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READINGS FROM HOLY SCRIPTURE:
Revelation 14:6-7
Romans 3:19-28
- St. Matthew 11:12-19
Grace, Mercy, and Peace are secure for you from God our
Father, through our risen Lord and Savior, Jesus the Crucified of God!
Who speaks to us, even this evening, as we hear from the
epistle to the Romans:
“It was to show
his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
In this, our Lord’s revelation to us, we do well to ponder
the epistle to the Romans as it places God’s righteousness solely in His
passing over of sins. That is, when you are tasked to find the Righteousness of
God, you answer: in the forgiveness of sins.
In Jesus alone we find it and this is why we celebrate the
Reformation. It was a recovery of the Gospel. No that it had gone away, but
that the righteousness of men had taken over as the chief doctrine of the
Church. That doctrine that said, the New Man in Christ is only attained through
a vow of poverty, a vow of chastity, and obedience to the Vicar of
Christ.
They taught the Ten Commandments were righteousness for the
normies and were bare minimum requirements for being a normal Christian. But
now that the Gospel has come, they say, there is a higher righteousness, a set
of Evangelical Counsels they called them, that are for those who desire to
become perfect in God’s eyes.
The word “evangelical” means Gospel. So even then, the
Gospel was horribly confused with the Law, just as it is today. Churches are
still looking to vows and pledges and decisions to determine who is or who
isn’t perfect, or saved. Protestants are just sloppy Roman Catholics.
In this vein, the Lutherans wanted to be known as
Evangelicals, in order to usurp and reteach what the Gospel actually is. That
is it not based on works, evangelical or otherwise, but solely on Christ, His
person, word, and work. And that work, as Jesus has already told us this
evening is the forgiveness of sins; the Good News that we are freed from the
guilt, the punishment, and the power of sin, and are saved eternally because of
Christ’s keeping the Law and His suffering and death for us. (LSCE p.100) Here
alone does God offer the forgiveness of sins.
With this recovery, comes the need to be distinguished, not
boasting, but separated out from those who wish to live by the Law. Hence, the
name of our denomination: Lutheran.
However, as we hear of the sole Name of He Who Saves, let us
ponder these words of Dr. Luther:
I ask that people make no reference to my name; let them
call themselves Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the
teaching is not mine. Neither was I crucified for anyone. St. Paul, in I
Corinthians 3, would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or
Petrine but Christian. How then should I – poor stinking maggot-fodder than I
am – come to have people call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not
so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christian.
(Luther’s Works, Vol. 45, p. 70)
So, mayhap it is that we are in the wrong, calling ourselves
Lutheran. Even celebrating the Reformation was not done in the church until
well after the 16th century. And yet we continue to confess, with our Lutheran
Confessions, that nothing we do is new or novel in the church.
Pastor Johann Gerhard attempts to explain it this way:
It is not we who call ourselves Lutherans. Rather, our
adversaries call us that. We allow this to the extent that this title is an
indication of the consensus that our churches have with the orthodox and
catholic doctrine that Luther set forth from Holy Writ. Therefore we allow
ourselves to be named after Luther, not as the inventor of a new faith but as
the asserter of the old faith and the cleanser of the church from the stains of
Papist dogmas.
Consequently, we also do not reject the names “Christian”
and “catholic,” nor do we render ourselves unworthy of it by the approval of
any heretical dogma, as did the Arians, Nestorians, Eutychians, etc. Rather, we
are called "Christians" from Christ, as the only Author and Teacher
of our faith. We are called "catholics" from our consensus with the
catholic faith. We are called "Lutherans" from Luther as the asserter
and defender of that faith, but especially as the reformer whom God raised up.
(Johann Gerhard, Theological Commonplace, XXV).
I’m not sure how that makes things better or at least it
hasn’t worked and we are still called schismatics, heretics, and deserters. For
better or worse, we are given labels throughout history to use. For one thing,
they shorten explanations. Instead of saying “factory processed and baked
milled oats shaped into torroidal miniatures”, I can just say “Cheerios” and
bypass all that explaining.
Likewise, the term “lutheran”. It doesn’t describe a
religion so much as it describes a sign post in history and a sign post on the
church door. The Christians went this way. The Gospel is preached this
way.
But what about this or that interpretation? Already taught.
What about this or that history? Already purged the heresy. What about this
tradition? Cleansed in light of the Gospel. What about…? and the list goes on.
That title “Lutheran”, teaches just what exactly goes on
within these four walls and suggests we may find the same in other buildings
that claim that name, though we must still be on guard. But that is another
point of the Reformation, that we are always reforming. We must always reform
because we are always led astray. That is we must always seek out and find the
pure Gospel.
And since the Gospel is an eternal Promise made by God, we
can seek out and find that throughout His Word. We can adjust our reading
glasses as we study and inwardly digest the Lord’s revelation to us of His Son
and search the Scriptures to find Christ, instead of some corporate or
religious ladder.
The Promise has been and always will be the Free Justification
of Sinners for Christ’s sake. The Lord threatens with His wrath against sin and
His righteousness opposing sinfulness. In our sin, even the Gospel becomes an
angry place for God handling sinners. And that is not right.
St. Paul counts it all joy to have received the Gospel
together with all those who converted to the faith. He says in Romans 15:13, “Now
may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may
abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
“make known to me the path of life; in your presence
there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore”,
says Psalm 16:11, equating pleasure with joy.
The Gospel is a comfort, not more burden on an already
over-taxed conscience. The Gospel is peace, not more work that leads to
disappointment and despair. The Gospel is Christ, Who has manifested apart from
the Law, outside it. The Law’s sole purpose is to lead us to the Messiah.
Thus, if we truly lived by the Law, we would not find more
for us to do, but we would find Jesus doing everything on our behalf. That is,
we would find the righteousness of God, given to us through faith alone, for Christ’s
sake alone, for all who believe.
This is most certainly Lutheran. And its even Biblical!
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