalem.
Instead, then, of considering the historical impact of the Reformation, we could dream of the impact that millions of reformed Christian souls could make: in their homes, at work, in entertainment, in the academy, by adopting children, by visiting the lonely, by offering a word of hope to the ashamed. That would be the continuing work of the Reformation, one broken heart restored by Christ at a time. And that is no doubt what Luther would have wanted to see. Amen.