Not Protestant [Reformation Day]

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO HERE

READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:

• Revelation 14:6-7

• Romans 3:19-28

• St. Matthew 11:12-19

 

Grace to you and peace from Him Who is and Who was and Who is to come; from Jesus Christ the faithful Witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. (Rev 1)
 
Who speaks to you this very morning saying,

“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a dirge, and you did not mourn.”

 
Many think that “A mighty Fortress” is the hymn of the Reformation. It may be for some, but for the Lutherans, the hymn we sang from TLH today was the hymn used more often in church. And it is in that sadness that we face the divisions within Christ’s Church. He gave it to us, at the cost of His entire self, and we have wrecked it.
 
Today we can understand our Lord’s words about flute and dirge, at least a little bit, in this way: just as the Kingdom of heaven does not desire violence, neither does He desire this flute, this dance, this dirge, or this mourning. Meaning, we may feel like we are giving God what He wants and expect Him to be happy with it, but really we are only giving Him what we tell Him He wants and throw a fit when He rejects it.
 
Today, on this celebration of the Reformation, we may feel the guilt of “splitting the church”, yet with their lives on the line, the reformers proved that they were not guilty of this. However, the Protestants capitalized on this time as an excuse to start their own churches in which they “play the flute and sing a dirge” for God which He did not ask for and does not want.
 
So we must clear the air in order that we reject the man-made flute and dirge and declare: Lutherans are not Protestants. 
And yet, in almost all of Reformation scholarship, the scholars will take the so-called historic definition of Protestant and use that. That is the definition that, regardless of doctrine or belief, any religious body that disassociated itself from the Roman Catholic church was/is Protestant. 
 
This is an attempt of historians to sanitize history, to distance themselves ideologically from the actual causes and effects of the event. As if the study of history were some sort of unbiased, objective monolith that is able to see the truth of all things without taking sides?! They have no idea what Protestant even means.
 
They fool themselves and nobody else. How can you see history as some sort of sterilized, unemotional blob detached from any sort of value based judgment done by the men living through it? Preposterous. This is why I will, for today, reject the labels that so-called “historians” place upon us, especially, just in order to prove their dissertation theses.
 
For our second definition of Protestant, let’s look at history. There we find that we are the inheritors of three names, not just one. Protestant, as we have stated, was one we received from the so-called-historians, solely because its base definition means “to protest”. Evangelical is the name we took for ourselves, as in those of the Good News. And Lutheran is the name we were given by those who hate us, both the Romans and the Protestants.
 
Because, at the start, it was only the Lutherans who “protested” and that was only part of an official reconciliation process required by the Emperor, not any sort of religious thing. In the Diet of Speyer, 1529, this “legal form” was filed in order to receive just treatment under civil and church law. As in, “don’t kill us until we’ve had a fair trial!”
 
This protest was under threat of martyrdom. None of the other Reformation piggy-backers were under threat of violence. Theirs was truly a protest of spoiled brats after the fact, simply relishing that now they can do whatever they want with their churches, even be unchristian! They, of course, blame the Lutherans for that.
 
This formal protest was rejected, surprise surprise. Only Lutherans were imprisoned because of it and only Lutherans had filed the paper work. 
 
Secondly, the name “evangelical” was chosen by the Lutherans, because that was what the entire Reformation was about: being true to the Word of God in order to reclaim the Gospel. Evangelical is the Greek word for Gospel, or Good News. So the Lutherans were the reformers aiming for the Gospel, or Evangelicals. Hence why our church has the word “evangelical” in its name.
 
However, to use “evangelical” today would be a chore, because you'd have to qualify your term. No one knows what “evangelical” means. If you used that word today, you would more than likely find holy-rollers or works-righteous charismatics, than you would find the Gospel of Christ Crucified taught and preached.
 
Once the Lutherans had blazed the path out of persecution and imprisonment, it was then the Protestants, proper, who came out to play their hands. Then it was “ole ole oxen free” on denomination-time. Once all the hard work of making the case that Lutherans were Christian, even without the pope, was finished, then the piggy-backers piggy-backed. 
 
The name “lutheran” then came from the persecution that continued for the Lutherans both from the Holy Roman Empire and the newly sterilized Protestants. Even the Protestants didn’t want the Lutherans. This is because the Protestants just want to protest being under the pope’s thumb, while the Lutherans want to protest their lives being threatened simply for believing the Gospel.
 
Here we see one of the main dividing lines between Lutheran and Protestant. The Lutherans want to be true to God’s Word, the Protestants just didn’t want to be Roman Catholic. They stormed off in a huff, we were kicked out and are still excommunicated. 
 
So much negativity. It is not healthy to just be against something, or to just protest something. You must be “for” something. If you're going to be against something, fine, but provide a positive alternative otherwise you’re just selling fear and hate.
 
The “flute and dirge” from our Gospel reading are man-made innovations of religious doctrine. They are beliefs and doctrine clothed in the Word, but at their center focus primarily on human works. Thus, the true failure of the Reformation was not getting the Romans and the Protestants to hear and believe that the righteousness of God comes by faith alone.
 
The righteousness of God is only thought of as works we do. For the Protestant, the 10 commandments are the Law and good works are the Gospel. This is because actual righteousness is only in God and so it follows that the righteousness of God means God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.
 
Repent. You are the Protestant. This understanding of “gospel” does not produce the love of God, but violence against heaven. The sinner attempting this righteousness of God will only come to hate God as he more and more realizes that God is not satisfied with his actions of “holiness”.
 
Dear Christians, listen to the Lord’s Divine Service. Hear Him call for the trumpets of the true Gospel by grace for Christ’s sake through Faith alone. Let the New Song be sung of the Resurrection of all flesh, not of some other Gospel not preached by the Apostles.
 
If God wanted our works, He would have let us hang on the cross and attempt resurrection three days later. Instead, Jesus substitutes Himself for our sakes. He takes on the violence directed at our sinful nature. Jesus is the better Elijah Who not only calls fire down from heaven, but calls it upon Himself, sacrificing Himself in our place.
 
Jesus alone plays and sings the instruments and the songs of God, that is, death and resurrection given in Baptism, Faith by hearing the Gospel, and forgiveness of sins eaten in the Lord’s Supper, for as our Gospel said, “the Son of Man came eating and drinking”. Eating and drinking even with you today.
 
You may be familiar with the “solas” of the Reformation: Scripture alone, faith alone, and grace alone. These are cute and a good start to understanding the Reformation, but they are modern innovations and have already been proven insufficient. For now there are not three but 5 solas, adding: Christ alone and to the glory of God alone. If we were honest, we would have to continue to add and it would never be enough.
 
Faith only requires One Thing Needful: Crux sola est nostra theologia. The Cross alone. The cross alone is our theology. God’s love is manifest in Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross alone. God’s love is fulfilled through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus alone. With the New Testament, we proclaim Christ and Him crucified, alone.
 
In this “sola” we reform all our thinking, speaking, and doing. If we are going to think it, it better conform to the cross of Christ. If we are going to speak it, it better be giving the crucifixion of the Son of God for you. If we are going to act, we better be acting while bearing our cross, for there is only one thought, word, and deed allowed in heaven: Jesus.
 
And not just thought, word, and deed with Jesus’s name tagged on the end, but the actual thoughts of Jesus which plead for us in front of the Father. The actual words of Jesus which proclaim us justified in front of God for all eternity. And the actual acts of Jesus which unite us to Him in water, bread, and wine. 
 
There, dear Lutheran, is the fight of the Reformation which has not ended for the Church of Christ on earth. There, at Word and sacrament, do we truly engage in spiritual and physical warfare. There is where Jesus makes His stand and rallies around His blood-red banner.
 
Yet, it is a blood-red banner of victory. Our warfare is accomplished. Our iniquity is pardoned, says Isaiah 40:2. While we struggle with our own sin, we struggle in a victory already accomplished and given to us. This means, we struggle in the hope of sure and certain victory for us also. Our struggle is not to please God, but to make ourselves confident that we believe in His Son Whom He sent.
 
Put your protests away. Throw them into the glassy sea at the foot of Christ’s throne (Rev 4:10). Believe that you are saved by grace alone. Believe that works righteousness comes to you completely through faith alone. Hear and believe that the Lord speaks and works only through His Scriptures alone. Believe and trust that Christ alone accomplishes all this, purchases all this with His holy, innocent Blood, and gives it to you.
 
A full and complete gift. Nothing missing. “It is finished”. Take and eat in celebration! For our Mighty Fortress is found in Word and Sacrament and nowhere else. Our Zion is Christ Himself, Body and Blood. This is our God, Lutherans, Who is forever and ever guiding us from death to Life For His Son’s sake. Alone.