Justify or Justified--God's Reformation

Pastor Meyer's Sermon

Sunday, October 29, 2006

[Video] As you can see, this is Wittenberg , October 31, 1517, and here you see Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses. “Nailing above the door of the church was not unusual, for this was the customary place to post announcements at both university and public events. Among those waiting to be forgiven and blessed, none could know this document would become one of the most wildly read in all history.”

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it is this document, better known as the 95 Theses , that was the spark that started the Reformation and it surrounded one question. That question was “How can I be sure I will survive judgment day?” In other words, “How can I be certain I have forgiveness of sins?” And so it is with this question an unknown monk in an obscure town in the back hills of Germany sought to answer with this document.

“How can I be certain of forgiveness of sins?” We've asked that question before, haven't we? I know I have when I look back in my past and the sins I've committed and the mistakes I've made and the guilt I have with those and I look at a God who knows everything I've done, and I can't help but ask, “How can I be certain He can forgive everything I've done?”

Well, in the times of Martin Luther, the rage was to go out and buy an indulgence. It was the in thing to do. Really, it was a business transaction. All you needed to do was just give some money to the church and the church would give you an indulgence. It was a piece of paper. And on this piece of paper, it would say, “Your sins are forgiven.” And so people could walk around town with this piece of paper in their hands and they could point to it and say, “Yes, I have guarantee of my forgiveness of sins.” Even more, you could go and see the relics. And the relics would be maybe the supposed bones of the apostle, Paul, or maybe you could see the head of John the Baptist still on a silver platter. But you would go and you would see these relics because you knew that when you gave the money to the church and you actually viewed the relic, you would have forgiveness of sins. And you could point at it and say, “This is something I've done for my forgiveness of sins.”

Well, you could go one step further. If you knew there was a particular sin you were going to be committing in the future, you could buy an indulgence now and you could receive forgiveness for that future sin. For instance, if later on this week, I knew I would be boasting about the St. Louis baseball Cardinals winning the World Series, then I could buy an indulgence now and I could get forgiveness of sins for that now so, later on, when I boast, I can boast and be guilt free from that boasting.

But Luther, being a conscientious pastor who cares for his people, was concerned because people were putting confidence in this piece of paper in the indulgence. Certificates of forgiveness? Forgiveness of future sins? Nowhere in the bible did it say that. So people were pointing to the wrong things for comfort. They were looking to the wrong place for forgiveness of sins. And so with a hammer and a few nails, Martin Luther posted the 95 Theses upon a beat-up church door for public viewing and debate in the hopes of reform. Luther's prayer was the church views would be reformed, the change to improve conditions, and so Martin Luther, who knew the futility of indulgences, uses this document to point to another reformation, a reformation that had occurred 1,500 years before and this reformation, this movement that sought to improve current conditions also was started with hammer and nails. It all began in an obscure town in the back hills of Israel . There was a door involved, a door that was beaten up and being used for public display. There was a notice that was nailed above the door intended for an announcement and to provoke debate. That notice said, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” You see, the 95 Theses pointed to a reformation started by God, for God knew the futility of us trying to earn our righteousness, our forgiveness of sins. He knew there was no way we could find favor in His eyes on our own.

So it was God Himself who gave us the promise He would send us a door of hope. And so Jesus tells us in John 10, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. I came that they may have life and have life abundantly.” Let's read it together. “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved. I came that they may have life and have life abundantly.”And it's through this door that we receive forgiveness of sins. And that is what Luther's document is pointing to. Thesis 32, “Those who believe they can be certain of salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned together with their teachers.” Thesis 36, “Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt even without indulgence letters.” And Thesis 62, “The true treasure of the church is the most holy gospel of the glory and grace of God.” It is this document that pointed to the true source, the true source for which we can earn confidence that we know we can receive confidence in salvation and forgiveness. It is in this source that it tells us in Romans 3, “But now a righteousness from God apart from law has been made known to which the law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” To all who believe. It is God's action through His Son that brought about a change in our lives, a change to an improved condition. It's God's reformation. And we're going from sinful to sinless when we receive the faith, when we are baptized, when we receive Christ's body and blood. We can be certain the sins we've committed have been nailed to the door of hope because it tells us in 1 Peter 2, “He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree so we may die to sin and live to righteousness.” We know we are forgiven because of the faith we have in Jesus Christ. But the question is are we acting it out in our lives? When we hear the words of absolution like you did at the beginning of the service when Pastor Burcham said your sins are forgiven in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, where does that hit you? Does it hit you in your mind and you say, “Yes, I know I've been forgiven. Yes, I know I'm a child of God.” Or does it hit you in your heart where you can say, “Yes, I know I am forgiven. I know I'm a child of God.” Where does it hit you?

Dwight D. Moody, an evangelist of the 19 th Century used to say, “The bible wasn't given to increase knowledge. No, the bible was given to change our lives.” And how often have we heard the words of forgiveness? We know in our minds we've been forgiven of our sins but when we leave this sanctuary and we go out into our daily lives, we find our hearts are still filled with the guilt from the sins. It's almost like we go up to the door of hope where we know are sins are nailed to that door and we go up to the sin and we kick it away and we keep it to ourselves. Oh, sure, we may be pointing to something else. We may say, “Money will help me. If I just make a few more purchases, that can help me get rid of that guilt.” Or maybe we might point to work and say, “If I just put in a few more hours during the week, I'll be so busy I just won't be able to think about that guilt.” Or maybe you find yourself like Nathan. Nathan was married for the second time. He had made some mistakes in his first marriage that led to the divorce. And even though he had heard the words from his pastor that his sins were forgiven, even though he felt sorry for those sins and he knew he was a child of God, he still carried the guilt of those mistakes. And he kept them so close to himself to the point where he would even dream about those mistakes and, at night, he would wake up in cold sweats and he would be afraid he had made those same mistakes over again and that he's going to be losing this marriage, too. And so he found himself having trouble sleeping, and he found himself having trouble opening up to his wife. He even had trouble trusting himself because he just couldn't let go of the past. And, in all of this, he felt himself drifting further and further away from his wife.

So how are you doing in your life? Has God's reformation taken a hold of you or are there some sins or a guilt you carry close to you? And you find yourself just pulling it off the door of hope. Where are you in your life? Rick Warren, one of America 's influential spiritual leaders stated, one day, a man came up to him and asked him what is the best translation? Of course, he was asking about what's the best bible version. And so Rick Warren answered, “The best translation is when you translate the word of God into your daily life.” So the man picked up his bible and said, “I have the living translation, the living version.” Obviously, the man didn't get the point so Rick Warren went on to say, “You ought to be a living bible. The word made flesh ought to be visible in your life.”

So this morning, I have an encouragement for you. You'll see at the end of the pews there are dark pieces of paper and there are pencils. I encourage you to pass them down to your neighbors. And we're going to have some hymns right after I give the blessing for the end of the sermon. And during the hymns, I want you to think about, “Is there a guilt in your life? Is there a sin in your life that you keep wanting to take down from the door of hope?” And I want you to write that down. And there are hammers and nails at the three doors. Come up and you can nail it to the door. Because my friend, Jesus, not only said, “I am the door,” He also said, “I have come so you may have life and have life abundantly.” And life also includes not having any guilt, to be guilt free.

And so when you come up here and you nail those sins or those guilts on the doors, when you leave this sanctuary, I don't want you to just know you have been forgiven. I want you to actually feel that guilt, that sin being left behind. Because God tells us in Jeremiah 31, “I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.” God doesn't remember our sins and neither should we. Confident that God forgives us, confident in God's reformation, let God's reformation take a hold of you in your life. Amen.

Copyright 2006 Gloria Dei Lutheran Church